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“I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him for hurting you.”
“No,” she cries, and it’s not until her voice breaks through my red haze that I realize she’s curled in on herself, shaking in fear.
“Oh fuck, Kenny.” I gather her in my arms and sink to the floor with her as she cries.
“I’ll make this fucking right. I promise you. I’ll make it right, or I’ll fucking die trying.”
With her in my arms, I feel more like myself than I have in months. I can’t deny that I am living the life in Sterling Bay, and that James has given us things that we never could have dreamed of while living here. But I’ve never forgotten the girl I left behind. She might have forgotten me the second I moved on, but I never did.
I always thought Kenny was my future, my forever, but it seems that as my addiction to her grew, hers was going in a different direction. Toward Warren.
Sirens in the distance are the first warning sign that something is about to go wrong. For as much crime as there is in the Heights, there are hardly ever any sirens or flashing lights due to the fact that no one ever calls the cops. We deal with our own issues and are brought up to believe that only pussies call the authorities.
Blue flashing lights join the sirens, and Kenny tenses in my arms.
“We should move.”
“I can’t. Not yet.”
“Conner,” she sighs, but successfully removes herself from my lap.
I want to argue, but my cell starts ringing in my pocket. Pulling it out, I find Ace’s name flashing on the screen. “What?”
“We need to go now,” he barks down the line.
“I-I can’t.”
“Conner, none of us want to get dragged into any of this. Get your ass to the car now.” The line goes dead.
“Ken—” I look around. She was just right there in front of me. “Kenny?” I call, but there’s no sign of anyone. “Fuck.”
I take off for the street where Cole parked his car, continuing to look over my shoulder in the hope of seeing her, but I never do.
“Where the fuck did you go?” Ace snaps at me when I drop into the backseat beside him before Cole wheelspins off as a stream of police cars pull into Nate’s driveway.
Some New Year’s Eve party.
The five of us ended up bringing in the new year in the pool house, but while my brothers enjoyed it, losing themselves in kisses with their girls, I couldn’t get the image of Kenny’s terrified eyes and the dark bruise marring her face from my mind.
I don’t get a wink of sleep. I’m too worried about where she might have gone and what might be happening to her.
Warren didn’t see me leave with her, but that doesn't mean he doesn’t know. People did see us, and something tells me that he won’t be too happy about it.
The sun is barely up the next morning, and I’m pacing back and forth in my room, scrolling through my old contacts and trying to figure out who would be the most helpful in tracking her down.
Stopping on Levi’s name, I tap out a message asking if he has her number when the sound of the doorbell ringing pierces the silent house.
Everyone else is probably fast asleep. I left Ace and Cole partying with their girls and I heard James and Sarah come in sometime before three AM this morning.
Ripping my door open, I make my way down to see who else is awake at this time on the first day of the year, but nothing could prepare me for what I find when I open the front door.
“Fuck, Kenny,” I gasp, rushing forward to help take her weight from Jay. “What the hell happened?”
“I have no idea. I found her like this. I didn’t know where else to take her where she’d be safe.”
Taking her lifeless body from Jay, I lift her into my arms, taking in her swollen, bruised and bloody face and ruined clothes.
“I’ve got this.” I give him a stiff nod. “You did the right thing.” I kick the door closed without inviting him in and carry her up to my room.
