I try for the most genuine smile I can manage, “I fell into the corner of a locker the other day.”
His fingertips trace the bruises and I feel myself leaning further into him. When his lips find the small cut on my nose, I hope whole heartedly that they’ll move to my lips next.
Then I hear Goose and Maverick somewhere behind him and he pulls away.
When he steps to the side, I get to watch as Maverick slows his pace as he takes in my face.
Goose doesn’t look surprised, but the closer he gets, the more pissed his face turns.
Neither one of them are the first to speak. Lucas who has been trailing behind them, has the same kind of reaction that Teagan had. Straight from all smiles to concern, “What happened?”
I ignore the glares coming from both Goose and Maverick, “I fell into the corner of a locker the other day.”
“How did you fall?” Goose grinds out.
“Well,” I start, “I was texting Ryleigh back and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
Teagan looks like he halfway believes me, but Maverick folds his arms across his chest, “So it was an accident?”
“Yes?” I mean to say it as an answer, but it comes out more of a question.
“I’m not trying to overstep boundaries,” Goose starts, “But if something needs to be said to your Grandad then we will. Say the word.”
It takes a second for his words to register in my brain and then my rage takes over as his accusations hit home.
“Gramps has never once laid a hand on me,” I say through gritted teeth. “It’s might fine shitty of you guys to think that too. You don’t know him. Hell, you don’t know me.”
I’m pissed and freezing cold, so I’m not going to stand around and defend Gramps to people who I shouldn’t even be messing around with in the first place. I take off back down the hill. Ryleigh is probably long gone by now, but I’m sure I can bum a ride from someone. If not, that’s ok too. It’s only an hour walk back home.
“Kendall,” Goose’s voice follows me down the hill. A warm hand closes around mine and pulls me to a stop. I shock myself when I realize I’d love nothing more than to punch whoever it is. I’m anything but a violent person normally.
Goose pulls me to face him, “Hey, I’m sorry ok? I didn’t mean to piss you off.”
I lock eyes with him, so he can see that I’m not kidding when I say, “Don’t ever say anything like that about Gramps again. Even if he was the type to do something like that, which he’s not, he couldn’t. He’s dying from lung cancer, and does his best to even get out of bed in the morning.”
“Fuck, Kendall,” he says frowning, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. It’s just I’ve been there. On the receiving end, and scared to say anything. I just didn’t want that to be the case for you. I guess there’s always that old saying about assuming.”
“What?” I ask. “That it makes an ass out of you and me?”
He laughs, “Yeah, but mostly just me this time.”
I laugh with him, because I refuse to deny that one.
“You still want to go to the party?” he asks. “We can go hang out somewhere else, or take you home if you want to go. Up to you.”
I think on it for a second. Now that the bad part is out of the way, having a good time doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. “Party?” I ask.
He does a weird bow thing that makes me laugh, and we walk back up the hill. “Fuck, your hands are like ice.”
“What do you expect?” I say sarcastically. “I’ve been out here for like thirty minutes waiting on you guys.”
When we make it up the hill, the others are all still hanging around the front of the Rover.
“Mav, you need to leave the keys with Kendall next week,” Goose says. “She can warm up the car while she waits on us.”
His eyebrow quirks up, but it’s Lucas who says, “We good?”
I nod at him and Teagan says, “Well, let’s go party then.”
Lies Are For Cowards
The party is in full swing, and we have to park at least thirty deep on the side of the road leading up to the main house. We get out of the car, and I take an extra few seconds to stretch out the tension in my body. Riding with a silent, semi-pissed Maverick is not good for stress. He didn’t speak one word on the way here, and even now, he’s already half-way up the road with Lucas right beside him. Teagan and Goose hang back with me.
“What’s his problem?” I ask inclining my head towards Maverick.
Goose follows my eyes, but I know he doesn’t need to, “Let’s just say that Mav is one of a kind. He’s got some anger issues. Maverick is just…”
“Maverick,” Teagan finishes for him. They laugh as we start walking.
The bass of the music thumps all the way out of the house and into my chest as we get closer. I know I said I wanted to come to this thing, but if I’m honest, I’d rather not go inside the house at all during the party. Lucky for me, someone is thoughtful enough to have started a bonfire close to the lake. That’s where we find Maverick and Lucas already sitting. Goose leaves us to take up the spot beside Maverick. I sit down in the closest spot to the fire and Teagan looks like a lost puppy for a second as he looks from them back to me.
Never in a million years would I want him to choose between his friends and me, so I say, “You can go sit with them. I just want to be closer to the fire.” I’m even nice about it, and don’t mention that I’d rather sit on a bed of nails than to go sit next to Mr. Pouty Pants.
He sits down, “Nah. They’re ok. I’m a little chilly myself.”
“Umm, what was that speech you guys gave me the other day about wet hair in the cold?” I tease. “Shouldn’t you be wearing a hat?”
“Well, I would,” he retorts, “But someone never gave mine back.”
“I’m sorry,” I laugh reaching in to the inside pocket of my jacket. I haven’t wanted to give it back. Even after me wearing it, it still has the smell of him on it. I’d really hate for him to get sick, though. “Here,” I say handing it back.
His hand brushes against mine as he takes it, “Thanks. I know you haven’t found yours yet, so I’ll give this one back to you later.”
I nod to keep the butterflies from escaping my stomach. The girl beside me passes over a bag of marshmallows and I watch as she skewers hers and begins to roast it over the fire. It brings back memories of the other night, sitting around the fire with Teagan, when he first kissed me. When I look up to him, I can tell he’s thinking the same thing. My face flames as hot as the fire and I pass the bag to him without taking any. In my peripheral, I can see that he’s still smiling down at me. The bigger problem is that my eyes lift to see Maverick watching us. I could be wrong, but I think that he saw the entire exchange.
He stands up without breaking eye contact with me and heads inside the house. Teagan says he’s going to get us a drink, and leaves me with a promise that he’ll be back in a minute. Lucas and Goose follow the other two inside quickly thereafter.
Fucking boys. What am I even doing here? I’m restless, and I decide now is a good a time as any to take a stroll down to the dock on the lake. Teagan can find me when he gets back.
Once I’m alone, it’s so much easier to breathe. In the darkness, the lake water looks black, and reminds me of a mirror, with the way it reflects the stars in the night sky. Absently, I notice some of the stars are covered by clouds. A storm must be rolling in. Damn I hope it waits until I get home to rain. I love the sound that it makes as it hits the trailer’s tin roof.
“What are the chances I’d find you here, trailer park?” Derrik’s voice says from behind me.
I startle so much that I’m scared I’ll fall into the lake, but I try not to let it show in my voice, “Pretty good since I’m here, huh Dick.”
His face drops from fake friendliness to pure hatred, “Found you some Prim Wood boys to whore out to I guess. There’s no other reason for you to be here. Do they know what you are, white trash?�
�
He’s got me cornered like a cat and mouse. I can’t move around him, because I know for a fact that he’ll push me in, and I’d rather not go for a swim. So, I do what I should have done a long time ago, and ask, “What’s your fucking problem, Derrik? I’m sorry that Will kicked your ass over me, but that was years ago. Why can’t you just move on and leave me the fuck alone?”
The laugh that he lets out is rough and it gives me chills. “You’re nothing but a fucking whore, trailer park. Why would you ever think that fight was about you?” he sneers.
This throws me for a second, and he inches closer.
“Then why?” I ask. “I’ve never done anything to you.”
“Yes, you have. You lived when it should have been him,” he says harshly.
The words strike home harder than I’d like, and I have to put a hand against my heart to make sure that I wasn’t actually stabbed.
“He wouldn’t have even been out that night if it wasn’t for you,” he says digging the knife a little deeper.
Derrik has moved even closer and I’m sure at this point that my ass is getting wet tonight. I can only hope that he won’t try to drown me after I go in. I try to stall him and get a question off my chest at the same time, “Why do you care so much?”
I watch his face as the pain flashes there, and it’s in that moment that I know. He must see something on mine, because he makes a quick move to push me in.
“Hey!” a voice yells from behind him. My stomach falls into my butt in relief when I hear Teagan’s voice.
Derrik turns around with a smile plastered to his face, “Hey man, what’s up? Killer party.”
“What the fuck was just going on here?” he asks. “It looked like you were going to push her in.”
The laugh that he lets out is fake and I hope Teagan can read straight through the bullshit. I’m not opening my mouth. If they find out that Derrik was the cause of my bruises, I have no doubt that he would have a rough night afterwards. I should have known that I wouldn’t have to say anything.
Derrik opens his mouth and inserts his foot, “Oh, you mean trailer park? She was just offering me sex for money, and I had to be a little forceful in telling her off. Figured a swim might do her some good.”
“Is that so?” Teagan asks in a chilly voice I’d yet to hear from him.
Throwing up his hands, Derrik says, “Look man, I wasn’t trying to start any trouble. We were just talking.”
“I thought she was offering you sex for money?” Teagan says crossing his arms. “Can’t be both, so which is it, dickhead?”
He laughs and looks to me, “This is who you’re whoring around with now?”
“Don’t fucking call her that or it’ll be your ass in that lake,” Teagan says, taking a step closer to him.
Derrik throws his hands up again, “You’re more than welcome to her, dude. I’m out.”
We watch as he makes his way to the end of the dock. I breathe a sigh of relief. Only, it’s short lived when he turns around and walks backwards as he says, “See you around.” It would have been fine if he hadn’t reached up and tapped the side of his nose.
Teagan, who had come to stand at my side, stiffens as Derrik’s laughter echoes back to us, “Kendall?”
I look up to his face, only to see a fury that I associate with Maverick not him. “Please tell me that he didn’t just mean what I think he did,” he says barely containing the rage.
Refusing to answer him is enough of an answer, apparently. He storms down the dock as he yells, “Mother fucker!”
“Wait, Teagan,” I say catching up, and trying to pull him to a stop, “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
He stops and turns around to look down to me, “Tell me that prick has nothing to do with the bruises on your face.” When I say nothing, he nods, “Thought so.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
If he makes it to the guys before Derrik leaves, it’s going to turn into a bloodbath. I’m way the fuck out of my element, and I have no idea how to stop them. Ryleigh. I’ve got to find Ryleigh.
By the time that I find her, I almost cry in relief. She’s sitting in Eddie’s lap inside the house. Just as I motion for her to come outside with me, one of the guys’ teammates runs through the middle of the room, “Fight!!!”
Forgetting Ryleigh, I rush out with the rest of the crowd to the front yard. What I see turns my stomach. Maverick has Derrik on the ground pounding fist after fist into his face. Goose tries to pull him off the bloody mess that’s Derrik, but Maverick just pushes him away. So, of course, I do the stupidest thing I can think of.
Pushing my way through the crowd, I get in Maverick’s face, “Stop it! Maverick! Look at him! Stop!”
There’s so much anger when he looks at me that I know some of it is meant for me. He jerks up away from Derrik, who is moaning on the ground.
I want to say something to him, but he’s gone before I get the chance to.
Ryleigh comes up and yanks on my arm, pulling me away from the scene. She walks us back to Eddie, “Go find my brother and tell him that I’m taking Kendall home.” He nods and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Once we’re out of earshot of everyone, she starts grilling me. It takes me all the way to her car to get it all out and when I do, she says nothing. She just stares at me, open-mouthed. At least I think she’s staring at me, until I realize that she’s actually been staring right over my shoulder.
“Why did you lie to me?” Maverick’s voice growls in my ear.
Since I don’t want to turn around and face him, I find a spot on Ryleigh’s tire to stare at, “I technically didn’t lie about anything.”
His palm smacks the Jeep beside me, “Omitting the truth is the same fucking thing. Lies are for cowards. Lies are also for people who don’t want any friends.” The last is whispered so close to my ear that I feel his breath fan over my neck.
He pulls away from me and I don’t watch as he walks away this time. It’s all I can do to fight the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
Twunt
I go the rest of the weekend without hearing from any of them. The only person who is still talking to me is Ryleigh. I’ve not tried to text the guys, though, so maybe it’s just as much my fault as it is theirs. Possibly more mine, since I’ve yet to apologize. I work my feelings away at the restaurant, and get banging tips in return for it. Doesn’t really make that much of a difference to me, I just drop it in the bank and move on. It’ll be there when I need it.
Gramps hasn’t really been up to moving around much the past couple of days, so I’ve been making sure that he doesn’t need anything while I’ve been home. Sunday night is particularly bad when he goes into a coughing fit that scares the shit out of me.
Needless to say, as I wake up Monday morning, I feel worse than hammered ass from not having any sleep. I get assurances from Robert that he’s going to take Gramps to the doctor before I catch the bus for school. I want to stay and take him myself, but Gramps spills some bullshit about a good education. Right, because that’s going to get me out of here.
I fall asleep in half of my classes and just grunt in reply to everything that Billy says to me at lunch. I’m not in a social mood. At least not with anyone at this school.
I’m super cranky as I make my way into the bathroom. Sitting down to do my business, I hear the door open and close.
“Did you hear that trailer park got Derrik beat up over the weekend?” Stacey says loud enough to echo around the bathroom. They had to of followed me in here.
“Come on, Stace. I heard her grandpa is really sick,” the new girl says.
Stacey huffs and then laughs, “Yeah, her grandma died a couple years ago too. Must be the trailer trash plague. Best stay away or you’ll catch it too.”
I’ve had about all I can take for the day. I yank the door open so hard that it smacks against the wall loud enough to sound like a gunshot, “Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Stacey.”
She whips around, �
��What’s wrong, trash? Grandma a soft subject for you? I’d bet that’s where you learned how to be a whore.”
Adrenaline courses through my body, and I move faster than I ever have before. My fist connects with Stacey’s face with a loud crunch. She screams, and her two friends take off running.
“Say what you want about me, but you keep your fucking mouth shut about her,” I say through my teeth.
“What’s going on in here, Ms. Davis?” Mrs. Carpenter demands as she stalks through the door. The pod squad is right on her heels, but she yells at them to go back to class.
She helps Stacey to her feet, “Let’s go, you two.”
Stacey squeaks, “She attacked me Mrs. C, I was just trying to use the bathroom.”
“You can tell your lies to Mr. Brooks,” she tells a horrified Stacey.
I’ve never once been sent to the principal’s office. There wouldn’t be a better reason than this. I’ll accept the consequences of my actions, and maybe next time Stacey will know better than to use my family against me.
Mrs. Carpenter drops a still bleeding Stacey off at the nurse, and then herds me into Mr. Brooks’ office. She shuts the door behind herself as she talks to him, “Found these ladies fighting in the bathroom. The other one is over at the nurse’s office.” The nurse’s office? Why can’t she just call her by her name? I know that the two of them are good buddies outside of school. For some reason this strikes me as hilarious, and it cracks me up. I’m in one of those delirious moods from not getting enough sleep, one of those where you get the giggles, and can’t stop.
“You think this is funny, Ms. Davis?” Mr. Brooks asks.
I shake my head instead of answering out loud. I’m scared the giggles will break free again and that won’t do anything good for my current situation.
“Why were you fighting?” he asks as he’s filling out paperwork on his desk.
Biting back what I really want to say, instead I tell him, “She’s been saying shit that she shouldn’t.”
His eyes flick up to mine, “Language.”
Reviving Kendall (White Trash Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
