Page 56 of Refusing Kendall

“Hello?” Ryleigh’s voice chirps through the line.

“Hey, Ry, it’s Lucas. I haven’t been able to get Kendall on the phone in a couple days. We’re supposed to be heading home tomorrow, but I just wanted to make sure that she’s okay,” I tell her.

She clears her throat, “That’s weird. I haven’t been able to reach her, either. I thought she was pissed at me for having to leave early or something. She hasn’t even been answering my texts.”

Panic and dread settle into the bottom of my chest, “You had to leave early?”

“Yeah,” she apologizes, “Logan got hurt at the shop, so I came home a few days early to take care of him. Kendall seemed fine with it, seeing as you guys were so close to coming home. Is she okay, Lucas?”

I almost choke on my words, “I hope so, Ry. I’ll call you once I talk to her.”

The others have been quietly listening to my conversation as they all watch the surveillance camera on Mav’s phone.

“FUCK!!!” Teagan’s roar scares the shit out of me, enough that I drop my phone to the counter.

He jumps up and rushes to the door, punching a hole straight through the wall as he does, “GET THE FUCKING KEYS! LET’S GO!”

Even Mav doesn’t argue as he does what Teagan says. I snatch my phone off the counter on the way out. Whatever they just saw was enough to have Mav white as a ghost, and Goose’s gimp ass hobbling right behind Teagan without his cane.

We leave the rest of our shit as we pile into the Rover. Mav peels out like a demon onto the road.

I try to remain calm as I ask a question I’m not sure I want the answer to, “What happened?”

When Maverick doesn’t answer, I look to the back where Goose has his head in his hands. It’s possible that he’s crying, and Teagan’s leg is bouncing so fast that I’m worried he’s going to jump out and try to run the rest of the way. Still, no one answers my question.

Stealing Mav’s phone from where it sits in the cup holder, I see it’s still paused on an image from two nights ago. One that makes my heart feel like it’s stopped in my chest. Kendall is thrown over someone’s shoulder walking out of the house. I push play and watch as he drops her like a stone into the trunk of her old car. I watch it over and over just to make sure that it’s her until I feel tears rolling down my face. I finally can’t take anymore and put the phone back in the cup holder.

Whipping out my own, I smash in the number for the detectives hard enough that I’m surprised my screen doesn’t crack. She has to be okay. She has to. I repeat the words over and over in my head even as the detectives answer, and I fill them in on what’s going on.

The drive takes what feels like forever. Worst case scenario plays through my head over and over until I’m ready to snap on anyone. If for no other reason than the guys, I try to force my worry and anxiety deep down into the bottom of my stomach.

We are thirty minutes away from the house when my phone rings. I answer, but the words coming out of it fall upon deaf ears after the second sentence. Somehow, I sit staring at a blank screen before I know it. I don’t remember who hung up or if I even said goodbye.

“WHAT DID THEY SAY?” Goose roars from the backseat.

It’s then that I realize they’ve been talking to me. Mav’s furious face from the driver’s seat says that I’ve got less than two seconds before he’s punching me in the face.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. When I try again, my voice is shaky, “That was the detectives. Someone called in and reported spotting the Malibu.”

Impatient as ever, Teagan questions, “And?”

In all the years that I’ve played sports, and been in compromising situations, my heart has never felt like it’s going to give out on me. Not until this moment. Locking eyes with Mav first and then the other two in the back, I tell them the one thing that could end us all, “Her car went over a cliff. The people that called in the car said that there was a young girl inside.”

Heaven and Hell

KENDALL

There’s a constant, slow beeping noise that feels like it’s trying to pull me out of my nightmare of me racing through the forest, trying to get away from someone with a gun. I come to a cliff and have to make the decision of facing my predator or jumping off the cliff. I don’t get the chance to make the decision as a gunshot rings out, and it pulls a scream from my throat.

It gets stuck there and won’t come out. I’m going to die being choked by my own voice. Bringing my hands up, I claw at my throat.

Something grabs my hands to stop me. They want me to die. I fight, trying to get my hands back, but its no use. My shoulder and stomach hurt so badly that I start crying like a baby and stop fighting.

“Baby, please don’t,” a familiar voice says from above me. “It’s just a nightmare.”

Forcing my eyes open, my brain struggles to catch up. Lucas is standing above me, but he looks like shit, and he’s the one holding my arms down. I’m hurdled from one nightmare straight into another. I’m still choking, and he’s not helping me. He’s going to let me die. I’m going to die again. This must be hell. I knew that if there was a heaven, I’ve never done anything to earn admittance there. I just never knew that it would be this bad. Having the ones that you love most letting you die over and over again.

I don’t want even a phantom Lucas feeling bad and taking the brunt of my punishment, so I stop struggling and close my eyes. I wonder who will be standing there the next time that I die. I can’t stop the big fat, warm tears that track down my face.

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