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“You know me so well already,” he smiles, then goes back to watching the play.
I can’t take my eyes off him. Everything that Kendric says comes with an emotional charge that compels me to try and detangle it to better understand this man and what he’s about. Beneath his harsh, stone-like exterior, Kendric has a soft side.
By the time the play is over, I’m fighting back tears.
“Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for our talented little thespians,” the director says to the audience.
The kids get plenty of cheers for their performance, their eyes filled with sparkling excitement and so much joy that it only makes my heart grow bigger. It’s almost too much for my chest to hold, though. It’s getting harder to breathe with all these emotions, all these realizations. Life as I knew it now feels like a lie, a big lie that I actively chose to live in.
It’s almost midnight when they sneak me back into the clubhouse.
I’m exhausted, my mind worn out, and my soul in tatters as I try to reconcile my version of reality with everything that Sky, Raylan, and Kendric showed me. Tension gathers in my shoulders, and I can’t seem to shake this ache from my chest upon reaching my room. Sky and Raylan have retired for the night, but I don’t want Kendric to go.
He just stands in the doorway, much like Raylan before him, watching me as I take my seat by the window, physically tired but more emotionally drained. Tears sting my eyes. It seems he can’t bring himself to leave, as if there are things between us left unspoken, things we want to offer one another but can’t find the courage to say.
Outside, the night is dark and silent, and city lights glimmer in the distance. The stars hide behind thick clouds, a sign of heavy rain the next morning. The parking lot is almost empty, with the exception of a few bikes. Downstairs, the lights are off, and the clubhouse is closed until the morning. Yet, no matter where my thoughts go, they keep circling back to Kendric.
“Did he hurt you often?” I ask him just as he’s about to leave.
It’s all he needed to stay, judging by the subtle relief glimmering across his tanned face.
“Who?” Kendric asks.
“Your dad.”
“Often enough to make the community center feel like home,” he says.
I can no longer prevent the tears. I don’t know how I managed to hold them in throughout the day because now they’re flowing freely down my hot cheeks, accompanied by uncontrollable sobs and the occasional hiccup. I’m crying like a baby, finally letting it all out in waves of anguish and misery, not necessarily for myself but for all those who felt left behind. The orphans, the children at the play, the people struggling to survive in Everton while people like my father and his associates sleep soundly at night.
He must be worried sick about me, yet I’m having a hard time feeling any sympathy for him because the more I learn, the less I like him, and that comes with the kind of guilt I can’t push down. I have to face it, which brings another warm and salty flood to my eyes.
“Why are you crying?” Kendric’s voice cuts through the heavy silence.
“Because it’s not fair,” I manage. “Because it sucks. Kids shouldn’t have to live the way some of them are living, too many of them. You were right, Kendric. I was so sheltered for most of my life, living in my gilded cage, thinking I could just turn a blind eye.”
“Hey, hey,” he says as he comes closer. “The troubles of this world are not yours to bear, Ariana.”
“But my father—”
“He chose his path. He chose to shirk his responsibilities, to break his oath to the mayor’s office. It’s got nothing to do with you. Please, don’t take on his sins.”
I barely register the movement as he reaches me and takes me in his arms. As soon as I feel his steel-like strength envelop me, I let go of myself completely, crying even harder.
“I could’ve looked; I could’ve paid attention.”
“You were just a kid yourself,” Kendric says, his voice soft and warm, his lips pressed against my forehead. It feels so good, so strange, and so wonderful at the same time. “These are men of power,” he continues, “men with a history and a network older than all of us put together. Baby, you have no idea of the depths we’re dealing with.”
I hold my breath for a moment, then find the courage to look up at him.
He peers deep into my eyes. It’s insanely intense. And then our lips meet. I didn’t expect such softness, such sweetness, coming from a man whose glare alone is enough to inspire dread. But I melt in his kiss, sizzling from the inside out, suddenly lost and eager to be consumed.
Nothing matters anymore as Kendric deepens the kiss, and our tongues wrestle for dominance. The hunger grows as his taste lights my senses on fire. Ginger ale, mint, a hint of coffee, and a whole lot of man commanding my mouth and conquering my body, bit by bit.
He runs his fingers through my hair, the red locks looking like ruby threads wrapped around his hands. It’s an odd contrast with the faint scars he carries from ancient battles, and it only serves to turn me on even more. Everything about Kendric speaks of a warrior looking for a warm place to call home, and my core is crying out for him, wet and simmering.
“Ariana,” he whispers against my lips before he trails wet kisses down the side of my neck. I tilt my head back and welcome his tongue with its playful explorations. He nibbles on my skin here and there, just enough to remind me that he’s got quite the bite.
I welcome it all.
