Rebound: Passion Book 2(34)

To think of life without her in it was almost more than I could bear. I imagined her being subjected to his sick advances and the fear turned to anger. Pounding the steering wheel wasn’t going to achieve anything but breaking my hand so I tried to calm myself as I approached the diner. Just get her and go home Matt. That was always my answer whenever I felt any threat to her, to shut us away in our room where I was sure no one and nothing could get to her to cause her harm. Will I always have this feeling, will I spend the rest of my life feeling that need to protect her always? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that right at this moment the need was strong in me. I’ll have to learn how to not let it become a problem. We can’t live in a bubble, though that shit was sounding better and better everyday. There are some sick fucking people in the world.





Chapter 26





I certainly didn’t need what I drove up on when I got to the diner. At first I wasn’t quite sure what I was seeing when I pulled up. There was a female and a male standing close together outside, but I knew it was Kadyn from her clothes. She didn’t look exactly terrified but I know her body language and she was scared. I was out the car and moving before it had come to a complete stop.

“Get the fuck away from her.” I pushed my way between the two of them and it was then I recognized the guy. It was the brother of the asshole who’d hit her. I didn’t know what they’d been talking about and I didn’t care.

“Take it easy dude we were just talking.” I pushed him back against the wall and kept my hand in his chest. “You don’t talk to her, you and your family stay the fuck away from her.”

“Matthew…”

“Get in the car, now.” She turned and headed for the car looking over her shoulder at us. I waited until she was out of earshot before looking back at him. Dropping my hand from his chest I stepped back, my blood was up and I knew that I would do some serious damage to this guy if I hit him. “Stay away from her.”

“It’s a free country she can talk to whomever she wants to.”

“That maybe but you and your family aren’t on the list. Not after the shit your brother pulled, now I’m warning you for the last time, stay the fuck away from her or I’ll break your fucking face. And tell your asshole brother to stop asking about her or I’ll have him brought up on charges for attempted assault. He knows what the fuck I’m talking about, I suggest unless you and you folks want to deal with that shit the whole lot of you stay the fuck away.”

I left him there and walked back to the car where she was still standing by the door. “What the fuck were you doing with him Kadyn?”

“Matt calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm the fuck down what the fuck were you thinking?”

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer and I didn’t want to cause a scene, I thought it would be fine since dad was right inside.”

“I don’t want to hear it you don’t put yourself in that position again.”

I slammed the car door after seating and buckling her in. The day had gone from bad to fucking worst in less than an hour.

“Matt you need to calm down.” She turned to me as soon as I climbed behind the wheel.

“Kadyn you need to pipe down right now, you’re in enough shit as it is.”

“I wasn’t doing anything Matthew.”

“Kadyn…”

She had the good sense to zip it the fuck up. Seriously?

“Did you not hear me the last time? What the hell is so hard to understand?” I kept my voice as controlled as I could in the moment because I knew I was running on fear and anger. After seeing that sick shit on the computer and then coming up on them like that, it was too much for one day.

“He just wanted to apologize, he said that Dan told him it was an accident.”

“He fucking punched you in the face how is that an accident? I already beat his brother’s ass into the ground and now you do this shit?”

“Dean never hurt me Matt, he just wanted to clear the air.”

“There’s no air to clear you don’t have shit to do with them anymore, not the mother the sister the brother the dad, no one. They stood around and let that piece a shit thump on you and you think they’re your friends? I should really spank your ass for this. And before you tell me it’s the same thing it’s not. Taking a hand to your ass for doing some dumb fuck thing is not the same as folding my fist and punching you like a dude. I promise you if you do this shit again I will tan your ass no joke.” I wasn’t surprised to find that my hand was shaking when I turned the key in the ignition.

I drove straight to my house and took her inside. She was pouting and sulking but I didn’t care, she’d scared the fuck out of me. If I hadn’t gone looking for her I would’ve never known where the fuck she was or that she was in danger. I used to think my brother was crazy for tagging Carrie, thought it was an invasion of privacy or some shit but now I see that shit in a whole new light. She’d probably accuse me of being worse than Bruno again but I don’t give a fuck. I’m going to have more tracking devices on her ass after this than the space shuttle.

“Go on upstairs I’ll be right there, and fix your face, you know you fucked up.”

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t worry I’m not gonna run back there and beat the shit out of him if that’s what you’re worried about. You need to call your dad and let him know where you are.” Once again I found myself needing to get away from her because with everything that was going on inside me I had no doubt I really would turn her over my fucking knee. I think I’ve lost my damn mind, I didn’t want her afraid of anything, didn’t want anyone having that kind of power over her again. How the fuck was I supposed to take care of her?





I went in search of Josh because I needed to calm down before I spoke to her again. I found it ironic that I was going to the hothead to cool my jets. “What’s wrong now?”

“I found Kadyn talking to that asshole’s brother outside the diner.”

“Oh boy, he alive?”

“Yeah smartass. I have a serious problem here bro; I don’t know how to let her out of my sight. All this shit that’s going on is fucking with my head, it’s like there’s no safe place unless she’s with me. I know that’s a fucked up way to think but I can’t shake it. How the fuck do you let lil sis out of the house?”

“It’s not easy, sometimes I trail her ass even though she’s tagged, especially in the beginning when she first got better and would go places by herself. I understand the fear. People say shit like don’t let fear rule you, it’s not so much that it rules you, it’s more like you’ve learned to be more careful. You learn that everything isn’t always what it seems. We have to let them live their lives but we just can’t take any chances that’s all.”

“What the fuck ever happened to being teenagers? I don’t remember mom and dad ever telling us about this shit happening when they were growing up.”

“No, they had Bundy, Son of Sam and the night stalker in their days. Nothing’s changed, if anything these fuckers upped their game and got worst. I’m not going to live in fear but I’m not going to walk blind either. You’ll figure it out, I did.”

“I guess you’re right but right now all I can think of is never letting her out of my sight again. I think I have to tell her about Bruno, I don’t want to but I think I should. Maybe that will help her overcome some of her fear to know that he’s been caught. If they ever get around to arresting his ass.”

“They’ll take him, if they don’t we’ll do what we have to do. Where’s Kadyn you left her at the diner?”

“Nah she’s upstairs I better go up and take care of her. We’ll check on that thing later I don’t know how fast they move on these things or if we’ll have to call them again. I hope not, I hope that the men and women who’re taxed with looking after the public would take those pictures seriously enough to at least check the shit out. If they don’t I’ll send all that shit to the media and expose their asses for inaction.” He gave me a thumbs up and went back to what he was doing as I left the room.





Ms. Kadyn was lying back on our bed reading when I walked in the room like she hadn’t just given me a damn heart attack. “You calm now Mr. Crazy?” Huh she must’ve picked that up from Carrie. I went and sat next to her before pulling her onto my lap. I took some time to get my words together. Today had been a turning point for me, I think my eyes were finally open and whatever innocence I might’ve had left was no more. I didn’t want that for her, she’d lost too much of hers already, besides she was a girl, she didn’t need to concern herself with that filth.

I needed to find a way to shield her without treating her like a lesser being or making her feel like one. We were young and had our whole lives ahead of us, but neither of us would ever be your normal teen. Life had taken care of that and I was left now with the daunting task of how to move on from our pasts. Where was the line between protecting her as her man and treating her like she didn’t have a mind of her own? It was a tough question and one that I didn’t really have an answer to. All I know is that I didn’t want anything to touch her no matter what, so I went with that.