Joe just smiled. “You’re making me nervous. Stop it,” she’d said. Still, Kirk asked again as they pulled down the road.
Yes, she said. He could have her properly.
Yes, and yes, and yes.
God, he was a good kisser.
Sarah was at the hostess station by eleven, and the lunch crowd began to filter in shortly thereafter, bringing in the working crowd from all over. It wasn’t hard to earn the business of locals when you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Joe made half a dozen mistakes, her mind flitting about like a moth, half ignoring people as they made their orders because she was too busy fantasizing about Kirk Fenn, and what he might look like naked.
“I ordered it without mayo.”
“Shit! I mean, sorry! My bad. Let me get you a new one,” she said to an apologetic plow driver, who seemed to feel as though her mistake was somehow his fault.
Joe hauled ass into the kitchen just as Sarah slipped in from the hostess station.
“Need a new Turkey Club. Sorry, totally forgot to hold the mayo.”
Tiernan gave her a feigned stern look, handing her a second club he’d been in the process of making just as Gracie snatched up the rejected plate. “I’ll split it with you.”
Joe nodded, laughing. She was getting hungry.
“Joe? There’s someone here asking for you.”
She and Gracie both looked at Sarah, and Joe’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
She instantly thought of Kirk. That he’d stolen away from work to see her over lunch. Joe turned for the door of the kitchen, light on her feet. “Where is he?”
“Right up at the front.”
Gracie’s brow hardened. “Table fifteen?”
“Yeah, fifteen.”
Joe ignored the senseless curiosity between them, happy to go greet her visitor.
Gracie reached for her. “Josephine, wait.”
Joe marched out into the restaurant, turning around the corner booth to smile at her visitor. The blonde haired man’s eyes set on her with familiar purpose, a sarcastic smile creeping across his face.
The world evaporated from beneath her feet, and the plate fell from her hand, shattering across the floor.
CHAPTER TEN
“You seem like you’re in a good mood, man. What’s going on?”
Kirk sat in the cab of his truck, cramming half a roast beef sandwich into his mouth as his cousin John jolted his arm in teasing demand.
“Come on, cuz. Lay it on me. What’s got you so light in the loafers?”
Kirk chuckled, almost spitting his sandwich onto the steering wheel. “I’m not light in the loafers, prick. That’s Tiernan.”
John scoffed, chewing on his own lunch. “Says you. I think it’s genetic.”
“Then what does that make you?”
John took a moment to contemplate this. “Well, I never pretended not to be light in the loafers, but I’ve been getting laid a while now, so that’s to be expected. Now, you on the other hand? You sly dog.”
Kirk swallowed hard, his face burning. He’d somehow forgotten his cousin John was just as much a bear as he was, and a bear would smell sex on a person for just thinking about what he’d done that morning in the cab of his truck. Shit! Where was his mind?
On Josephine, and on what he intended to do with her later.
“Hey, I’m not gonna say anything, pal. Chill out. Just wanted to congratulate you on the blessed event. Is this Rory’s mum, then?”
“Stop. Jesus Christ, does anyone in this family mind their own business?”
John took another bite, speaking with his mouth full. “Nope. If it makes you feel any better, Deacon’s moving to Boston for his lady friend.”
“Is he really?” Kirk asked, genuinely interested. The thought of his cousin no longer being the local EMT was bittersweet. He felt a strange relief to have Deacon when all hell broke loose and Kirk was called to a fire, or to save an elderly woman from the tub, but he enjoyed the thought of Deacon finding someone far more. That joy was in no small way amplified by his memory of his own morning.
“Yeah. No telling how that’s going to play out, but hey - guess the poonanny finally lured one of us away.”
John was seven years younger than Kirk and happily married. He’d reconnected with his high school sweetheart, Catherine Calhoun, just the previous summer. Despite Catherine’s status as an outsider, she’d somehow managed to sneak her way into the Fenn family without Patrick Fenn’s permission. The fact that she’d saved Deacon Fenn’s life in the process probably didn’t hurt.
John didn’t sound too thoroughly excited by Deacon’s paramour, but Kirk’s phone buzzed in his pocket before he could pry further into the Fenn family gossip. “Bah, he’ll be back. Maybe she just needs some convincing.”
John shook his head. “This chick doesn’t strike me as the convincible type.”
Kirk held up a hand to pause the conversation and took Gracie’s call.
“You need to get down here, now.”
The tone startled him enough to jostle his lunch right out of his lap. “What’s going on?”
“Your girl is losing her mind, Kirk. There’s some guy here, and she seems to know him. She’s inconsolable. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’ll be right there!”
Before he could put the phone down, Gracie spoke again. “There’s something not right about this guy, Kay. Hurry up, alright?”
Kirk tossed the phone down into the console and with just a word, John was out of the truck, watching Kirk barrel out of the work site in a cloud of dust and snow.
The restaurant was abuzz with strange energy as Kirk marched through the dining room, scanning for a familiar face. The blonde hostess recognized him instantly, rushing over to lead him toward the kitchen, shooting sideways glances over her shoulder at a table by the door. Kirk glanced over to see a blond man smiling as they passed, leaning in to sip his soda, nonchalantly.
Sarah pushed the kitchen door open, and the smell of panic overwhelmed him.
“You’re alright, sweetheart. Just breathe, honey.”
Tiernan was on the floor of his office, cradling Joe’s face in his hands. She was in a state, sweating and shaking violently, her hair clinging to her forehead and neck as though she’d been locked in a sauna.
“Josephine,” Kirk said, dropping to his knees before her.
She recoiled from him, as though she’d never seen him before in her life. She was panic stricken and wordless.
He took her hand, trying to get her attention. “Baby, you’re alright. Why don’t you come outside with me? I’ll take you home.”
She didn’t move, the act of merely shaking her head seemed to take all her strength.
Gracie brushed Joe’s sweaty hair from her face, turning her concerned gaze to Kirk. “That guy’s wrong. I don’t know what it is, but -”
Kirk shook his head, rising to his feet. “No. I could feel it, too.”
Kirk turned back out the kitchen door, marching into the startled dining room, his eyes fixed on the blond man’s smiling face. Even as Kirk glared down at the man, the smile remained etched there. It was rather disconcerting.
“Come on, pal. Lunch is on me,” Kirk said, grabbing the man by the shirt collar and yanking him from the booth.
“Whoa, guy! I’ve no quarrel with you. What seems to be the problem?”
The strange smile almost doubled, spreading over his face as though he relished Kirk’s anger - taking some dark satisfaction in it. He walked along on his toes, Kirk keeping hold of his shirt as they walked.
“Come on! Doesn’t Josie want to see me?” He called, deliberately yelling so that the kitchen could hear him.
Kirk threw the man out the front door of the tavern, watching with disappointment as the fellow caught his balance, remaining upright on the concrete.
“Hey man, I’m just here to see my old friend.”
“You’ve no friends here, pal,” Kirk said.
The ma
n cocked his head to the side, giving a doubtful look. “We go way back. Just ask her. And I mean – way back.”
The man made an obscene gesture with his hips, and Kirk took a step forward just as the front door to the restaurant blew open.
Kirk turned to find Gracie barreling out the door, her hackles clearly up.
Kirk went at the smiling man. “Get in your car and leave. The police are already on their way.”
The man smiled, turning his attention to Gracie, before leaning in. “I’m just here to catch up, see how my little girl is doing. Did Josie send you out?”
Kirk almost crumpled at his words. This was Rory’s father. This monstrous thing, whose very skin oozed deceit – this man could claim Rory as his.
Kirk felt his blood boiling with such fervor, he’d stepped forward to grab the man without a thought. Gracie stepped past Kirk, placing her body between them, and backed the smiling man up into his vehicle.
She slammed his back against the driver’s side door. “Get off my property before I remove you.”
He laughed in her face. “Remove me, sweetheart? I’d love to see you try.”
With that, Gracie set a smile to her face that matched his own, and punched her fist through the driver’s side window beside his head. A burst of cheering could be heard inside the tavern.
The man startled, flinching away. His face changed instantly. In place of that leering smile there was now pure malice. He’d clearly not liked being shown up, least of all by a woman.
“You sad cunt. No man would want to eat your cookin anyway,” he said.
Police sirens echoed in the distance, and the man’s smile was restored. He turned back to Kirk, and the smile cracked into something that made Kirk’s insides shudder.
“Give Theresa Little a message for me, will ya?”
Kirk stepped closer, Gracie planting a hand to his chest to push him away.
Kirk snarled at him. “Go fuck yourself.”
The man ignored him, the smile as cheerful and wrong as ever. “Tell her I said, what’s hers in mine. Think you can remember that?”
The man flashed them a friendly wave before climbing into his car and pulling out of the parking lot as though nothing had happened. As soon as his car was on the main road, the police cruiser rolled into the gravel car park.
Officer Black took what little statement Josephine could give. She seemed changed somehow. The two weeks she’d spent in Kirk’s house – recovering and slowly drawing from within her shell – were a distant memory. She’d returned to the woman Kirk had found in the hospital almost a month earlier, broken and disconnected in her hospital bed. She answered his questions with single word answers; yes, no, Carson.
Kirk stood by helpless as he watched Josephine hardening with each passing moment.
“I need to get my daughter,” she managed to say as the officer took what few notes he could.
“We have an officer heading to the school right now, ma’am. Is there anything else you could tell me about the man? Why he might be here, now?”
“It’s all already on file. I need to get my daughter.”
After several minutes of pulling teeth, Officer Black agreed to take statement from Gracie, leaving Kirk to drive his splintering cargo across town to the Blackrock Middle School.
Josephine climbed into the passenger seat, silent. Kirk gassed it out of the restaurant, the parking lot still full of curious onlookers and locals, all watching and waiting for news as to what caused such drama in their favorite haunt.
Kirk sped down the main drag, undeterred by thought of waiting police cars hiding in on one of the dirt side roads. He was more concerned with Joe, who sat beside him, silent and still shaking. He reached for her, touching his hand to her knee. She shirked away from him, curling into the passenger door like some frightened animal. It broke his heart to see it.
A strange buzzing sound caught both of their attentions, and Kirk turned toward the door of the truck, pulling his fallen phone from the floor. His chest tightened as he answered it.
“Hello?”
Joe watched him as he listened to the female voice on the other line.
“Mr. Fenn. We still have you listed as one of Rory Little’s emergency contacts.”
“Yeah, I’m Rory’s contact,” Kirk said.
Joe stiffened.
“There’s someone here claiming to be her father – says he was planning to pick her up from school today.”
“No! Do not -”
Before he could finish his sentence, Joe was across the truck, yanking the phone from his hand. She gestured to him, frantically. “Go. Go! Go!”
“Hello? This is Rory’s mother. Is there not a police officer there? That man cannot go near my daughter! Do you hear me? Get him out of the school!”
Kirk listened closely, his foot pressing ever harder on the gas, despite the bends in the road.
“YOU DIDN’T LET HER GO WITH HIM, DID YOU?!”
Kirk’s chest clenched as Joe grew more and more agitated. He couldn’t hear the woman’s frightened responses, but he could hear her tone.
Joe lost all control, sobbing into the phone. “Thank you! We’ll be right there. Don’t let him near her, please! Please god!”
She couldn’t hold the phone to her ear anymore, and it fell to the seat between them. Then she curled into herself, her temple pressed to the window.
Kirk felt so helpless as Joe shuddered there beside him. He paused a moment, afraid, but finally gave in to the need and reached for her.
She exploded at his touch.
“How could I be so fucking stupid?!” She screamed, punching the dashboard over and over until Kirk feared she’d break something. He reached across, grabbing her arms, trying to stop her as he struggled to keep the truck straight.
“You’re alright, sweetheart. We’ll get her -”
Joe recoiled at the word. “Don’t call me that! I’m not your fucking sweetheart!”
Kirk startled at this. “I’m sorry.”
“This is your fault! You and your fucking pancakes, and your bunk beds! You made her want to stay!”
Kirk’s stomach turned, instantly. He frowned. “I didn’t mean to make -”
Joe began sobbing uncontrollably, almost choking on the words. “How did he find us? I was so careful.”
Kirk fought with a tightness in his throat, a rising boil to his blood. That morning had been so perfect – it had been everything he’d ever wanted to wake up to. He’d felt adored, and felt adoring toward this woman in a way he’d never found before. He wanted to comfort her and keep her safe – keep Rory safe. Yet in the small space of that truck, he felt as though Josephine was sailing away from him, further and further with each passing moment.
“Go faster! Where’s the phone?”
Joe began to scramble across the truck seat.
Kirk swallowed, wishing to understand her. He’d felt evil in every inch of the man, but what had he done to this woman. What had that creature done to make his Josephine like this? “Josey, please talk to me, baby.”
“Baby? Ha! Right, that’s right. Don’t pretend to care about me, Kirk.”
“What?” He asked, and his tone dropped.
“I’m so onto you, now. You’re having your fun with Rory - with your bunk beds, and your pancakes, and your fucking Peter Pan complex. Getting your dick sucked by her mom is just icing on the cake, isn’t it?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t give a fuck about me. I’m the collateral! I’m the add-on. Keep me happy and maybe you can keep Rory, right?”
“That’s enough!”
“Creating some fucking bunk bed wonderland for kids you don’t even fucking have, like some pied piper of fucking Hamlin!”
Kirk’s eyes went wide, and his nostrils flared. He’d never heard anyone criticize his choices – those choices – like that. He did everything he could to make his home a safe place, to make sure no child was left out in the cold, or
at the mercy of the system. He had many flaws, many secrets that he’d happily take a lashing for, but not that.
He wouldn’t be accused of that.
He took a breath as his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “Fuck you, Josephine.”
“Fuck you!” She screamed, and began to sob again.
His throat grew tight, and he swallowed hard against it. This was it. He could feel it. She was going to leave. She was going to pack Rory up and take her away – take her off to some secreted away place and never look back. He’d never see them again.
The school appeared in the snow ahead. Josephine unlatched her seat belt and was halfway out of the truck before Kirk even had a chance to stop. Joe ran toward the school doors, yanking on the handle to no avail. They were locked. Kirk hurried past the black and white police cruiser parked outside the school, and came up behind her as she turned to the call box, frantically pressing the button. The doors gave a soft click, and Joe flung them open, running to the office window.
“Please! Where is my daughter? Rory Little!?”
The woman in the window gave them a grave look, but pointed down the hall. Kirk turned to see Rory standing there, holding the guidance counselor’s hand, frowning.
“Hi, Momma,” she said, and her tone betrayed wisdom well beyond her ten years.
Kirk’s heart broke.
Josephine ran across the school hallway and dropped to her knees, pulling Rory into her arms. There she remained, holding Rory against her, sobbing uncontrollably.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Josephine sat silent in the back seat of the truck, unwilling to release her hold on Rory. Kirk drove down the snowy roads, confused and aching. He’d never seen anything like Joe’s sudden meltdown. Seeing a woman as stoic and seemingly unfeeling as Joe tried to be, curled on the floor of Blackrock Middle School, clutching Rory to her as though grieving a loss that hadn’t yet come - it rattled him so deeply, he almost forgot her hurtful words.
Almost.
Kirk pulled into his driveway, waiting for the garage door to rise as another truck pulled up behind them. Joe startled so violently, Rory almost fell out of her lap.
The Bears of Blackrock, Books 1 - 3: The Fenn Clan Page 20
