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“Sorry,” I apologize, insincerely.
She pinches my arm in retaliation. “Stop interfering in my life.”
I snatch my arm away from her. “You knew what you were walking into, Kendall,” I tell her with relish, and I can see that she’s contemplating hitting me with something, so I distance myself from her.
“Fine.” Kendall turns her attention to Jace. “You’re my brother.”
“Half-brother,” Jace corrects her.
She gives him a disbelieving look. “What does that matter?” She stares at him. “Doesn’t make you any less of family.”
Something flashes across his face and he swallows heavily as he says, “No. It doesn’t.”
Now even Kendall looks uncomfortable. “So, what do I do with you?”
Jace studies her face, equally out of place. “I don’t know. We could get to know each other.”
“I know you tell boring stories,” Kendall tells him snidely.
He scowls. “It’s not my fault your brain is too slow to catch up.”
“Hey!” she exclaims, offended.
When he sneers at her, I have a feeling they’ve already found a rhythm that suits them. There is a softness to her eyes, a slight warmth to her.
When Jace finally leaves, and Kendall is drooping, I let her lean onto me.
She looks tired and drawn out as she asks, “Duke?”
“He’s out of surgery. Tracy and Max are with him. Your friend dropped everything to get to him. She really loves him.”
Duke has always been lonely in a way. I can see he’s fallen in love with Tracy and her son, not something I ever imagined.
And yet, seeing him when he talks about where he took Max or what Max did and the glow in his eyes when he talks about Tracy, makes me think that he’s found a place he’s ready to call home.
“And Elise?”
“Baby girl. Healthy. She weighs seven pounds.”
Kendall smiles then. “She must be so happy. Where is she?”
“Still here. Lucas hasn’t left her side,” I tell her. “You’d think he was the father; he’s so excited. I didn’t tell him about what happened. You had enough to deal with Jace.”
Her shoulders slump. “Gerald wanted to know where Tracy was and since I never left a forwarding address and Duke helped her get that new job, he couldn’t find her anywhere. And after that one incident, Arthur just wanted to get back at me. He’s always hated me for some reason.”
I want to tell her that what she thought was hate was lust, but Kendall doesn’t need to know that. Arthur will be booked and sent to prison and he would no longer have any role to play in Kendall’s life.
“I honestly had forgotten about Arthur,” she confesses as she curls into me. “There was so much going on and when you said Duke had taken care of him, I told myself to let it go.”
“This is on me, Kendall.” My tone is heavy, as I run my fingers down the side of her arm, marveling in the fact that she is wholly unharmed. “I should have listened to you.” After a pause, I finally ask her something which has been bothering me. “Back at the warehouse…” I pull away from her and search her eyes. “You seemed surprised that I’d come for you. Did you doubt me?”
Kendall swallows but she doesn’t tear her eyes away from mine. “It’s not that. I just – I’ve never had anyone to depend on like this, like what you’re offering me and in that moment, when they took me, all I could think was that I was back in a place where I had to fight to protect myself, that no one was coming for me. And then there was this sense of loss that you would think I’d left you behind this time… that I’d gone somewhere you couldn’t follow. And a part of me just gave up. I knew you would be in meetings all day and by the time you realized I was missing, it would be too late.”
My heart is heavy with her words, full of emotions that I acknowledge. I smooth back her hair and kiss her eyes, closed.
My voice is rough as I state, “I would have followed you, Kendall. Everywhere and anywhere. You have no idea how much you mean to me. You are in my blood, you’re branded on my heart. I couldn’t survive losing you. I know, I know I’m pushy and arrogant and demanding. And yet, you hold me in the palm of your hand. I would have burnt this city down to find you. I have enough influence and power to rip every building in this city apart to make sure you were returned to me.”
Kendall’s lips are trembling and she watches me with both love and something else. She reaches out with her fingers to touch my lips, murmuring, “Sometimes, I think you’re not entirely human.”
