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I rub the back of my neck, conscious that now is my opening to tell her about the letter Jackson received. She sees the movement and jumps on it.
“What? What are you not telling me, Ash?”
“Jackson received a similar letter in the post a few days after you returned. This one contained a picture of you, your mom and Stu sitting at the table having dinner.”
Her eyes widen at my revelation, then comes the fury.
“You knew about this and didn’t say anything? This…this was before I got run off the road,” she shouts, getting to her feet to stand over me. “Oh, my fucking god. I can’t believe you kept this from me. Why didn’t…why, why?” Her words get stuck in her throat, and she becomes more and more angry. She waves her finger in my face, continuing to yell at me. I let her go at me for a couple more minutes but when she starts spouting shit about how I never cared for her, that’s it. I jump to my feet, batting her hand away and slamming mine over her mouth as I back her up to the wall.
“Okay, enough, Kenzie,” I snap at her. Her eyes are wide and filled with unshed tears and her breaths are panted through her nose, but I don’t care right now. “You do not get to come back here after six years and make me feel bad. You don’t get to come up here and get all offended ‘cause I didn’t tell you something. Should I have? Damn straight. Did I get the chance to tell you anything six years ago? Hell no. You refused to see me, let alone speak to me. You cut me off like I was nothing to you. Do you have any idea how that felt? I was in love with you. Still am.” The confession rushes from me, and I watch as a single tear falls free from Kenzie’s eye, dropping onto the back of my hand, which is still covering her mouth. Slowly removing my hand, I bring it to my mouth and swipe my tongue over it, gathering it on my tongue. Kenzie watches completely enraptured. “Your tears taste bittersweet, Kenz. They taste of all the things I’ve missed these last six years. They taste of regret for letting you walk away. And they taste of love.”
She reaches out a hand, touching it to my cheek. “I’m sorry, Asher. I was drowning in grief. I was angry at everyone. And part of me blamed you. Not because I really thought you were to blame but because it made it easier for me to justify pushing you away, leaving you behind. I was scared, and I thought I was protecting you.” She lets out a deep sigh, and I cover her hand on my cheek with my own.
“And I understand all of that, but fucking hell I wished you’d have let me in.” I turn my face into her hand and kiss her palm.
Her phone rings breaking our moment; a moment of truth that’s been a fucking long time coming, so whoever is calling better have a good fucking reason. She steps to the side, pulling her phone free from her bag, which is still across her body.
I see the name Drake on the screen just before she swipes to answer, moving further away from me.
“Hey, please tell me you aren’t in Silverbell?” she asks, turning her back to me. I move closer, shamelessly listening to her conversation. I know she knows I’m here and I don’t give a fuck. I just about hear him say that he is in Silverbell, although staying at the motel just outside town, and that they need to meet ASAP.
She cants her head, eyeing me from the side. “Err…let me come to you—”
“Hell no,” I say sharply, making her spin round on me, giving me a death stare. I hear laughter down the line.
“Knock it off, Ash,” Kenz reprimands.
“The fuck I will. Have you forgotten what happened to you?” She stares at me a moment, and I raise my brows daring her to argue with me. There’s a knock on the front door before it opens and Jackson calls out to me.
“Ash, have you seen…” His words fall away as he steps into the lounge. “Guess that answers that question,” he says, pointing to Kenzie. “What’s going on?” he asks, obviously taking in the tense vibe in here.
I hold a finger up to give me a minute, then I step forward and take the phone from Kenzie, who tries to snatch it back, but my height and the hand I have on her forehead, keeping her at arm’s length, prevent that.
“Wewill meet you in an hour at the diner in town.” I end the call not even waiting for him to agree.
“What the actual fuck, Asher! Do you have any idea…” I let her continue her rant while giving a nod to Jackson to leave us for a minute. There’s a smirk on his face as he walks out and heads to the kitchen.
Kenzie is still shouting her mouth off when I grab her face, cutting off her rant, and slam my lips down on hers. There’s a second’s hesitation before she relaxes into the kiss, meeting every stroke of my tongue. Her hands come up and grip the front of my t-shirt, pulling me closer and eliciting a growl from me.
Breaking the kiss, I whisper against her lips, “You’re mine, Kennedy Scott, and if you think I’m letting you out of my sight, letting you push me away again, then you’re out of your fucking mind. I’m not risking losing you again, so deal.” Her eyes darken with lust as my possessive alpha-hole rears its head. She’s always pushed back against this side of me, and what she said before about controlling her in the bedroom and nowhere else wasn’t wrong, but she gets off on pushing my boundaries. Her arousal slips away as the seriousness of this situation comes back into focus.
“I’m not happy, Ash. This is dangerous, and I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me.”
“And I hear you, but I already lost two people I love, the fuck am I losing anymore. You can’t do this alone.” She goes to speak, but I stop her. “Drake doesn’t count, Kenzie. Now, you need to tell me what you know before we meet with your PI.” She reluctantly nods and I drop another kiss to her lips before turning to head to the kitchen.
“Hang on, how did you know he was my PI? I never told you that.”
I stop just outside the lounge, turning back to face her. “Are you sure you didn’t mention that?” I ask, attempting to deflect from how I really know. Kenzie just stands there with her hands on her hips not buying it at all. “Okay, I may have done a little research of my own.”
“And what did you find, huh, Ash?” she taunts, knowing full well that I would have discovered she’s been shacked up with that prick Owen for the last two years. She steps toward me, stopping just before she passes me, adding, “And if I were to look into your life over the last six years, what will I find? A string of meaningless woman? Here’s where we’re at, Ash. I’m yours, then you sure as hell best be mine and mine alone. Any skeletons in your closet?” She taps my cheek and continues to the kitchen, putting a bit of extra sway in her ass as she goes.
“Fucking hell!” I follow her, more than a little uncomfortable in the pants department at her equal display of possessiveness. I’m also aware that I still need to tell her about Aria and me. And Aria and Owen because I’m beginning to think that him turning up here isn’t wholly to do with Kenzie.
ChapterNineteen
My emotions are on par with a ship lost at sea in a tropical storm as I walk away and into the kitchen where Jackson has made himself at home with a drink. He looks up as we enter, a gleam in his eyes.
“So…” He waves a finger between the two of us as we join him at the breakfast bar. “You two, huh? Nobody ever saw that coming,” he says with an exaggerated eye roll.
