Kingdom (Avenues Ink Series Book 2)

by A. M. Johnson

  He tried to get up again and I kneeled down, twisting the back of his collar as I said, “Don’t ever touch Kelly again, or next time I won’t stop at one punch.”

  I dropped my hold, ignoring Kelly’s mom as I looked straight at my girl. “Grab your shit, you’re staying with me for a little while.”

  Once Upon a Present

  “How’s she doing?” Kemper asked as he wiped down the bright red leather of his work table.

  “She looks a little better,” I said, a little clipped. I was anxious to leave and this nosey asshole was always in my business.

  “She finally talking to you?” Kieran asked as he stopped by Kemp’s station.

  I sighed. “Fuck no. She’s asleep every time I show up. It’s why I need to get the hell out of here.”

  The crease between Kieran’s brows deepened. “Maybe… I don’t know, Liam, maybe it’s for the best. She sounds like a train wreck.”

  If I didn’t love this kid… “I should just abandon her then? When she needs me the most?”

  Kemper coughed, his face laced with nerves as he stared at Kieran.

  “That’s not what I meant. But, from what you said the other day, she didn’t seem too receptive of your offer to help. Maybe she doesn’t need you anymore.” He rubbed his chin and shrugged his shoulders as he leaned in and whispered, “I know you, big brother, and I know how this is going to end. And it’s not pretty.”

  Tension collected in the muscle of my jaw and my spine went stiff. I hated that he was right. Kelly shut down that night after I told her I was there to help. She’d closed her eyes and didn’t say a word. After about five minutes of silence I’d left, letting myself believe she’d fallen back to sleep. She hadn’t been happy to see me at her bedside when those eyes had finally opened that first night. Maybe we were a lost cause.

  There was no we anymore.

  Kelly and I, we could destroy each other faster than any collision ever could.

  I ignored the ever-present doubt, looked my baby brother in the eye, and spoke in a low voice, “I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do, but I know I can’t turn my back on her. Regardless of how much shit this could cause. Isn’t that what your God teaches you, forgive and forget? Charity… even if the sacrifice leaves me bleeding in the end, at least I’m out there, at least I’m living.”

  Kieran shook his head. “You’ve been hiding for three damn years.”

  “I’m not a coward,” I growled.

  “Come on, guys.” Kemper’s attempt to shut us up fell on deaf ears.

  “You’re not a coward.” Kieran clapped his hand onto my shoulder. “But you’re not the only person in this family who worries. Kelly left, and you think you stayed, but you didn’t. You left the day she did, just not in the same way. And these past few months… when you helped Paige and Dex buy that place, it felt like you were finally coming home, and I’d like you to stay. I’ve missed my brother.”

  His jaw ticked as I kept my eyes on his. My throat was on fire as it narrowed, and I pushed back the turbulence coursing through my veins.

  I cleared my throat and gave him a weak smile. “Don’t worry, little man, I can handle myself.”

  “Liam—”

  “I’ve got to at least try to help her. I’m not fucking stupid enough to think it’s anything more than that. Kelly and I are done, but if I can help her get back on her feet, I will. She was our family.”

  Was.

  The past tense was a wall between us.

  He lowered his hand and Kemper exhaled. “Let me know if you need my help.”

  Kieran gave me a small smile and I nodded.

  “I thought you were either gonna fight or fuck, you guys are intense.” Kemper smirked and Kieran shook his head and laughed.

  “You’re sick.” I narrowed my eyes at Kemper.

  “I never said I wasn’t.” Kemper’s hair flopped into his eyes as he nodded with a corny laugh.

  I turned my attention back to Kieran, the mood less dark. “You got this?”

  “I’ll be fine. Declan will be back soon anyway. He texted me five minutes ago.”

  “Everything go okay?” I asked.

  “He said the ultrasound was good, the babies are getting big.” My smile spread real and true across my face. Babies. I still couldn’t believe Declan was having twins. “He let me know he’d be back in twenty.”

  “Sounds good, watch this one.” I pointed to Kemper and scowled. “And… before I forget… you better be good to Tana. She deserves a little good after dealing with my sorry ass.”

  Kemp’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he nodded. I suppressed my smirk until I was out of his line of sight. Kieran chuckled next to me as we headed to the back of the shop.

  “He thought for sure you’d fire him for asking her out. Or worse, kick his ass. But I told him Tana was a free agent.”

  “So that whole situation is your fault?” I glanced at him sideways and he laughed.

  “You’re welcome.”

  I huffed out a deep chuckle. He was right. Tana didn’t need to be in the mix of everything I was going through right now. The universe had granted me a favor, for once.

  I grabbed my helmet from the breakroom table and lifted my leather jacket off the back of the futon as I said, “I’m giving it one more try. If I go there again today, and she’s asleep or throws me out, I’ll let it go.”

  Kieran’s lips curled at the corners. “I love you, but you’re a terrible liar.”

  “Whatever, Father O’Connell.”

  His smile died. “Fuck you, Liam.”

  “You know…” I slipped my jacket on one arm at a time, and my smile split my lips. “If you said fuck more often, maybe you’d actually get to fuck.” I playfully smacked his cheek and he shoved me.

  His stern lips broke into an easygoing smile as he said, “You don’t know who or what I do.”

  “Now who’s the liar?”

  Kelly had been moved to a step down unit the other night. Her condition wasn’t serious anymore, and according to the intermediate care nurse I’d spoken to when I’d stopped by, Kelly was doing really well. They’d removed her chest tube, and casted her leg. It was just a waiting game now. Observation and pain control. She’d said Kelly would most likely be discharged in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The stupid part of my brain hoped for forty-eight. More time, meant more Kelly.

  Everything between us was a damn battleground, but seeing her again, so fragile and wrecked, it shook me up and made me realize some shit. You were never guaranteed a tomorrow and second chances were a gamble.

  I walked into her hospital room and, as her amber eyes expanded, I wondered if I’d already lost it all. She looked much better today. The bruising around her eyes had receded some, but the burn on her left cheek had scabbed and the angry red cuts, even with stitches, had to hurt. I didn’t give two shits about her appearance, but if she looked like this on the outside, what the hell was she feeling on the inside?

  “I’m here. No… No, Blake, it’s fine. Dante said… no, no really, I’m okay. Blake, I can’t talk right now.” Kelly dropped her gaze to the hospital blanket as she gripped her cell phone tightly in her hand. “Yeah. I’ll call you soon.”

  She lowered the phone from her ear and stared at it. The room fell still and the longer neither of us said anything, the faster her heartbeat sounded over the monitor. The machine betrayed her feelings, her stoic posture was just a front.

  “You showed up,” she said.

  Her strained tone was a kick to the nuts. “I’ve been here every night, you’re always asleep.” The edge in my voice caused her to raise her head.

  “Every night?” She avoided my eyes.

  “Yes.”

  I exhaled when she refused to look at me. Maybe Kieran was right.

  “When’s your boyfriend getting here?” I asked, not holding back the bitterness in my words.

  “I don’t have a boyfriend.” The irritation was evident in her tight lips.

 
That got her attention.

  “No?” I asked and sat in the chair next to her bed.

  She turned her head and shot daggers at me. “No. Blake and I…” She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “Why…why are you here?”

  “Because they called me instead of your boyfriend when you decided to tango with a cherry tree.”

  She swallowed and her eyes filled with tears. Fuck. I was an idiot. My palm scrubbed down my face. “Look, I just wanted—”

  “My dad died.” She picked at a loose thread on the blanket with her nails.

  “I know.”

  A few tears fell down her cheek and she blew a long breath through her lips.

  “I’m sorry. If I had known, I—”

  “Wouldn’t have torn me apart?” Her lips trembled as her watery eyes met mine.

  “It’s not that simple.” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “I’m sorry about a lot of shit, Kelly, and—”

  A knock on the door interrupted me, and a different doctor from the other day walked in. She was older, her dark hair was more gray than black. She was tiny under her white coat, and the strict set of her jaw told me she wasn’t to be fucked with no matter how delicate she seemed.

  “Everything looks good for discharge tomorrow, Ms. Kavanagh,” the doctor said looking down her nose at the iPad in her hand.

  “That’s great.” Kelly sniffled and the doctor raised her head. She looked at me, and then back at Kelly. She held out her hand. “I’m Dr. Olivia, and you…”

  I shifted to the end of the chair and took her hand. “Liam.”

  “He’s a friend,” Kelly interjected, and the word pissed me off. No matter what the fuck had happened between us, everything we’d been through, friends was the last damn word to describe what we were.

  The doctor hummed. “Mmm-hm. Well, you’ll need a friend these next few weeks.” The doctor dropped my hand and gave Kelly a flat smile. “Typically, it can take up to two weeks for your chest tube wound to heal, not to mention, you’ll be in that cast for at least six.”

  Kelly’s lips parted with a quiet and sorrowful gasp.

  “You’re going to need a lot of help getting around. But I think you could go back to work in about fourteen days with crutches.”

  Kelly laughed without humor. “I’m… I was a model.”

  The doctor avoided the deep lacerations on her face and dropped her eyes to the iPad. She pressed a few things on the screen before she said, “All your pain prescriptions will be in your chart for discharge tomorrow, and you’ll need to finish up the antibiotics to help prevent infection and pneumonia.” She tapped on her iPad a few more times and then lifted her chin. “Questions?”

  Kelly shook her head, her shoulders wilting in defeat.

  “I’d like to keep you until about five tomorrow afternoon, make sure you get two more doses of the IV antibiotics before you start the oral ones. You’ll need a ride home, no driving for a while, I’m afraid.”

  “My mother can—”

  “I’ve got her, Doc, thanks.” I cut Kelly off and the doctor nodded.

  “Alright, if you think of anything before tomorrow afternoon, I’m signing off to the on-call resident, but he’ll be able to answer your questions.”

  “Thanks.”

  The doctor left without any goodbyes and once the door clicked shut the overbearing weight of what had come between us came crashing down. Kelly’s shoulders shook with a sob, and her face crumbled in a painful grimace.

  “Do you need me to get the nurse? Are you in pain?” I stood from the chair and she shook her head.

  “No,” she moaned and held her left side.

  Tears poured from her eyes, illuminating the heavy bruising just below her lashes. She was curled in on herself—the ache evident in the stiff way her shoulders jerked when she allowed a sob to break free, and I was fucking helpless. I wanted to hold her, tell her everything was going to get better, but I was only a voyeur as she sat in the bed and fell apart.

  “Do you want me to call your mom?” I asked around the lump in my throat. The words a rough whisper and she gifted me her gaze.

  “I can’t go back there.”

  “Where? Los Angeles?” I sat at the edge of her bed, affording her distance, but giving her the chance to lean on me if she wanted.

  She motioned to the tissues at her bedside table, and I reached over and grabbed them. I handed them to her and as she rested the box on her lap. She pulled a few and wiped her nose. “I can’t go home, I can’t go back to Los Angeles.” She coughed and cringed. “My career is over.” I didn’t argue, I didn’t dare placate her. She had earned the right to at least that. “My friend, Dante, is boxing up my place, he’s sending it all to my mom’s. But I can’t—”

  “What about that guy?” I asked and her brows knotted. “The guy I saw you with?”

  “Blake and I split up.” Her eyes darted to the box and then back to mine as she chewed at the corner of her mouth. “It was never serious.”

  Our stares lingered and her tears subsided. She only dropped her gaze to throw her dirty tissue onto her tray table and grab another one. I wanted to question her about Blake, about her father, about so many things, but now was not the time, instead I asked, “What are you going to do?”

  She shrugged. “I was charged with a DUI, but Dante thinks I can get the charges lowered to reckless driving since they confirmed my script for Xanax, and I was barely over the limit. No one got hurt… except for me.”

  “I have a lawyer who’s a client, I could get him to—”

  “I don’t need any favors, Liam.”

  I crushed my molars together. This chick needed all the fucking help she could get. “Is this a new thing for you, drugs and alcohol?”

  “Don’t start with your fucking assumptions. I don’t get drunk. It was a mistake. A bad day. Maybe point that finger at yourself for a change?”

  Guilt crushed my sternum. I’d wanted her to feel the pain that day… my pain. My cruelty had basically poured the shots for her.

  I owed her more than an apology. “So if you don’t want to go back to your mom’s, then what?”

  She exhaled an annoyed breath. “I have money saved up. I get paid…” She paused and it hurt to watch her face falter. “I used to get paid really well. I have enough to get a place, maybe even a little more as a cushion.” She shifted her hips trying to sit farther up the bed and winced. A soft whimper slipped past her lips.

  “Let me help you.”

  She waved me off. “I can scoot up in bed on my own.” She caught the flash of frustration in my eyes. She was still stubborn as hell, and softened her tone. “But… thank you.”

  “What about Tracey? Can she help at all?”

  “She’s back in Connecticut. When I never called her after I’d left the pub, she and her girlfriend did some legwork to find me. They brought my mother to visit later that night and missed their flight.”

  I let my fingers grip the bed blanket “She didn’t stay, did she?”

  “She has a life.”

  She’d just left her.

  Tracey was good at disappearing, and Kelly had followed right in her footsteps. I started to question my sanity. Why the hell was I putting myself through this?

  Kelly turned and stared out of the hospital room window. The sun emptied across the floor and her bed from the open blinds. Her hand shook as she lifted it to her right cheek. “There’s nothing left of me,” she said it so softly, the words private, only for her, and I doubted that she’d even noticed she’d said them out loud.

  “Stay with me?” I purged the familiar words that had been stuck in my throat for the past few days.

  Her head tilted back to the ceiling and a few tears escaped down her cheek as she said, “That’s a terrible idea.”

  “Who’s going to take care of you? Your mom?” Doubtful. She never did before.

  “I can take care of myself.” She turned and set the full light of her brown eyes on mine.
r />   “Clearly.” The bite lowered her posture. “I fucked up… the other day… so many things… all the shit we’ve gone through, just let me help you until you can get back on your feet. You shouldn’t have to spend one more night in that house. You’ve done your time.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “But he’s still there, Kelly, and here.” I pointed to my temple and she deflated, sinking into the pillows behind her.

  “Every time you called, I wanted to answer,” I admitted.

  Her breath caught and her gaze collided with mine. “Why didn’t you?”

  “I wasn’t ready.”

  “You are now?” I didn’t miss the disbelief she aimed in my direction.

  “No, but I want to try to make something right for once… let me help you, for now.”

  “Just for recovery,” she clarified, and the fucking hope I’d been hiding from took my breath away and I could only nod.

  I stood from the bed and said, “I’ll pick you up at five.”

  Once Upon a Present

  Every step felt like a mile as I maneuvered my way up the stairs to Liam’s apartment. The pain radiated down my left side and straight across my back with each inhale and exhale. It made it worse having my right arm draped over Liam’s shoulder, and that he’d brought his t-shirt and sweats for me to wear home from the hospital. His scent punished me. His heat reminded me of what it once felt like to belong to him, to anyone. I sucked in another rough piece of air as my foot slipped on the metal stair. The cast was stiff and sat just below my knee, encasing my calf, ankle and foot. My toes had been spared the entrapment.

  Liam’s arm quickly wrapped around my waist and he swore.

  “I’m fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “I should’ve just carried your stubborn ass up here like I wanted to in the first place.” His impatience was nothing new. He’d blown into the hospital this afternoon like a bat out of hell. His irritation carved into the deep frown of his lips. His grand gesture had looked more like his burden to bear. His frown had turned into a scowl the minute he’d laid his eyes on me. It hadn’t helped that I wasn’t ready for discharge by the time he’d expected. The nurse prior hadn’t given me the antibiotic on time, so I had to stay a little longer. Liam hadn’t lingered in the room to wait, he left, and for a happy, delusional, little moment I’d thought maybe he wouldn’t come back, but he’d shown up an hour later. His protective nature was the only thing binding him to me, and the last thing I wanted was to be a charity case.