Page 72 of Redemption

Griffin’s Beach

TK

Karmen’s arms wrapped around his waist as they pull up to Lex’s place feels different than it has in a long time. Ever since he started thinking about their failed marriage, and the part he played in it, everything looks different. Staying in the house he used to call his own last night did nothing but stir up even more confusing thoughts and feelings.

They spot Colt sitting alone on the front porch, the battle wounds of the fight he hadn’t heard about until this morning pulls him from thoughts of his estranged wife. Brian and Beckett nod to him, and he sees the dried blood on Brian’s neck as they pass. They took a beating.

They walk over to Colt, but he barely acknowledges them as they approach. Instead, he continues to stare off with a miserable look in his eyes.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Karmen asks, reaching out to touch his chin and examine his cheek, her dark blue nails capturing TK’s attention. “Is it bad?”

“I’m fine,” he says and pulls his face from her hand. “I’ll heal.”

TK crosses his arms and leans against the railing at the bottom of the steps. “Just one Slasher?”

“Yeah, it was so fucking stupid. The man knocked the guys out but didn’t kill them. And then it was a guy Lex would have easily taken out if he entered the house. I didn’tneedto be the one to kill him. It was like it was...”

“A message.”

His green eyes look up. “Yeah, that’s what Lex said, too.”

“The question is why. Do they think we’ll fall into a false sense of security and think that Lex and the kids are safe to attack again? Or are they tipping their hand to give us a preview of what’s to come?”

“Neither of those outcomes sound comforting,” Karmen says. “It feels like it’s getting worse than it was before. What’d you guys do to these guys?”

“No idea,” Colt says and shrugs defeatedly. “They’re already pretty big, so it’s not like taking us out will make a name for them.”

TK looks at the closed door and squints. Where are Lex and the kids? He’d expect them to all be together. “What’re you doing out here?” he asks, changing the subject.

Running a hand over his face, he looks at the ground. “I fucked my wife last night.”

“That’s good, right?” Karmen asks, looking between them with confusion on her face. “Why do you have the same look on your face that you did when someone ran over our dog twenty years ago?”

“It was fucking amazing. After the whole asshole fiasco, Psycho came and took care of him while Lex cleaned me up. One thing led to another.”

Something in his tone shouts not all is right now that he’s bedded her. “But?”

“I spent the night on the front steps.”

“I don’t understand,” his mother says and moves to sit next to him. “Why?”

A humorless chuckle sounds, and he looks off at the horizon. “I tried to show her just how much I love her, and fucking miss her. It kills me to have her here with the kids every day instead of at home with me like they should be.”

“Well, from the sounds of it, it wasn’t bad. Unless she didn’t enjoy it.”

“It was mind blowing, thanks. Just like it always had been. But afterwards, she panicked. Jumped up, said it was a mistake, and that it doesn’t change anything. Kind of freaked me out, actually, how she lost it.”

TK feels his anger boil up. Colt’s trying, and Lex doesn’t see it. No, she does, but she refuses to. She’s made up her mind, and he’s about three seconds away from walking inside and telling her exactly how selfish she is. What she’s doing tears everyone up, including her kids. Especially the kids. She’s a better mom than this.

“What’d you say when she said all that?” Karmen asks, surprising him. How can she side with Lex over their son? “Did you let your pride get the better of you?”

Wiping his eyes, he shakes his head and looks to the side. “I got on my hands and knees and begged her to change her mind like a goddamned pussy.”

“And she told you to fuck off?” he asks, his blood pressure rising.

“I don’t blame her,” he says with a shrug. “She started sobbing and curled up into herself saying she can’t trust me to mean what I say. That she has to protect our kids from it all again. They can’t do it again.”

She rubs Colt’s back. “I’m sorry, baby.”

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