I jerk out of her reach, cupping my chest protectively. “Ouch. The fuck is wrong with you?”
“Consider that a friendly warning,” she hisses.
“For what?”
Kenzie looks over both shoulders before getting up in my face.Well, asup in my faceas she can be at five foot nothing.
She jabs her finger at me, stiff and unyielding like a knife.“Stay away from Lila. You hear me?”
I don’t respond initially, buying time to decide if she’s being serious or still playing around. You never know with her.
When her finger remains sharply in place, and her expression doesn’t even hint at anything remotely friendly, I decide she’s absolutely serious.
Fucking hell. Even though I saw this coming, it still sucks balls.
“What are you talking about?” I hedge.
“Don’t play dumb. You were two seconds from humping her leg when I walked in here. She’s mine. Not yours.”
Staking her claim on Lila like she’s nothing more than a toy or a possession. Classic Kenzie.
“Humping her leg?Puh-lease. She just hugged me because she was happy to see me. That’s all you walked in on.”
“Bullshit. I’m not one of your dumb girlfriends you can lie to.Keep your wart-covered dick away from my friend. She’s delicate.”
I open my mouth, ready to defend myself and Lila. But I don’t. It’s not worth it. When Kenzie’s like this, there’s no changing her mind.
She’s always been this way. It’s as if she’s physically unable to let me be happy. And since she was Mom’srealchild, there were never any consequences. Mom fed the fucking entitlement to Kenzie with a diamond-encrusted spoon.
She notices my lack of a response, already assuming the victory. “Don’t make me tell you again.”
I put my hands up, wordlessly capitulating to her demand.
For show.
If I decide to do something with Lila, Kenzie damn sure isn’t gonna stop me.
And that’s a bigif.
Hell, I just got here. Yeah, Lila and I had a moment. It was probably nothing. I’ll be gone soon enough, anyhow.
Since she won this round, Kenzie’s body language loses some of its open hostility. “Good.” She curls her lips into a wolfish grin. “Besides, Lila’s too good for you.”
“Couldn’t resist, could you?”
“I call it like I see it.”
Home sweet home.
Present Day
From that night on,everything changed.
I initially planned to find a job as far away as possible. Somewhere along the line, that desire changed.I turned down my first few job offers because they required moving out of the area. I lied to myself about the reason I was reluctant to go,insisting I was staying to care for Dad as he battled his demons. Then the divorce came, followed by his illness. To some extent, hedidneed me. And I was honored to be there for him.
The real reason I didn’t take those jobs out of the area?
Three words: Lila Fucking Kent.
