“It ain’t about you. She’s been like that since she got back from visiting her parents. Your dad has been on her mind heavy.”
“Damn, I didn’t even think about that. We usually go together, so we’ll have each other, but she didn’t even tell me that she was going.” Tekken scratched through his hair and pushed out a sigh before Relic’s explanation truly set in, confounding him. “Wait. Kennedy talked to you about my dad?”
“Why the hell is that so surprising to everyone?”
“I mean, it is but it ain’t. I guess it makes sense ‘cause you’re like him, so she’d be more comfortable with telling you about...” The remainder of his sentence drifted in the breeze as his own words struck him. “Damn. You remind her of my dad.”
“The only man she loved as much as you and Butch. I’m about to check on her, unless you’d rather talk to her alone.”
“Nah, you got it this time. You do got her, right?”
Relic heard the skepticism in Tekken’s voice because he was used to niggasnothaving his aunt—not being man enough to handle her properly or being foolish enough to fumble her near the end zone. His name would end up on that failures list at some point, but for the time being, Relic was still in the game.
“Yea, I have her. Finish enjoying your night. We’ll be back over soon.”
Tekken hesitated but then trudged to his spot, while Relic went in the opposite direction to check on Kennedy whose back was facing him as she stood in the sand near the ocean waves, staring at the sky. If they were home, he could take her to their favorite place, so she could detach from everything weighing her down, except for him. If he had it his way, Kennedy would learn to adjust to the load of carrying the bullshit he came with because the month or so, she believed she had left to stomach him wasn’t nearly long enough for Relic. He aspired to embed himself in her so deeply that she’d carry him with her forever in the very manner she did for Koda and her first love. Relic intended to make his mark.
“Your emotions are showing, Larenn. What did you do?”
The heaviest question he’d ever asked her caused the muscles in her back to stiffen as straight as a board. Relic strode through the sand until he was behind her and then placed a hand on her scarred arm, rubbing it to soothe her rather than himself. She’d need the comfort to confess her sins.
“The hypothetical that you gave me in the bathroom the day you came back has been on my mind. It took me a minute, but I figured out why you were so fucked up. Big dog Kennedy would never cry over me. She doesn’t give a damn about me that much, and it was arrogant on my part to believe otherwise. You didn’t even shed a tear after you killed a man. So, that left three men who I know you deem worthy of tears. One is at the table, and the other is home with Diane. The last one is in a grave. You looked like you saw a ghost after spotting Tekken, so, to be specific, what did you do to hurt him? Am I off base, assuming it has to do with Koda?”
Kennedy jerked her arm to nudge his hand off her at the mention of her big brother. Her shoulders quaked, and Relicassumed she was crying but then a round of cynical, biting laughter erupted from her as she turned to face him before clapping her hands.
“Bravo, Relic. I bet you’re so damn proud of yourself, aren’t you? Here I was, believing you invited Tekken here because I needed family around, but it was really to screw with my fucking head! To try and break me down because you love to ruin people that much. Wow.”
Ruin.
That pithy word caused him to step back, scrubbing a hand over his mouth at the turn of their conversation that he hadn’t anticipated. She’d taken his actions and flipped them for the worse. Relic was used to it, but it fucked with his head whenever it came from her.
“I’m not trying to break you down. I’m breaking you in, Kennedy. I’m trying to show you that you can trust me with your secrets, so you’ll let down the fucking walls you have up because of one goddamn mistake I made. Maybe I went about it wrong.”
“There is no damn maybe! What’d you tell me?” She tapped a finger against her chin like she had to ponder on it, although the phrase sat at the tip of her tongue. “I have to run shit past you first because any other way will make me sneaky, and you can’t trust me. How in the hell do you think blindsiding me will lead to trust? How is forcing me to tell you something I’m not ready to speak about leading to trust, Relic?”
“You’re right, but in my defense, inviting Tek wasn’t to force your hand. It was to validate the things I assumed. Someone can easily deny the truth when there’s no sound evidence or proof to back it up. I needed to be certain.”
“And what proof did I give you?”
“Your breakdown sent up red flags, but that call you took minutes before on a prepaid phone you think I know nothing about was the real giveaway. Sarge, right? That’s the same nameyou mentioned at breakfast and when you fed us the idea for Aura. Your weird reaction to Tek sealed it, though, so you might want to act normal and store that skeleton away better if you don’t want him suspicious.”
Kennedy sucked her teeth as if she wasn’t shaking in her fucking heels from his sleuthing, or like Relic knowing about her possibly playing a hand in Koda’s death didn’t make her stomach plummet into her ass. If Relic exposed that truth to Tekken, it’d implode her world. The nerve-racking fact that he had caught wind of her prepaid phone didn’t help matters.
She wondered if he’d found it and sifted through her texts with Sonny, or screened her call log that was loaded with an unknown number she refused to answer since she figured it was Ezekiel. After her conversation with Sarge, she didn’t know or care to figure out why he was reaching out. She was on the fence about how she’d handle him.
“Before you drive yourself crazy about how I know, I have cameras in my home. I don’t check them often, but I do more with you staying there,” Relic confessed, putting a frown on her face. “The only place I don’t have them is the bathrooms, where you ran off to.”
“Why did you just tell me that? Now, I’ll know not to do anything slick.”
“If you wanted to, you would’ve done it already, and to be honest, I don’t think you will.”
Kennedy pursed her lips and crossed her arms before asking, “So, what? Is this your way of showing, you trust me?”
“I trust you to be you, Kennedy. I trust you to never do anything that could harm my son, and he lays his head there. I trust you enough to know that you’d never put the hate you have for me above the love you’ve grown for Jah. Are you ready to head back to the table?”
Those emotions for Relic she had buried tried freeing themselves at hearing him confess that he trusted her with the person he cherished most in the world. The person he had sacrificed her for, and killed Lomar for simply laying eyes on. Relic didn’t realize it, but he had shown his hand with that simple gesture. He didn’t deem her as an enemy or a threat, even though she labeled him both in her book. Kennedy smiled and held out her hand.
Relic groaned under his breath but took it, entwining his fingers between hers while preparing to curse his folks out once they noticed and expressed their opinions about it. If he’d known his situation with Kennedy would create so many waves, he would have left everyone at home and vacationed with her alone. As quiet as kept, once he took care of business with his brother, they wouldn’t see his or Kennedy’s face for the duration of their trip.
