Connor (The Kendall Family Series Book 2)

by Randi Everheart

  As he sat fantasizing, a startled cry and a muted thud broke his reverie. Seth jumped up, running toward the path and reaching for his gun, instinct telling him something was very wrong. “Sophia!”

  He reached the trail and the bush she was supposed to be behind. No sign of her. Anger and suspicion flooded into him and he started down the path, going around a corner with branches slapping at his face. And there lay Sophia and Jess all tangled up together, their hair disheveled, scowls on their faces, dirt and leaves in their clothes. He could tell from their positions that she’d run right into them. Mark stood over them, helping them up.

  Seth tried to process the scene. “What? What is going on here?” He looked at Sophia, who looked alarmed and worried as she got to her feet.

  “Um,” she began, but he cut her off.

  “How come you’re down here? You tried to run? Is that it? I don’t believe it. I thought we were having a good time!”

  He strode toward her so angrily that she backed up. He yanked her by the arm back to the camp, cursing all the way and ordering Jess and Mark to follow. Once there, he shoved Sophia down on the blanket and started pacing.

  “All this time, you were just pretending?” he yelled, shooting accusatory glances at her. “You played me for a fool. You lying bitch. I oughta smack the shit out of you. That’ll teach you to fuck with me. Who are you to fuck with me? I got a fucking gun!”

  All the upset in Sophia suddenly roared to life and she rose, snapping, “You kidnapped me, remember? What the fuck did you think? That we were on a Goddamn date?”

  His nostrils flared. He started toward her in such a way that Jess jumped in between them.

  Chapter 19 – Death is in the Air

  Jess put her hands on Seth’s chest to stop him from reaching Sophia. “Whoa, man! Back up. That’s not what you brought her here for, remember?”

  “Get out of my fucking way.”

  “Not until you calm down. C’mon, back up.” With an effort, Jess pushed him back until Seth relented and turned away, angrily kicking over the pot of beans, spilling them and sending the pot flying toward the cliff. It hit the ground and rolled so far that it went over the edge, banging a couple times. A moment of silence. Seconds later, it dinged a few more times, faintly, far below.

  “That’s fucking great,” snapped Seth to Sophia. “See what you made me do?”

  She swallowed a retort to prevent more escalation, surprised by Jess’s intervention in the beating she’d likely been about to get. To put more distance between them, she stepped off the blanket, farther away from Seth. Mark came forward and picked up the blanket, shaking it out to remove the beans, toppling the hot dogs in the process.

  “Well,” Mark began casually, “I’m hungry and getting a dog. You want one, Jess?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but Seth snapped, “Get your own fucking food.”

  Mark stopped short, eyes gleaming. “I bought the damn food so this is mine. Why don’t you get a fucking job and stop wasting my money?”

  Seth stopped short in his pacing, startled. His eyes narrowed. “Watch it. I have a gun.”

  “So do I,” replied Mark, lifting his shirt to show it, “and I’m a better shot, remember?”

  Seth hesitated. “When did you get that?”

  “Same time I got the one I loaned you.”

  “Didn’t know you had two.”

  “Now you do.”

  Jess sighed. “Can I trust you two not to shoot each other? I want to talk to Sophia a minute.”

  “So talk,” snapped Seth.

  “It’s private.”

  “You got no secrets from me.”

  “Maybe, but I got secrets to give her, about you.”

  Looking alarmed, Seth barked, “You don’t tell her shit. She’ll learn everything she needs to from me.”

  Jess grabbed a reluctant Sophia by the arm. “I’m gonna tell her just what you like so she’ll know how to please you. You want that, right?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said reluctantly, still sore.

  Jess left it at that and took Sophia back toward the path, passing out of sight, and more importantly, earshot. The time had come to set things right and get their captive out of here. She recognized that version of Seth she’d just prevented from hitting Sophia; it was the version which had hit her before. But never again. And he wasn’t laying a finger on Sophia. Jess would see to it.

  This whole thing was her fault. If she hadn’t offered to befriend Sophia on Facebook, and then told Seth when Sophia was coming home, he’d never have known. None of this would’ve happened. If they were all going to hell now, Jess was to blame. Sure, Seth was really behind everything, but Jess had become an enabler of his stupidity and brutishness. She felt sorrier than she knew how to express. About everything. Connor. The inn. The fear-inducing violence directed at Sophia, whom Jess had to save.

  She had never saved anyone before. Hell, she couldn’t even save herself. Mark had saved her, though. That much she knew. And if Mark could do that for her, and change her so much, then she owed it to Sophia to try and save the other girl from the same fate. Seth didn’t deserve Sophia. Or Jess. Seth didn’t deserve anything but a bullet in the head.

  Jess lowered her voice. “You have awful timing.”

  Tired of the bullshit from everyone, Sophia irritably asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Me and Mark want to get you out of here.”

  Sophia snorted. “Like hell you do.”

  “No, I’m serious. That’s why we came back, to stop him from, you know… I really wish you hadn’t run into me. I didn’t see you coming.”

  Sophia wasn’t buying it. “Why the change of heart?”

  Jess sighed. “Long story. Let’s just say I had my head up my ass for a long time about Seth and now I don’t. Mark, too. We know we’re screwed and going to jail and deserve to and all of that, but we want to stop him from hurting you. But he’s got a gun.”

  “So does Mark.”

  “I know. We need to think of some plan or something. Look, I don’t know, okay? Just don’t do anything stupid. Keep an eye out for an opportunity.”

  Sophia wasn’t sure what to make of all of that but had a better idea. “You have your car keys? Give them to me and maybe I’ll start to believe you. I can just split now. You can deal with him being pissed about it.”

  “Yeah, but they’re in my purse. I’ll sneak them to you and then try to distract Seth or something, so you can leave. Here,” she said, reaching up to one ear and removing the earring. “These are yours. I’m sorry I stole them from your house. I have other stuff of yours in my purse. I also have pepper spray. I’ll try to find a way to leave it near you without being obvious.”

  Sophia didn’t give a shit about the damn earrings right now and almost wanted to throw them on the ground. But she put them in her pocket and followed Jess back to where she’d been, wondering how this would play out. Mark had started some hot dogs for him and Jess, and now went off to pee just off the path, which is where he stood while eavesdropping on their next conversation.

  “So you know what I like now, huh?” Seth asked Sophia, looking for a fight. Sophia sensed it and decided to aggravate him.

  “You don’t think I’m actually going to do something for you, do you?”

  “You had fucking better.”

  “Not a chance. I don’t even like you. Why would I do something for you? Let me guess, you want a fucking blowjob.”

  He flushed and she knew that’s exactly what he’d been thinking. “Why do something nice for me? How about cuz I got a fucking gun?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s rich. Is this how you romanticize a woman? Wave a gun and girls just do what you want? You’re pathetic.”

  He smiled then. “You know, you just keep playing hard to get but you aren’t that hard to figure out. Or get. I got you here, didn’t I?”

  Sophia snapped, “Kidnapping people is not what is meant by someone being hard to
get.”

  “You love it.”

  “Shut up.”

  “You love me, too. Admit it.”

  “What the fuck is the matter with you? I do not love you. I never have. I never will.” She gestured in futile frustration, sick of being unable to get through to him, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. “You know that stupid incident you’re talking about years ago? I was just being nice, dumbass. Jesus, a girl is nice to you for five fucking minutes and you get it in that stupid head of yours that she loves you.”

  “Hold on now,” Seth started, his face falling.

  “What, are you so pathetic that a few minutes of sympathy is all it takes? No girl has ever even been nice to you, so you fall in love with the first one that does?”

  “Stop it now,” said Seth, cheeks reddening.

  Sophia lied, saying, “I felt sorry for you, Seth. That’s all it was. Pity. I didn’t like you. I certainly didn’t love you. I could never love someone like you. You know why? Because you treat people like shit. You did that crap back then. Don’t think I didn’t hear the stories about you. Everyone did. You were a fucking laughingstock for a reason. A reason you brought down on yourself. And you’re still doing that stupid shit now. You’re even worse than before. You’re fucking kidnapping people. What is there to love, Seth?”

  “I said ‘enough’!” Seth screamed, waving the gun.

  Years of worry, fear, and anger about him stalking her just came pouring out of Sophia, who knew she was saying everything wrong and risking too much, but she was so sick of all of this that she just had to say whatever hate-filled thoughts occurred to her, whether she believed them or not. The only truth here was emotional. He’d been stoking her feelings all this time, just like he wanted, but stoking the wrong ones. And it was time to tell him, once and for all, how he made her feel. Really feel. To tell him whatever it took so that she never had to listen to this bullshit from him ever again.

  Even if it got her killed.

  “Oh please,” Sophia yelled back. “It’s never enough with you. Nothing is ever enough to get through that stupid fucking head of yours. Not telling you no. Not ignoring you. Not even a restraining order. I mean Jesus fucking Christ, Seth, I got a Goddamn restraining order put on you and you still didn’t get the fucking message, that I want nothing to do with you. Ever! You’re the stupidest motherfucker I’ve ever known. You’re dirt poor, ugly, and obscene in every conceivable way. No one could ever love you, Seth. You are the most unlovable creature the world has ever seen. You’ve proven it with every action you’ve taken this week.”

  She stopped there, the well of vitriol at last run dry. Such terrible words had never passed her lips before. They were alien sounds. Alien thoughts. But not alien feelings. That’s all he’d been stirring in her for years. She’d never dwelled on the awful things in her life for long. Her life hadn’t been that bad, really, not that she thought it was extraordinary or something. It was, if anything, a little too plain—up until she met Connor. He was everything she’d dreamed of in a man, and more. He made the simple wonderful, the ordinary extraordinary, and the mundane a delight. He was all she wanted, the future with him so bright with love and fulfilment that it seemed a dream. Especially when contrasted with the nightmare before her.

  And for all she knew, this little asshole had killed him tonight. If Connor was dead, or in any way not alright, she’d kill Seth and relish doing so.

  In the dreadful silence that followed Sophia’s rant, Seth had a moment of clarity. Not the uplifting kind that inspires people. The kind that shatters everything they hold dear. It didn’t last long, the moment. Just a second or two. He saw the reality of what she’d just said in all its stark truth, which struck him like a blow. He cast a look of horror at her. That she looked so stunningly beautiful in her passion made a deep impression on him, but it was a hideous beauty, for it sprang from utter hatred of him. He saw that now. Indeed, it was quite impossible to miss. He’d made her more gorgeous than her normal walking-around self, just like he’d always assumed he would—but out of love for him.

  And this was not love. He’d never seen such hatred. Except his own reflection. Funny how she reminded him of himself just now. After all this time of seeming so far apart, in so many ways. Maybe they really were soulmates.

  But the reality that he’d made her hate him, when so many other people had made him hate them, was a shock. He’d put that into her. Which meant he was poison. Despicable. Loathsome. But as much as he’d always felt he deserved every harsh word, disgusted stare, or indifferent glance sent his way, he’d always felt misunderstood. That an injustice had been visited upon him. It had fueled him. Given him purpose. Focused him. Given him a spark. A reason not to blow his Goddamned brains out.

  But now he realized, in a moment of utter despair, that none of those people had ever misunderstood him. They had been right. It was him who was wrong and had been all along. And Sophia knew it. She saw it. Saw him. Saw all that was nasty in him, when nasty was what he reveled in, if truth be told. Nasty was what he had to give her. What he’d already given her. What he’d intended to give her more of, in a delusion that he loved her. That she’d loved him, cared for him, or even liked him, for one small moment in time all those years ago.

  He almost wanted to laugh then. Or cry. Or just fling himself from the cliff that he knew perfectly well was behind him. He’d stood there countless hours over the years wanting to. He’d often thought no one would care about him splattering all over the rocks below. And when he was younger, that was self-pity talking, but in recent years it had been a sober truth gnawing away at him. Ignoring that niggling truth had become harder and harder.

  And when that desire started to overwhelm him, he always remembered Sophia on that day so long ago now, when she’d taken the time to make him feel better in his distress. He’d always wished she was here. To bring him back from the edge. And now she was here. After all this time, the woman he loved was here at his real home on this Earth. But she wasn’t real. Or rather, the woman he’d imagined had been just that, his imagination. The Sophia Turner he was in love with didn’t exist. Whether she had ever been real or he’d killed her with his actions, he’d likely never know, and if he’d killed her, he deserved death. Worse than death. He suddenly felt sorry for everything he’d done. And furious.

  Because what he did know was that, for all of his dreams and desires to show her what was best in him, for all his efforts to do so, he had instead shown her the absolute worst in him.

  And made her hate him. Not love him.

  He felt fairly certain that he was losing his Goddamn mind. And part of him loved it.

  Death was in the air.

  “Okay!” Seth screamed. “So I get it. You don’t love me. Never will. I’m just not good enough for you, is that it? You stuck-up bitch!” He took a menacing step toward her before stopping himself. “So, what, you were just screwing with me? All those looks in the hallways. All those smiles. You smile like that at everyone, is that what you’re telling me? Huh? Did you smile like that at Connor? Right before he fucked you?”

  Seth leered at her. “That’s right. I saw him fucking you. I saw you fucking him! What did it take for that little shit to get you naked? Huh? Years of me sending you roses, love letters, and my best damn smiles and that guy has to what? Just smile and you throw your clothes off?”

  Sophia edged toward Jess’s purse and the pepper spray. A glance at Jess showed her alarm, too, like a deer caught in the headlights.

  “Goddamn you, Sophia!” Seth screamed, lungs heaving. “Look what you made me do! I thought we had a future together because of you. Now I’ve got none. The fucking police are after me now. I’m gonna go to fucking jail for you. You destroyed my whole life. I was willing to give you everything. Everything! And you can’t even give me the time of day. I did all this for you. For us. Look what you made me do!”

  “I didn’t make—”

  “Don’t you fucking lie to me! I’m done listening
to you, done with your lies, done with you altogether! If you hadn’t led me on all this time, I wouldn’t have done this. I thought you loved me. You played me for a fucking fool. I bet you liked that, huh, getting me to fall in love with you so you could just string me along. I bet you told all your fucking friends about it, too.” He then imitated her voice, saying, “Oh, I’ve got this stupid little country boy back home that thinks he loves me. It’s so funny. I just string him along and he sends me the most embarrassing love letters. What a loser!”

  “Seth, I would never—”

  “Shut the fuck up!

  “Just let me go, Seth.”

  “Never!” He raised the gun at her.

  “No!” Connor stepped into the camp and pointed a gun at Seth. Surprised eyes, including Sophia’s, turned toward him.

  Riley swore and came out, too, his handgun aimed at Seth’s chest. He hadn’t spotted Mark and had been waiting for him to appear, but Connor had screwed this up, though not without good reason. Still, never go into a gun fight with a known enemy nearby and unaccounted for. He could be anywhere, like behind them. And as it turns out, that was the truth.

  “Don’t move,” said Mark, his gun on the back of Riley’s head. The motion caused Coby, who was standing beside the Kendall brothers, to growl.

  “Shit,” Riley swore. A quick spin could get himself killed. “Stand down, Coby.”

  Mark said, “I’m serious. Everyone needs to calm down and do what I say. Don’t do anything stupid. Please. Put your guns down. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

  Riley muttered, “Funny thing for a guy holding a gun to say.”