Page 150 of Tainted

“I have some stuff to handle today. I won’t be back until later,” I explained, sitting up in bed. Uncle Leonne was still in town and needed to feel my raft because he and Kross left me in the dark about my own lady.

“Wow, you’re letting me off punishment so soon.”

“Hormones still have you raging today, I see.”

Zara’s head whipped toward me, her eyes brimming with irritation.

“I didn’t think you trusted me enough to let me out of your sight,” she snipped.

“We have to start rebuilding trust somewhere. Don’t make me regret it.”

I pulled on my clothes and mentally prepared for the conversation ahead. My mom’s house was only a short drive away, but talking to Uncle Leonne was a must, especially after reading Kross’s text. He pulled the security tapes from the parking lot, confirming Zara’s story.

“What are you getting into today?” I asked because she’d been sitting in the same position watching me get dressed.

“Megan took me off the schedule, so I don’t know. I guess I’ll see what Brandy is doing today.”

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. The gesture felt distant compared to how things used to be, it was all I could manage right now.

"I need to know where you’ll be. Not because I don’t trust you. I don’t trust him, so call me if you need anything.”

Zara gave me a small smile, but the tension hung between us like a weight neither wanted to address.

"I’m fine. Go," she said, though I could tell she was holding back, too.

I grabbed my keys, feeling the unspoken distance between us as I headed for the door. When I pulled up, everything seemed quiet. I stepped inside, and the smell of something baking drifted from the kitchen, but I wasn’t here for food. I was here to get some clarity.

Leonne was sitting at the dining table, nursing a cup of coffee, his face unreadable as usual, barely looking up when I walked in.

"Figured you’d come by," he said without glancing away from whatever paper he was pretending to read. I didn’t evenknow they still printed newspapers, but Leonne had one. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

I didn’t bother with pleasantries. "I thought about putting a gun to your head the way Kross did Zara, but I didn’t.”

Leonne’s eyes flicked up, meeting mine. He paused, letting the silence stretch between us, but I wasn’t in the mood for his games today.

“Don’t get beside yourself, Kenyon.”

“How else did you think I’d come?”

Mom was always the first line of defense when it came to me and Pops. Uncle Leonne was the second, trying to reason with me to see things from Pop’s perspective. When that failed, he’d shake his head and light up a cigarette.

“Kross didn’t think you could handle it and after seeing you with her at dinner, I agreed. It wasn’t personal, so take that fuckin’ bass out of your voice. I don’t love you nearly as much as Eric. I won’t tolerate your shit.”

“I guess I’m not as much like Pop’s as y’all think ‘cause there wouldn’t even be a conversation if you okayed somebody putting a fuckin’ gun to Loriann’s head.”

“Zara isn’t Loriann.”

“She is to me.”

Leonne stood, placing his drink on the table, and faced me. “Fine, we should’ve come to you.” And at this point I didn’t know if he meant it or was just being facetious to move the conversation along. “This wasn’t a personal attack on you or Zara. John called and said an old problem resurfaced, and you know how problems get solved. Regardless of who she is to you.”

My blood was boiling now, but I needed answers. I had to understand how deep this went.

“What old problem?”

Leonne sighed, rubbing his chin. “Zara’s mom wasn’t just a random woman.”

“John was fucking around on Mrs. Cat with Shana?” I questioned, but Leonne shook his head.

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