“Disrupt his life? You’re his father.” I mumble it out, grabbing my wine glass and take a long sip. I can’t believe what he’s telling me. Philip isn’t just a bodyguard. He’s my half-brother. That just makes all of this so much worse.
“I am, yes. But what good of a father was I back then? I was a shit one. It was better for him to stay in a foster home. You may not see it, but it was a better decision. It was better for him. He was safer there than with me.”
“You ain’t ever seen no foster care kids, have you Vernon?” Phoenix chuckles, shaking his head. He and I both know that there is no possible way that Philip would’ve been safer in a foster home. Sure, there are good foster parents and bad ones, but the bad heavily outweigh the good.
“I made my choices back then, and I will not damn myself for them now”
“You should, considering they got my girl in that fuckin’ position,” Phoenix snarls out, squeezing my hand in his. “You even care what they fuckin’ did to her, hmm? Sure, you can’t tell ‘cause she’s got all that damn makeup caked over her flawless face, but she’s black and blue all over. Broken nose. Broken ribs. They fuckin’ beat her to bits and she’s walkin’ around like she doesn’t wanna cry every time she moves. She does, ‘cause it hurts and you’re the reason she’s here. You. If you hadn’t of pushed your damn son outta your life then maybe we wouldn’t be in this position now, would we?”
“True. Maybe we wouldn’t. Maybe we would. When Philip became old enough, I approached him. I told him who I was, and I gave him a job. He trained with the best of the best, and then he was here to protect the most precious thing in my life.”
“That worked out really well,” Phoenix grumbles, I intertwine my fingers with his, needing him to feel closer.
“We see that it hasn’t. No need to rub my mistakes in my face, Phoenix. Although I do appreciate how protective you are over my Kenna”
“She ain’t your Kenna old man. She’s mine to protect now, and I’m not gonna fuck up like you have.” Normally I would tell Phoenix to pipe down and not speak to my father in this way, but I agree with him; he’s right.
“I’m handling the situation, mija. I hope you trust that I am.”
“I hope that you are, but all I see is you drinking your tequila in a dimly lit restaurant, enjoying the beautiful night. I can try to trust that you are, but I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t expect you to handle it. I’ll handle it because I always handle everything. Now, here’s my question. My evil, older half-brother tried to hand me over to Donnie so that Donnie could become king of Miami? Why. What does he get in all of that?”
“Donnie and Philip had a deal. If anything happened to Donnie, Philip would be the newfound Prez of those fuckin rats,” Phoenix adds, I turn my face to look at him when it all clicks inside of my mind.
Philip is so much smarter than I thought.
“You should probably go ahead and make sure all of your men are actually loyal to you. Philip wasn’t planning to just hand me over to Donnie. I was being led to my deathbed, a future where all of us would end up dead in a ditch somewhere and the only person left to reign the city would be my dear brother.” I tell my father. “I’d watch your back. He didn’t just start a battle, Daddy. He started a fucking war and I’m going to end it. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this like I always take care of everything else”
I stand up and exit the restaurant, hearing Phoenix’s combat boots heavily chasing after me. He’d best hurry up. I’m a little hungry for blood tonight.
Chapter 22
Phoenix
She’s stronger than any woman I’ve ever met in my life. She holds her head high even when she needs to lay down and rest. I’ve been on the receiving end of an ass beating before, so I know what she’s feeling but Kenna is hardheaded and full of life.
“You gonna take it easy while I figure shit out?” I ask once we get back to the clubhouse. I kick my feet up on the desk and smirk at her. She looks so fucking gorgeous when she’s pissed.
“No, I will not. I want his ass, Phoenix,” she says, glaring at me. I can’t help myself, I smile at her, dropping my feet to the floor before standing and moving toward her. I gently cup her cheeks in my hands before leaning in and kissing her softly.
“You can’t make me bend to your will with a kiss, Phoenix.” Yeah, she’d like to think that, but she’s crazy. I kiss her again silencing her, but careful not to hurt her. I walk her backwards until her back hits the wall. I need her, I need to feel her and touch her. I need to know that she’s real and here in my fucking arms because every time I think that I could have lost her, it kills another piece of my heart.
“What’s wrong?” She asks when I rest my forehead against hers.
“I could have lost you, Babygirl. Do you know what I would have done if I lost you?” I’m damn near breathless. Her hands come up to my cheeks holding me much the same as I’m holding her.
“You didn’t lose me, Phoenix. You’re never going to lose me.” I kiss her again and this time I let her feel what I feel. The beat of my heart that lingers between us, the love that I have for her.
“Don’t let me interrupt you kids,” Leo chimes in. I knew I should have locked the goddamn door when I came in here. I pull away from Kenna as she grins up at me.
“What would we do without you, Leo?” Kenna asks stepping around me. I can’t help the smirk that crosses my face. She’s really made herself a place here.
“Well, you’d probably end up in bed makin’ babies and we don’t need that just yet,” he smarts off. I punch him in the arm playfully as Kenna laughs. God, it’s good to hear her laugh like that.
“You wanna know what I found, kids?” Leo asks walking toward the desk and leaning against it. Kenna and I share a glance before looking to Leo for what he’s got to say.
“Found a little hold up that Donnie and his boys are usin’ as cover. Philip isn’t there though. Can’t find him, but we can go pay his boys a little visit. You in?” My attention is sparked. I don’t think, I just move. Grabbing the extra gun from the desk drawer, I head toward the door.
“Excuse me?” Kenna yells loudly jerking my attention back to her.
“Forgetting someone?”
“No. You’re not goin’, Kenna. They hurt you enough and I don’t need you in the line of fire.” Her eyes blaze and God fucking help me if she wasn’t banged up and bruised I’d fuck her over that desk right now.
“You are not leaving me behind, Phoenix! They did this to me, or did you forget?” I move toward her, stopping right in front of her, my heart pounding.
“I know exactly what they did to you and I know exactly what I’m about to do to them. I don’t want you hurt anymore, Kenna.”
“Fuck off, Phoenix. I’m going one way or another. Leo, you have room for me on your bike?”
“Oh, like hell you will!” Phoenix roars stepping around me. Grabbing my hand in his he pulls me toward him.
“You know the rules, Babygirl. You don’t ride on no man’s bike but mine,” I growl. Kenna smiles up at me with that defiant look in her eyes.
“Then don’t make me do it, Daddy.” Goddamn her.
“When you’re all healed I’m spankin’ your ass for this shit,” I warn her.
“I’ll take it like a good little girl,” she says running her hand down my chest, stopping on my cock.
“Oh, for the love of fuck. Get a goddamn room,” Leo mutters behind us.
Shaking my head, I lean down and kiss her once more, needing to taste her again. “Do what you’re told for once, yeah? If I say move, just move, Kenna. I don’t wanna worry about you out there.” Kenna pulls away smiling knowing she's getting her own way again, but how the hell do you say no to something so perfect as her?
We walk out into the main room and I see that Leo has already assembled the guys. A proud smile tugs across my face as I watch the guys grabbing guns and getting ready for this.
“I don’t need to tell you all how important this shit
is. They took what belongs to me. Hurt my girl in ways no woman deserves. You can do what you want with all of them but Donnie. That motherfucker is mine.” Kenna clears her throat next to me.
“Don’t you mean ours?”
I chuckle and pull her into my side. “Ours, the motherfucker is ours. Hey, Leo. Get my girl a blade, yeah?”
Kenna damn near leaps into my arms, wrapping her arms around my neck, holding me tightly. Her lips press kisses to my neck as she repeats thank you in my ear. I grab a handful of her ass and give it a squeeze until she yelps.
“Let’s move out!” I roar watching everyone head out the door. I carry Kenna in my arms outside and set her down next to my bike when Leo walks up.
“Take care of my baby. It’s special,” he says holding out his switchblade to her. Leo has had that blade since he was a kid and I know how much it means to him. Kenna takes it tentatively and holds it in her palm.
“I’ll take care of it, Leo. Thank you.” Breaking the moment, I really want to get this shit handled and find out where Philip is.
“Let’s move!” Everyone climbs on their bikes as Kenna climbs on the back of mine, buckling her helmet. I wave to Leo to take the lead since he knows where we’re going. Having Kenna on the back of my bike seems surreal to me. I was never sure that I would find someone like her but here she is. Her arms tight around me, her breath warm against my neck. Everything in my life seems to be falling into place and it's all because of her. Kenna brings out the best in me. I’m glad that we found each other but I’m also afraid since she never answered me. I don’t know if Kenna wants to be with me forever and that’s really fucking with my head lately. I have no doubt that she loves me, but am I really what she wants?
We ride with the wind whipping around us, the night air cooling slightly. My body remains tense because regardless of what she decides, I love this woman and I’m going to make the motherfuckers pay for what they did to her.
Chapter 23
We are all searching for someone whose demons play well with ours.
-Unknown
Kenna
It doesn’t even boggle my mind anymore at what my father did, how his actions snowballed into what happened. I want to shake my head, to not believe he chose to overlook a small boy - his child. I don’t know who I’m angrier at in this moment, my selfish father, or my sinister brother. In what part of being angry does it do me any good? It doesn’t. It makes me overanalyze things that were done in the past, things that I cannot control. In a sense, it helps me fuel the raging wildfire spreading through my veins. Brother or not, I don’t let anyone cross me, and I can promise Philip this, he will not live to breathe another day.
“You alright?” Phoenix asks, turning his head towards me as we reach a stop sign. I nod my head against his shoulder, trying not to think about the clusterfuck going on inside my head. Either way, shit’s going down. We may be paying a visit to Donnie, but I’ll be damned if we aren’t hot on Philip’s trail sooner or later. He didn’t just fuck with me, he fucked with my city - something he should have never done. He’s going to pay for it, though, and oh how I can’t wait for that moment.
I hold onto Phoenix snugly as he drives further, turn in and turn out until he starts to slow up. We’ve been following Leo the whole time, but we weren’t the only ones that left. We have an entire army with us. I may not have realized it before but fucking with me meant that the Rats were fucking with Phoenix and the club too. All in all, I think we’ve suddenly become exterminators and our rat problem will be dealt with. No lie, I can’t wait to get my hands a little bloody. An eye for an eye after all.
Leo was right, he found the shithole that these fucking rats have been holding up in - and that’s exactly what it is, a shithole. Down some country background with three trailers spread apart a few hundred feet from one another, beer cans littering the ground. I don’t know what I expected, but it isn’t this. Phoenix brings his bike to a stop, as do the other brothers as we each assess the area and dismount.
I do so quickly, only seeing seven bikes. Hmm, I wonder what happened to the rest of the rats. The door to the trailer that sets in the middle comes flying open, and before the guy can even finish coming through the doorway I hear a gunshot go off and watch as he falls on the small porch below him, agonizing sounds spilling from his mouth.
“Where’s your Prez, rat?” Leo shouts, I look over to him and see his gun aimed on the man. Well, we’ve found our shooter.
No sounds come from the man before us. I wait, thinking that some smart-ass remark will come out of his mouth, but nope, nothing. “Shit…I aimed too high. My bad, guys” Leo snickers and I fight to hide my smile. Yep, these are my type of people.
Almost as if none of these rats were paying attention, the other two trailer doors come blasting open, men standing in the front of both doorways with guns ready to be drawn. I take a glance behind me and see Glocks raised, pointing in the direction of our enemies.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Think the boys are feeling a little trigger happy tonight, honey?” I look to Phoenix, who simply smirks right back at me.
“I’d listen to the lady, she’s a lot smarter than the bunch of us”
“Well, well…well.” I hear his voice before I see him, he comes strutting down the porch of the shitty little trailer, like his shit don’t stink. I can’t tell you about the anger that boils through my blood, or the memories that suddenly resurface to the front of my mind. Almost like a haunting nightmare that you just can’t get rid of. I know that what I went through wasn’t the worst…that it could have been very bad, and how I should count myself lucky. I just can’t do that, not when my entire body aches with a pain that I cannot fathom; not when I want to cry every single time I move and yet I’m not because strong women do not break down. They grit their teeth, look their enemy dead in the eye and prove them wrong. That is what a strong woman does.
I may very well be a Vernon, but I am my mother’s daughter. Silent like a storm, and as deadly as a hurricane.
“You want another round, sweet Kenna, or is this the tradeoff where you finally become my little bitch? You gettin’ tired of her this quick, Phoenix? Oh, I know. You just don’t know how to train them, do you?” Donnie smiles like the devil he is as every word falls from his mouth. I can’t wait to take that smug look off his face, to watch him as he begs for life. I’m going to get it, and no one will take that opportunity from me. Not even Phoenix.
I grab Phoenix’s Glock and point right at Donnie, shooting him in the left shoulder and then aim for his right kneecap. The second he falls to the ground, I smile like a poor girl who’s just won the lottery. Fuck Leo’s knife, I’ll save that for my brother. Donnie was getting to me a little too much.
“No one, and I repeat no one, trains this bitch,” I hiss at him as I walk over, gliding the barrel of the gun over his neck. I wonder how it feels, if goosebumps are breaking out over his body, if he’s feeling even the slightest amount of fear that I was when our positions were reversed.
I want him to know that he has no power in this situation, and more importantly - no power over me.
Chapter 24
Phoenix
“Line them the fuck up on their knees!” I order the guys to get the rest of the fucking rats, but my eyes stay locked on Kenna. I knew that girl held more strength in her than I gave her credit for and I fucking love seeing it shine brightly. Leo barks orders and the guys all set about doing as they are told as I walk closer to her.
Leaning into her I whisper in her ear, “Do you have any fuckin’ idea how hard I am right now?”
“I can only imagine but now isn’t the time,” she purrs. I move quickly, knowing that she will protest, pulling the gun from her hand and slipping it into the back of my waistband.
“Phoenix! Don’t you dare try to take this from me.” Her fist pounds into my back as I lean down and grab the bastard. I lift him easily and drag his ass into the center of the yard with the rest of his rats.
<
br /> “Ain’t takin’ shit from you Babygirl. Just givin’ you the space you need to work your magic,” I tell her as she stomps behind me. I knew she’d get pissed but I want everyone out here to see what my girl is capable of. I want my men, our men to see her as an equal. One that can handle herself when it comes down to it.
“Now we’re gettin’ this party started!” Leo howls while the others laugh and wait. “That blade is special to me, darlin’ but I wanna see how you use it.”
I can’t help the smile that tugs across my face when Kenna looks to me. She still shows the same respect for me but ultimately, she must know I respect her too. I raise my hand and crook my finger for her to come to me and it’s no surprise when she does.
“He’s your kill. I would never take somethin’ that was this important to you. You do know that, right?” Kenna’s eyes tear up, but I shake my head and they quickly fade. She raises her head, holding it high and nods.
“I know that, Phoenix. I was lost in the moment,” she admits. Cupping her cheek in my hand, I lean in and kiss her. Leo mumbles as usual but we just ignore him. When I pull away and look down at her, she takes my breath away. I can’t imagine how I made it through this world without her by my side.
“Let’s have some fun,” I tell her with a smile on my face. Her eyes light up, that perfect smile crossing hers as well.
Taking a step back, I glance around at the few rats we have on their knees.
“You fucked with the wrong girl on the wrong day. You made the mistake of touchin’ somethin’ that was mine. Now, I’m not typically the type to let a woman have free reign of toys, but you look like a bunch of bitches. If my girl here wants to slit each one of your throats, I’m gonna sit back and watch her with pride. Babygirl, who you wanna kill first?” Kenna smirks but her eyes move slowly back to Donnie. I know she wants his head on a stick, but I think that they all need to see their leader fall.
Against All Odds (Full Throttle Book 1) Page 10