Page 10 of Beautifully Broken Control

Rachel let out a huff. “You’re really going to leave me with him?”

I grinned. “If it gets too bad, let me know, and I’ll have a talk with him.”

Rachel nodded, her gaze zeroing in on my face. “Is everything okay, Cain?”

I swallowed, fighting the mounting dryness in my throat. I thought about the nightmares that had awoken me in a cold sweat every night since I’d gotten the call about Karen. Her ghost haunting every corner of my city. The flashbacks. The fear that I was going to lose my hold on the control I’d gained. “Everything’s fine. I just need a vacation.”

What I needed was to feel like I could breathe.

3

Kennedy

My phone buzzedin my pocket as I wiped the last of the fingerprints from the glass bakery case. I tossed the rag on the counter and pulled out my cell. An alert danced across the screen.Davis Barrington granted early parole hearing.

My heart thudded so hard, my ribs seemed to rattle. I slid my thumb across the screen, and the news article popped up. I had told myself time and again that I should simply turn off the alerts, that reading updates on my father and all the people he’d hurt would only cause me more pain. But it felt like something that I needed to face. To bear.

My eyes skimmed the text. My father had, in fact, been granted a hearing for parole less than two years into his sentence. Apparently, he had enough money left to grease palms somewhere. My gaze caught on a photo, a woman who couldn’t be much older than I was. A woman whose face would be forever ingrained in my mind, the twisted pain of her features right before she doused me in fake blood.“My father wasn’t one of Mr. Barrington’s wealthy clients. We were a working-class family, but Barrington promised he would invest my dad’s savings and get him early retirement. Instead, he stole it all, and my father hanged himself the day the truth came out.”

Acidic tears stung my eyes, but I forced myself to further commit the woman’s features to memory. The pain in that ravaged face. No amount of prison time or payment of restitution would ever be enough. There were now four people who were dead because of my father. Four human beings who had taken their lives out of desperation.

The bell over the door rang, and I hurriedly wiped under my eyes. “Hey, Walker,” I greeted, forcing as much cheer into my voice as possible.

“Hey, Kennedy. My sister around?”

Jensen poked her head out of the kitchen. “I’m here. We’re just getting ready to close up for the day.”

Walker rounded the counter and wrapped his sister in a hug, ruffling her hair. Jensen struggled out of his hold. “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

Walker grinned. “Cain’s coming to town.”

Jensen smiled. “That’s great. We haven’t seen him in forever. How long’s he staying?”

“He’s buying a place here, so for the foreseeable future.”

Jensen’s mouth fell open just a bit. “He’s moving here?”

“Well, he’s buying a vacation home. Not sure how much time he’ll actually spend in it.”

Jensen laughed. “Ah, to have money to burn.”

Her words had that spot between my shoulder blades tightening. I forced myself to return my focus to the bakery case. I ran the rag across each shelf, searching for every tiny speck of food I could find.

Walker chuckled. “Mom’s going to put on a big spread Wednesday night to welcome him to town.”

Jensen hit a few buttons on the register, pulling out the cash drawer and a deposit envelope. “Of course, she is. I don’t think Tuck and I have any plans, so we’re there.”

“Good.” Walker rubbed his hands together like a little kid. “Gang’s back together.”

Jensen let out a snort of laughter. “Just as long as you three aren’t calling me at three a.m. to bail you out of jail.”

A small smile curved my mouth as I moved to the back counter. I wondered what it would be like to have friends like that. Those who knew your whole history and always gave you the warmest welcome home. I’d never known that kind of relationship. Instead, I’d known so-called friends who dropped me like a contagious disease the moment things got hard. I longed for the kind of bond Walker clearly had with Tuck and this Cain, but that sort of friendship required total honesty, and I simply wasn’t brave enough for that. I’d been hurt too many times before.

One of the first things I’d done when I got to Portland was to start the process of changing my last name. The whole ordeal had wiped out what little remained of my savings, but it was necessary. I didn’t want anyone from my past to find me, and I didn’t want to see the looks of disgust from the people in my present if they found out the truth. That meant hiring a lawyer to plead my case in the courts for my name change to remain sealed. Thankfully, they had agreed.

I fiercely protected the freedom my new name had afforded me. I had a driver’s license, but that was it. No credit cards. No bank account. Even my cell phone was one of those pay-as-you-go deals. I would do everything I could to prevent the ghosts of my past from resurfacing.

“Kenz.”

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