Page 7 of Save Them

“Nope. She should be out soon,” I update him, enjoying the look of surprise on his face. “She was just finishing getting cleaned up and then we were going to see what food her stomach can handle.”

“Thank fucking god,” he quietly declares, his shoulders slumping with the weight of the stress leaving. “Is she acting more like herself?”

“She is. A little weak and tired still, but she was even joking and teasing a bit.” I place her sandwich on a plate with a glass of orange juice beside it. “You want a sandwich, too?”

“Please,” he groans, rubbing his stomach like he hasn’t eaten in ages. “I’m so happy she’s coming back to us.”

“We do need to tell her though,” I remind him with a wince, not wanting to have the stalker conversation with Lay. “She needs to know what’s been going on.”

“I know.” Riggs sighs, dragging his hands down his face. All three of us have been anxiously waiting for Lay to come out of her depression bubble while simultaneously not wanting the moment to come where we have to let her in on what’s been happening with this fucked up situation. “Where’s Adam?”

“He’s at the community centre. He had some meetings that couldn’t be moved,” I answer, finishing up Riggs’ sandwich and starting on my own.

“Lucky fucker.” Riggs takes a huge bite of his sandwich, his face set in a pissed off frown.

“Who? Adam?” Lay walks into the kitchen, her damp hair laying over one shoulder. She’s wearing one of my t-shirts with a pair of red and black plaid pyjama pants we picked up for her.

“Lay!” Riggs jumps up, practically running to her. He swoops her up into his arms, holding her so tightly I wince a little bit. She just squeezes him back, rubbing a hand up and down his spine. “I’m so glad you’re up.”

“Hey there, Big Guy. Don’t crush me.” Lay laughs, the sound making me smile and shake my head. “I need to be able to breathe.”

Riggs grunts his lighthearted disapproval before setting her on a chair at the small kitchen table. Grabbing both of our sandwiches, I place hers in front of her and take a seat at her right side. Riggs quickly follows with his own food, all of us sitting down to eat quietly. The silence is nice for once, not the stifling silence that normally surrounds me. With my chosen family here, the ever present loneliness fades almost completely.

“The only thing that would make this better is Adam being here with us,” Lay speaks after a bit, her eyes bouncing between the two of us, not wanting to leave either of us out of the conversation. “Speaking of, why is he a lucky bastard?”

Riggs and I look at each other, a heavy silence between us. None of us have wanted to breach this topic with her, but it very much concerns her. Our fear is that when she finds out just how bad things are, she’s going to disappear on us again.

“Is he out with someone?” Lay asks, biting her lip anxiously, her eyes staying focused on the table. “I’m sorry if you guys want to also be out with people, but you feel obligated to be here with me. I’ve taken care of myself for a long time, you don’t have to stay here with me. None of us have set any expectations or anything yet, so you don’t need to stick with me.”

“Holy fuck, no,” I respond quickly, my voice coming out far louder than I wanted it to. “No, nothing like that Lay. Adam’s at the community centre working, not on a date or anything.”

“Oh, right. Duh.” Lay rubs a hand over her forehead, sighing exasperatedly. “He told me that earlier. Apparently my memory screws are a little loose.”

“You’ve had a rough go of it, give yourself a break.” Riggs smiles which quickly turns to a grimace with his next words. “He’s a lucky bastard because we have to talk to you about something, and it’s not going to be easy,” Riggs fills in, his hand holding Lay’s like he’s afraid she might try to run from us.

“Oh? What’s going on?” Lay sits up straight, her face going serious when she hears the tone of our voices. “Is it about Kevin Jennings?”

The venom in Lay’s voice when she says his name makes me so happy I could weep. The last time she heard his name she was shaking in fear, the very thought of him enough to knock her down. This time, she’s taking the reins, not letting his name have that power. Fucking hell, how is one woman this incredible?

“It is.” Riggs simply states, looking at me to continue on. Rolling my eyes, I undo my hair and tie it back up so it’s completely out of my way. The movements calm me enough to start.

“Your phone is on the counter, and it’s been blowing up because of that piece of shit stalking you. After the police grabbed what info they needed from your phone back at our place, we brought it back here with us so you would still have it. While it was quiet for about a day, it hasn’t stopped going off since then. Calls, texts, you name it.” I pause, taking in Lay’s furious expression, making sure she can handle me continuing. “They’re fucked up, Lay. It makes all of us sick to our stomachs watching the shit come in. He’s pissed that he can’t find you right now. The worst part is that the police can’t find a single trace of him, he’s basically disappeared from society other than the shit sent to your phone.”

“I want to know how the fuck he’s still alive,” Lay jumps in, her anger palpable in the air. “I was given confirmation that Kevin Jennings died in prison like the asshole he was. How is this happening?”

“From what I can gather, the person stalking you isn’t the same man that fostered you,” I say slowly, letting her take it all in because I don’t know how this next part is going to go over for her. “It’s his son, also named Kevin Jennings.”

“What? Ho—” Lay stops, shaking her head back and forth. “I don’t understand.”

“The police reports that Jarrod gave us that named Kevin Jennings also had his approximate age which put him around twenty years old,” I explain, grimacing at how fucked up this all is. “I had a buddy look into it a bit more and based on age, name, and his living situation during the original missing persons cases, it would appear that the stalking and shit is from his son, Kevin Jennings Jr.”

“His son?” Her face goes white, her eyes faraway as if she’s somewhere else. “His fucking son. Oh my god.”

“What?! Talk to us, Lay. What’s going through your head?” Riggs asks, his eyes bouncing all over her face anxiously.

“I remember him,” she says, placing her face in her hands. “He was a few years younger than Declan and I. He was dirty and super skinny, I don’t think he was treated much better than we were. His dad used to make him watch what he did to us, saying that was his legacy. I guess he was right.”

“Fuck.” My mouth hangs open at her words. I knew it would be fucked up, there’s no way it wouldn’t with what his dad did to Lay and Dec, but holy shit.

---