Kennedy's Redemption (The Protectors Series Book 3)

by KL Donn

  They rushed to her side; the need to comfort her driving them.

  “This isn’t your fault, Kenny,” Linc told her angrily. “You can’t hold onto this burden anymore. You need to let it go.”

  “Sunshine, this,” Creed waved his hand around the empty area, “was never your fault. No one could have known.”

  “It doesn’t matter; I shouldn’t have been so selfish. So stupid.” She cried.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  He was pissed the fuck off now. “You wanna blame someone, Sunshine? Then fucking blame us,” Creed told her angrily. “Coop called me for help long before you met Emily. I should have found those sickos way before they even touched you, but I didn’t.”

  “What?” she demanded.

  “Yeah. Linc and I were brought in on the day after she came looking for help, but we were too busy on another assignment to find missing children. We could have had more information before we did, but we were busy. So if you want to place blame, it’s on our shoulders not yours.” He didn’t actually believe that but he had a point to make with her. Because he knew she wouldn’t blame them.

  “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known. And those children needed to be saved. Nothing is more important than that. How could you say such a thing?” Her words were heated at first, but by the end she finally realized his point.

  He kept going though, he needed her to understand that no one knew how volatile Emily’s stalker duo were. “We should have abandoned the case and come home when Coop and Dane asked. Hell, if we’d have known you then we’d have dropped anything to be by your side. But Kennedy? The fact is, we can’t predict what will happen with things like that. No one perpetrator is ever the same. You better fucking believe if any of us thought you and Em were in real danger that day nothing would have stopped us from letting you girls go.”

  “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sick of this roller coaster!”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, Sunshine,” Linc told her soothingly.

  “But I do. I keep doubting everything. Whenever things start to feel good, the doubt comes back and it eats me alive. Burns a hole in my gut like acid. I can’t stand it.”

  “When you feel that doubt you need to tell us. Or someone,” Linc said to her.

  Nodding her head, she stood up. Looking between them she settled her gaze on Linc, pushing up on her tip toes she whispered against his lips, “Thank you. For making this place disappear.”

  “Let’s go home,” he whispered back, kissing her lightly.

  Creed was glad they were able to bring her, help her work through more of the trouble brewing in her mind. He hated that she had so much doubt. It was time for her to let go, and he hoped going back to the place where her pain began absolved some of the mental scars.

  Twenty-One

  Laying in bed that evening, Kennedy had a lot on her mind. Most important was her need to talk to Emily. She had to see how the other woman was doing, and to let her know how she was doing herself. They had so much to work through.

  It had been an emotional day for her. All the driving to Bay City, then her breakdown while they were at the cabin. She was still amazed that Linc had burned it to the ground. He’d explained on the way home that no one had looked harder than they had into what happened. As far as the county officials were concerned, good riddance. They were happy to wash their hands of it.

  Creed had also brought up setting up an art studio in the barn for her to do with what she pleased. She was giving serious consideration to taking art classes and opening some sort of rehab center for victims of abuse.

  It was one thing she planned on talking to Keeley and Emily about when the shock wore off that she was finally home. She’d texted Dane from Linc’s phone, letting him know they’d be there tomorrow and to not tell Emily. He’d objected at first, saying he didn’t want to keep secrets from her. But he finally relented, understanding Emily would only stress about it until she got there.

  “What are you thinking about, Kennedy?” Creed asked coming out of the steamy bathroom after his shower.

  Smiling, she admired his wet muscled chest as he moved, drying his hair as he went to the dresser grabbing a pair of gym shorts.

  “Sunshine?” he asked her again. She’d lost her train of thought when he dropped the towel showing her his firm ass. She wanted to bite it.

  “Tomorrow,” she told him distractedly. Still watching as his muscles rippled and flexed as he moved around the room getting ready for bed.

  “You’re wearing my shirt again,” Linc groused as he came in the room after locking up the house.

  Looking down, she gave the best innocent expression she could. “Am I?”

  Smirking, he shook his head, moving to the bathroom for his own shower.

  “You sure you’re alright after today?” Creed asked sitting on the bed beside her. Throwing the covers over them both.

  “I promise, Creed.” She cuddled into his chest as he lay down.

  “You know we’d do anything for you, don’t you, Sunshine?” His hand brushing through her hair felt marvelous. When he started to massage her scalp she grew sleepy.

  “I do know,” she whispered as her eyes closed.

  “Good. Because one day we’ll give you the moon and the stars.” He promised.

  “Mmm,” she hummed as he continued his assault on her hair.

  “Sleep, Sunshine,” were the last whispered words she heard before falling into the first dreamless sleep she’d had in months.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  Linc woke to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon. The second most tantalizing scent he could think of; the first being anything Kennedy, of course. Looking over, he noticed her and Creed missing from the bed. He must have slept like the dead to miss them leaving.

  Getting up, he went for a quick shower and clean up. Tossing a pair of sweats and a muscle shirt on, he went downstairs in search of that tantalizing scent and what he could now make out as giggling coming from the kitchen.

  He stood in the entryway and watched as Kennedy flipped bacon while Creed did his best to suck her neck off. He was laying kisses across every available piece of bare skin he could. Deciding to join the fun, Linc made his way in when his brother spotted him and held a finger to his lips for him to keep quiet.

  Smiling, Creed went back to attacking her neck, running his hands along her stomach as he did. She was distracted when Linc came up from the side, gently running one hand up the inside of her thigh between her legs to find her nice and wet.

  “Oh!” She cried out, startled to have another set of hands on her. When she turned to face him his lips descended on her taking her mouth in a slow, sweet kiss, teasing her with what he’d like to be doing to her at the moment while giving her just enough to make her want it as well. He lightly ran his fingers over her bare mound, swiping his thumb around her clit but not enough to do more than tease.

  “Mm… morning Linc,” she moaned against his lips.

  “How you doin’, Sunshine?” He growled when she pushed into his hand.

  A click alerted him to Creed shutting the burner off. “I’ve been better,” she purred.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah…” She let out a sigh when Creed undid her shirt freeing her small, perky breasts for his eyes to feast on.

  The repeated chirping of his cell phone broke the mood when it continued to ring. “Shit,” he growled pulling away to grab the offending device from the counter where he’d left it the night before.

  Seeing a text, he opened it:

  Dane: Dude, it’s almost noon. Y’all coming or what?

  Linc: Shit. Overslept. Be there soon.

  Looking up, he saw Creed fondling her breasts with his hands while sucking on her neck. He was tempted to say fuck it and spend the day worshipping Kennedy, but he knew how important seeing Em was for her.

  “That was Dane.” He broke them apart with his simple words.

  Searching for a clock, Kennedy gasped
when she saw the time. “Shoot! I’ll go get dressed!” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran upstairs.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  “Are you ready?” It seemed like they were always asking her that. No, she wasn’t ready. She knew this was going to be worse than when she went to her parent’s house two days ago, but she needed to do it. She needed to be able to move on, and in order to do that, she had to tell Emily some things.

  Most importantly that she didn’t blame her for what happened. That she needed to forgive herself so she could have the life with Dane and Cooper that she deserved. They all needed to heal. As much as she dreaded this meeting because she was terrified seeing Emily would bring it all back, they all needed the closure it would bring.

  As she got out of the SUV, she took a deep, fortifying breath to help calm her nerves. Slowly walking to the front door, she waited until Linc and Creed were standing on either side of her before forcing herself to knock. As she did her chest tightened in fear. This is really happening.

  When the door opened and Emily stood there with Dane in the background, her vision narrowed and tears were overflowing from her eyes immediately. She’d never allowed herself to dwell on the fear of whether Emily was alright or not; it would have been too much for her to handle. But seeing her friend in the flesh, she felt horrible for not thinking of her as often as she should have.

  “Kennedy,” she whispered like she was terrified she’d disappear. When she went to grab her for the first time since coming home, Kennedy flinched.

  Her gasp had Kennedy pulling her into her own arms, offering all the comfort and support they needed. “You’re here,” Emily whispered on a sigh.

  “In the flesh.” She tried to joke, not wanting to get overly emotional. She’d had enough crying in the last few months to last her a lifetime.

  “Ohh, I missed you.” Squeezing her one last time Emily pulled back, running her eyes up and down her body as if to see that she really was there.

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Ken!” Coop hollered from the house when he saw her.

  “Hey, Coop.” She smiled at him.

  He came running outside, stopping short when he was about to hug her. Hesitating. She felt lower than dirt in that moment. Coop and Dane were like big brothers; she’d known them since she was eight or nine. The fact that Coop didn’t think he could hug her because of how she was when they were rescued stung more than her brother’s words.

  At her nod he came forward and gave her a brief one-armed hug before pulling back, asking, “You good?”

  “Yeah, Coop. I think I will be,” she told him honestly.

  “Are you guys staying?” Dane asked, looking to Linc and Creed.

  “Sunshine?” Creed asked her.

  “It looks like you guys were leaving…” She let the question hang.

  “We are… We were. It’s nothing important; I want to see you,” Emily told her, her eyes pleading with them to stay.

  “Then we’ll stay.” Kenny smiled at them all.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  “Where did you go?” Emily asked her while the guys were all out back grilling burgers for lunch.

  “Italy. A small village called Porto Venere. It’s so pretty there. Peaceful,” she told her.

  “Did, uhh… Did it help?” The worry in her friend’s voice made it easy for Kennedy to answer.

  “It really did. I could breathe there. No one was demanding anything of me. I admit it was hard for a while because I wanted away from everyone, but I missed you all so much, ya know?” she asked, staring into the yard and thinking about her time in Italy. How much it really did help her to heal.

  “I didn’t mean for it to touch you, Kenny,” Emily whispered sadly drawing her attention away from the window.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Em.” Grabbing her hand, Kennedy tried to imprint her resolve onto her by touch. She never believed it was her fault and it was time she told her.

  “Not once did I blame you, Em. For a long time I held it on my own shoulders; I took the blame. Because if I hadn’t wrangled you into going shopping with me then none of it would have happened.” When Emily tried to interrupt her, probably to dissuade her of it and take the blame back, she shook her head telling her, “I distracted your guards by being a brat. I know this, and they would tell you the same. I should have taken their warnings more seriously but I didn’t and I paid the price. We both did.”

  “No, we didn’t, Kennedy. You did. They didn’t do to me what they did to you. I wish I could have taken it for you. That I was left with the scars instead.” Tears ran down her face.

  Kennedy looked back out to where the guys were, watching them talk. They pretended to be busy but every few seconds one or more of them would look in on them. It was annoying but it soothed some of the stress threatening to bubble inside of her from talking about what happened again.

  “I think…” she cleared her throat as tears clogged it. “I think we both need to forgive ourselves now, Emily.” Meeting her eyes again, she hoped she saw that she held no blame for her. “We’ve been through hell and managed to come out on the other side better than we were before, and really, look at the amazing men we’ve got because of it.” She smiled at Linc and Creed as they came in the sliding door with hands full of food.

  “You’re right,” Emily whispered, smiling as Coop and Dane came in.

  “You girls ready to eat?” Coop asked.

  Nodding their heads, they smiled and giggled as the men tripped over themselves to make sure they had everything they needed.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  “You’re really something else, Sunshine,” Linc told Kennedy that evening after they’d spent the day with Dane, Coop, and Emily relaxing and talking about their lives over the last four months. Kennedy opened up more about her favorite parts of Italy. She told Emily of her plans to go back to school and open an art rehab class. They’d all been impressed. Hell, he and Creed were beaming with pride for their woman.

  “Why’s that, Linc?” she asked as they walked through the front door.

  “Honestly?” She nodded. “I was terrified it was gonna be a day full of tears. I hate seeing you in tears,” he admitted.

  “Oh,” was all she said, leaving him to wonder if he was going to pay for that comment.

  When she started to head upstairs, Creed called out to her. “Where you going, Sunshine? It’s early still.”

  The look she threw at them as she turned her head was pure sin. She had a sultry look on her face, her eyes were soft in need, and her body swayed with desire. Stretching her arms slowly above her head and through the hair that slowly raised with them, she told them, “I was going to… relax in a bath for a bit.” With a wink she was gone.

  Linc stared at the spot she was just standing in wondering who the hell the sultry goddess was and where she came from?

  “Tell me I didn’t imagine that?” he asked Creed absently.

  “Not even a little,” he told him sounding just as stunned.

  He was feeling torn. Her look said follow me, but her words said I need to relax. Decisions, decisions, he thought.

  “What do we do?” he asked Creed. Motherfucker, did I actually whimper?

  “Dude, did you just whimper?”

  “No.”

  “Ya, bro, you did. Find your man card and let’s go claim our woman.” His brother laughed as he started locking up the house.

  I fucking whimpered. She did have a body to die for though, and she was fucking hot as hell when they got her going. But for real? A fucking whimper. Shaking his head at himself, they finished locking up before going upstairs. As soon as the reached the landing they heard soft melodic singing.

  ·٠•● ●•٠·

  “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.”

  Her voice entranced Creed. Never in a million years did he think the sou
nd of a lullaby would turn him on. Well, it did. In a big way. He also never thought the song would become so important to her. He’d sung it because it was the only soothing melody he could think of at the time.

  Now, all it did was give him a fucking hard-on to rival all hard-ons. The fact her voice was so soft and angelic was icing on the cake. He didn’t think it would matter what she sounded like, he’d still want her.

  They walked slowly towards the bedroom, curious as to what she was doing because it sure as shit wasn’t having a bath and relaxing. Beautiful light flickered around the room; he was amazed to see she had candles lit on nearly every surface.

  “Holy shit,” Linc whispered in awe.

  “You think she’s trying to say something?” Creed half-joked but was also half-serious.

  “Are you coming in?” she asked standing in the middle of the room.

  His jaw dropped and his heart beat so hard he feared it’d pop right out of his chest and land at her feet. She was stunning. Her hair lay in soft waves around her shoulders. The flickering light emphasized her small features, making her hair look like it was on fire. She wore the sexiest red teddy too. He could see just a glimpse of her small pink nipples through the silk.

  “No panties,” Linc whispered in awe.

  “Fuck me,” he panted.

  Twenty-Two

  Doubt had been eating at her as she went around the room lighting candles and making the room look romantic, which was why she’d started singing. Soon, she was carried away in the simple lullaby and had started dancing. Seeing Linc and Creed come into the room with their jaws literally dropping had taken any doubt she had away.

  Now, she was vibrating with impatience to share her love with them. They always made her feel so loved and wanted like she was a true treasure to them, so tonight, she wanted to make sure they knew how she felt about them.

  They’d said I love you before, but there was a part of herself that she was holding back still and tonight, her goal was to let it go— to have them both at the same time. She needed for them to own every part of her.