* * *
It takes a lot of convincing to get her to meet with her father. Kennedy is not amused by the idea, but I suggest she think of it as a meeting with opposing council. We might glean something new that could help exonerate her, if that was an issue, and she reluctantly agrees. We head across the street to a seedy rundown diner and sit at an aluminum table with chairs that hobble and roaches that openly scurry across the floor. We opt for stale coffee in lieu of the menu.
“I’m Kamryn.” The slightly older, far more bitter version of Kennedy volunteers. Her face is soured at the sight of me—her mouth downturned in disgust. I’ve never had a woman look at me that way before, and the fact that she’s doing it with Kennedy’s face is unnerving.
“Caleb McCarthy.” I offer her my hand, which she opts to glare at rather than shake. “So to what do we owe this spontaneous meeting?”
“Shut the hell up.” Peter doesn’t bother with the niceties. “This is about Kennedy and keeping her safe, which obviously you’re not interested in, so why don’t you leave? You’ve just been fired.”
“You can’t fire me.” It takes a lot to catch me off guard, but, despite the unsavory circumstances that proceeded this sit down, he’s thrown me.
“You’re not fired.” Kennedy smears a black smile at her father. “He’s my only advocate.”
Kamryn stirs. “He’s taking advantage of you like you’re a common street whore.”
“I was taking advantage of him.” Kennedy bellows, slamming her hand on the table. “This is my life, my attorney, my boyfriend, and if I want him to crash my fucked-up reputation into the ground then so be it!”
I must admit I had a bit of schoolboy pride when she said boyfriend—right up until the part about me crashing her reputation to the ground.
“Enough.” Peter pushes his coffee away. “I’m here to help.” He softens. “I’m here to say I love you.” He bears into her with a stranglehold, and Kennedy is unable to look away. “I’m not looking for an apology. I’m the one who’s here to say I’m sorry. And I am sorry. Please, if you can find it in your heart, forgive me. I wish I could turn back time and make everything right again, but I can’t. There’s nothing any of us can do to change the past. All we can do is move forward. Would you move forward with us, Kennedy? I’d love to have my youngest daughter back in my life.”
“And I want my sister.” It comes a little meaner from her, like a threat—like a hostage negotiator.
Kennedy looks from them to me as if trying to pick sides.
“It’s your family. You can’t escape them.” I should know. I’ve tried it with my own.
“I’ll think about it.” She gives the idea of a smile before nursing her coffee.
“Can I ask what happened?” Between the three of them, the truth might leak out.
“No,” Kennedy says without missing a beat.
“He’s your boyfriend, Ken.” There’s a mocking tone in her sister’s voice. “Shouldn’t he know all about you? Every last, dirty detail?”
I’m getting the idea Daddy, here, is genuine, big sister not so much.
Kennedy reaches for my hand under the table and gives me a squeeze.
“Go ahead, Kam. I bet you can’t wait to shake the dust out of our dirty laundry. I don’t really care. All of that is in the past.” She gives her father a smug grin. “If you’re really interested in starting off on the right foot, that’s exactly where you’ll leave it.”
Kamryn exchanges glances with her father. It looks like Kennedy beat her at her own game. She’s good, I’ll give her that.
“Kennedy is right.” Her father pats the top of her hand, a dull smile comes to him as he soaks it in. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. I talked to Keith. I’ve gone over the polygraph. I think it’s time we end this madness, Ken. I can’t have your hatred for me shaping the rest of your life. I can’t stand the thought that she’s made you into something you’re not. Your mother was angry. She didn’t do the right thing, but neither did I. What you need to understand is that you can’t go around doing this to other people. It has to end, Kennedy. Keith doesn’t want money. He simply wants an apology.”
“He’s not getting it.” She doesn’t waste time to give it a second thought.
“Then tell us what happened. What was going through your head?” He’s pleading, insisting in the kindest way possible.
“Keith Stearns is a cheat just like you, Daddy. He had an insatiable desire to lie about it, so I thought I’d make him pay.”
The table goes silent. The air in the diner goes stale much like the coffee, and my stomach boils in its own acid. Kennedy admitting fault to her father is one thing, admitting fault to Slade the Savage is another. I’m not sure what the hell just happened. He has a reputation for being brutally good, but would he stoop this low to save his client’s neck?
“Maybe we should leave.” I try to pull her up, but she resists. “He might be setting you up.”
“Someone is trying to set me up, that’s for sure, and I can’t figure out who.”
“Um, hello?” Kam openly mocks her once again. “Has the victim of this situation ever crossed your mind?”
“He passed the polygraph,” Peter asserts.
“And he’s not a victim,” I correct. “He recorded those videos without your sister’s knowledge. I think that wipes the patina of innocence off him.”
“Is that true?” Kamryn presses into her sister with a scathing tone.
Kennedy turns her head, offering a silent admission that stuns each of us at the table.
Shit. It’s like her father slipped her the fucking truth serum, and now everything that comes from her mouth is ironically tough to believe. This has become a nightmare unfolding into another nightmare.
“You knew?” It’s my turn to hold her gaze. Kennedy shifts in her seat, stirring her posture uncomfortably away from mine.
“I knew.” Her voice is less than a whisper.
Never before have I wanted to get up and leave. I’m not sure who the piranha is anymore, Kennedy or her father.
“So what about the rest of it?” I’m hoping her ability to offer up the truth doesn’t end at the sight of me.
“I said I didn’t do it.” Kennedy steadies those watery gray eyes over mine, pleading with me to believe her. “I took the polygraph for you, Caleb. I want you to know you can trust me. I swear I was going to tell you everything.”
“Did you do this?” Her father slides over his phone, and I pick it up holding it between us. It’s an obituary for Keith Ryan Stearns. The interesting thing is he doesn’t die until tomorrow.
I glance to Kennedy as she shakes her head.
“No.” Her chest heaves as she backs away from it. “But someone is going to kill Keith, and they’re going to pin it on me.”
“Who would do this?” I drill the words out in anger.
Her sister slaps the table. “Who would hate you enough to go the extra mile?”
“Maybe it’s not someone who hates her,” her father reasons. “Maybe someone is trying to fight for you. Make Keith pay on your behalf.”
“I don’t think so.” I shake my head. “I can see the logic, but why not tell her? Why make it look like she’s to blame?”
Kamryn raises her brows. “It sounds like someone really has it out for you.”
I pull Kennedy toward me, her hair falling over her shoulder like a veil of grief.
“I’ve wondered the same thing,” she breathes the words over a loose strand of hair, and it swings like a pendulum. “Either Keith Stearns is a sociopath or someone is out for revenge. And for what? I have no idea.”
“It has to be one of the girls he was with.” Kamryn offers up the theory, finally on board with helping her sister. “A pissed off ex.”
“I don’t see why.” Kennedy shrugs. “She can have him. Anyone can have him.”
“Rejection can make you do crazy things.” She averts her eyes.
I’m not sure I’m buying the theo
ry either—although, at this point, men from Mars wouldn’t surprise me.
I know one thing. Keith Stearns better make it through tomorrow, or Kennedy might just find herself staring at murder charges. Whoever is doing this can’t be that committed, can’t be that good to pin it on her if they were. Can they?
Pinning murder charges on someone else seems to be a running theme in my life.
Injustice for All
Kennedy
People often have a shallow perception of me. I’ve been the rich bitch, the girl who has the world handed to her on a silver platter, the one who has everything and everyone under her thumb, under her command. Each one of those false accusations are ironies, of course. My wealth comes from the men my mother has pilfered from. I’m no bitch (tiny lie). I don’t care enough to hate anybody. I’ve never had anything handed to me on a silver platter. In fact, my reputation has made it that much more difficult to achieve the things I truly desire. And I have never had a single person under my thumb. My true friends, the sisters that I chose for myself have always freely told me their feelings. Nobody is plastic around me, and I, for damn sure, haven’t wasted my time trying to get other people to like me, to worship me like some hierarchical queen. Nope. The world and its perception of me is off, off, off. So what enemies have I really made? Who is this vindictive little bitch who is messing with my world? Just wait until I get my hands on them.
Reese and I get ready in my bedroom like the old days before she trotted off and married Ace. Warren’s surprise party for Neva is tonight, and Reese, being the altruistic human she is, wouldn’t miss it for the world. She really cares about Neva, and Neva is her sister-in-law now, so I don’t see how she could miss the party.
“So, do you think someone is going to try to off Keith tonight?” she asks while leaning into the mirror, her mouth pulled down in a hard O as she applies mascara.
“No, and would you please not say anything?” I’m deeply regretting that I spilled everything to her yesterday when I came home from that diner disaster with Daddy. At one point, I would have said anything to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, for me, the only thing that seemed capable of coming from my lips was the truth. I think maybe because I’ve said so may lies about my poor father, I can’t stand to actually spew another one to his face. We were close once—very close. It was like ripping leather when my mother separated us once and for all. I secretly hated her for it, but my need to protect her, to be there for her, overrode that emotion at the time.
“Too late, I may have told Ace”—she winces—“and Gavin and Demi, but only because they were there at that time.”
“Reesie!”
“The obituary is public.”
“Fine.” I try to rein in my rage. “No one reads the paper anymore. Besides, I have a plan.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of this?” Kamryn comes into the room, and both Reese and I go rigid. It was my mother’s ingenious idea that she spend the night. She and my father have decided to ride out the weekend in Loveless—Kamryn in the guest room, and my father next door with Caleb. Suffice it to say, I’ve put a moratorium on showing my attorney how grateful I am by way of my body. I can’t bear the thought of my father walking in on any more of my sexual shenanigans. If I wasn’t already beneath a table, I would have found one to crawl under. But both my sister and father want more than I’m willing to give this weekend, and I’m sure they want front row seats should Keith actually kick the bucket.
“This is none of your business.” I primp beside Reese in the mirror in a show of solidarity with my stepsister.
“So you’re the replacement, huh?” Kam eyes her up and down as if she were a snake.
Reese lets out a little laugh. “Nobody is trying to replace you. I just so happened to be there for your sister when you weren’t. I’m sure Kennedy has enough room in that iron heart of hers for the both of us.”
“That’s Reese”—I relax my arm around her shoulder—“always taking the high road.”
“So what’s your big plan?” Kam doesn’t look too impressed with either one of us right now.
“Yeah, Ken? What is it?” Reese joins her with marked irritation, and suddenly it feels like they’re ganging up on me.
“Be nice, or I’ll evict you both from the iron palace.” I run the brush through my hair one last time. “The big plan is simple. Caleb and I are going to be glued to the hip with another couple all night, sort of like a double date.”
“Nice.” Reese pumps her shoulders. “Ace and I are happy to volunteer.”
“Not you.” I glance from her to Kamryn. “Keith and Brylee. I want the world to see Keith and I have put everything in the past, and we’re at a point in our lives where we couldn’t care less who the other is fucking.”
“Must you be so crude?” Reese mock gags.
“She’s always been that way,” Kam is more than happy to offer. “She’s the queen of crude—and rude—and attitude.”
“You’re pretty rude yourself.” I sweep a makeup brush over my cheeks. “You two keep ganging up on me, and you’ll both be down a sister.”
We head on out to the party, into the heavy crowd that has amassed around the lake, the smell of beer and barbeque thick in the air. It’s bitter cold, you can see your breath in front of your face, and the weather calls for rain before morning. The music is loud. The people are drunk. The cackle of skanks lights up the night like some primal mating call.
It’s the perfect night to commit a crime. So many suspects.
Poor Keith.
I almost feel sorry for him.
* * *
We meet up with Caleb and Brylee at the base of the Nicholson’s cabin. Something about this crowd, the catcalls, the errant laughter, the faintest smell of weed makes this feel like a summer get together. Like one of those old-school summers where I’d sneak off to the south side of the lake and fall into the arms of a beautiful boy. I offer a radiant smile to Caleb as I fall into the arms of that beautiful boy—who has turned into a drop dead gorgeous man.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Brylee looks slightly peeved.
Damn. I thought for sure she’d be on board.
“What’s up?” I ask, pulling her around the backside of the oversized party tent. A bird darts out of a nearby branch giving a lusty cry as it spreads its wings wide in the sky. Red tail hawk. My father used to love to point those out. My heart warms because he just might do so again. It’s nice knowing he could be back in my life for good.
“Are you and Caleb together for real?”
“Yes. We are. Believe me, I’m not that good a liar. I really have to like someone to shove my tongue down their throat. Why?”
She shrugs giving a careful look past my shoulder. “I saw him with Zoey.”
My heart pinches. “He’s her boss. I’m sure they’re together much more than I care to know.” Mental note: get Zoey’s blonde-self fired. Replace Zoey’s blonde-self. Have way more hot office sex with Caleb. Get a damn lock for his door.
I cringe at the thought of my father walking in on us. What a mess.
“I don’t know.” She gives an impatient shake to her hair. “They were down at the lake the other night, and she wasn’t exactly wearing business attire.” She gives a slow nod, leaving me to fill in the blanks. “All that girl had on was the sand on the bottom of her feet.”
Shit.
I glance back at the crowd amassing down by the lake. The old me would have gone psycho bitch and had Caleb’s balls in a jar by midnight. The new me realizes that what Brylee saw was most likely some stupid misunderstanding—a comedy of errors, bad timing. Hell, Caleb was probably just trying to save her drunk ass from drowning in the lake.
“Trust me, Bry, I don’t even need to ask if he was touching her. And if he was, I’m sure it was innocent. I’ve got that boy right here.” I touch my chest. “And that’s exactly where he has me. I’m not going to let Zoey and her stupid antics ruin anything between us.” I shuttle her back
toward Caleb and now Keith, too. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”
And just like that I evict the very naked picture that Brylee painted right out of my head.
For now.
I lunge at Caleb and land heavy in his arms once again.
“What’s that grin for?” He rumbles in my ear, slow and sultry.
“I was just thinking we should sneak off at some point and head south.”
“Our spot?”
“That’s right. I think it’s high time we christened it with our bodies.”
“I like the sound of that.” He covers my lips with his.
“All right.” Keith comes up alongside us with Brylee on his arm. “Just because we’re not together, doesn’t mean I like seeing you with other guys. You mind?”
“Really, Keith? Like I loved seeing you with other girls, and, by the way, I did see this on multiple occasions.”
“Enough you two.” Brylee wraps her arms around his neck as if she’s about to pull him in for a kiss. “If you’re going to convince some psychopath you’re getting along, you might actually consider getting along.”
I hate it when Brylee is right.
We meander through the crowd. The deal is, we’re to be seen by every single person here, and then the four of us head off alone in the event they catch on and don’t think we’re the real deal. Caleb came up with the plan, and, as much as I wanted to protest, I couldn’t. It’s perfect. Not only will the idiot in question see that they’re not doing me any favors, but Keith sees that I’m genuinely happy with my new man. Win-win.
A group of people from Yeats congregate near the fire pit, and we head over.
“Kennedy!” Melanie is the first to greet me. “You have to come back for spring semester. Things are falling to shit without you.”
“I seriously doubt that. But it was nice seeing all my sisters at the house a few weeks back.”
“That was some meeting.” Charlie comes up and offers me a warm hug.
I do miss my girls.
“It was productive to say the least.” Mel leans in. “Why the hell is Stearns here?”