Connor (The Kendall Family Series Book 2)

by Randi Everheart

  “Let me get some sandals for Sophia,” suggested Connor, walking away.

  The five of them piled into Quinn’s big red truck and onto the curving roads around Sugarloaf Mountain, passing some of the many bicycling enthusiasts that filled the rural streets near Comus. They arrived at Sophia’s mother’s house minutes later. From the driveway, they could see the front door still open. Sophia worried that anyone who’d come by might’ve helped themselves to things inside. She hadn’t considered that before now and felt irritated with herself, her hand tightening on Connor’s. He squeezed back and leaned a little closer.

  As everyone exited the truck and stood together in the front yard, Kris got off the phone with Sheriff Ryan and announced, “He said it’ll be ten minutes before they arrive and to stay outside.”

  “Right,” said Riley, moving toward the house anyway, bat in one hand, his other pulling the gun from his waistband. “Quinn?”

  The big man followed with a sheepish look at the others and the two men disappeared inside. Kris rolled her eyes, used to this sort of thing and not worried about them. But Sophia gripped Connor’s hand enough to dig fingernails into his flesh.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered. “They know what they’re doing, especially Riley.”

  “I don’t want anyone getting hurt on account of me, especially anyone important to you.”

  The seconds ticked by without a sound from the house. While they waited, three local police cars pulled into the driveway, each white with a green stripe around it. Two were deputies and the third was the sheriff, Ryan Kendall, who got out and came toward them, a restrained smile of greeting revealing straight white teeth. He stood six foot four, broad-shouldered with muscles everywhere on an otherwise lean frame. Ryan gave the impression of being very familiar with the gun, pepper spray, handcuffs, and other items attached to his black belt. He didn’t seem to notice the dirt his feet were kicking up or that his polished black shoes were getting covered in brown dust. Short, wavy brown hair matched his uniform, which he wore like a second skin, short sleeves revealing a tattoo of a dagger on one forearm. Sophia thought it looked familiar and realized Riley had an identical one.

  “Hey, guys,” Ryan began, looking around. “I thought you said Quinn and—shit! Did they go inside?”

  “Of course,” said Kris.

  “God da—” He stopped himself and turned to the deputies. “Get in there! And don’t shoot my cousins. I’ll do that myself.”

  The deputies ran for the house, but just as they got there, Riley came out, grinning at Ryan. “House is clear. It’s a mess though. Looks ransacked. I’m sorry, Sophia.”

  She sighed and shook her head in disbelief. “Great. That’s just great.”

  Connor said, “You don’t have to go in if you don’t want. Kris and I can get some things for you.”

  “It’s okay; I can go in. Just come with me?”

  “Of course.”

  Connor looked to Ryan, who nodded his permission and followed them and Kris into the house, where random chairs had been toppled, anything on tabletops or in drawers had been thrown to the floor, and pictures had been knocked askew or off the walls. One could almost think the intruders had been searching for something, but sometimes an entire table lay untouched, none of its drawers emptied.

  “We don’t have to do a full inventory now,” began Ryan, “but if you can give us some idea of how much is missing, and what…”

  Sophia nodded, eyes on the empty spot where her purse had been. Then again, maybe she’d put it somewhere else. She led Connor from room to room and upstairs, and when they entered her bedroom, Sophia abruptly stopped.

  “Crap,” she said. “They’ve got my computer. I don’t see the purse, either, so they have my wallet. Phone, too.”

  “Were they locked with a password or code?” Connor asked.

  “I was using the laptop at the time, so if they got to it fast enough, no. Same with the phone.”

  “Seth could have access to all your accounts then.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. We’ll get you to a computer soon so you can login to everything and change passwords. Or did you have two-factor authentication setup?”

  “Wouldn’t have mattered if I did, since the phone was the second thing to prove I’m me.”

  “Right.” Connor dug his smartphone out of his pants and began signing himself out of several mobile apps.

  Kris stepped up. “Was there anything in your purse you really needed?”

  They exchanged a look before Sophia realized she meant tampons and the like. Her contraceptive pills had been in there. Fortunately, she got them in a three-month supply and had another packet in her suitcase, which she’d never gotten around to unpacking. The suitcase was still here, too. She was on the pill to keep her periods regular, not because she ever had sex.

  Connor handed her his phone and Sophia tried to get into Facebook only to have the app tell her three times that her password was wrong despite her making certain to not fat-finger it.

  “Damn it,” she said, “I think he’s gotten in and changed the password. Let me try Twitter.” She did that one and had no luck there either. Then she just searched for her username and when the account came up, so did several tweets she hadn’t sent. She went cold on seeing one that read:

  So in love!!! with @SethMurray666 #romantic #stud #greatsex #hotguy

  Wordlessly, she handed the phone to Connor, who read the tweet. Seeing his expression, Kris took the phone, looked at it, and muttered, “Asshole.”

  Sophia tried to shrug it off and focused on retrieving some belongings, which was easy, since most of her things were still in suitcases. When they got back downstairs, Quinn took the bags and loaded them into the truck while Sophia fed Minx, who’d crept out of hiding only after the people had been there for awhile. Then Ryan motioned them to sit at the dining room table.

  “Listen,” he began, “this is all pretty serious and while me and my deputies can handle a lot, I think we’re looking at putting this guy away for a long time, if everything is handled right.”

  “Good,” said Connor with uncharacteristic sternness.

  “I’m glad you agree, because what I want to do is call in the Maryland State Police and make sure everything is done right. No fumbling of evidence or missteps. We don’t want this guy getting off on some sort of technicality, once we catch him. We’ve never handled an attempted murder investigation and I don’t want a screw up.”

  Kris put a hand on her cousin’s arm. “Good thinking, Ryan. What do you need?”

  “Not much from you guys. I just want State to process the scene, and we’ll have to take a look at Sophia’s car, which is a huge piece of evidence. They might be able to help with tracking stuff, too. Come to think of it, did you have any sort of smartphone locator app installed and running?”

  She frowned at the lost opportunity to find Seth in a hurry. “No.”

  “It’s okay. We have other ways to track phones anyway. Listen, if you’re up for it, I’d like you to come to the station and give a formal statement. The sooner the better, so we can get things rolling on catching him.”

  Sophia nodded.

  “I’m coming with,” said Connor.

  “So am I,” said Kris. To Connor, she said, “Can I talk to you for a minute first?”

  Wondering what this was about, Connor followed her to another room, out of Sophia’s earshot. “What’s up?”

  “Just wanted to see where your head is,” she replied.

  “About what?”

  “Her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I can tell you two like each other. If you poked my eyes out, I’d still be able to see it.”

  Connor smiled. “What’s your point?”

  “Just take it easy. She’s been through a lot in the last day.”

  He frowned at the idea he’d take advantage of anyone, least of all Sophia. “Yeah, I know. You don’t have to remind me.”

 
She patted his cheek. “I know you’ll do the right thing. You always do. It’s why I admire you even though you’re my little brother. I just haven’t seen that look in your eye before.”

  Feigning ignorance, he asked, “And what look is that?”

  She smirked and just said, “I’m very happy for you. Both of you. Now don’t screw it up, or I’ll have Quinn take a strap to you.”

  He rolled his eyes, knowing she was kidding, as Quinn had never done anything like that. But as the oldest, Quinn had been like a father figure to him and Tristan in particular after their parents died. “Yes, Mom.”

  Kris kissed his cheek.

  Minutes later, they got into Ryan’s cruiser with Sophia and departed. The deputies stayed at the house to meet the state police and secure the scene, and Riley and Quinn left for the inn to drop off Sophia’s suitcases.

  From far away, where none of them could see, someone was watching everything.

  Chapter 7 – Spying

  “Shit.”

  Jess looked at Seth quietly, wondering why he’d said that for the umpteenth time now. She sat on a boulder, one untied, yellow sneaker on the brown grass beside it and the other propped on a different rock. Rocks jutted up from the ground all around them except for a small area where Seth’s tent stood. A little green propane stove and cooking utensils sat near two folding chairs, a lantern, and jugs of water. The camp was concealed and everything within camouflaged because camping on Sugarloaf Mountain wasn’t allowed, but he’d been doing it anyway for what seemed like forever. He knew the mountain well, having worked for the park service that oversaw it, and so he knew where he could get away with it.

  Seth cursed again and Jess impatiently ran both hands through her bright pink hair, before nibbling at the chipped nail polish, blue on one hand and red on the other. She knew better than to ask again. He’d told her to fuck off last time. The mid-morning sun beat down on her black jeans and orange shirt, her splash of color in the green prompting Seth to have called her stupid once or twice just today. He was always insulting her, but that’s how guys were, she thought. Or at least the kind of guys who had any interest in a girl like her. She twirled the nose ring stud she wore, her square face bunched in a frown, her poorly tweezed eyebrows scrunched. People only looked at her a second time so they could stare unflatteringly, which had hardened her bitter heart.

  Finally, Seth lowered the black telescope in his grimy hands, dirt under his fingernails like usual. “They’re at the house,” he said, his voice nasal through his pug nose.

  “Hers?”

  He shot her a look, beady black eyes narrowed. “Yeah. What the fuck do you think I’ve been looking at all this time?”

  “Well how the fuck should I know?”

  “Stupid bitch.”

  From behind them, where he stood on a rock, Mark asked, “Who’s at her house?”

  “The cops,” Seth answered, scratching his thin goatee. He didn’t have enough facial hair to grow a real one yet. Greasy, uncombed black hair fell to his ears. “And the fucking Kendalls.”

  Jess asked, “The Kendalls? How the fuck did they get involved?”

  “How the fuck should I know?” Seth yelled.

  Mark said, “You two need to chill.”

  Seth and Jess glanced over their shoulders at him and said in unison, “Shut the fuck up!”

  Mark looked at them sulkily, tired of being treated like shit by both of them. He was the third wheel in their relationship and knew it. He was also annoyed that neither of them had asked him how his nose was doing since Sophia had broken it. Two pieces of white tape held down the splint bridging his nose. His cheeks were a little swollen under clouded blue eyes, and he’d soon have a blonde mustache to go with his close-cropped hair, since he couldn’t shave under the broken nose very well. He was better looking and taller than Seth, who’d made him shave the full goatee he’d once grown, out of resentment that it came in all the way. His clear skin contrasted with Seth’s pockmarks and continuing zits, just as his broad shoulders contrasted with Seth’s narrow ones. Some who watched them interact wondered why the two were friends at all, but Seth’s bullying had charted the course of their relationship from grade school, and Mark lived the life of an abuse victim, afraid to stand up for himself for fear of punishment.

  “What are we gonna do?” Jess asked.

  “I’m thinking,” said Seth. “I can’t go home, not that I give a shit. She knows it was me. You two will get me supplies if I need ‘em. Use your car. Mine’s gotta stay where it is.” Though he couldn’t see his Challenger from their position, he glanced down to where he’d hidden it just off one of the few roads on the mountain. He’d set up the camouflaged location long ago for his camping here, but now staying in the hideout would help evade the cops, too. The road had almost no traffic, but someone could report the car once the cops told people to look for it. He’d leave it there until he found a chance to grab Sophia again. The next time he’d use the stun gun or something. She deserved a good smack in the head for that last stunt. That sort of thing kept Jess in line.

  Now he had to figure out where to take Sophia once he’d gotten her. With the police looking for him, previous plans were done with. Maybe he’d bring her here. She might enjoy a night under the stars. And under him as he thrust into her. His cock stirred at the thought.

  The best thing to do, though, was take her away from here. They could be together somewhere safe, away from prying eyes. Judging by the trashy romance books he’d seen in her eBook reader, she liked a man in control, maybe even some bondage. That was good, because he was planning to tie her up anyway. She’d enjoy that.

  He lifted the telescope again, the sight of Quinn’s big red truck at Sophia’s house sending a new jolt of fear through him. And that made him angry. He knew better than to mess with the big guy, or God forbid, Riley. Nobody fucked with those two. Connor was a pussy, though. So was that asshole Tristan.

  Back when they were kids, Seth had looked up to Tristan and tried to do some stunts on his dirt bike, hoping to impress the older, larger boy. It had backfired when he’d lost control of the bike, crashed it, and broken his collarbone, all while Tristan stood there cackling at his stupidity. He flushed at the memory. He’d stick it to those fucking Kendalls while he was at it with this Sophia business, especially if they were keeping her from him. He had half a mind to burn down the fucking inn if that’s where she was staying. Or better yet, their house.

  As if reading his thoughts, Jess said, “We know she didn’t go back last night.”

  “Yeah. So she stayed somewhere.”

  “The inn? Or at their house?”

  “Don’t know. Didn’t see her car last night at the inn. Need to see where she goes. Can see the inn from here, too.” Seth aimed the telescope at Sugarloaf Inn but didn’t see anything of interest. The white tent for weddings blocked his view of the rear driveway, where her car could’ve been, though he’d checked last night in his drive by, when he’d seen Connor. He turned back to Sophia’s house, seeing her get into a cop car with Connor and Kris. When they drove out of sight, he trained the scope on her bedroom at the front corner of the house. He’d spent many hours up here peeping at various people, but Sophia had been his favorite. She was the first girl he ever saw naked, and the only one he’d ever seen masturbate. The memory made his cock stiffen. He turned to look at Jess with an expression she recognized.

  “Come over here, girl,” Seth said in a voice that he imagined to be sexy but which wasn’t. “Service my cock.”

  Jess smiled and got up, lifting off her shirt to be topless in the sun, her little tits jiggling. “That all you want?”

  He smacked her bottom as she knelt before him. “Fuck no. You watch, Mark. Maybe you can have sloppy seconds again when I’m done.”

  Mark’s heart clenched at the words and the sight of Jess eagerly undoing Seth’s pants. For all the kindness Mark showed Jess, she only scorned Mark, and yet for all the meanness Seth showed her, she loved Set
h. So much so that she’d have sex with Mark because Seth told her to. So much so that she’d help Seth kidnap a girl he loved instead of her. For all that they thought Mark was a loser, he wasn’t half as far gone as either of them.

  He stood eyeing the fist-sized rocks nearby, wanting to bash in Seth’s head. It sometimes took an effort to keep the desire from his eyes for fear that Seth would see it. Seth had, more than once, and liked causing it. Mark stifled it now. He stifled it all those times when Jess made it clear she was only fucking him for Seth. He stifled it when Seth sat there watching them do it, smirking. He stifled it every time Seth reminded him that Mark hadn’t been able to get an erection when Jess had been trying to take his virginity at Seth’s direction. He was tired of stifling himself. Of being stifled. He wanted to be free, and more and more it looked like the only way to do that was to pick up a rock and smash it through Seth’s sneering face.

  Chapter 8 – Respite

  As late afternoon descended over Sugarloaf Inn, Sophia sat on the family-room couch, leaning against Connor, eyes closed. She was more emotionally drained than exhausted physically, and just wanted to sit in peace with her man, breathing in his musky scent through his shirt.

  Giving a formal statement at the Comus police station had taken forever. They’d snapped photos of Sophia’s bruised knuckle, another bruise on her arm, and documented the small bump on her head from the refrigerator. Connor’s thoughtfulness in getting the blood out of her shirt had ruined most of that evidence, but Sheriff Ryan had seen the blood on her kitchen floor; it would tie one attacker to the scene.

  When asked who else might’ve helped Seth, Sophia hadn’t known who to suggest, so a look into his known associates was underway. It didn’t surprise her when Ryan’s background check revealed a few prior arrests for Seth, who at the very least was about to have his third-strike conviction. The police came and towed her car away to process it, and Tristan volunteered to stop by her mother’s house every day and take care of the cat, who’d come away from the incident unscathed.