“Get back here!” I followed her, rubbing my aching shoulder.
“What the fuck did you do to my room?!” she screeched and backed out of her room, glaring at me. “You destroyed it!”
“What are you doing with drugs, Kinsley?”
“What were you doing in my room?”
“You left this house when I told you not to. Then I find drugs in your room? What the hell were you thinking?” I paced back and forth in front of the short hallway leading to her bedroom. “Drugs, Kinsley? I know you’ve got a vicious mouth on you, and I know you’re moody and dealing with a lot of difficult physical changes right now. I know you’re adapting to a new town and a new school and new friends, but goddammit, Kinsley, I thought you were smarter than this!”
“I’m not even going to bother trying to explain myself because you won’t even listen to me! All you do is lecture and act disappointed all the time.” She tried to slam her bedroom door shut, but I shoved my foot in the way. “Get out of my room!”
“No! You are not running away from me tonight. You and I are going to talk. I don’t care how long it takes. We’re going to talk about this, and you’re going to explain to me why the hell you have drugs in your room.”
“Oh, like you even care. Your life would be so much easier without me in it. Then, you could just run off with your new boyfriend and have a new family, and everything would be so much easier for you, wouldn’t it?”
I gripped her door as she tried to push me out. “My life would be easier if you didn’t fight with me about every single thing! It would be easier if my own daughter didn’t hate me!”
“I saw you tonight. I saw you drop him off at the clinic. I saw you two sucking face. How do you think I feel about that? You don’t even care! You don’t care about anything but yourself!”
“Bullshit! That’s bullshit and you know it, Kinsley!”
“Oh, that’s right, my bad. You care about him!” Kinsley gave up trying to shut the door and stormed across her room, trashing the stuff on top of her desk. “You’ve got a new boyfriend and that’s all that matters, right?”
“You’re not even making any sense. You matter to me. You staying off drugs and having a good life matters to me.”
“What. Ever. You lied to me tonight. You said you were going to Laila’s and I saw you sucking face with Dr. Daniels. You smell like a slut, too. You’re an embarrassment.”
“My dating Harrison is bothering you this much?”
“Yes! It is!”
My heart lurched in my chest, but I ignored it. It didn’t matter. Keeping my daughter safe did. “Fine. I won’t see him anymore.”
“What?” Kinsley had a book in her hand and was preparing to throw it across the room. She paused mid throw and stared at me with a disgusted look on her face.
“I said I won’t see him anymore. If it will stop you from acting out and hurting yourself with toxic substances, I won’t see him anymore.”
“How could you even say that? How could you do that to him? He’s your mate and you’d just throw him away like that?”
My head was spinning. “How do you…”
“I know things! I know that he’s your mate and you’d just toss him aside. You don’t deserve him. You’re so selfish!”
“You listen to me, Kinsley Maude Day. The moment I found out I was pregnant with you, when I was fifteen years old, I have thought of nothing but you. When my parents kicked me out and I had nowhere to go, I worried about how I would keep you safe. I worried about how I would support and protect you. I worried about how I would provide for you. The same things I’ve worried about every day since. I’ve scrimped and saved and sacrificed—all for you. Every. Single. Day. Since I was your age.
“And I’ll tell you something else. I’d do it again in a heartbeat because I love you. I love you even though you treat me like I’m a thorn in your side. Even when you tell me how much you hate me. So don’t you dare call me selfish, young lady. I never claimed to be perfect and I have a lot of faults, I know that, but selfishness in not one of them. For the last fifteen years, I have been anything but selfish.
“As for Harrison, he is my mate and I was with him tonight. I like him. I want to be with him. But if you’re going to throw your life down the toilet because of it, I’ll give him up. From the day you were born, you’ve been my number one. My priority is to keep you safe. I think the best thing to do here is for me to quit my job and we’ll move. We’ll go somewhere and start fresh. Somewhere you can get away from the friends you have now—the bad influences.”
“What?! Are you kidding me?!” Kinsley headed toward the front door, shoving me out of her path. “I hate you!”
I tried to hold onto her, but as a shifter, she was so much stronger than I was, and she shoved me away again. “Kinsley, stop!”
“I’m not leaving Sunkissed Key. I’m never leaving. You can’t ruin my life all over again. You leave if you want, but I’m not going. If you could make it on your own at fifteen, so can I. I don’t need you.”
One more strong shove from her and I fell back against the wall. While I was trying to get my feet under me, she ran out of the room. Chasing after her, I yelled and begged her to stop, but nothing worked. She ran out of the house and down the steps. By the time I got to the street, she was already gone.
I ran up and down the street, calling her name, asking people if they’d seen her. I jogged up and down Shipwreck Way. I walked up and down Main Street. I searched for her in every place I thought she would be, but I couldn’t find her.
I wasn’t sure how long it’d been, or what time it was, but I was a mess by the time I got back to the house. I was physically and emotionally beat. Sobbing, I found my phone and dialed the one person I knew I could count on, no matter what. Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to compose myself before Harrison picked up.
“Hey, honey. Everything good?”
“No. Kinsley ran away.” A sob broke free and a fresh batch of tears poured down my cheeks. I fought through the sobs to tell Harrison what had happened. “We fought. We fought and she ran away. I’ve been looking for her, but I can’t find her. I can’t find her anywhere, Harrison. She’s gone.”
“She’s not gone, honey. I’m on my way. I’ll find her, okay?”
“Please find her. Please.”
21
Harrison
It took me less than ten minutes to track Kinsley down. When I knocked on the front door of the three-story beachfront home on Flamingo Lane, I was seething with anger. My bear wanted to tear something apart. Hearing Fern cry like that just about gutted me. Knowing she was at home, terrified and devastated, had me on the verge of an uncontrolled shift.
A teenage boy answered the door, a smirk on his face. “What’s up, Dr. Daniels? Come to check my temperature?”
I grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar, lifting him off the ground as I barged into the house. Holding the struggling teen in the air, I walked from room to room and growled loudly. “Kinsley, you’d better get out here right now before I make a light snack of your boyfriend.”
“Let me down! Let me down, or I’m going to tell my father about this!”
I shook the little shithead once and glared into his frightened eyes. “How old are you? Eighteen, nineteen? Kinsley is fifteen. She ran away from home. If her mother knew you were holding her here, she could press charges against you. Keep running your mouth and I’ll make sure she does.”
Kinsley popped up from behind the couch in the formal living room and, red faced, marched over to me. “She didn’t have to send you.”
“Did you hear her calling you?” I was so angry that I had to force myself to loosen my grip on the asshole in my hand before I strangled him. “Did you?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“Outside. Get outside right now. We have some talking to do about what a selfish, rotten thing you just did to your mother. Hiding from her while she was calling you, scared out of her wits that something might ha
ppen to you… You should be ashamed of yourself. And this is your choice of boyfriend? Really? Uh-uh. No. Not going to work.”
“You’re not my fucking dad!”
“And you’re damn lucky. If I were your dad, you’d be doing chores every day after school until bedtime for the next three months while I hover over you like a drill sergeant.” I shook my head at her, dropped her boyfriend on the ground, and got an inch from his face. “Stay away from her. If I catch you around her again, I’ll break every bone in your body. Understand?”
Kinsley stormed out onto the porch and started down the stairs to the beach. I was right behind her, trying to decide what I could and couldn’t say. I was so angry that I finally decided to throw caution to the wind.
“What the hell happened?”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you? She called you so fast that I figured she would have already given you the play by play and sucked your face off by now.”
I grabbed her by the arms. Glaring down at her, I let my bear flash into my face. “You don’t talk about your mother like that. I don’t know everything about the relationship between you two, but I know that she loves you more than anything in the world. I know that she works herself ragged providing for you. She would rather lose her mate than hurt you. So you watch your mouth and remember who you’re talking about. I know you’re angry, but that woman deserves your respect.”
She sagged against me, all anger suddenly gone out of her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to her. She called me, sobbing hysterically. She’s scared to death that you’re in danger.”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. She found the Xannies in my room and I knew she wasn’t going to listen. I just got so angry. I don’t even know what I was saying when I was yelling at her, but she was yelling, too. Then she told me we were going to move again. She wants to move away from here. I don’t want to move. It sucks being the noob—starting a new school in a new town with no friends. Is she just going to keep making me leave my home every time I do something she doesn’t like?”
“Xannies—You mean Xanax?” I swallowed back an urge to vomit at the idea of Fern leaving Sunkissed Key. I couldn’t think about that at the moment. I wouldn’t let that happen anyway. “So, you were in possession of drugs—illicit prescription benzodiazepines?”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you?”
I sighed. “Come on. We can talk when we get you home to your mom.”
“I don’t want to go back there. She’s furious.”
Staring down at Kinsley, it wasn’t hard to see the mixed-up, struggling kid in her. She was lashing out and making dumb choices, but she was just a kid. “She’s not furious. She’s scared. She’s just trying to keep you safe. I don’t have kids, so I don’t know what it’s like personally, but I see parents in my office all the time. They’re all just scared, Kinsley. Raising a kid isn’t easy, and it doesn’t come with a rule book. Your mom’s been doing it on her own.”
“I’m not stupid, though. She doesn’t have to worry about me so much. I’m not going to get knocked up like she did. I don’t do drugs and I don’t drink because there’s no real point.”
“Then why did you have the drugs?” I led her down Main Street and back toward her house. I was feeling a little guilty for not calling Fern right away, but I thought it was important to talk to Kinsley first and calm her down before she faced off with Fern.
“They weren’t mine. I took them from…someone. So they wouldn’t do them.”
“That boyfriend of yours?”
She looked away. “He’s not that bad.”
“He’s never coming near you again. He’s dead meat if he does. He’s too old, too stupid, and too much of an asshat.” I shook my head. “That relationship is over. Sorry, kid.”
“Is this what it’s going to be like? You and my mom sneaking off to be together and then you bossing me around and trying to control my life?”
I grunted. “You knew we snuck off together, huh?”
“Like I said, I’m not stupid.”
“It made you mad?”
She grunted back at me. “It’s stupid that she tried to hide it from me.”
“That’s why you’re upset? Not because she’s with me?”
Scowling, Kinsley rolled her eyes and looked away. “I don’t care if she’s with you. You’re mates. I get it.”
On Magnolia Street, Kinsley let out a groan when she saw her house and Fern sitting on the porch, wringing her hands and looking distraught. I held the back of her neck and squeezed lightly, giving her support. “You’re her world. Remember that.”
Fern was up and running toward us the second she saw us. She grabbed her daughter and pulled her against her chest, holding her tightly. “I’m going to murder you later, but right now, I’m just so glad to see you. I love you, Kinsley. I love you so much. Don’t you ever run off like that again.”
Kinsley groaned and made a weak attempt at pushing her mother away. When I caught a glimpse of her face over Fern’s shoulder, though, I saw tears in the girl’s eyes.
“Thank you, Harrison.” Fern finally let her daughter go and stepped back. “I’m sorry we bothered you.”
I gestured toward the house. “I think Kinsley has something she wants to tell you.”
Kinsley snarled at me, as though that would intimidate me. I snarled right back, and Kinsley turned and slunk inside. I followed closely behind her, not giving Fern a chance to dismiss me. I knew she wanted to take it slow, but I wasn’t leaving. They both needed me.
Inside, Kinsley threw herself on the couch dramatically and crossed her arms, preparing for whatever was coming. I sat next to her, and Boots ran over and sat at my feet, waiting for me to scratch him behind his ears.
22
Fern
When I entered the house, Kinsley, Harrison, and Boots were already sitting on the couch together. I stopped short. It was the picture-perfect family, and seeing it like that was a blow to the gut. Especially since I couldn’t have it. Not after the fight with Kinsley. I didn’t know how to tell Harrison to leave, though, especially not when I wanted him there so badly.
“I’m sorry.” Kinsley blurted out the apology and groaned. “I shouldn’t have said all that stuff and I shouldn’t have run away. The Xannies weren’t mine, though. I took them to stop my boyfriend from using them, and I just put them in my desk without thinking. You were mad for no reason.”
Harrison cleared his throat.
Kinsley glared at him. “But I’m still sorry.”
I sat in the chair across from them and rested with my elbows on my knees. “Your boyfriend?”
Harrison snorted. “Ex-boyfriend. It’s over.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. I meant what I said to him. If he comes around you again, and I’ll know if he does, I will tear him limb from limb and toss his remains into the Atlantic Ocean.”
“Mom, he can’t do that!”
Harrison snorted again. “As a concerned citizen, I can and will do that. He’s an asshat.”
I held up my hands. “You met him?”
“That’s where I found her. He’s a punk—not nearly good enough for her.”
Kinsley stared him down for a few more seconds and then shrugged and slumped back on the couch. “What. Ever. I was going to break up with him anyway.”
I released a slow breath. “You had a boyfriend.”
“It’s not a big deal, Mom. It wasn’t serious.”
I looked at Harrison. “You’ll really get rid of him if he bothers her?”
He nodded with a grin. “It would be my pleasure.”
I sat back in my chair. My thoughts were spinning too fast for me to fully process. “But those weren’t your pills?”
“No, Mom. I don’t do drugs.”
Apparently, there was a lot I didn’t know. I rubbed my face and sighed. “We can’t keep doing this, Kinsley. I can’t keep fighting with you like this. I’m tired and I
’m very near my breaking point.”
“Fine. Then, we won’t fight. I don’t want to leave Sunkissed Key, though. I want to stay.”
I looked at Harrison and found him watching me with a curious expression on his handsome face. I looked back at Kinsley. “I don’t want to leave, either. But make no mistake, if I think you’re getting into trouble and I need to leave for your safety or protection, I will move us out of here so fast, your head will spin like the exorcist. I don’t care whether it’s what you want or not, Kinsley. I will do anything I have to do to keep you safe.”
“Including leaving your mate?”
Kinsley’s question pierced my heart like a blade. I looked at my feet and felt tears prick my eyes. Of course, I didn’t want to leave him. In the little time I’d known him, he’d become a huge part of my life. Like tonight. He was the one I called. He’d come to the rescue and found her for me. He’d walked her home and, oddly, he’d both threatened and comforted her. I saw the way she relaxed around him. Whether she knew it or not, she liked him, too.
“That’s not an option.” Harrison’s deep growl was more of a rattle through the room than anything resembling a normal human voice. “There’s nowhere you could go that I wouldn’t follow.”
I snapped my head around to him and found him staring at me with a burning intensity. I opened my mouth to argue, but found that I didn’t want to.
“I didn’t mean what I said earlier.” Kinsley’s voice was quiet. “I was just mad that you tried to hide it from me when you went out with him. It sucks when you treat me like a child. I don’t care if you’re sleeping together. I just don’t like being lied to.”
“Kinsley…” I swallowed back the embarrassment of the situation and nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have lied to you and I’m sorry.”
Harrison captured her attention. “I want to be here for both of you. I want your mom in my life, and I want you in my life, despite the fact that you’re kind of a pain in my ass, Miss Rude ‘Tude.”
Charmed Mate (Cybermates Series Book 2) Page 10