The Heavier The Chains...

by M. E. Clayton

  “I agree.” My mom and I both jerked our heads towards Kenzlee’s voice. She was standing on the threshold between the living room and the kitchen, and it was obvious she was close enough to hear everything.

  My mother smiled in her direction. “Kenzlee, honey, it’s good to see you,” she said sweetly.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Draven,” Kenzlee replied, grinning. “We keep meeting this way.”

  “With you coming out of my son’s bedroom?” Kenzlee’s face flushed, and Mom laughed. “Yes, it seems we do.” She patted my chest and told Kenzlee, “I was just asking Talon if you were going to move in with us.”

  Kenzlee really got embarrassed over that. “Uh…”

  Mom laughed. “I’m just teasing you, honey.”

  “You hungry?” I asked.

  She nodded. “A bit. I have…I have to get going after I eat though. Uncle Allen called and said my mother is demanding to speak with me.”

  I gave her a tight nod. “Sit,” I ordered, then looked over at Mom. “You, too.”

  They sat, and I made breakfast, and everyone ate, laughed, and pretended that Kenzlee hadn’t walked in on a very serious conversation between me and Mom.

  It wasn’t until Mom got up to go run errands she’s unable to during the week, that Kenzlee brought up the conversation she walked in on. “Your mother was right, you know,” she said as she stood next to me helping me wash the dishes. “I don’t care about the money, Talon. I’d rather be poor with you than rich without you.”

  I turned towards her, grabbed her by her waist, and pulled to me-wet hands and all. “Kenzlee, my insecurities are my problem,” I told her honestly. “Do whatever you want to with your money, baby. I just want you to be happy.”

  Kenzlee wrapped her wet hands around my neck and asked, “Do you promise?”

  Everyone was right about Kenzlee’s money; Edie, my mom, Lars…they were all right. Kenzlee’s never acted like a snob or like she couldn’t survive without all the luxuries she’s used to. This was my issue, and my issue alone. “I promise, baby,” I reassured her. “I’ll…figure it out.”

  She eyed me and looked for a reaction as she tested me out. “I want to buy a car first,” she said. “I’m going to need a car once I graduate, for sure.” I nodded but said nothing. “And, then…as a thank you, I want to pay my uncle and aunt’s house off for them.” My brows shot up but, still, I said nothing. “They already have Alexandria’s college figured out, so…but that’s what I want to do first.”

  I wisely kept my mouth shut, and just leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Let’s finish the dishes so I can drive you home, babe. The sooner you call your mother, the sooner I can see you again.”

  She took the hint, and the rest of the morning we steered away from the topic of money.

  ∞∞∞

  Kenzlee~

  “Kenzlee, I’m so sorry, honey,” Uncle Allen murmured with his arms wrapped around my shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Why is she like that?” I cried. “How can you be so…so normal, and she’s so horrible?”

  “I don’t know, Kenz, sweetie,” he replied sounding sad for me. “I really don’t know.”

  When Talon had dropped me off, I had taken a shower and met up with my uncle and aunt. I had wanted to talk to them about paying off their house before speaking with my mother. I wanted them to know that I wanted to do this for them regardless of what happened with my mom.

  They immediately refused the gift, but I insisted. I might have even manipulated them a bit when I told them it was the only way I’d feel comfortable continuing to stay with them. When they finally relented, I called my mother, and the conversation was everything I thought it would be.

  It’s funny about disappointment. You see it coming; you expect it, even. However, even bracing yourself for it, you still can’t avoid the hurt feelings that come with it. I knew what the conversation with her was going to be centered around, but I was still hurt that she wanted my money more than she wanted a relationship with me. I wondered if we are always destined to want to matter to our parents, because my mother and father were neglectful of me and Kaden all our lives, but I still mourned my father when he died, and I still hurt that my mother cared more about money and status than she did me. She was at a point in her life where she’s lost her son, her husband, her money, and her status, but instead of salvaging a relationship with me, since I was all she had left, she just wanted the money my father left me.

  It hurt.

  It shouldn’t at this point, but it did.

  My mother was the only member of my immediate family left, and all she wanted was the money she felt she deserved. She didn’t care about my future or my happiness, at all. And the sad part? Even though it was close to three million dollars, with the way my mother spent money, she’d blow through it all in a month, if that.

  No. If anyone should benefit from what my father left me, it should be the people who have seen me through all these hard times, and that’s my uncle and his family.

  “This is it, Uncle Allen,” I sniffed. “She’ll never forgive me for keeping this money from her. She’ll never…” I took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure I just lost my mother, only she’s not dead like my father and brother.”

  Uncle Allen couldn’t say anything inspiring, because he knew it was true. He knew his sister enough to know that she’ll hold a grudge over this money and there was no talking to her into doing the right thing and quit being a money-grubbing socialite.

  We stayed sitting on my bed, with Uncle Allen’s arm around me, while I absorbed the truth about my mother. After a while, Uncle Allen asked, “So, are you going to tell me about this Talon kid?”

  I couldn’t stop the smile on my face, but I guess that’s what Talon did for me; he made me smile. “What all has Alex told you?”

  Uncle Allen let out a soft chuckle. “She told us enough to make us hope you’re being responsible,” he huffed.

  I leaned my shoulder into him and rested my head on him. “I know you might not believe me, Uncle Allen but, trust me, if Talon ever got me pregnant, he’d haul me off to the Justice of the Peace and get the job done right,” I laughed. Then I went on to tell him all about how Talon takes care of his mother and sister. I told him about the fights and sending Edie to college. I told him almost everything I could think of to make him see how moral Talon was.

  “He sounds like a decent guy, Kenz,” he murmured in my hair.

  “He is, Uncle Allen,” I assured him. “Our only issue right now is he’s not…comfortable with the money Dad left me. He thinks…I don’t know. He somehow thinks he’s not doing his part in taking care of me if I don’t need taking care of.”

  “Awe, honey,” he groaned. “I’m probably not the guy to talk to about this. To be completely honest, I’d probably have issues with it too.”

  “You men are so damn delicate, Uncle Allen,” I teased.

  He let out a deep laugh. “Why, yes, Kenz. Yes, we are,” he agreed jokingly.

  “It’s okay though,” I replied. “I think it’ll work out.”

  “Do you have any other plans besides buying a car and treating us like kings?”

  I leaned back and look at him. “I…I do,” I admitted. “But…it involves Talon’s family and I’m not sure he’ll be okay with it.”

  Uncle Allen gave me a quick understanding nod. “Look, Kenzlee,” he said, “all you can do is share your...wishes with him and take it from there. But, honey, if he says no, you have to respect that. While it’s your money, it’s his family.”

  “I know that,” I replied. “I…I just…” I looked at my uncle and the tears started forming. “I don’t feel right having the money when…I don’t feel right getting it the way I got it.”

  Sympathy and understanding dawned across his features. “Kenzlee, you would have gotten that money even if Donovan hadn’t done what he did. That money was always going to be yours. Don’t…try not to taint it with what he did.”
<
br />   “But don’t you see?” I replied. “That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to do good with it. I want to take care of my family with it. I don’t want to waste it on shopping trips and expensive cars. And I sure as hell don’t want to give it to Mom.”

  “Then, maybe, that’s how you need to explain it to Talon, Kenz,” he advised. “I’m not sure if it’ll help, but maybe if he can see that it’s not about him not being able to take care of you, but rather that you just want to be able to take care of the people you love, he’ll feel more comfortable about it.”

  “I love him, Uncle Allen,” I told him. “I love him, and the way I feel now, I’m pretty sure he’s it for me.”

  Uncle Allen smiled down at me. “Don’t do that, Kenz,” he said. “Don’t add ‘the way I feel now’ part. I’ve loved your Aunt Sheri since I first laid eyes on her, and I’m pretty sure had I met her when we were eighteen instead of meeting her in college, I would have loved her the same. Don’t discount how you feel about Talon just because you’re afraid people will judge you by your age.”

  I threw my arms around my uncle and I was pretty sure I was strangling him with how grateful I was for him. “I love you, Uncle Allen,” I cried. “I love you and thank you for everything. Thank you for everything.”

  His arms came around me and he whispered fiercely, “I love you too, kiddo. I love you so much, Kenz. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Allen,” I whispered.

  “Honey, you don’t ever have to thank me,” he promised.

  Chapter 25

  The reasons we forgive.

  Kenzlee~

  Talon was drawing lazy circles on my naked back and I wanted to stay like this forever.

  Alex had dropped me off at his house after dinner, and I had every intention of talking to him out the money, but Edie had taken off for her second shift at the church carnival, so it was just me and Talon, and there was no talking once he shut the front door behind me.

  “Explain to me why you won’t move in with me again?” he murmured, his lips against my hip.

  “Because we’re still in high school, you live with your mother and sister, and no matter what your mom says, I’m not going to be the girl shaking up with her son in her house,” I reasoned.

  “It’s not shaking up if we’re in love,” he retorted. “And we’re most definitely in love, White.”

  I snorted into the pillow that was currently nestling my lazy head. “How about I make you a deal,” I joked. “I’ll move in with you if you let me pay for Edie’s college, so you can use all the money you saved to put yourself through college?”

  Everything stopped.

  The circles on my back, the kisses against my hip, even his breathing; all of it stopped.

  I closed my eyes knowing I ruined the moment. We were having a perfect moment in time, and I couldn’t just let things be. “Talon, I’m sor-” My words were cut short when Talon flipped me onto my back and climbed up over me. “Talon?”

  He was braced on his elbows and his hands were brushing my hair back out of my face. He looked so serious it was hard to believe he was only 18-years-old. “Do you mean that?”

  This was it.

  This was my chance to make him accept the money. This was my chance to…shit!

  I couldn’t.

  I couldn’t start our future on blackmail and coercion.

  I shook my head. “No,” I whispered. “I…I want to pay for Edie’s college, so you can use all the money you saved to finally do something for yourself, but I’m not going to…bribe you or blackmail you into accepting my wishes, Talon.” I could feel my eyes glossing over, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t scared to be vulnerable with Talon. “I…I’m going to buy a car, and pay off my uncle’s house, but…”

  “But, what, baby?”

  “The fight with my mom was awful, Talon,” I started to explain. “She wants the money so badly, she was willing to sever all ties with me in order to strong-arm me into giving in.”

  His face softened. “I’m sorry, White.”

  “I don’t want her getting any of it, Talon,” I went on. “I…I want to spend it on the people I love. The people who I know will appreciate it, and…and do good with it, you know.” He gave me a small nod. “I know my uncle and aunt are going to be grateful every month when they have a free check than can enjoy that no longer has to go towards the mortgage, and that’s what I want.”

  “Kenz-”

  “No,” I said, stopping him. “Please, let me finish, Talon.” He brushed a kiss across my cheek and let me continue. “I know if…you let me pay for Edie’s college she’d be grateful on two accounts. She’d be grateful to not have to worry about school, and she’d be happy you no longer have to fight. She’d be super grateful for the money. And…and…”

  Talon groaned, “You’re making me feel like an insecure jerk here, baby.”

  I gave him a small smile because I knew he was trying to lighten the heaviness of my emotions right now. “I’m sorry, Talon. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to explain what I want to do with the money.”

  “What do you want to do with the money?” he whispered.

  “I want to buy a car, pay off my uncle and aunt’s house, send Edie to college, p…pay your…uh, mom’s house off, pay for my college, and then…”

  “And then,” he prompted, his voice a low, rough whisper, and I knew I was losing him.

  “I was hoping…I wanted to set aside a little for, like a down payment on a house, or something for after we graduated college, and then…set the rest of it up in a trust for our kids. You know, like…they can, I don’t know, access it when they’re thirty…and…” I trailed off.

  I felt like a goddamn fool.

  “And, what?” he growled, and my chest panged with regret.

  “And that way…we could keep the money, but you could still take care of me,” I finished lamely.

  “Baby,” he whispered, and suddenly, his hips were pushing my thighs apart, and before I knew it, he was seated deep inside me again.

  I threw my head back, and I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped from deep inside me. “Talon…”

  “I love you, White,” he panted, his voice a deep rumble. “I love you, baby.”

  I wanted to say the words back, but I couldn’t think past Talon’s thrusts into my body. He was robbing me of all thoughts, and besides, he knew I loved him. I didn’t need to tell him right this second. All I could get out was, “Oh, God…”

  And then Talon really turned me into an emotional mess when he grunted, “Anything you want, Kenzlee,” his voice strained and husky. “We’ll do whatever you want.” I pushed at Talon’s chest, and he immediately stopped. “What’s wro-”

  I sat up forcing him to pull back, and this time, it was my turned to show him how much I loved him. I rolled over until Talon had to fall onto his back, and I straddled his hips, making sure to slide over him until he was seated inside me again.

  His hands latched onto my hips. “Fuck, Kenz,” he hissed.

  I leaned over him and met his eyes as he fucked me from underneath, and I rode him from above. “I love you, Talon,” I moaned as he kept hitting that sweet secret spot over, and over again. “I love you.”

  We didn’t need to say it anymore. We just both held on as we took each other to the edge of indescribable pleasure and satisfaction. We rode each other to ecstasy, and it was enough to make me take moving in with him seriously. It was enough to make me feel reckless and irresponsible. This feeling, right here, was why teenage kids run away together. It’s what they ruin their futures for. Nothing matched the high that being in love gave you.

  Nothing.

  I dropped on Talon’s chest weightlessly, and I could feel his heart play a tattooed beat in my ear, and it sounded comforting, and soothing.

  It sounded like forever.

  ∞∞∞

  Talon~

  Kenzlee laid on top of me, and I couldn’t have stoppe
d the words even if I tried. “Marry me,” I whispered against the top of her head.

  Her entire body stilled, but she didn’t cower away from the question. “Talon, we’re…we’re still in high school,” she reasoned. “We…you live with your mom. I live with my with uncle and aunt. We can’t…how can we be married and live apart?”

  I ran my hand up and down her back. My dick was softening, but I stayed lodged inside her, not wanting to move from this spot ever. I thought about everything she said, and even I couldn’t argue with her compromise.

  Kenzlee wanted to take care of the people she loved, and I was just lucky enough that she counted my family in that small circle of hers. And she didn’t want to throw bills around like she was at a strip club. No. She just wanted to make everyone’s lives a little easier. I couldn’t hold that against her any longer. I couldn’t taint the good she wanted to do with the baggage my father saddled me with.

  “How about a comprise?” I suggested, because while she was too noble to blackmail me into accepting her money, I didn’t have a noble bone in my body.

  Kenzlee plopped her chin on my chest and looked up at me. “What kind of compromise?”

  I smirked. “The kind where I let you do whatever you want as long as you marry me,” I told her honestly, laying it all on the line.

  Her light brown eyes searched my blue ones and I could tell the second she was going to call my bluff. Or, at least, what she thought was a bluff.

  It wasn’t.

  “So…if I marry you, I can…pay Edie’s college, pay off your mother’s house, put a down payment on a house for us, and put the rest of the money in a trust for our kids, and you won’t say a word?” she asked skeptically.