Rebound: Passion Book 2(14)

“When are your days off?”

“Um, Mondays and Tuesdays mostly, those are the slowest days; why?”

“We need to spend some time together, get to know each other. You’re off in the evenings too right?”

“Yeah, but I usually just hang out upstairs, sometimes dad might need me to pitch in if one of the others call out and the place gets busy.”

“Okay, we’ll play it by ear in the evenings, but Mondays and Tuesdays are mine.” She didn’t say anything and I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t have anything to say or because I said that shit like it was the law. Either way it was set as far as I’m concerned.

We reached the diner and I felt a strange need to hang onto her; suddenly the thought of leaving her so soon fucked with my head, but like I told her I had some things to take care of.

“I’ll walk you in baby.” I left the car and walked around to her side helping her out. The others pulled in behind and I motioned for them to wait. Taking her hand again we headed for the diner. As we drew closer to the door she tried pulling her hand away from mine but I wasn’t having that shit.

“Uh-uh Kadyn, from now on this is us, get used to it.” I wanted her dad to see us together, to know that his little girl had a man in her life; well I’m sure he’ll see me as a boy, but that was good enough. The place was doing a steady morning business when we walked in. Some people did a double take when they saw us together but no one said anything, which was good because the mood I was in I might not have made a very good impression on old man Stan.





He was one of the first to notice our entrance and I didn’t miss the little taken aback look he had on his face as he looked at our clasped hands. “Go sit over there babe let me talk to your dad for a minute.” I pointed her to a stool at the counter. She only gave me a worried look for all of a second before moving to obey me. Again my tone didn’t leave room for argument.

I walked over to her father who was looking from her to me and back, I couldn’t quite peg the expression on his face, but at least it wasn’t anger. “You okay with this Stan?” I didn’t need to explain my question he knew what I was asking. It wouldn’t matter so much to me whether he was or not, but I got the sense that they were close and anything I could do to make her life easier was fine by me.

“With what exactly son?” He seemed a little worried as he looked over at her again.

“With me dating your daughter, I’m only asking because it seems like the polite thing to do, but I think I should warn you, it’s a done deal.” He seemed deep in thought for a good five minutes before turning back to me.

“Son there’re things that…”

“I know, she told me there’s something in her past, she’s not ready to go into detail as yet but when she is I’m here. I just wanted you to know that when she’s not here from now on that she’s with me.”

“Matthew that little girl has been through a lot…”

“I know it, I can sense it from what little she did share, I’m telling you that I’m solid.”

“But you don’t even know each other, not really.”

“I know enough.” I opened myself up enough to let him get a glimpse of what was inside of me, something that I never would’ve done for anyone else, but for her it was easy.

He saw what I needed him to I guess because his shoulders relaxed and I saw the beginning of a smile touch his face. Good, that was settled. We shook on it and I went back to her. “Give me your phone.” I put my number in her phone and then added hers to mine. “I’ll call you later, if you need me before then just call, I mean it Kadyn, any time okay?” She nodded mutely and looked at me with sad eyes. Looks like she didn’t want to be parted either, that was a good sign. I kissed her forehead and said my goodbyes before walking away. It felt like I was leaving my soul behind; weird fucking feeling to have for a girl that I had only just met.

I kept silent on the drive home my mind going over the last few hours in minute detail. I needed to move but my hands were tied. I’d given my word but was now wondering if that had been the right move. I could feel Josh studying me in the rearview as he drove but he didn’t push. The others kept up a running conversation about bullshit as I watched the scenery go by. There was a place in my heart that not too long ago had felt empty, charred. Now it was full and hopeful, I could feel the underlying sense of joy that comes with new beginnings. Like something new and exciting was about to unfold, there was only one thing standing in the way of that and I had to figure out how to remove that obstacle.





Chapter 13




When we reached the house I went straight to my room, it was only there behind closed doors that I could let my mask drop. With my fists folded I prowled around my room like a caged animal, my heart beating an odd staccato. When I found no solace in pacing I reverted to my old fateful, lying on my bed tossing a ball up in the air. Nothing worked; my mind would not give me any peace. Something dark was crawling up my chest, itching at my throat; I was about to snap.

“Is this why we had to cut our day short, so you could come home and mope in your room? What gives bro?” I should’ve known he wouldn’t leave it alone.

“I’m laying here trying to talk myself out of becoming you.”

“Fuck you bro, you wish.” He pulled the chair over from my desk next to the bed and straddled it.

“Talk.” He gave me one of his ‘I’m not leaving until you spill’ looks.

“Somebody fucked with her, I don’t know how yet but it’s bad Joshua. I asked her about getting her transcripts from school and she said ‘he’ll find me’.

“What the fuck, who’s he?”

“I don’t know yet, she asked me for some time to tell me and I agreed but…”

“Fuck that, can you imagine if Carrie was in that predicament that I would let that shit slide? Or dad, do you think he would let some shit like that linger where mom was concerned?”

“I’m not like you and dad…”

“I know Matt, you’re worse.” That jolted me enough that I lifted my eyes to his. He couldn’t know there’s no way. I’ve always kept myself in check, always walked the walk.

“I’ve always known Matt, you forget who you’re dealing with? But I think now is the time to let yourself go. You’ve always kept that tight rein on yourself, afraid of what will happen if you let you be you. You know I used to wonder what you saw in that crazy ass viper; then I figured it out. You were playing it safe, she didn’t bring out the Steele passion in you and you convinced yourself that that was best. You let her do her thing because at the end of the day you weren’t really invested. You were willing to marry her, spend the rest of your life with her just so you could play it safe. Look where that got you bro. Now this girl has you tied up in knots and that beast is rearing its head. If ever there was a time to let that shit loose it’s now. If your woman is in danger bro you’ve got to step the fuck up. Is she yours Matt?”

“You better believe it.”

“Well alright then let’s get this shit started. Did you get a name at least?”

“No nothing.”

“Fine we’ll trace back from her.”

“What do you mean trace backwards from her? I get the feeling that this guy whoever he is has eyes on her if not here then back home. If we go looking he’s bound to see and then if he doesn’t already know where she’s hiding out we’ll just be leading him to her.”

“That’s why you have me bro, all I have to do is tinker with the router he’ll never know where the ping is coming from.”

“The what?” Brainy fucker.

“Watch and learn bro.” He moved over to my computer desk and cracked his knuckles as if he was about to go to battle. I stood over his shoulder as he fiddled with keys and some shit came up on the screen that looked like gibberish to me but he was reading it off like nothing, mumbling to himself as he hit even more keys and got to work.

“Now where should we send this fuck? Hmm, Russia looks good right now maybe he’ll hop on a plane and head over there. We can only hope he gets caught in the middle of the fuckery that’s going on in that part of the world right now.”

“I don’t understand, what’re you doing?”

“I’m reconfiguring the router so it would appear that we’re in Russia instead of Sea Crest, this way if anyone’s tracking her digitally and they see inquiries coming from Russia they’ll think that that’s where she is.”

“Slick.” I watched him for the next hour or so as he did his thing; by the end of it he had her transcripts downloaded. My girl was smart as fuck; maybe she could give the brain a run for his money.

“Fine now that’s done, now all I need to do is find out who this guy is and exactly what he’s done to her before I go fuck his shit up.”

“That’s next, you want to do this part? We have the state and town she’s from all you have to do is work backwards from her name like I said. If there’s any record of him we’ll hit on it.” I shooed him out of the chair and took his seat. My heart decided to act up at this point. I was about to cross a line here and I knew it. I’d given her my word to wait but was that really me? was I being honest? If we were going to have a life together wouldn’t it make more sense to begin as I meant to go on?