Reviving Kendall

by Brandy Slaven

  Catching sight of Teagan and Lucas over Mav’s shoulder, I see them leaning on each other for support as they try to hold in their laughs.

  Mav tries his damnedest, but eventually a smile breaks free as the guys fail at holding theirs in. He pulls me to him and whispers in my ear, “I’m sorry. You just make me crazy sometimes.”

  I press my lips against his Adam’s apple, “Just returning the favor I guess.”

  He chuckles, and I feel the sound all the way down to my toes.

  “So, is this guy for real about showing up here today?” Goose asks.

  I share a grim smile with him, “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Guess he’ll get a little more than what he bargained for then, huh?” Teagan asks as he fist bumps Goose.

  Oh damn. This is going to be ugly.

  We make a spaghetti dinner while we wait. Of course, that means Goose and I make dinner. The other three would burn boiling water. Well, maybe not Lucas. He’s not that bad.

  I mentally bite my nails waiting around for the clock to turn. I’m seriously kicking myself in the ass for not having his number so I could just tell him. Even though, that might have made the situation worse earlier.

  When lights cut across the front windows five minutes before eight, I jump up and beat the guys to the door, “Let me handle this. There’s no reason for anyone to have to get arrested or go to the hospital tonight.”

  Goose and Teagan look disappointed, but nod almost at the same time. Then, surprising me, Lucas says, “He’s got one chance to accept your answer. That’s it.”

  I sigh and walk out on to the porch. The closer he is to his car, the better.

  He’s just walking around the front of an older style Camaro as I walk down the steps, and the sight of it squeezes my chest like a vise. If things weren’t already looking bad for him, that right there would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’d never ride in that car.

  Billy smiles as he sees me, “Hey Kendall.” He moves in for a hug right before his eyes find the four looming shadows I’m sure are behind me on the porch, and pulls up to a stop.

  “Hi, Billy. I’m sorry you went out of your way today, but I can’t go out with you tonight, or any night actually,” I tell him.

  His face looks defeated for a second, “I didn’t mean to come off so pushy earlier. I just didn’t know how to get you to agree to a date with me.”

  I shake my head, “It’s nothing you did. I’m in a relationship right now and I tried to tell you earlier, but you kept running off before I could. It would be best if you left now.”

  Stepping closer, he leans down so only I can hear it when he says, “If you feel threatened, I can help you know.”

  The guys shift on the porch and one of them comes to stand behind me. Lucas’ cologne hits my nose, and I have half a second to be thankful it wasn’t one of the others. That is until he opens his mouth, “Are you deaf? She said leave, dude.”

  His face turns into an ugly sneer, “Wow. Not straying too far from the trailer park with this one, are you?”

  Confusion muddles my brain for a second before it clicks that he’s talking about Lucas. He must have his sleeves pushed back so you can see his tattoos and assumed. “Are you fucking serious?” I say, my temper going as red hot at Mav’s earlier.

  “Look,” he says throwing up his hands in surrender, “I didn’t come here for any trouble. That’s what I get for trying to be nice to the outcast, right? It’s just amazing that you’d choose to stick with trash when you can have something better.”

  Lucas steps up against my back as I say, “Just get in your fucking piece of shit car and leave Billy.”

  Then as if he just remembered something turns back around with a laugh, “Oh shit, that’s what kind of car your other trailer trash boyfriends died in wasn’t it?”

  Goose clears the side railing of the porch in one jump, and I get the pleasure of watching Billy’s eyes go wide in fear. However, this isn’t Goose’s fight. Billy looks back to me, and I punch him harder than I’ve ever hit anyone in my life. One of my fingers pops, but I don’t even feel the pain from it. His nose gushes blood, and all I can think is of hitting him again. Goose stops next to us, realizing that I’ve taken care of it. He’s normally as sweet as Lucas, but the murderous look he’s throwing Billy is scary, even to me.

  “Goddamn it. You broke my fucking nose,” Billy wheezes out.

  “You’re fucking lucky that’s all that’s broken, asshole,” Goose tells him.

  He shakes his head and backs up towards his car without turning away, “This is so not worth the two hundred bucks.”

  My mouth drops open and there’s no stopping Goose this time. He has him pinned against the side of his car before I can even move to stop him.

  “What did you say?” he growls at him.

  Billy looks pathetic with blood pouring down his chin and onto his shirt, as white as a ghost, facing Goose, “Derrik paid me months ago to woo, fuck and leave her.”

  I catch Goose right before his fist connects with Billy’s face, “Stop. Babe, please stop.”

  Billy’s eyes widen, “I thought you were with the other one.”

  Neither of us bother to respond to him. I pull on the hand I have in mine until Goose lets him go completely.

  I should have just let Goose punch him, because the next thing he says is, “Guess Derrik was right. You really will sleep with anybody.”

  Mav and Teagan, the two that I’m more afraid of getting in the middle of this, come down the steps at his words.

  But I’ve had enough. I turn and knee Billy right in the balls. He drops like a stone. Goose gives him a full ten seconds before he lifts him up by the front of the shirt and hauls his ass around to the driver’s side door, “Now get the fuck out of here.”

  “I’ll have you guys locked up for this,” he threatens, digging his keys out of his pocket.

  Teagan laughs, “You can try, asshole. My dad is Steve Morgan. He’ll bury your ass in paperwork for five years before I ever see the inside of a jail cell.”

  Apparently, the name rings a bell for Billy, because he jumps in the Camaro and spins out as he pulls away.

  Lucas comes up on my right and grabs my hand. I let out a yelp and jerk my hand back.

  “Did you hurt your hand, baby? Let me see,” he says softly.

  Goose looks over his shoulder, “If it’s moving, then she just jammed it.”

  “Come inside,” Lucas tells me, “let’s take a look at it.”

  Passing by Mav and Teagan, the latter pulls me to him away from Lucas, “That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” He tucks his hands underneath my arms as he slams his mouth down on mine. Once he’s had his fill, he picks me up and spins us in a circle.

  “We need to get inside for real, though. Someone probably already called the cops,” Lucas says as Teagan puts me down.

  “Forget where you are baby?” I ask him, using his pet name for me. “You’re in the trailer park. They don’t call the cops out here unless shit gets real bad.”

  Words Of Wisdom

  “Wakey, wakey,” a girly voice says shaking my ass above the covers.

  I groan and roll myself up in the blanket, so not ready to be up yet. It feels like I just fell asleep. Peeling one of my eyes open, Ryleigh grins back at me, “Wake up sunshine.”

  “Oh my god, dude,” I groan. “You sound just like your brother in the mornings.”

  She turns her nose up, “I don’t know whether to take that as an insult or compliment, considering I know how much you looooove the sound of his voice.”

  Flipping my pillow on top of my head, I try to hide my pink cheeks, “What are you doing here anyways, and where’s said brother?” The guys drew straws last night after the fiasco with Billy. Teagan won, but I passed out before anything could get interesting.

  Shaking my bum again, she says, “I kicked said brother out a little while ago and told him to go do boy stuff. We’re having
a girl’s day.”

  “Don’t you and Eddie have plans today?” I ask, my voice still muffled with the pillow.

  “Yeah duh,” she answers, “but not until tonight. I’m going to go get my hair and nails done. Plus, I need a new outfit. I haven’t gone shopping without you, so my retail therapy has been at an all-time low this past month.”

  If I wasn’t already feeling guilty about not calling her before, I am definitely feeling it now. I uncover my face and roll onto my back, so I can see her face, “I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, Ryleigh.”

  She smiles sadly at me, “No need for apologies. It’s been a rough month or so. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t be here for you when everything happened with your Gramps. If I had known, I wouldn’t have given you a chance to not have me around. I would have been here.”

  Digging my way out of my blanket cave, I grab her hand, “Please don’t. I know that you would have been here if you could. I should be the one apologizing. Everything happened so fast and yet so slow. If I’m honest about it, I don’t really remember much over the past month. It’s like living in a fishbowl. You know what’s happening around you, but it’s not happening to you, if that makes sense.”

  “Sounds kind of crazy,” she says before a true smile lights her face. “But that’s just one of the reasons why you’re my bestie. Our crazies match each other.” I laugh as she wiggles her eyebrows, “Besides, I know of two ways you can make it up to me.”

  “By getting my lazy ass out of bed and having a girl’s day,” I guess the first one.

  Nodding she says, “And turning your fucking phone back on so someone can get in touch with you.”

  I laugh, and it makes her giggle. The thought hasn’t even crossed my mind. I’m normally with one of the quad, except school, but they drop me off and pick me up. I haven’t had the need for it, but I know that I need to. I tease her anyways, “You can always call me on the house phone. I never leave the house anymore.”

  “Yeah,” she says sarcastically, “Unless you’re off bumping uglies, or pretties I should say with Lucas.”

  My gasp is loud, and it makes her giggle again, “They told you about that?”

  “Teagan did,” she admits. “He needed someone who wasn’t a dude to talk to about it. His words, not mine.”

  “What did he say?” I ask curiously.

  A look of shock falls across her face, “You think that I’d betray my brother’s trust like that, after he asked me not to say anything?” I must let my disappointment show, because she laughs again, “I’ll tell you on the way if you’ll get up and spend the day with me.”

  I was going to do that anyways, so this is just an added bonus, “Deal.” Unwrapping myself, I make quick work of getting ready. Before we leave, though, I need to check the bank. There was money in there, but between bills for a month and me not having a job, it’s dwindling down fast. I tried to find out who paid to have the lights turned back on, but the guys wouldn’t tell me, even when I threatened maiming.

  Sorting through the mess of crap on my dresser, I locate my phone and turn it on. Someone had it connected to the charger. That definitely wasn’t me, unless it was one of those moments of non-clarity. When it finally fires up, I see that there’s still service on it, which is weird because I thought that it ran out back in January. One of the guys has been paying it, had to be. Oh, they are in so much trouble. The phone beeps and chimes endlessly for at least a full three minutes before it quits.

  “Jesus,” I exclaim out loud.

  Ryleigh is laid across my bed with her phone in her hand, “What is it?”

  “There’s three hundred and twenty-six fucking texts on here. And it says my voicemail is full,” I marvel.

  She lets out a small disbelieving snort, “That’s what happens when you ignore people who care about you for over a month. I may or may not be half of all of that.”

  Her confession and the tone in which she says it have me laughing. Opening the bank app, I ignore the other stuff for now. It takes forever to pull up, but when it does, I almost sit on Ryleigh as I plop down on my bed to keep from hitting the floor.

  “Hey,” she squeals trying to move out of my way.

  I feel her look over my shoulder, “Don’t mind me as I’m nosy for a second.” Then she gasps as she sees what almost put my ass on the floor. “Is that for real?” she asks quietly.

  “It has to be,” I tell her when I can find my voice. “Gramps had a lawyer who handled all of his stuff before he passed. A will and a life insurance policy that I didn’t even know that he had. He told me that the claim would be coming through within thirty days, but I never got the amount from him.” No wonder all of Gramps’ checks were going to his policy. There’s a quarter of a million dollars sitting in my bank account right now. The screen goes fuzzy as tears cloud my eyes. My heart wrenches hard, and the phone drops to the floor as I use my hand to cover it. Propping my elbows on my knees, my face falls into my hands as tears run into the carpet. Ryleigh’s hands rub smooth circles across my back as she lets me cry it out.

  It’s just so unbelievable. Not that he would do this, but that it was for so much. I could pay off all our debts on his and Nana’s medical bills, go to college and still have some left over to have a decent start on a life away from the trailer park. Once the water works dry up, I apologize to Ryleigh again.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Kendall,” she reassures. “Some days are harder than others, right? Little shocks and surprises, good or bad, along the way don’t help I’m sure. Want me to wait in the living room for a minute?”

  This is the first time that we’ve seen each other in over a month, and the last thing I want is her to think that she’s not important to me, but I need a second. There’s a pressure in my chest that I can’t seem to let go of. When I nod, she smiles and leaves me alone in the room.

  Rescuing my phone from the floor, I find the number that I’m looking for and hit call.

  Goose answers on the second ring, “Figures it would take Ryleigh to have you start using your phone again.”

  I want to laugh, but it comes out as a sob instead.

  His voice drops the playful tone and goes serious instantly, “Are you ok, babe?” And when I don’t answer, “Kendall?”

  Mav’s voice says something in the background. Should have known that they would be together. Another second has him on the line, “What’s wrong, Kendall?”

  “Nothing,” I tell them, only half lying. Just hearing their voices has lifted off some of the weight off my chest.

  “Try again,” Mav coaxes in that deep voice of his.

  I take a deep breath, “I just had a moment and I needed…” I trail off, not knowing if I should tell them just how deeply rooted my necessity of them actually is right now. Too late, though.

  “Needed what lovely?” T asks.

  Smacking myself in the forehead, I answer honestly, “I just needed to hear your voices.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that, baby,” Lucas pipes in.

  “Need us to come over?” Goose asks.

  My heart says so much yes, but they’re out doing shit. Plus, it’ll ruin a girl’s day with Ryleigh that I owe her. “No, that’s ok. I’m fine. Besides, Ryleigh would never let any of us live it down.”

  “Goddamn right she wouldn’t,” Teagan warns then adds, “but I’ll face her wrath if you need us.”

  The laugh that he pulls out of me lifts the last little bit of weight and I can fully breath again. I hear their laughter on the other end, even Mav’s.

  “I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice yourself, but I think I’ll be ok,” I smirk, and then making myself sound needy as fuck, I ask, “I’ll see you guys later, right?”

  “Of course you will,” Teagan says with a smile still in his voice. “We’re just headed to go get…” There’s some rustling around then he says, “Ow, shit. I mean, yes you’ll see us later.”

  Shaking my head, I roll my eyes at them as we say our
goodbyes.

  I stuff my phone and wallet in the inner pocket of my jacket as I walk out to find Ryleigh.

  She’s sitting on the couch laughing at her phone, and when she sees me watching her, she stands and says, “My brother is so stupid sometimes.”

  I don’t comment, because there’s something more on my mind. Waiting until we’re in the Jeep and on our way, I ask, “So what did Teagan say?”

  She laughs like she’s been waiting to see how long it would take me to ask, “Well, he told me pretty much everything. That you guys were all together, which any moron would be able to see that. But, he also said that you and Lucas had sex first the other day.”

  Looking out the window, I don’t want to see the judgement there. I should have known better. She says, “Look, I think it’s really cool that you guys are trying something out of the ordinary. I would never in a million years try it, because one is enough for me, thanks. I think you’re exactly what they need though. They’ll never be happy being separated with four different women.”

  Her words leave a warm place in my chest, “Thanks. What did Teagan say about me and Lucas?”

  Shrugging she answers, “Not much, really. He said he was surprised that he wasn’t really jealous. I think he wanted to be, but he wasn’t. And, he said that Maverick told him that he wasn’t pissed either.” Her face scrunches up like she’s thinking on something unpleasant, “He said that it was quite the opposite, that it turned them on thinking about you and Lucas. And as much it makes me want to throw up in my mouth to think about my brother saying that, he asked if I thought that was a normal response.”

  “What did you tell him?” I question curiously.

  She smiles over at me, “I told him that nothing about your relationship with the four of them is normal, so they’re allowed to feel the way that they want to without thinking too hard on it.”

  God, I could kiss Ryleigh right now for her words of wisdom. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have her in my life, but I know I’ll never go a month without speaking to her again, “I missed you, Ry.”

  “Awe,” she says, “I missed you too.”