Page 24

Kenna

Riding with Puck differed from riding with Ghost. The way he drove the bike was sexier, sleeker, and the way he wove his way through the desert was as unconscious as breathing.

I held on tight, my body still too hot from the sex to register the cool air. I wanted more of him, more of this, more of the things I had no right to ask for, but instead of letting go, I snuggled in and clung tighter.

Puck killed the engine and coasted the bike down David’s driveway.

At the top, there were a few feet where the driveway dropped off.

I didn’t need to remind him he’d turned in here before.

He balanced the bike with one long leg, my stomach topsy-turvy for a breath, but he easily kept the machine upright and rolled over the gravel.

I’d seen several guys lose it there. But not Puck.

I was surprised that the lights from the living room glowed orange through the windows. David and Nadine hadn’t been at the clubhouse. When they weren’t, they were usually in bed pretty early.

Sudden trepidation, not the alcohol, made it difficult to climb off the bike. When I wobbled, Puck took my hand in his, threading his fingers through mine and steadying me.

“You good?”

I’d mostly spilled my guts already in his kitchen. I needn’t explain more. “Coming home used to make me happy.” Then I swallowed hard and looked at the door.

When he stood on the bike, his leg halfway over the seat, I dropped his hand and waved him off. I didn’t need him acting like my boyfriend. That sort of obligation wasn’t something I’d hold him to.

I wouldn’t be my mother, love bombing someone the second I had sex with them.

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for the ride home.” I resisted the urge to hug him and walked to the house, not looking back. If I had, I’d have run back to him and thrown myself on the bike. Not because of the sex, but because I didn’t want to walk through that door.

My heart couldn’t afford Puck’s rejection if I did, so I didn’t.

As a teenager, David never had to wait up on me. There was never a reason to. When a kid who has never had a safe place to call home finally gets one, they are hard pressed to leave it. Probably why I’d spent so much time at the clubhouse—it was an extension of home.

I cowered like a naughty teen, doing something I shouldn’t as I opened the door and stepped through it. David was looking down at his feet on the couch, Nadine holding his hand and glaring at me.

On the coffee table was the ornate cardboard hat box where I’d been keeping my cash tips.

“Why do you have my stuff?” I panicked because it meant they’d been in my room. David would have seen where I was packing my stuff to move out. I hadn’t had a chance to break it to him. I’d never wanted to hurt him. Besides, I didn’t have a place lined up yet.

Nadine cleared her throat and pushed two little baggies forward on the table. One small with white powder, the other with a few pills in it. They’d been beneath the cash in that box for so long I’d forgotten they existed.

David looked up at me, his face drawn and his eyes sad. “You know how I feel about you doing this stuff, Kenna. Your mom…”

I glared past him at Nadine. She’d had to really dig, too, because that was all there was.

“You went through my things, invaded my privacy?” Betrayal wasn’t so strange.

I’d gotten used to it as a kid with Mom.

But from David? I clutched at the space just under my breastbone, where the pain hit the hardest. It ripped through me, molten hot, burning everything in its wake.

A sob caught in my throat.

“You brought drugs into our home.” Nadine jutted her chin out. “Acting out at the clubhouse and whoring around is one thing, but this is unacceptable.”

I ignored her jab, though David released her hand and scowled.

I tossed my hand at the table. “The blow was a tip from a customer I forgot to flush.”

“And the ecstasy?” David sighed like he already knew the answer. He’d heard the rumors about the frat party, how I’d screwed that all up.

“It’s been in there for more than a year, easily. I forgot about it.” That was completely honest. I couldn’t even remember where I got it. Just that I was never taking that shit again.

Unable to look at him any longer, I rounded back to Nadine. Furious for the pain her drama was causing my family. Because that’s what David was, the only family I had.

“Why were you in my room, in my things? What gives you the right?”

She stood, affronted. “Because my favorite earrings were missing from my dresser and cash missing from my purse.”

“I don’t steal, and I damn sure wouldn’t wear any of your gaudy shit.” For the first time in years, I trembled with rage. I wanted to rip her fried, bleach blond hair out of her fucking head.

She sneered, a nasty, cruel turn of her Pepto-pink lips. “I know where and what you come from, little girl. Don’t you lie to us.”

David stood, shocked.

I snatched the box from the table, shook it in her face. “This is my property, money I earned.”

She glanced at David. “I told you. She’s just going to rip your heart out like her mom did.”

“Are you fucking serious?” She was completely insane.

“Oh, I’m serious. And I want the six hundred dollars you took from me.”

There was more than that in the box. Money I’d worked hard for.

“You’re crazy. This is mine.”

She lunged for the box. I jerked it to my chest and stumbled back. But didn’t move quite quick enough. She grabbed the box while David stood and shouted for us to knock it off.

The box, made of thick cardboard, ripped, and money flew everywhere between us, raining ones and tens and twenties.

“You bitch,” I spat the words.

Angry, her eyes wild, she made an enraged sound in her throat before throwing herself at my face, Pepto-pink claws aiming straight for my eyes.

The front door slammed against the wall beside me as I turned my head and flinched, trying to save my face. But she never touched me. Puck stood there, clutching her up by the back of the shirt. Only her toes scraped the floor.

He wedged his big body between us and dropped her.

“Get out of my house!” she shrieked, jerking away from Puck and panting like a rabid dog. “You’re just like her. Just like your mother. Out! Whore! Lying thief!”

Puck’s entire body vibrated once, like it took everything for him not to hit her. “I’ll say this one time .” When she turned her attention to his booming voice, he full on hollered. “Shut the fuck up.”

She back peddled, nearly tripping over the coffee table. David collapsed onto the couch, head in his hands, and wouldn’t look at me.

“Go get your things, Kenna. Enough for a few days.” Puck’s voice softened, but he didn’t look at me, instead he glowered at Nadine and held up two long fingers. “Second strike. You speak to her like that again, it’ll be the last thing you’ll do in this town.”

I was gifted a brief moment of her being not just shocked but downright scared as she scurried onto the couch next to my stepfather. Puck’s anger was a real, living thing in that moment.

In my room, I grabbed several bags from beneath my bed, fighting back tears and trying to figure what I’d need to fit on the back of a bike.

“Bring two. I can carry one for you.”

“Okay.” I nodded, hiding the tears that burned in my eyes.

Then I whispered, “Can I go back to the clubhouse for a few days?” It was easier than telling him I had nothing, was nothing.

“No,” he said softly.

I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to drop further.

“I’ve got somewhere you can stay.”

When I eyed him, confused, he sighed. “Trust me.” Then he extended his hand.

It wasn’t like I had many other options. I took it and let him pull me from the room, both bags in his other hand. The tension was so heavy and thick it made me sick to my stomach.

I bent to pick up the money Nadine hadn’t scooped up herself, shoving bills in the pockets of Puck’s shirt. Puck shook his head no when I dropped to my knees. “Leave it. You’re not getting on the floor to pick up her mess.”

Then he turned to David. “You need to sort this shit out. Soon.” What he wasn’t saying was that if David didn’t…

he would. Though twenty years younger, Puck was an officer.

Not just any officer, but the Sergeant at Arms. Security and punishment were his role.

His position at the table meant his threat carried actual weight.

I ducked my head, ashamed.

At the bike, I took a ragged breath while Puck strapped one backpack to the bitch bar on the back of the seat. Then he held the other one out for me to drop my arms through. “It’s my money, Puck. Do you know how many ass grabs I had to dodge for that?”

“You can make more money.” Then he caught my gaze. “You don’t get on your knees for anyone but me, understand? If it’s that important, I’ll give it back to you.”

Shocked to the point of total silence, I shouldered the other bag and climbed onto the bike behind him.

“Hang on, tight .”

I did, leaning forward and wrapping both arms around him as tightly as I could, smushing the contents of my entire life between us, and wrapping my fingers tightly in the hem of his shirt.

When he cranked the bike, he revved the engine. The roar of the exhaust echoed so loud it hurt. Then he pitched the bike sideways in the gravel, forcing me to really hold on, as he shot gravel all over Nadine’s SUV with his spinning back tire.

After that, he navigated the driveway and let it rip on the highway. And for those few miles, I let everything go…except him.

***

I was surprised when we pulled into the back alley of the tattoo shop. Puck killed the engine and kicked out the stand, waiting for me to climb off the back before he did. My hair was a mess, my makeup ruined, and whatever buzz the alcohol and sex had given me was long gone.

Even the ride over was a blur of painful emotion. David had given me a life where I felt safe, secure, and happy. This felt like being with Mom all over again. Abandoned, beaten down, and less than nothing.