Skid Row Kings Complete Series

by Winter Travers

  Kurt Jensen didn’t want me anymore.

  I wished I could say the same. Kurt Jensen seemed to be exactly what I wanted.

  Shit.

  ********

  Chapter 9

  Kurt

  “Luke is on the way over.”

  Fuck. I was sitting on Leelee’s tiny couch, my foot resting on her coffee table and my arm resting on my stomach. I had finally found a comfortable position that didn’t make my whole body ache, and now Luke was coming over to make me miserable. “Help me up,” I demanded. Leelee had put my crutch next to the door after I had sat down and I was screwed unless she brought it over to me.

  “What? Why?”

  “I need that fucking crutch so I can get up and get the hell gone.”

  Leelee rolled her eyes and grabbed the remote I had in my lap. “You’re not going anywhere. He’s on the way over, Kurt. Talk to him and get it over with.” She turned the channel to Fast and Loud and sat down on the couch next to me. “What’s the worst that is going to happen? You said it yourself. You’re twenty-eight years old. He can’t run your life.”

  “Yeah, because Luke will listen when I tell him to get lost.”

  Leelee shrugged and turned to look at me. “He might if you tell him why you want him to get lost.”

  I had tried talking to Luke before, but he never heard what the hell I was trying to tell him. Knowing Luke, he wasn’t going to listen to a word I had to say unless some of those words were I was coming home. That shit wasn’t going to happen. “This is shit. I can barely fucking move. How in the hell is this fair?”

  “It’s not. At least, not for you.” Leelee turned back to the TV and turned the volume up. “I don’t know what to tell you, Kurt. Just listen to him.”

  “I have listened to him, Leelee. I don’t like what comes out of his mouth.”

  “Fine. Um, tap me on the arm if you want me to get rid of him.”

  “You are going to get rid of Luke?” I laughed. “He’s twice as big as you, Lee, and could probably bench press you.”

  “You want my help or not?”

  I mulled it over, realizing it was better than nothing. If anything, she could distract him and then I could try to get the hell out of Dodge.

  “I forgot to ask. Was my phone in the bag from the hospital?” I moved my leg to the right and leaned back further into the couch. I wasn’t one of those people who was addicted to their phones, but I did use the damn thing.

  “No. They couldn’t find it after the accident. I asked.”

  “Then, how in the hell did they know to call you?”

  “They said my number had been in your wallet.”

  Huh, I didn’t even remember having Leelee’s number in there. “Convenient.”

  “For you, not for me. I figured my first time out of the state of Illinois would be better than sitting in a hospital for nine days.”

  I was about to ask Leelee how she had never been out of the state when the door buzzed. We both looked at each other, neither one of us wanting to get the door. “You have to promise to listen to him. I know you don’t believe it, but your brothers care about you. These past days have scared the living shit out of them. Remember that when he’s talking.”

  I clenched my jaw, stopping myself from telling her to fuck off and nodded. The door buzzed again, and this time, Leelee got up to answer it.

  Luke was standing on the other side with Violet to the side of him. They both looked worried and like they didn’t want to be here almost as much as me.

  Luke nodded at Leelee and ambled into the tiny apartment. When it had been Leelee, Jay, and me in the apartment, it hadn’t seemed that small. Now, with Luke taking up residence in Leelee’s living room, it felt like I was suffocating.

  “Hey, Lee,” Violet mumbled, as she wrapped her arms around Leelee.

  Luke was standing in front of me; his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes were on me, taking in all the cuts, bruises, and broken bones.

  “I think the last time you were laid up for more than an hour was when you were seven and rolled over your go-cart.”

  He was right, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “I’ve had better days.”

  “Just the two broken bones?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Ankle on the left and my right arm busted the hell up.”

  Luke nodded. “Won’t be racing for a while.”

  I wished I could have told him I would be racing soon, but I knew he was right. Not having use of my right hand and my left leg meant racing wasn’t anywhere in my near future. “We’ll see.”

  “So, this was your big plan? You go halfway across the country to wreck your car that you’ve been building for a year? Fuck, you could have wrecked your damn car here,” he growled. “You scared the living hell out of Mitch and me when Leelee called.”

  “Must not have been very concerned. I wrecked my car two weeks ago. This is the first I’m seeing or hearing from you.”

  “I didn’t come to California because I knew I would want to fucking strangle you. I don’t know what in the hell is going through your head, Kurt. You didn’t act this reckless when you were a teenager. Now, you’re almost thirty and acting like a punk.”

  I stretched my leg out and crossed my arms over my chest. My leg was fucking throbbing and Luke being here wasn’t helping. “It’s my life, Luke.”

  “So, that means I have to stand by and just watch you fuck up your life now? You don’t have a job; you don’t have a place to live. From where I’m standing, the only thing you have going for you is you were at one point smart enough to marry Leelee, although I’m sure you’ll fuck that up if you haven’t already.”

  “Funny, I’m not the one who fucked that up, but you might as well blame me. It’s a well-known fact that Kurt Jensen is the fuck-up of the family,” I sneered. I knew Luke had always thought that about me, but it was shitty hearing the words fall from his mouth. “You say everything you need to?” I grabbed the pillow out from under my arm and tossed it at the end of the couch. “I think I’ll sleep the rest of the day instead of fucking it up like you think I do.”

  “Grow the fuck up, Kurt. Stop acting like the sullen kid who got his toys taken away.”

  “As soon as you stop acting like my fucking father. Dad died two years ago, Luke. He’s gone; you don’t need to try to fill his shoes.”

  “I’m not trying to be Dad. I’m just trying to keep you from killing yourself.”

  I laid down on the couch and propped my leg up on the small coffee table. “Well, you can breathe easy now. I have no plans of killing myself for the next eight weeks. After that, you won’t have to worry about me. I’ll be gone.” I closed my eyes and tossed my arm over my eyes.

  I could feel Luke staring down at me, but I was done with the conversation. “You’re better than this, Kurt. Don’t fuck up your life to the point where you can’t fix your mistakes. I can’t be there to pick you up anymore.”

  “I never asked you to be there.”

  “I know. I did it because I love you.” He shuffled out the door, and it clicked shut behind him.

  “Don’t even start with me, Leelee. I’m not interested in what you have to say.” I just had to listen to Luke bitch at me. I didn’t need to listen to Leelee, too.

  “I didn’t plan on it. Plus, I don’t have time to. I need to be back to work.”

  I peeked open an eye and saw Leelee’s retreating back heading down the hall. Well, that was different from what I had expected. Luke had done exactly what I had thought he would do, but it was Leelee who was throwing me a curveball.

  “I’ll be home a little after five. Here are your pills, and a couple bottles of water.” I watched as she walked back into the living room and set everything on the coffee table. “Here’s the house phone also. If you need me, just call. I’ll make sure to have my phone on me. After I get off work, if you feel like, we’ll head to the phone store and see about getting your cell replaced.”

  Fuck. That was going to
be a pretty penny. I had just gotten that damn phone a couple of months before I had left. “I’ll be here,” I mumbled.

  “Take your pills, Kurt. Don’t be an ass and think you can handle the pain.” She grabbed her wallet off the counter and tucked it under her arm. “I’ll be back around lunch to feed you. Try to get some sleep and just rest today.” She slipped out the door without saying goodbye, snapping the door shut behind her.

  That went a lot better than I thought it would have. Although, knowing Leelee, she was saving her speech for when she could hand me my ass without having to rush out the door to work. “Something to look forward to,” I mumbled, as I reached forward and grabbed the remote off the table.

  Today, I was going to make a plan. I had to figure out what my next move was and I already had a good idea what that was going to be. My eyes felt heavy with sleep, and I turned on the Discovery channel to watch the Fast and Loud and Street Outlaws marathon.

  My eyes closed and I figured I could plan after I caught up on my sleep. After all, I had eight weeks to figure shit out.

  ********

  Chapter 10

  Leelee

  “When you finish up the Supra, I’m going to need you to get the brakes done on the Mazda before you leave,” Luke barked from the other side of the shop.

  I glanced up at the clock, seeing it was half past noon and I still needed to run home and check on Kurt. I had already worked on three cars this morning, and Luke had just added two more to my list. “Sure thing. I’m just going to run home, make Kurt some lunch, and then I’ll finish up the Supra.” I wiped my hands on a shop towel and tossed it into my toolbox. “You want me to bring anything back?”

  “No. Just get back here as soon as you can. We’re backed up the next couple of days, and you need to be here more than you need to be there.” Luke slammed the shop door shut, and I closed my eyes.

  “Could this day get any shittier?” I muttered as I fished my keys out of my pocket. Luke had been acting like a pissed off bear all morning, and Mitch had called in because Levi was sick.

  Violet had popped her head in when I had started work, but she was headed off to the library and couldn’t stick around to keep Luke at bay. I thankfully only lived ten minutes away from the shop and planned only to make Kurt a quick sandwich and then head right back.

  On the short drive to the house, I tried to diagnose the Supra, figuring out why it wouldn’t start.

  I could hear the TV blaring as I jogged up the front steps and unlocked the door. Kurt was flat on his back on the couch, passed out to the world. It looked like he hadn’t moved since I left this morning except the bottle of pain pills was spilled on the coffee table.

  His shaggy hair was mussed and pushed off to the side, and his bruised face was finally healing, the bruises that had been circling his eyes fading to yellow.

  “You’re staring at me again,” he mumbled, making me jump back.

  “What the hell? How the hell do you do that?”

  He cracked open an eye and looked up at me. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

  “I’m not staring, I’m just…just—”

  “Making sure I’m not dead?” he suggested.

  “Well, yeah.” I dropped my keys on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen. “Sandwich okay for lunch?” I asked, as I pulled the bread out of the pantry and opened the fridge to grab the lunch meat. “Fuck,” I whispered as I pulled out the bag of turkey that was now graying and had a patch of green on it. “Peanut butter and jelly okay?”

  I grabbed the jelly and peanut butter, not waiting for his response and set them down next to the bread. I took two slices of bread out of the bag and realized any sandwich was out of the question. “New plan,” I called as I opened the freezer. Thankfully, Jay always had a stash of Hot Pockets in the freezer, and I grabbed two. “Hot Pocket?”

  “I’m not hungry,” he grunted. I glanced back into the living room and saw he was sitting up, hunched over.

  “Need help getting up?” I asked, as I unwrapped his lunch and popped it into the microwave.

  “As much as I’d like to say no, I’m gonna have to go with yes. I don’t think I moved an inch while you were gone.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and rotated his head, trying to work out the kinks.

  “Bathroom?” I asked, as I grabbed his good arm and hoisted him off the couch.

  “Yeah. Just give me my crutch,” he grunted.

  “No, I’m just going to help you. I need to get back to the shop as fast as I can. Luke is on the warpath, and I’m his target today.”

  “What? Why?” Kurt asked as we slowly made it down the hallway.

  “Because I was gone for two weeks and Mitch didn’t come in today because Levi was sick and Scarlett couldn’t get off work. I’m five cars deep at the shop, and they all need to be done before five.”

  “Why the hell isn’t Luke helping you?” We made it to the bathroom and Kurt leaned against the door frame. He looked down at me, irritated.

  “Because someone has to take care of the front and I was gone for two weeks. I can pull my weight for a couple of days.”

  “You weren’t gone on a fucking vacation, Lee. Luke can cut ya some slack.”

  I shrugged and reached in the bathroom and turned on the light. I didn’t really want to discuss Luke with Kurt. I knew no matter what I told him about Luke, he was going to disagree. “You okay? Or do you need more help?”

  “I’m good.” He hobbled into the bathroom and shut the door in my face.

  Ugh. Pissing Kurt off was the last thing I wanted to do when I had come home to make lunch, but it was evident I was meant to piss off every Jensen brother I encountered today.

  I headed back to the kitchen when the microwave dinged, and I pulled out the plate of Hot Pockets. I had never gotten the hang of microwaving something without having the insides explode, and Kurt’s lunch looked like it was my latest microwaving victim.

  I grabbed a fork and set it on the plate, thinking they would still taste good, but just a bit messy.

  “Lee,” Kurt called.

  “Coming,” I yelled back as I quickly moved to the bathroom.

  Kurt was leaning against the door frame again, but this time, his face was white, and there was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “When’s the last time you took a pain pill?” I asked, as I wrapped his good arm around my shoulder and held him up.

  “What time did you leave this morning?”

  “Seven-thirty.”

  “I took a pill right after you left.”

  “Kurt, you bonehead. It’s almost one o’clock. I’m surprised you’re even standing right now. You need to take your medicine every three hours, even if you think you don’t need it. You need to stay ahead of the pain,” I scolded. I swear it was like I was dealing with a ten-year-old, not a man who was almost thirty.

  “I was sleeping, Lee. Not like I was awake and decided fuck it.” He groaned as I helped him down on the couch and he closed his eyes. “Just give me the pill.”

  I grabbed one off the counter and handed it to him. “If you didn’t take a pill, then why are they spilled all over the table?”

  “I don’t fucking know. I think I woke up for two seconds and tried to get them open but passed out before I could take one.”

  “You think you didn’t take one? Kurt, what the hell are you doing? I swear you're going to give me an ulcer.”

  “I know I didn’t take a pill, Lee, because if I did, I wouldn’t feel like death right now.”

  I twisted the cap off the bottle of water and handed it to him. “Don’t mess with your pills, Kurt. It’s not like you’re taking Tylenol.”

  Kurt rolled his eyes and swallowed the pill. “I know, Lee. I’m not a fucking idiot.”

  Ha. I couldn’t even count on my two hands the amount of times my dad had said the same thing. My dad always claimed he was in control of the pills and that only idiots let it take over their lives.

  My mom and dad being idi
ots are what put me in the situation I was in now. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a soda out of the fridge and the Hot Pockets. “Here,” I said setting down the plate and drink. “I’ll call you when you need to take another pill. I’ll try to be off by five, but I don’t know if that’s going to be possible. When we go to do your phone tonight, we’ll have to hit up the grocery store, too. Everything in my fridge is expired.”

  Kurt nodded and took a bite. “Holy hell. That shit is hot,” he huffed as he popped open the soda.

  “Microwaves aren’t really my friend,” I said as I shrugged. “Call if you need anything.”

  Kurt waved me off and took another bite. “I’ll be fine, mother,” he mumbled.

  I flipped him the bird and headed out the door. I really didn’t feel like putting up with his shit anymore.

  My phone rang as I was getting back into my car and I saw it was Kurt calling. “What?” I barked as I started the car.

  “You still here?”

  “Yes, I’m still in the driveway. Did you need something?” I put my hand on the shifter but didn’t shift the car.

  “Yeah. Don’t let Luke be an ass to you and thanks for lunch.”

  Huh, totally not what I expected him to say. “Um, you’re welcome.”

  “I’m serious, Lee. Don’t let him think he can treat you like crap. You haven’t done anything wrong.” I had never heard Kurt be so serious before.

  “Okay, I hear you, Kurt.” The phone clicked in my ear, and Kurt was gone as quickly as he was there. I tossed my phone in the passenger seat and wondered where in the hell that had come from. I didn’t think his pain pill would have kicked in that quickly.

  I backed out of the driveway and headed back to the shop. I don’t know what had changed in Kurt to make him be nice to me, but I wish I did.

  A nice Kurt Jensen was something I could get used to.

  ********

  Kurt

  I tossed the phone on the table and winced. Son of a bitch, this shit hurt.