Page 54 of Refusing Kendall

None of this makes sense. I don’t know this dude, and there’s no way that I could’ve pissed anyone off this bad. Somehow, my brain starts putting everything together. The lights. The photos. The paper.

“All of the crazy shit the past couple of months was you,” I accuse.

That gets a smirk from him, but he still says nothing. He truly is a fucking psycho. I don’t understand.

“Why?” I persist. “What did I ever do to you?”

Then another thought occurs to me, “Is it money you’re after? Maybe holding me for ransom? They’ll pay, you know. If you’ll let me call them, they’ll pay you anything you want.”

He sneers at me again as he finally breaks his silence, “I don’t want your money, slut. Loyalty is stronger than paper. Now shut your dirty whore mouth before I shut it for you.”

God, my head hurts from overthinking this and trying to figure everything out. I just want to be back home with my boys. Tears threaten against the back of my eyelids, but I don’t let them spill over. I will not show weakness in front of this scum.

We sit in relative silence for what feels like an hour or so before I hear the sound of a motorcycle turning off the road and making its way down the gravel towards us. I look over my shoulder to see who’s coming and move too quickly, almost puking on the table in the process. Resorting to turning my entire body to the side, I straddle the bench seat to watch my captor walk up to the bike. I get the biggest shock yet as the new arrival removes his helmet to face my abductor.

The years have been rough on him, and he is not aging well at all, but I guess that’s what jail will do to a person. Either way, none of those facts change the person who’s standing in front of me right now. He embraces the guy that looks like a kid compared to him with a good slap on the back before turning his attention to me.

“Kendall,” is all he says to me. After a thirteen year absence from my life, you’d think he’d have more to say than that.

I return the favor, “Leroy.”

His grin makes me feel sick on the inside, “I haven’t gone by that name in a long time. I prefer dad, but I’m sure that’s too much for you to remember. It’s Snake now.”

“I’m sure it is,” I mumble as he comes around the side of the table to take a seat in front of me. “So, you had this asshole stalk me for months like a psycho, then kidnap and beat me, just so we could sit down for a chat today? You could’ve just called,Dad.” I put as much sarcasm as I can into that last word, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.

His lips spread out into a thin line, “Right. I’m sure those four men you’ve been shacking up with would have simply allowed that. Of all the futures that I could’ve seen for you, this, surely, wasn’t one of them.”

“What? Going to college and getting a good education while being happy and not hooked on drugs?” I ask with disdain.

Startling me, he slams a fist down on the table, “Whoring yourself out like you are for that education, dear daughter. I thought your mother and I raised you better than that.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “You didn’t raise me. Not even in the least little bit. That was Gramps and Nana. After, I might add, you and mom were sent to prison.”

A bark of laughter from him echoes around the little area we’re in, “And look what a fine job they did. I bet your Nana would justlovethis whole shebang. She did always love sleeping around, so she’d approve.”

My hands clench into fists to keep from reaching across the table to punch him in the face. It’ll solve nothing and only earn me another beating, I’m sure. Ignoring the jabs he’s taking at both them and me, I shrug as if his words don’t bother me.

“So, what’s the end game here?” I ask him. The sooner we get this shit over with, the sooner I can get away from him. “How are you even out anyways? I thought they gave you and mom both life sentences.”

“They let me out on good behavior,” he snorts at the last, then steeples his fingers. “It helps that your mom finally cracked and took the blame for our crime.”

“Right,” I say, arching my eyebrow in disbelief, “I’m just sure she did that of her own free will.”

He chuckles, “See, this is why we would have made such a good team, the three of us.”

“Are you fucking serious right now? If you are, you’re as crazy as that asshole,” I state pointing at my captor standing just behind him.

“That’s no way to talk to your father or your brother,” he says, that smile dropping some.

Holy fucking shit. I have a brother? I can’t even touch on that right now while there’s more pressing matters at hand.

I straighten my spine, “You haven’t been a father to me in a really long time, and if you were expecting me to have anything to do with the ass who’s stalked me for the past couple months, then you truly are delusional.”

His nose scrunches as he snarls at me, “You think after knowing what we do now that we’d want to have anything to do with you?”

“I don’t know, dad. She’s pretty good at being a hooker these days. She could always sleep with anyone that we need information from,” asshole smirks at me.

I flip him off as our father turns on him, “Keep your trap shut, boy. If I wanted your opinion, I’d give it to you. Though, that’s not a bad idea.”

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