Perfect Wreckage

by Cowles, Catherine

  “We need to make a motion to have Kenna removed from The Gables during the trial and have a freeze placed on the trust.”

  Grant whisper-hissed the words to Hotchkiss, but the judge didn’t miss a thing. “No talking out of turn in my courtroom.”

  Caelyn stifled a giggle next to me, and I squeezed her hand hard. I didn’t want the man’s attention focused over here. But that’s precisely what happened. Judge Moore turned his eyes to me. “Ms. Morgan, you are currently living in the guest quarters, correct?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.” My voice was steady, even though my hands trembled.

  “I’m ruling that Ms. Morgan may stay on the property. There will be no removal of any of the belongings in the main house or any of the outbuildings. If you need to access the trust for any repairs or insurance payments, those will have to be approved by the court.”

  Air rushed into my lungs as I took the first breath since the judge’s gaze had zeroed in on me. “Thank you, sir.”

  Grant mumbled a complaint to Hotchkiss, but it was low enough that the rest of us couldn’t hear, and the judge chose to ignore it.

  “Court is adjourned.” Judge Moore rose and headed for his private entrance.

  Caelyn wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. “That was good, right? I mean, it would’ve been better if he had kicked those greedy buggers to the curb, but at least you don’t have to find a new place to live.”

  “It’s good.” I looked up at Crosby, who had turned to face us. “Right?”

  He nodded, his lawyer expression still in place. “It’s a good start.”

  My muscles eased a fraction. “Let’s get out of here. I need to try and make it into the office this afternoon.”

  Bell reached out and grabbed my shoulder. “Haven’t you earned an afternoon off?”

  I wished. But Chris was already pissed that I’d taken this morning off with less than a week’s notice. “I can’t. Too much to do.” I pushed to my feet, turning to step into the aisle, and stopped dead as I came face-to-face with Grant.

  “You’re making a mistake, Kenna. I think I could convince my parents to still give you a settlement if you sign over The Gables. You were never stupid. You have to know that if you fight this, you’ll end up with nothing.”

  Bell scoffed, and my spine straightened. “I would never go against Harriet’s wishes for her home.”

  Grant’s eyes narrowed. “You mean my grandmother? The one you manipulated? I tried to keep this from getting ugly, but you never listen. You’re giving us no choice.”

  “Watch what you say, Grant. You’re dangerously close to making a threat in front of multiple witnesses.” Crosby’s voice held a tone that I’d never heard from him before. Low, menacing, one that had chill bumps rising on my skin.

  Grant glared at Crosby. “It’s not a threat. It’s the truth. She’ll be ruined when my family’s done with her.”

  And just like that, I remembered precisely whom I was fighting with. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do that would allow me to win against these people.

  24

  Kenna

  My arms cut through the water, my legs helping to propel me forward. The shocking cold was just what I needed this morning, along with the burn flaring in my muscles. I pushed myself harder, calling up every last bit of strength I had.

  The harder I pushed, the quieter my mind got. And I desperately needed that silence. The voices running around in my brain had been way too loud these past few days. Full of Grant’s ominous warning and memories of the past. I needed a break from it all.

  Almost a week had passed since our first court date, and Crosby was due back in front of Judge Moore tomorrow. That knowledge had given me an extra dose of anxious energy—just one more thing to burn off with my swim. We hadn’t heard a word from Grant or any other member of team Abbot, but I’d also been avoiding any place Grant might be. I didn’t need the memories that seeing him brought. And I didn’t need to be reminded of how little the entire family thought of me, how they might again affect the community’s view of me.

  With a few more hard strokes, I began to ease off my chase, to slip into smooth, gliding movements. I flipped to my back, taking in the early morning sky with its clouds tinged with light pink. The heaving in my chest slowed. No matter what happened, no one could take the serenity of this place away from me. The Abbots might take my home, and it would destroy something inside of me if they did, but I would survive. And I would still have Anchor. They couldn’t take the water and the beaches and the peace. That was something I’d hold inside of me forever.

  I flipped back to my stomach, sliding into an easy breaststroke back to shore. Climbing to my feet, the bite of the air against my wet skin had me muttering a litany of curses. I hurried to my pile of belongings. I pulled one towel around my body and the other around my hair. The chill in my bones, even after such a hard workout, told me that my days of swimming in the inlet were numbered.

  I grimaced, thinking about having to brave the gym during the winter months. It always felt so claustrophobic. I secured one end of the towel at the base of my head and froze. A figure leaned against the large pine tree at the edge of the parking lot. But this time, it wasn’t Crosby with his smirking grin, waiting for a paddleboard session.

  I didn’t move for at least a count of thirty, but neither did she. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to bend down and pick up the tote bag I’d hidden between my towels. Harriet had called her when I was in the hospital, when they weren’t sure I was going to make it. But she hadn’t come. My own mother couldn’t be bothered, even when her only daughter lay dying.

  The burn of that knowledge slid through my body like lava. I headed for the parking lot, ignoring the woman who may as well as well have been a stranger. She didn’t deserve my acknowledgment.

  A puff of smoke hit me as I passed. “What? No hello for your mother?”

  I kept walking. She wanted a scene. It’s what she always wanted. A vision of Janet showing up drunk at my middle school one day, screaming about how Harriet had stolen me from her, and that she wanted me back danced in my head. The kids had been viciously cruel about it. Well, they’d been cruel until Bell had punched one of them in the nose. Then, they’d quieted down. Everyone but Lacey. She worked it into conversation all the way through high school.

  I pulled my keys out of my bag and beeped my locks. A hand locked on my elbow. I whirled, jerking free. “Don’t touch me.”

  Janet’s eyes widened a fraction before she schooled her features and took another drag off her cigarette. “I just want to talk. You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”

  “What do you want?”

  She tapped the cigarette and let ash fall to my beautiful beach. Just her presence was enough to pollute it, but then she had to add her nasty cancer sticks to the mix. “I told you, I want to talk. To see how you are.”

  I eyed her carefully. Janet Morgan never showed up unless there was something in it for her. She’d been an unapologetic opportunist for as long as I could remember. A light dawned. “Who told you?”

  Janet pulled on her best mask of innocence. “Told me what?”

  “Cut the shit. Who told you that Harriet left me the house?” She must still have ears on the island. I could’ve sworn she’d burned every bridge she’d had on Anchor. It was why she’d left, after all. But, apparently, someone was still willing to feed her information.

  Janet grinned, but it had an ugly edge to it. “That handsome boy you used to date called me. What did you do to screw that one up?”

  Ice slid through my veins at her words. The Abbot games had begun. It was only their first shot, and already, it felt like a death blow. “You need to leave. You’re not welcome here.”

  Her lips thinned into a hard line. “You want me gone, it’s gonna cost. You’ll have to give me some of that money that stuck-up bitch left you.”

  “Don’t.” The single word was a warning. I’d put up with a lot, but never this woman call
ing Harriet ugly names.

  “I want twenty grand.”

  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. “You think I have twenty grand lying around? You’re crazy.”

  Janet’s gaze narrowed on me. “Sell some of the crap in that monstrosity of a house. I’m sure there’s more than enough baubles in there to get me my money.”

  This was the woman I’d come from. Someone who thought the world owed her something. No, that the world owed her everything. God forbid she actually work for the things she wanted. “The house and its contents are wrapped up in legal filings right now.” I caught her gaze and didn’t look away. “But even if they weren’t, I’d never give you a cent.”

  Janet let her cigarette fall to the ground and then stomped on it. “Looks like I’m here to stay, then. Think of all the fun we’ll have, Kenna. The party’s just getting started.”

  25

  Crosby

  “How are you feeling about tomorrow?”

  I took a sip of my Guinness before answering Ford. “We’re as ready as we can be. You just never know what people like the Abbots will throw at you.”

  Ford’s brother, Hunter, let out a sound that was a cross between a scoff and a grunt. “They always were assholes.”

  I felt like there was a large part of the Abbot picture that I couldn’t see. More than just Clark and Annabelle being unhappy that their son had dated Kenna. More than the whole family being bitter about Harriet leaving Kenna The Gables. I was missing some piece of the puzzle.

  Ford filled a glass from the taps in front of us. “They treated Kenna as less than from the moment that girl moved in with Harriet.”

  Hunter twirled a French fry between his fingers. “You mean the parents did. Grant wanted in her pants from the moment Kenna got boobs.”

  I reached out and smacked him upside the back of the head. “Careful.”

  “What? It’s true. The guy was obsessed with having the hottest girl at our school. Too bad after he got her, he treated her like shit.”

  I straightened on my stool, eyes zeroing in on Hunter. “What do you mean?”

  Hunter popped the fry into his mouth. “He cheated on her. Repeatedly. Kenna was always one to play by the rules. She didn’t party, barely hung with anyone but Bell and Caelyn. So, Grant pretty much had free rein at parties.”

  Ford slid a beer to a customer a few stools down. “I didn’t know that.”

  “You were already gone when his partying got really out of control. It wasn’t really my scene, but I heard about it plenty.”

  I forced myself to release the death grip I had on my glass. “Kenna didn’t know? Her friends?”

  Hunter shrugged. “It was mostly rumor at the time. I think she thought it was girls acting jealous and making stuff up.”

  My urge to find Grant Abbot and deck him was increasing by the second. Sure, we all did stupid things in high school, but cheating on a girl whose trust was so fragile? It was cruel. “He’s an asshole.”

  “He’s gotten everything he’s ever wanted in life. It would be impossible for him to turn out any other way,” Hunter said.

  But Hunter was wrong. I’d had just about anything I ever needed or wanted, too. Other than parents who actually gave a damn, anyway. But I guessed Grant was in the same boat there. I didn’t use people the way he did, though. Didn’t crush them to get whatever it was that I wanted. Affluence as a reason for bad behavior was just an excuse.

  Ford began wiping down the bar. “His parents always made any repercussions for his bad behavior disappear.”

  Now that was something my parents didn’t do. When I screwed up, I had to face the music. “That can make a kid an asshole teen and young adult, but he’s in his late twenties now. Blaming his behavior on Mommy and Daddy is just an excuse.”

  “You’ve got a point there,” Ford agreed.

  The stool next to me scraped against the cement floor. “Looks like it’s my lucky day. Three handsome men to keep me company.”

  I turned at the sound of the husky voice. The woman looked to be in her fifties, but it was hard to tell for sure. Her hair was dyed a red that was in no way natural, and the makeup caked on her face just made her wrinkles stand out more. “Ma’am.”

  “Please do not call me ma’am. That’s reserved for my mother.” She scooted in closer, and I could smell a hint of alcohol and cigarette smoke on her breath. Apparently, she’d already been hitting it hard today.

  “Fair enough,” I agreed. “Miss, it is.”

  The woman held out a hand with red nails that matched her hair. “I’m Janet. It’s nice to meet you…”

  “Crosby. I’m Crosby, and this is Hunter and Ford.” I did not want to be singled out by Janet, but at the same time, I found myself fighting a chuckle. I had to admire her fearless game.

  “Well, fellas. What do you say to some shots?”

  Ford held up both hands. “I’m working.”

  Janet pouted. “Spoilsport. What about you two?”

  Hunter shook his head. “I have to be on a job site at six tomorrow morning.”

  “Sorry, Miss Janet, I’ve got an early day, too. Looks like you’ll just have to party for the four of us.”

  Bell appeared behind the bar. “But you’ll have to do it somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. Get gone, and don’t come back.”

  I was instantly on alert at the look of rage on Bell’s face, and Ford took a step closer to his fiancée.

  Janet let out a dramatic gasp. “Well, I never. Who the hell do you think you—?” She froze for a moment. “Isabelle Kipton?”

  It was a sign of the progress Bell had made that she didn’t wince at her full name or pour a beer over the woman’s head. “It’s Bell, and this is my bar. The best part about that is that I get to say who stays and who goes. You will never be welcome here.”

  Janet pushed to her feet. “You always did think you were hot shit. Turned my Kenna into thinking she was the same.”

  I stiffened as Kenna’s name fell from the woman’s mouth. Her Kenna? No. There was no way this was Kenna’s mother.

  Ford wrapped an arm around Bell as Janet stormed out of The Catch. “Your bar, huh?”

  She grinned up at him, but the action didn’t ring entirely true. Anger and worry still tinged her expression. “You’re marrying me, aren’t you? What’s yours is mine.”

  Hunter chuckled. “Careful, brother. You step out of line, and she’ll take you for all you’ve got.”

  Bell pressed a kiss to Ford’s jaw. “And don’t you forget it.”

  “That was Kenna’s mom?” My mind was still swirling around everything that had happened in the past five minutes. The woman looked nothing like Kenna, and she certainly didn’t act like her. My gut soured. That was what Kenna had been forced to live with for the first eleven years of her life.

  Bell straightened. “That woman is a lot of things, but a mother isn’t one of them.”

  I couldn’t argue with the assessment. “Did you know she was back?”

  Bell shook her head, her lips pressing together. “I wonder if Kenna does.” The last thing Kenna needed was to be blindsided by her mother. I stood, pulling out my wallet and tossing a few bills down to cover my dinner and beer. Bell eyed my movements. “You going to her?”

  “What do you think?”

  A war of emotions flickered across Bell’s face, a battle between hope and fear and a few other things that passed too quickly for me to identify. “Be careful with her, Crosby. She comes across strong, but she’s been hurt. Bad. She’s more fragile than she’ll ever admit.”

  I gripped the side of the bar. “You gonna tell me about that hurt?”

  “I can’t. It’s not my place.”

  My back molars ground together. “If you’re not going to tell me, then quit with the cryptic warnings.”

  “Crosby,” Ford warned. “Watch your tone.”

  I bit back the words I wanted to let free and headed for the door. I knew Bell was just worried about her friend, bu
t she wasn’t helping anything. I blew out a breath as I stepped into the night air. It wasn’t Bell’s fault. I was pissed because there was so much flying at Kenna, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

  26

  Kenna

  The knock on the door jolted me out of my blank stare. I was pretty sure I’d read the same paragraph about ten times. I set the book on the side table and pushed to my feet. Crossing to the door, I stopped a few steps away. What if it was Janet, back for round two?

  “Open the door, Brown Eyes. I know you’re in there.”

  Something in me eased at Crosby’s voice, warmth spreading through me. The fact that somewhere along the line, he had come to signify safety was concerning. I pushed the thought from my mind and opened the door. “Hey.”

  Crosby pushed by me and into my space as if it were his own. Typical. “I need to give you a heads-up on something.”

  I turned, shutting the door behind me. “Case-related?”

  “Family.”

  I fought the wince that wanted to surface. Crosby’s presence here with a familial warning could only mean one thing. “You met Janet.” My voice was flat, images of my mother making a fool of herself in front of Crosby flashing in my mind.

  He leaned against the bar that delineated the kitchen from the living room. “She showed up at The Catch.”

  The pictures flying through my mind now included a drunk Janet. This would likely be the beginning of the end for Crosby and me. Now that he’d seen what I came from, what he’d have to deal with if he were involved with me in any way, he’d slowly start to pull back. I didn’t blame him. I’d want to pull back, too. But I wanted one more night. One more time to lose myself in Crosby’s touch. To feel.

  I strode towards him, grabbing him by his button-down shirt and pulling him towards me. The kiss was more attack than seduction, a desperation borne of the knowledge that I would lose him soon, lose this release that I’d come to depend on. I nipped Crosby’s bottom lip. His mouth opened, and I took full advantage, slipping my tongue inside.