Page 23 of Kennedy

KENNEDY KNEW WHO ITwas without having to look. Unfortunately for him, he’d talked to Wallace Senior too many times not to remember his voice.

He stepped away from Lewis, trying to make sense of what the asshole was saying. “I’m sorry?” he asked, gently pushing Lewis behind him, just in case.

Wallace Senior stood on the sidewalk, looking jubilant. He was staring at Lewis, which made Kennedy angry.

“I told Jimmy that he shouldn’t give in to this mate business. I told him it would end badly for him, and I was right. Look at you. You’re cheating on him standing there on the middle of the sidewalk for everyone to see.”

Kennedy’s eyebrows shot up. He’d heard the words the first time, but he hadn’t really thought about them. Now that Wallace Senior was repeating himself, he understood what was happening.

It was hilarious. Well, it probably wasn’t funny for Lewis, who was clutching Kennedy’s jacket and had never had to deal with Wallace Senior, but Kennedy was amused. He also wanted to get Lewis as far away from Wallace Senior as possible, as quickly as he could, so he turned and gently guided him toward the coffee shop. “Let’s go inside.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Wallace Senior thundered, loud enough that Kennedy turned to look at him.

“We’re going inside so we don’t have to deal with you.”

Kennedy turned and followed Lewis inside the shop. The door closed behind him, but he could still hear Wallace Senior. He was surprised the man didn’t follow them inside, but also relieved. He didnothave the patience to deal with this right now.

“Are you all right?” he asked his mate.

Lewis’s cheeks were flushed, maybe because of the cold, but probably because everyone was staring at them. “What just happened?”

“I think he believed you were Seymour.”

“And he saw the two of us kiss.” Lewis grimaced. “I get it. That’s why he said that I was cheating on his son. He’s Wallace and Jimmy’s father.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“I agree, but I wish he hadn’t made a scene in the middle of town. I don’t want people to stop coming to my shop because they think I’m a homewrecker.”

Kennedy hadn’t thought about that, and it made him want to go back outside and confront Wallace Senior. Luckily for the asshole, Jimmy chose that moment to join them, carrying their coffee. He squinted out the window, grimaced, and gestured at a nearby table. “I’m not in the mood to talk to my father. What was happening out there? Why was he yelling?”

“He saw me and Lewis kiss,” Kennedy explained as he took off his jacket and slid into one of the chairs.

“He thought I was cheating on you,” Lewis added.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t know that you and Seymour are twins. That’s going to come back and bite me in the ass.”

“I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with that.”

“It’s not your fault. The less I talk to my father, the better I feel, and I didn’t want him to know much about Seymour, so I didn’t mention it. I’m just glad he’s not coming inside.”

Kennedy glanced outside the shop, relieved to see that Wallace Senior was gone. He probably hadn’t noticed that Jimmy was inside, which was a good thing because Kennedy had no patience left. He wanted the guy to vanish from his life, but unfortunately, it looked like he would have to deal with him more than he already had.

“We’re going to have to do something about him eventually,” Jimmy continued.

“I don’t know that there’s anything else we can do. Bennett already ordered him to be kept out of the facility so he wouldn’t bother you and Wallace, but beyond that, we can’t forbid him from coming into town. From what Bennett’s said, your father still has a lot of influence over people, and he’s not afraid to use it.”

Jimmy grimaced. “He never was. Honestly, I don’t know what he’s trying to do. He lost Wallace now that Wallace knows they’re not actually related, but I told him what I thought of him and his behavior. I thought it would be enough to keep him away, but he’s stubborn.”

“He doesn’t want to give up his son,” Lewis murmured.

In a way, the situation reminded Kennedy of what Lewis and Seymour had gone through with their parents. Their parents had expectations for them and their future that didn’t match what Lewis and Seymour wanted. The difference was that Lewis’s parents weren’t as nasty and stubborn as Wallace Senior. They’d accepted the fact that Seymour and Lewis wouldn’t follow in their footsteps. They might be angry, they might even dislike their sons for that, but on the surface, they were behaving as if everything was okay. They didn’t want to lose their children and were doing what they could to keep them in their lives.

Wallace Senior didn’t have any problems with losing his sons. He just wanted to be right, as if not having Wallace and Jimmy in his life would make him lose his power over them.

That was probably the case, actually. Kennedy doubted Wallace Senior loved his children, not even Jimmy, who was his biological son. He wasn’t doing any of this out of love but because he wanted control. He couldn’t force Wallace into anything now that Wallace knew that his biological father was another man, so he’d turned his attention to Jimmy.

“He thinks that Lewis was Seymour,” Kennedy pointed out. “Knowing him, he won’t hesitate to use that.”

---