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This whole day has been a bewildering experience for Kendall, I can tell.
As we drive towards her home, her form gets tenser by the minute and her hand is tightly clenched in her lap.
The neighborhood we enter is a particularly shady one and Duke meets my eyes through the rearview mirror. My lips press into a thin line, as I imagine Kendall living here in an area ripe with crime. “How long have you lived here?” I ask tightly.
She shoots me a sharp look before replying, “Eight years.” Her voice is even and her chin is held high when she meets my eye, as if daring me to make a comment about this place.
I wonder, dimly, how she would react if I told her that there had been a time when I had scourged dumpsters to find food.
Her apartment building is a faded four-story building which has clearly seen better days.
Duke parks the car in front of the building and when the car attracts unwanted attention, he steps out and reaches for his gun. However, his menacing presence alone makes people wary of him.
Kendall steps out of the car and looks in dismay at all the shopping bags. She knows she can’t carry all of them.
“I…” She glances at the building, and then turns to me. “If you’ll give me ten minutes, I’ll take some up and then come back for the rest.”
There’s a reason why I hadn’t simply asked the parcels to be delivered to her address. I slide out of the car. “I’ll help.” And before she can stop me, I’ve gathered some of the bags.
She’s looking at me in stunned horror as if realizing that her new boss is carrying her clothes up to her apartment. “Mr. Starr!” Her voice is a squeak. “You don’t have to—?”
“Lead the way.” I gesture, holding some of the bags.
She visibly deflates, knowing I’m not backing off.
As she carries some of the bags herself, I hear her mutter under her breath, “This is all kinds of fucking wrong.”
Her apartment is on the third floor and when she unlocks the door, she says quietly, “Don’t make a sou
nd. Max might be sleeping.”
The shock is sudden, even for me.
Max?
I hadn’t even considered that there might be a man in her life. The irritation surging through me is so foreign, that it takes me a moment to place it as jealousy.
I scowl inwardly. I’m not jealous of some—
“Kendall!” an excited shout bellows at us before something tiny hurtles itself across the room towards Kendall.
I’m stepping in its way just as Kendall opens her arms and embraces the naked creature who turns out to be a little boy.
“Max, where are your clothes?!” Kendall sounds horrified.
Max is a kid.
A glance at the woman next to me makes me reel. Max is Kendall’s son?! How had I not found out anything about—?
“Where’s your mom?” Kendall is reaching out to grab a shawl that’s lying on a raggedy couch and throwing it over the little boy.
“Max, you little brat! Get your ass back here!” A completely soaked woman enters the room now from what is presumably a bathroom and she stills when her eyes land on me.
Kendall swallows and says, “Tracy, this is my boss, Caleb Starr.”
Tracy stares at me, and then groans, “Well, fuck me!”
I can’t help but feel highly entertained.
