Page 24 of Grave Kisses (Graveyard of Hearts Collection #1)

Kendra

I groan and stretch as I wake, but I don’t open my eyes. “Mornin’, pretty lady,” I hear someone say. The voice is dramatically and intentionally deep, almost reminding me of…

“Julie!” I gasp. I sit up and freak out for a second, but she wraps me in a hug and pulls me down to the bed.

“Don’t worry. They drugged you and brought you home,” Julie says with a grin when she pulls back to look at me.

“But what about…”

“Hannah and Tim? They’re downstairs making lunch. Bellamy’s sister and man friend are here too,” she says. “Jesse and I are setting up camp too.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because we love you,” Jesse says, flopping down on the bed beside me. “Your parents are hot for middle-aged people, by the way. No wonder you are so sexy.”

“I’m going to tell them you said that,” Marcus laughs from the doorway.

“Do it, bitch. I’ll be their unicorn,” Jesse says with a grin.

We all get up, and Marcus hugs me. “Why are we home?” I ask.

“Well… We talked to Chrissy and Decan. They agree that Jeff is being sketchy, so here is the safest place for you. I think all correspondence should go through Jesse. You are under no obligation to talk to the police. If they need something from you, they can go to her. Ultimately, it’s up to you.”

“That would just be rejecting him, though. What if… I’m afraid if he is bitter, he may… I don’t know… let Archer get to me.”

“That’s why Chrissy and Decan are here. They’re going to do their thing and see what they can do about getting someone to investigate him,” Marcus says.

“Does he know we left?” I ask.

“Oh yeah. He’s called your phone like eight times.

He called mine about an hour ago, and I said that I decided that home is the best place for you, so we went home.

He didn’t say much after that and hung up,” he explains.

“But, Tim and Hannah are getting updates. He is still there, so we will know when he is headed back this way.”

“Okay. Good,” I say. “What now?” I ask.

“Now, we relax,” he says, kissing me.

“Awww,” Julie and Jesse say in unison. I hold my middle finger up, not pulling away from Marcus, and they laugh.

We all walk downstairs, and my parents light up when they see me. “Kendra!” Hannah says.

“Hey, Mom,” I say, but then stop. “I’m sorry. I don’t know…”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” she says tearfully as she hugs me. “Please don’t feel obligated to call us Mom and Dad.”

“It feels right,” I say. “It’s like when I would call Alan by his name. It was a weird habit. He was Dad. Tim is Dad. You are Mom.”

“And I’m going to cry,” Julie says. “God, I love this.”

I look at Tim, and he tears up when I smile at him. “Oh, I’m going to cry now too,” he says, hugging me.

“Hey, Dad,” I say sweetly.

“Hey, sweet girl,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

My phone starts ringing on the kitchen counter, and when I look over at it, I see that it’s Jeff. I sigh heavily and pick it up. “What do I do?” I ask.

“Answer,” Jesse says. “Everyone, keep your mouths shut.”

“Hello?” I answer, placing the call on speakerphone.

“Hey. Why did y’all go home?” Jeff asks.

“Marcus thought it would be best for me to be home. I’m mentally exhausted, so we came home,” I say, fearing his reaction.

“What happened to talking?” he asks.

“We are talking, Jeff,” I say. “Also, I said this needed to move slowly, but I’ve spent some time thinking, and…”

I stop talking as Jesse whispers, “Be blunt, but nice.”

“I think my feelings were misguided by my mental health suffering. You are a good guy, but I don’t think this should go beyond you being a detective catching the man who tried to kill me,” I say.

“I’m sorry if I led you on, but I don’t have feelings for you, and I don’t think your feelings for me are anything but a response to losing your wife. ”

“Is this coming from you or Marcus? He seems to be controlling you a lot,” Jeff says with a harsh tone.

“No, this is coming from me. Unless there is anything regarding the case—”

“This is bullshit,” Jeff says. “Can we sit down and—”

“No, Jeff,” I snap. “I need you to just do your job and leave me and my family alone.”

“Kendra. You—”

“Going forward, everything needs to be going through my lawyer, Jesse Huber,” I say. “I think we shouldn’t talk, so please do not contact me again.”

“You can’t be serious. Kendra, what is—”

I’ll never know what he was going to ask, because I abruptly end the call before he can finish.

“I don’t like that,” a man says. I look over at him, and he smiles. “I am Decan.”

“Nice to meet you.” I say. “What do you mean?”

“He is way too obsessed with you,” A woman beside him says, Chrissy, I assume. “I am Bellamy’s little sister, by the way. Fuck him for not mentioning me.”

“He did,” I laugh. “I kinda went off the rails for a while, so that’s probably my fault.”

“Hey girl. Sometimes our train needs to take a detour,” she says with a shrug. “Also, I think it’s fucking adorable you have these two as enamored as they are. Marcus and his grumpy ass actually smile, which is wild. Who knew he was capable of such a human emotion?”

“Fuck you too, kid,” Marcus laughs.

“It was a… rough start,” I say.

“Rough? Girl, you hit him,” Bellamy snorts. “Although, he deserved it.”

“I really did,” Marcus agrees before lifting my chin and kissing me. I can’t help but smile up at him when he pulls away. “But we got there. I have the rest of forever to show you just how incredible you are.”

“I’ll try to stop being a psycho,” I say.

“You aren’t crazy, for one. Two, be whoever you want to be. I’ll be right here supporting you no matter what. I’m in for the long haul, pretty girl.”

“Stop being so damn cute. I’m trying to be mean to myself here, dammit,” I huff, and he laughs.

“No can do, baby. It’s time that you learn to love yourself just as much as we love you,” Marcus says sweetly.

“How about we eat and then maybe start a timeline of events across your life so we can get a better idea of things? Then, we can fill in as we go,” Chrissy says.

“That’s a good idea,” I say. “I can also work on trying to track Archer and Tina. Bellamy can help me cover my tracks as I go.”

“We need to do a sweep for bugs to make sure no information is getting back to them,” Decan says. “What we have said so far isn’t a big deal, but once we start uncovering the truth, we need to limit who knows.”

“Let’s get to it then,” I say.