Revenge

by Elizabeth Knox

  I find myself at a restaurant, a nicer one than what I found her in last time. I am not sure what I am going to find, but I make my way inside quietly staying out of her line of sight as much as possible as I find a seat. She is sitting with a boy, a young one at that. He might be 16. I can’t tell for sure, but I am more confused than ever. I have questions, and she will answer them.

  Chapter 21

  So bright the flames burn in our hearts that we found each other in the dark.

  -Dallas Green

  Jenna

  When I got to Wyatt’s high school he was sitting on the bleachers waiting for me. He’d been active in football over the past couple years, but this is the year that I can truly see him living and breathing it. I was never much of a football fan, but for this boy, I’d do anything.

  “You wouldn’t believe that crap, it was nuts!” he chuckles, telling me story after story. Honestly, I’ve been disappointed with the fact that I haven’t been able to see him much lately. It killed me because I planned on stopping by to see him and Sherry a couple weeks ago, but then the day at the park happened and well, I couldn’t exactly go see them.

  “You’re a great kid, you know that, right?” Wyatt shakes his head at my statement. I can’t help but think about how much he looks like I did as a kid. He has the same bleach blonde hair, and even those smoky blue eyes.

  “I’m not that great,” he mutters. I want to argue with him, but instead, I shut my mouth. I want to scream how proud I am of him from the rooftops. The momma in me loves him so damn much. I have never once regretted bringing him into this world, even with him being the product of a horrific rape. I didn’t know that having Wyatt would change my life, and it did just that. In some ways, for the better, and in some ways, for worst.

  “Did you hear me?”

  I turn my face back over to Wyatt. “Hmm?”

  “That guy keeps staring at you, I don’t like it.” I don’t like it, that made me smile. I look over to the left, and my blood runs cold.

  Dmitri.

  Jesus Christ. How did he find me? Dmitri is sitting at the bar, staring at me and Wyatt. “Why does he keep looking at you like that? Damn.”

  “Wyatt!” I snap at him. He knows not to curse.

  “If you go all holier than thou I’m gonna strangle you,” Wyatt threatens. In moments like these, I know that he is my son. He’s full of the same fire that runs through my very own veins.

  “He’s a friend, it’s okay.”

  “A friend? Yeah, Okayyyy,” he says with as much attitude as I can get from him.

  “He’s looking at you the way Sara looks at me.”

  “Who’s Sara? And how does she look at you?”

  “Like she either wants to eat me alive or murder me.” I can’t help but laugh at what Wyatt just said. No doubt, this Sara girl has a crush on my lil’ man. When I think about what Wyatt just said, I agree. Dmitri either wants to murder me, or eat me alive. For my sake, I hope it’s the last bit.

  The waiter approaches us, and I ask for our check. She informs me that the man at the bar paid for it. “He isn’t just a friend,” Wyatt notes, and I look over to Dmitri whose eyes are still glued to me, his expression turning into a hardened glare.

  “He’s a friend,” I argue, hoping my tone of voice will cause this rebellious teenager to shut his yapper.

  “You’re such a damn liar, I bet ma’ could see this from miles away. You always did suck at lying to me and her,” he grumbles, not knowing that I lie every day of my life. The only people I’m semi-truthful with is Sherry and him, and even then, both still don’t know all of the truth.

  “Fine, you little shit. He’s my boyfriend.”

  “Hm. That’s why he looks like he wants to eat you. What did you do to make him look like he wants to murder you?” Wyatt smirks as he asks me the last question. I reach across the table and smack him.

  “Wyatt, don’t be a smartass”

  “Can you blame me? You haven’t ever had a boyfriend. And here one is, not even twenty feet away looking like he wants to kill you. So, I’ll ask again, what did you do?”

  “It’s none of your business,” I hiss, and Wyatt leans back in the barstool and laughs. There are times where I hate his smartass attitude, right now is one of those times. I sling my purse over my shoulder and walk over to Dmitri.

  “Did you drive, or are you coming with me?”

  “I’m going with you.” I turn back to see Wyatt eyeing Dmitri like an overprotective father. It makes me laugh on the inside, knowing he’s getting all protective over me.

  “I’m Wyatt.” Wyatt sticks out his hand, and Dmitri meets it with his own. “Dmitri.”

  “C’mon, kid. Mom’s gonna get pissed at me if I don’t get you home before nine.” Dmitri doesn’t say anything but follows Wyatt and I out to my car. I want to know how he found me. I left his ass at the clubhouse, and I was always careful about being followed, taking different routes every time I left.

  We all get into the car. Wyatt sits in the back. “Hey, we’re having a barbecue next weekend after the game. Are you coming?”

  “Uh, Mom didn’t tell me about it.” It’s true, she hadn’t. I haven’t really been speaking with her a whole lot lately, though. “Text me with the deets, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Deets, seriously?” he groans.

  “What, isn’t that what the kids say?”

  “No, Jen. Damn, I didn’t think you were that old.”

  “If you really want to get embarrassed, I can start rapping Eminem.”

  “The only person you’ll be embarrassing is yourself.”

  Dmitri starts laughing at that one. “Actually, I know how to lay down some lines.” I do some gangsta signals with my hands, and Wyatt groans again.

  The car ride passes quickly. It is too quick for my own comfort, knowing that I’ll be left alone with Dmitri soon. I pull into Wyatt’s driveway, park the car, and open the trunk, pulling out his backpack and textbooks. I wrap my arms around him, giving him a good hug.

  “Love you kid.” I struggle to kiss the top of his forehead because the kiddo is already taller than I am.

  “Love you too”

  I get back into my car, waiting until he gets safely into his house and waves from the window before I reverse out. “I’m sorry I – “

  “Don’t,” Dmitri growls out, his tone filled with rage. I’d never once heard him this furious, and I’ve seen him in a lot of different moods.

  I wait ten minutes until I speak again, hoping that it was enough time for him to fume. “No one knows about him.” I glance over to Dmitri. “I mean it, not Reed, not anyone. It’s not…it’s not safe for anyone to know about Wyatt.”

  “Who is he?” I take in a deep breath, calculating my options.

  “My brother,” I say, not entirely lying because he is my brother legally. In the eyes of the United States Government, Sherry is my Mom, and Wyatt is my little brother.

  “You’re a very shitty liar, kotenok,” Dmitri hisses out. I can feel his eyes locked on me, analyzing my expression, trying to understand me. After a few minutes of driving, I decide to pull off to the side of the road. I become brave and look Dmitri in the eyes. I’ve had secrets for so long, and if there is any one person that I trust more than anyone else, it’s him. I still don’t entirely understand it, but after everything, he hasn’t told anyone. I know deep down that I can trust him, so here I am, baring my soul, all of the shredded and dark parts of me.

  Finally, I decide to hand Dmitri my purse, revealing more to the man than I anyone I’ve known for ten years.

  “Open my wallet and pull out the picture,” I tell him, and he does as I instructed. It is a photo of me when I was twelve, blonde haired and blue eyed, laughing at something my father was telling me. He unfolded it, seeing my father in the photo with me. He wouldn’t know who he was, though. “That was me, when I was twelve,” I tell him, smiling softly at the photo. I can remember that day as if it was yesterday, the last da
y I can remember being truly happy.

  “You have brown eyes.”

  “I wear contacts.”

  “Your nose is different.”

  “I was twelve, and no I haven’t gotten any damn plastic surgeries.”

  “I guess you dye your hair black?”

  “Mhm.”

  “Your breasts….”

  “Grow when you age?”

  “Why do you dye your hair?” Why? I dye my hair because it’s another part of Tegan that I don’t want with me. Tegan Hill was a broken little girl. Jenna Lawrence is anything but that, she’s a fighter, she’s exactly what I need to finish what I started, to finally get the revenge that I deserve.

  “Why do you keep the photo?” I’ve asked myself that so many times, never really finding the right answer. It reminds me of who I used to be? No, I know why. “The day that photo was taken was the last time I can remember being…truly happy.”

  Dmitri folds the photo and puts it back in my wallet. “Your father looked like he was a nice man.”

  “He was…he was the best,” I whisper, trying not to cry, but fuck, every time I think of him, I cry. “Wyatt is legally my little brother. He and I were both adopted by Sherry.”

  “You say that as if there is more.” I nod at his observation.

  “Wyatt is my biological son.” I don’t utter a word after admitting that, or maybe confessing it is the right way to say it. No one besides Sherry knows that Wyatt is my son. Telling Dmitri this isn’t easy for me, it’s baring my soul to him in a way that I’ve never done with anyone, and trusting him to keep this secret is hard for me, but I like to think that I know him, the man that I can one hundred percent say that I’m falling for.

  “You mean to tell me…he…” Dmitri stays quiet for but a moment, maybe he is struggling to find the words. “That boy did not look young enough to be your son, what is he, fifteen or sixteen?”

  I laugh, almost immediately, Wyatt always has looked older than his age. “He’s fourteen.”

  Dmitri’s eyes don’t waver from mine. I can tell that he knows exactly what happened. He can read between the lines. “You had him when you were a child.”

  I nod. “Thirteen.”

  “His father is…” His gaze is burning through me. I should just start calling him Cyclops.

  “Yes. Wyatt is the product of that. He doesn’t know, and I’ll never tell him. He believes that his biological mom and Sherry had a closed adoption, and that is exactly what he will believe. He is the best thing in my life, from all that…misery. He brings me so much joy. He gives me a reason to go on, do you understand?”

  “Completely. Kotenok. I want to kill that man for everything he did to you.” Dmitri isn’t coming from an awful place. He wants to kill Will for the horrible acts that were done to me. I do too, and I will.

  “I’m going to kill him for everything he did to me, everything he took from me, for my father…for everything.”

  “Whatever you need, I’m here.” I’m taken aback. I look over to Dmitri whose eyes are trained on mine. He’s not making empty promises. He’s committing his word to me, and maybe even himself too. But why? Why would he say that to me? I actually thought he hated me for the longest time, yet here we are now…..in whatever kind of relationship that we’re in, he knows more about me than anyone, and I’m entrusting him to keep my son a secret, and somehow…I trust him, completely.

  “How did you find me?” I want to break up the intensity looming in the air.

  “When you were attacked I put a GPS chip in your elbow.”

  “What?” I shriek.

  Dmitri laughs. “I have my ways. And Jenna?”

  “Yep?”

  “You will never run from me ever again, understood?”

  I nod, agreeing that I never will, and I know that I won’t, not ever again.

  Chapter 22

  She conquered her demons and wore her scars like wings. -Atticus

  Dmitri

  It's late into the night when I sneak out of bed, leaving Jenna sleeping soundly to go to a meeting. A meeting that I did not arrange. I was surprised when I heard from Darius earlier that day. Unless it was time to kill the man who had ruined Jenna's life, I was positive that I would not hear a peep out of Darius or any member of his MC.

  We are not allies, not officially, and I don’t foresee that being a possibility in the future with Jenna and all her secrets either. But I don’t dare ignore the message I got, not when he tells me he has information that would be important to the MC.

  I meet him at a park, not too far from the place I first saw Darius’ face. It is pitch black, and it is set off at the back of a poor neighborhood. No one would come back there to see us, and even if they drove by, the lack of lighting and the tree cover would probably keep us from being discovered.

  I size him up, waiting for him to speak. He called me here, so he will speak first, though he sure is taking his damn time. I am only here because he let me do what I needed to for Jenna. He let me have that kill, taking it away from him as well as her.

  Otherwise we would be natural enemies. No matter the purpose of his MC, no matter how righteous, if they were not allies, they were supposed to be enemies. At least, that is what Jimmy hammered into my skull over and over. Sometimes, even allies were not immune from his suspicions and thirst to make everyone around him miserable. I am so glad that fucker is dead.

  “So, I took a little trip into Vegas,” Darius says, leaning against the tree that was shading him from any view. That peaks my interest because we both know what happened in Vegas. “I had heard about the fact that Kyle was possibly framed. Hell, T, sorry, Jenna to you, is convinced he did nothing. I believed her, so I took it into my own hands to figure out what the hell I could.”

  “Why would you do that? I mean, I know she is technically a member of your gang, but that’s…arguable. Why would you be helping our MC? Why would you be helping our VP?” I point out. I guess I am not used to kindness. It always comes with a price. Right now, I’m wondering what Darius’ price will be.

  “I know how much Kyle means to Jenna. They are very close, closer than maybe even you and I know.” That sounds mysterious. “I am doing this for her because that girl deserves some good news. I think I found something, at least, enough of something that could get him exonerated.”

  I listen closely, no longer interrupting. If I can bring Kyle home, that will put our focus back on other things, and like Darius says, it will make Jenna happy. That’s all I want.

  “I happened to have a chat…” The word comes out sinister, and I know he doesn’t really mean there were many words involved. I have had those chats before. “with the owner of the gas station and bar that’s just across the street from where it all went down. He, uh, willingly gave over surveillance video that shows Kyle was there, flirting with their counter girl for over two hours. After that, it shows him drinking at the bar, eating, and then drinking more. This should be enough proof that he wasn’t there when this dead girl was killed and planted in his room. I am going to hand it over anonymously to the authorities. Hopefully, he will be home to you soon.”

  I don’t know what to say, but I do know that first thing in the fucking morning I am going to Reed. We are getting Kyle back, and he is going to be over the moon about it. “Thank you, even if you didn't do it for the whole club, they would all thank you if they knew.” Darius nods respectfully before jumping back on his bike, tearing out of there before anything else is said.

  ***

  I end up getting up early, unable to sleep with that news all night. However, I look for Reed and find he is busy and out all day, possibly doing his own digging into Kyle’s case. I wait impatiently while Jenna goes to her usual shift at Bubba’s for him to appear, and he finally does. He walks into the bar, looking beat, defeated. He looks like he could use this news.

  I start walking towards him, but Elena is running, hanging up her cell phone which she has been on for the last ten minutes, wondering a
round upstairs near her room. She beats me to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. I am standing just a couple of feet away when he pulls her off him and looks at her. “Does this mean you have good news for me?” he smiles as his hand glides across her stomach, and suddenly I get what all their tension has been about. Have they been trying to have a baby? What was it about one woman getting pregnant that made all the rest want to? Hopefully Jenna wasn’t going to catch this baby fever.

  Elena slaps his hand away, looking around to make sure no one has seen. I turn away and stare at the wall like I have noticed nothing, but I still listen in. “I do have good news, but it isn’t about that,” she tells him softly. “It’s Kyle.” I turn to her. She must have gotten the call. Damn, that was fast. I feel like I owe Darius something. I wonder if I should let Jenna know he did this for her. “He’s coming home.”

  Reed’s features light up, and he lifts Elena up, spinning her around in celebration before he goes to the bar and asks for a drink from Jenna who pours him one and herself, as soon as he whispers the news to her. I can see the genuine smile on her face. Reed turns around to everyone, and raises his shot glass. “Kyle is comin’ home!” he shouts, getting whoops and hollers from the whole bar. Despite all the drama he and Daisy went through recently, no one wanted to see him locked up like that for murder. He may be a bad boyfriend, but not a murderer.

  Everyone celebrates and downs drinks, but Reed approaches me, and I have a feeling I know what he is going to ask of me. Reed takes me to the side and gets real low to my ear, his hand coming down on my shoulder. “I am thrilled that my brother is coming home, but I still want to know who the motherfuckers were for sure that set him up and why. Do you think you can go to Vegas and see if you can get to the bottom of it? Enzo and I will help keep an eye on Jenna.” Even though he is asking me, I know that it is an order. I am not going to be able to turn this down. If it helps the club, though, it is my job. Reed and Kyle are both good men, and they deserve to know what the hell really went down.