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“Damn right, I’m not! After what happened at The Boulevard I knew he was a sleaze, and that was before I knew he was dating Everly.” She stops all of a sudden, cursing under her breath.
“And what exactly happened at The Boulevard, Kenzie?” I ask, unable to keep the growl from my voice.
She slowly turns to look at me. “I think we should go.”
“And I think you should start talking, Kennedy.”
“And I will, but not until we’re driving,” she says, biting her lip. “Preferably a long one,” she mutters as I just stare at her. Realizing that I’m not going anywhere, she says, “Okay, fine, but no storming in there, Ash, I mean it. Half the town, including psycho cop Peters, saw you lay one on Owen. I don’t think we need to be drawing any more attention to ourselves. Especially not now.”
“Talk, Kennedy.”
“For fuck’s sake. My first night at The Boulevard, he was there with a group of mates. He was giving one of the waitresses a hard time and hitting on her, so I went over. The asshole then turned his attention to me. Nothing happened. I shut him down, and his mates took him home.”
I barely hear her last words as I’m already climbing from the car. I make it no more than a couple of strides before she’s in front of me, pushing me back.
“Stop, Ash. Didn’t you listen to a word I said?”
I pause, looking down at her, hands splayed across my chest. “Oh, I heard, Kenz. Did you? The part where I told you that you’re mine?” I try to move around her, but she’s not having it.
Placing her hands on my face, she says, “I heard you loud and fucking clear, Ash. I don’t need you to fight all my battles.” Then she stretches onto her tiptoes and kisses me. It’s slow and sensual but beneath it is fire and a promise of all the things that her being mine mean. If we weren’t in the middle of a parking lot with a diner packed with people, who I know are watching, I’d fuck her right here. As it is the kiss ends too soon, but probably for the best given how ready I am to forget the audience.
She spins us away from the diner and back to the car. “Come on, we need to get back to Jackson.”
Knowing she’s right about getting back to Jackson and not causing another scene, I go almost willingly. But I won’t forget about Darryl, and when I get the chance, I’ll be reminding him to keep his hands and eyes off my woman.
The house is quiet when we get back, and the instant we walk through the door, I know he’s not here.
Jackson is gone. On the kitchen counter is a note.
Ash and Kennedy,
I know you told me to wait, but this is me, and there’s no way I can sit around doing nothing. I’ll be careful and even promise to not deck my dad—yet! I’ll be back in a few days.
J
“Son of a bitch!I knew we shouldn’t have left him,” I yell, screwing the note up and slamming my closed fist to the top.
“Hey, he’ll be okay. He’s just angry, Ash. Give him a few days to calm down.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Even as I say the words, I don’t believe them. Jackson isn’t a hot head and wouldn’t just go off without a good reason. I just hope that whatever it is he’s doing doesn’t end up getting him killed. These people, Titan Industries, they don’t mess about. A fact that becomes even clearer when Kenz tells me about her friend Charlie and her mom.
“How much of this does Charlie know?” I ask, grabbing a water for us both.
“She knows a little. I told her about my dad and brother, but when she told me about her mom, something stopped me from telling her what I know about Titan.”
“Why? Do you think she knows more or is involved in some way?”
“God, no, Ash. It’s nothing like that. Just…I don’t know.” She shrugs, taking the bottle I hold out to her. “It feels like there’s something important we’re missing. Aside from not being any closer to discovering the owner of Titan. This whole anonymous business owner shit is a pain in the ass.”
I don’t tell her that I have Tripp trying to dig up some info. I’m planning to tag along to The Boulevard with her tomorrow night too hoping that Jason or Luke might be of some help. Jason’s not my favorite person in the world and he and Luke have some not so nice associates, but he keeps his ear close to the ground on shit that’s going down.
“I wish I could get hold of my dad’s work files,” Kenzie muses, pulling me from my thoughts.
“I think I can help you with that.”
“How?” she asks, surprise clear on her face.
“Come on. I’ll explain on the way.” I grab her hand, pulling her up from the couch. She stops to grab her purse while I stop in the small room we used as an office and grab a key before heading out to the car, Kenz trailing behind me.
