Page 34 of Reclaiming Kendall

Whatever Will got away with at Mav's old house with his aunt, he must realize that he won't be sliding by with it here. He reaches out and places his hand in mine. It's a little sweaty like he's nervous, but I don't rub it off on my jeans and embarrass him even further.

Instead, I shake it once before saying, "The name's Kendall Davis, now Michaels, Will, and I don't believe we really know each other. Before I met your uncle or any of these other good people sitting around you here at this table, I lived in Sleepy Pines with my Gramps."

His eyes go wide, and one side of my lips tilt up, "I know, right? Hard to believe you're sitting here with trailer trash from the wrong side of the tracks, huh?"

"I hate those words," he admits looking down to where most of his food still sits on his plate untouched.

I nod, "Me, too. I always have. I grew up having to listen to that shit almost on the daily. Then my parents got sent to jail. I was lucky enough that my grandparents took me in and gave me the best life they could. Unbelievable, right? Where you come from doesn't define who you are, and it in no way sets in stone any kind of future you want for yourself. So, don't sit there and blame these guys having money on your bad manners. I was as poor as it gets and still know right from wrong."

Surprising the shit out of I think all of us, he looks convincingly contrite as he replies, "Yes, ma'am."

I know my eyebrow is as high as Mav's at the moment as we wonder if he's just being sarcastic. When he picks up his fork and actually starts to eat his food instead of just playing around with it, I think it's safe to say something I've said hasn't gone in one ear and out the other.

Conversation picks back up as if the whole moment never even happened. Logan is a lot of things, but he's always been the best with awkward situations. He's back to having us laughing in no time. Teagan makes no move to cover up the mark on his neck, and it makes me secretly happy that he's not ashamed of it even if it was an accident in the throes of passion. What Will said was true, though. We'll have to find a way to hide it before he goes into work.

After dinner, the guys try to relieve Ry and I on kitchen duty, but we shoo them off downstairs. The only one who stays is Will, bringing all the dishes from the table and dropping them in the sink before starting to rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher. I've got leftover bowls that I'm handing to Ry for the fridge, and we pause for a second watching him then shrug when we look back at each other.

Once everything is finished in the kitchen, we move out onto the side deck where Grant and Teagan hung a swing for me a few months ago. Will follows us out here, too. He takes one of the rockers off to the side and sits with his phone glued to his face while Ry and I gossip. It's so peaceful out here. Even in the residual humidity the summer day brought us, I love sitting out here and listening to the wilds of nighttime. Normally, I'm curled up against Lucas, and I've fallen asleep more than once just like that.

There's a lull in conversation as Ry watches the fireflies in the yard absentmindedly. Will jumps on the moment, "Are you happy?"

We'd been talking about Logan before it got quiet, so it takes me a second to realize he's not talking about them, "What do you mean?"

Glancing over at him, I find his face still lit up by his phone as if he never spoke at all, but he replies, "Here. Are you happy getting out of where you were and people calling you names and stuff, just to go back into people staring and saying bad things about you?"

Pulling my feet underneath me in the seat, I leave Ryleigh to swing for us as I answer him, "I never thought life would get any better for me honestly, Will. I thought I'd won the lottery as a kid when I got to move in with my grandparents. Then my Nana died, and Gramps got sick. I spent a lot of time there at the end of his life taking care of him. Balancing school and a full-time job just to make ends meet. When your uncle and his friends walked into the restaurant I worked at, I'd pretty much given up on any decent kind of future. I didn't see myself ever leaving that trailer, and I couldn't think about it too much, because if I did end up leaving, it would only be because Gramps was gone. I didn't want any more ties to this place, and I didn't want any more attachments to add on top of all I was already dealing with."

"I tried to get her number and wouldn't take no for an answer like the cocky bastard I was back then," Teagan grins coming around the corner before perching his ass on the rail in front of us. Resting his hands beside his hips, that smile never leaves his face, "Proud woman didn't own a phone and was too stubborn to let me buy her one. Even threw my money back in my face."

Will laughs at this, and the sound touches a part of my soul.

"You're damn right I did," I retort. "I didn't need any rich boy coming in thinking I need him taking care of me. Especially not four of them, no matter how good they looked."

"We just wanted to know you, sweets," Teagan says with a wink. "We knew you could take care of yourself. There was just something about you that had us coming back for a second and third dose of that attitude."

I snicker and mirror his grin, "I'm glad you gave me a second chance."

Swiveling my head to face Will, I tell him, "You ask if I'm happy? My answer is yes. I couldn't possibly be any happier than what I am. People can say or believe what they want, because all that matters is what's right here." I tap my chest.

"Whether we're born with silver spoons in our mouths or on the other side of those tracks, we all deserve to be happy. You've just got to learn to appreciate what you're given."

For the first time since walking out here, Will finally locks his phone and stuffs it into his pocket. When he glances out towards the lake, clearly lost in thought, my eyes find Teagan's again, and he winks. God. How the hell did I get so lucky to have such sexy men in my life? Any normal woman from the outside would wonder if I've lost my mind, or ever had it to begin with. Four men to keep happy on the daily. If anything, though, I think they have the harder job. One wink like that from Teagan, and I'm ready to jump his bones no matter if I just had him hours earlier or not.

Speaking of the other three devils, they saunter around the corner with Logan in tow. Will politely excuses himself back into the house. There's some kind of row happening between him and Mav. I just hope that whatever it is can be fixed in time to save Will from the future he sees for himself.

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