“I don’t believe you meant to hurt him.” My voice is hoarse. “Something happened up there, Ken. Two of you went up, and only one came back, but I knowyou. You didn’t mean to – that voicemail, whatever it was. We’re missing something.”
I know it. Know that those words didn’t come from her, not really.
She would have pushed Brett off the cliff herself before manipulating him that way.
“I know you, Kennedy Traylor.” I keep my voice soft. “That’s not who you are.”
Her brown eyes close. And when they open, I don’t see any of the Kenny I know. Her eyes are cold, and distant, and far away from here. “I meant every word of that voicemail message.”
Kenny’s words wrap around us. I feel Max stiffen, feel the air leave my lungs. “You don’t mean that.”
“But I do.” She straightens. “I pushed him. I lied to him, and I told him that was what I wanted. That I wanted us to be together, and this was the only way. I told him you’d take me from him, that he’d lose me. And he believed me. I wanted him dead, and I wanted to watch. And I was right, wasn’t I? You would never have let us be together, just us, becauseyou won’t leave me the fuck alone now.”
“Ken,” I rasp it. “Stop it. That’s not—,”
“I was glad when he jumped,” she whispers. She doesn’t look at me. “I’m glad he’s dead. That’s who you’re mated to, Jake. Theo was right. I am a murderer. And I haven’t lost an hour of sleep over it since.”
Kennedy takes a step back. “You go home, and you tell Theo the truth. Tell him that. And don’t come back here again, either of you. Find someone else. The bond will fade. It’ll be better for all of us.”
I hate myself at that moment. Hate myself for the instinctive refusal that rises to my lips.
We can’t get past this. Not when Theo is sitting a few miles away with his head in his hands, trying to make sense of his brother’s death.
We can’t choose her.
Not without losing him. When I don’t say anything, she nods. A small, sad smile crosses her lips, and she turns to go back inside.
“Why?” Max says harshly. “Why did you do it? He fucking adored you, Kennedy. You were his reason for breathing.”
Her hand pauses on the handle.
“When you’re on a plane,” she says quietly. “They tell you that you need to put your own oxygen mask on first, before you help anyone else with theirs. S…o I did. I put my own…m-mask on.”
I frown. Her words sound a little slurred. Incoherent, almost. “What does that mean?”
She doesn’t want your help.
Kennedy doesn’t say anything else.
Neither of us move until the door closes with a final click.
But then we go.
And fuck if it doesn’t feel like I’m leaving my heart behind in that trailer.
Kennedy
Ibarely make it back inside.
Barely manage to slam the door behind me before I slide down to the floor. My hands shake, my vision blurring. There’s a tingle in my fingers that doesn’t stop, spreading down my body.
Something is wrong. Something new.
“Kenz?” I vaguely hear Rick’s voice. “We need to talk.”
I can’t. I can’tmove.
Help me.
