Kenna huffed and rolled her eyes. “Those three are nothin’ but a six-legged menace.” She shot Hudson an apologetic look, then turned back to Will. “Well, c’mon then. Let’s go get the little shits.”
“About that…” Will said, the venom in her voice gone now that she was trying to sweet-talk Mac. “I was sorta hopin’ y’all’d go wrangle ’em and bring ’em back to the house.”
“Us? This isn’t Hud’s issue. He’s had to deal with her more times than he should have to, considering he’s not a Haven. And where the hell will you be?”
Will grabbed Kenna’s hand and gave it a tug, her eyes pleading. “Come on, Mac. I wanna hang out for a bit. I’m not gonna see my friends after next week when we leave for State. And we all know you and Hud’ll still be attached at the hip up there.”
At her words, the mountain range in Hudson’s stomach moved and shifted, grew to at least twice its size, its jagged peaks piercing a few organs along the way. He probably didn’t need them anyway.
Kenna sighed but shook off her sister and gave her a playful shove back toward the football field. “Yeah, yeah, fine. Go have your fun.”
“You’re the best! But hurry—you know what she can get up to in even ten minutes.”
“Don’t have much room for barkin’ orders, Will. And you owe us!” she yelled after her sister, but Willow was already jogging away.
Kenna turned back to Hudson, apology written all over her face. “I hate Nat.”
He slung an arm over her shoulder and guided her toward his truck, knowing she’d want to get there as fast as possible. If there was one thing he’d learned being a part of this crazy family was that sometimes seconds counted when it came to the youngest Haven. “Aw, come on now. You don’t.”
“I do. She’s a pain in my ass, and—”
“And you’ll miss her.”
Kenna’s shoulders slumped under his arm, and she leaned into his side. He always soaked up these moments with her, the stolen touches that weren’t supposed to mean anything between them but always did to him. But now? Heinhaledthem, attempting to stockpile them for the coming future. A future without her.
“Yeah, I will.” She reached over and pinched his side. “But I swear, if you tell her that, I’ll tell Lilah her date for homecoming didn’t have the flu so much as was scared off by an overbearing big brother.”
He grunted. “You and I both know that little shit had a lot more than dancin’ on his mind.”
“Well, he’s sixteen, so yeah.”
He opened the passenger door for her and waited until she climbed in, his nostrils flaring when her ass was eye level and practically delivered to him on a silver platter. He needed to focus tonight—if not to tell Kenna what he needed to, then to find her sister before Nat got into a world of trouble. Shaking his head to clear it, he shut Kenna’s door and walked around to his side, content to be distracted from the issues plaguing him, even if only for a little while.
By the timethey had Nat’s two troublemaking best friends delivered to their doorsteps and were in front of the Havens’ sprawling home, it was just before their curfew.
“Bye, Hud, thanks for the ride!” Nat jumped out of the truck bed, barely waiting for the vehicle to stop moving before she took off. She ran up the front walk and scaled the steps in one giant leap before letting the front door bang shut with all the subtlety of a hurricane.
“Not an ounce of remorse in her body.” Kenna shook her head as she looked to where her sister had disappeared. “It’s like she doesn’t even understand that she’s being a shit. It’s a good thing she’s my sister. Otherwise, I really would hate her.”
She turned toward him, propping her leg up on the bench seat and tucking it beneath the other. Her face was cast in shadows, the only illumination coming from the porch light. “I’m sorry we got interrupted at the field. What’d you wanna talk about? I assume it wasn’t just to profess your undying friendship and loyalty to me.” She smiled at him, her grin brightening her features more than any light ever could.
Friendship and loyalty. Two things he was betraying by this new path he’d chosen. He loved her.Hadloved her for as long as he could remember—that was never in question. But he’d learned that sometimes love wasn’t enough.
In the year he’d spent away at college, trying—for himself, for his momma, and for Kenna—he’d realized if he stayed there, if he went the route his momma wanted him to, the one Kenna assumed he would, he wouldn’t be living up to his potential. And if he was ever to be with Kenna the way he wanted to, how was that fair to her? Giving her a partner who was only half the man he could be? She deserved someone strong and competent. Someone who wasn’t a shell of himself.
He opened his mouth to say something—what, he had no idea—when a shadow fell over the porch light, and there stood Kenna’s daddy, arms crossed over his chest, eyes fixed on them.
She glanced over her shoulder toward the house, then twisted back to face Hudson. “Shit. I gotta go.” Reaching out, she pressed her hand to his chest, a light touch but one that burned even through his shirt. “Can you tell me quick?”
He knew, no matter in how few words he used to tell her, it wouldn’t change her response. There’d be anger and hurt and frustration—an ocean of conversation to be had, and something they couldn’t do with only minutes in front of them.
Instead, he rested his arm across the back of the bench seat, his fingers close enough to touch her ponytail. He let the silky strands brush through his fingers, and when she noticed, he held on and tugged. “Come to the cabin with me this weekend.”
Kenna blinked up at him in surprise. “What?”
“Cash in on that favor from Will and make it seem like y’all are goin’ up early. Then come to the cabin with me instead.”
“But what about what I said earlier? Showin’ me around…”
