Rebound: Passion Book 2(37)

We’d gone away on vacation after school, kind of a get out of jail free type thing. School was over and we were respectable college grads, it was time to unwind and relax. I don’t know if there was something in the water in Turkey or if the girls had planned this shit but three months later the house was filled with the sounds of morning sickness and quite frankly, bitching.

We were back home getting our lives sorted out, things hadn’t changed all that much except that we’d fixed up our floors a little to reflect adulthood instead of the teenagers we’d been when we left. Mom and dad were only too happy to have us back in the nest and life was settling into a routine. Then we’d jumped from college grads to dads in the twinkling of an eye.

Somewhere along the way the girls had decided to open a business together. Nessa was some up and coming hot shot designer and the three of them had some kind of business proposal put together even before we’d finished school. Carrie was going to do marketing and Kadyn was the numbers man.

Josh and I had completely changed our majors after we decided that we wanted to do something in the security field. We set up a nationwide database for victims of stalking which we got off the ground our last year in school. With James spearheading the security detail we searched the nation for men and women interested in offering security and workshops for women and men who were living in fear for their lives. Since the law seemed to move slowly even four years later we decided to take the initiative.

Now there were four states where we had safe houses set up along with workshops where victims were taught how to protect themselves and how to live their lives without fear. Josh had found a way to improve the tracking devices that we’d been using on the girls for years. The shit was so good the federal patent office had come calling. We had lawyers on payroll whose only job was trying to fight legislature to get the lax laws changed.

When we’d first set up the database I had no idea of the number of young girls that were being subjected to this horror. Families being held hostage in their own homes who had their hands tied by laws that seemed more interested in protecting the rights of the perpetrator than the victim. It was our aim to arm these people with everything they needed to take their lives back. Having seen the effects of that shit first hand I had a pretty good idea what was needed, and Kadyn was instrumental in a lot of the procedures we implemented. We had a few offers to work with law enforcement but decided against it. Their hands were too often tied by bureaucracy and bullshit, which defeats the whole purpose of what we were trying to do.

I got a great sense of enjoyment out of the fact that we’d used Bruno’s money to finance a lot of this because the shit was expensive. When we found a candidate it was up to the vetting team to decide the threat level and what was needed. Each of them was then outfitted with all the necessary equipment needed for their safety. A team was dispatched to secure their residence at our expense if they couldn’t afford it and the women were tagged along with other security measures as needed.

Everything was done to catch the perp in the act so that he could be brought to justice. We didn’t always stop there because as in a lot of cases these creeps got out of jail and went back to their crap. In those cases we set up security for the victim and if need be there were what I like to call enforcers to make sure they got the message. In essence we were helping the over worked local police who were sometimes less enthusiastic about our involvement than others. I didn’t really care about them or what they thought. As long as I could help people in need I was good. I never forgot my wife’s years of horror or Carrie’s near rape and murder. I was proud of my brother and myself that we’d made this our life’s work for all that it had started from a dark place.





Bruno was doing a hundred and twenty five years because once the feds had started pulling on that string they had unraveled a whole network of sick fucks far and wide who were into the exploitation of children and young women. The only thing I wouldn’t agree to was Kadyn’s telling her story in public; she’d come a long way since those days that was for sure but I was still keen on keeping her protected.

She no longer had any fear of the man who was her own personal demon. And each year on the anniversary of his sentencing I sent him a little present. He never knew whom or where it came from but I was satisfied that he got the message. From everything I’d read I knew that it was picking away at his sanity that his obsession had gotten away and he would never be able to see or get near her again. It was probably a petty ass thing to do but it gave me great pleasure to torment his ass.

These days I’m the one losing my damn mind though. It seems Josh and I spend our every waking moment trying to come up with something to ensure our daughters’ safety and protection. From the moment they were born, which I still think was some sort of cosmic joke we have been in a tailspin. Pregnancy was an experience best left untouched. I don’t think I breathed easy from the moment she put that little stick in my hand until…well now.

My daughter is an exasperating mix of her mother and I. She has a mind of her own and lets it be known that she’s her own person, even at three. Her cousin isn’t much better; I think the two of them think up shit to drive their poor dads nuts when they’re in their shared room at night. The two of them are inseparable, preferring each other’s company to anyone else’s, and they had some strange ways about them that I feared bode ill for the future. They spoke in code or some shit that not even their mothers understood and they had that eye roll shit down to an art form.

Josh was a complete lunatic when it came to his daughter and niece. I like to think that I’m a little more with it, though others seem to think we’re two of a kind. They were tagged obviously, and we tried to give them as normal a childhood as possible without stifling them but it was a trial. Maybe it was a product of our careers I don’t know, all I know is that there are some seriously twisted fucks in the world and you can never be too careful. Anything that can be used as a security measure is in place. The women act like we’re nuts but I know their freedom and stability stems from the fact that they know we’ve got them covered.





“I know how to get us out of this. Hey girls you want to go to grandpa Stan’s?”

“Yaaaaaayyyyyyy…”

“Alright then let’s go. I started to take off the offensive boa from around my neck but was stopped in my tracks.

“No daddy.”

“What baby? I can’t wear this outside that’s silly.” Shit, she just stared up at me like I was a dumbass while Josh tried bribing them. In the end my little bribe backfired and we ended up going to the diner with hot pink feather boas around our necks.

“Nice work Einstein now the whole town’s gonna know we’re whipped.”

“What, I didn’t see you coming up with any bright ideas. Look at them back there, you think they know what they’re doing?” He looked back into the backseat where the two little darlings had the smuggest looks on their faces. “I’m pretty sure they do but I’ll take this one, at least it beat the last time.”

“Don’t remind me, purple nail polish.” It was the only time I’d made my little girl cry, a man had to have some limits after all. And mine was letting my three-year old daughter paint my nails. I thought Josh was going to have heart failure that day, Mr. Macho can never deny the girls anything but even he had balked at that. Dad was a total sellout, he’d let them paint his hands and feet for extra hugs and kisses the snake.





With our luck the damn diner was crowded and everyone just had to notice what we were wearing. Josh gave them a stare down that they all pretty much ignored and Stan’s pointing and laughing didn’t help matters any. We got set up in the booth and tried to pretend we had some dignity left but it was a lost cause.

“Ice cream girls?” they both nodded as we got them set up in their booster seats with bibs to protect the cute little dresses we’d dressed them in earlier that day. There was a lot of racket when grandpa Stan came over to say hi to them and they carried on a conversation with him like two old ladies in a parlor. Truth be told my daughter gives me anxiety attacks, not only because she’s a female and I haven’t the foggiest notion what to do with one that tiny. But because she’s not like any kid I’ve ever known, and since she came with a duplicate and they pretty much do everything the same there’re times when that shit borders on the spooky.

The waitress came over to take our orders. It was the same lady that had taken over Kadyn’s shift all those years ago, only now instead of the gaunt down on her luck young girl we’d first met, she was a happy, smiling woman who looked more sure of herself. “We’ll all have sundaes Marie thanks.” She exchanged a little small talk before leaving again. A few people came over to say hi to the girls but I’m pretty sure most of them were there to gloat at the fact that my brother and I looked like two asses.

“So you boys are on sentry duty again, what is it this time?”

“Shopping.”

“Well at least there’s no nail polish this time, you’re making progress.” The old shit was fighting hard not to laugh but I had something to fix him. “Stan, remember your last play party with the girls?” I could already see him changing color.