Perceive by K E Osborn

 

 

KENZI

 

“So that was a little crazy, right?” Annamae announces.

I lean back into the hot water, letting it soak away my stress.

The girls and I decided when the boys left, it was pamper and destress time. Mama Coal headed out just a few minutes ago, and Ruin is sitting at the table across the patio, throwing a stick for Lily and Kace’s dog, Clover, pretending he’s too much of a man to join in our girl talk.

“Are they always that intense?” Annamae adds when none of us seem to acknowledge her first attempt at getting us to explain what the hell is going on with our men.

Lily covers her mouth, hiding a knowing smile. “You mean, do they often rush out of the house like the stampede that killed Simba’s father?” Everly confirms, holding a straight face before continuing, “Yes. More often than not.”

“What exactly do they do that’s so urgent?”

“They…” Lily pauses, her eyes rolling upward as she fights to think of something. Anything. “They farm.”

Annamae’s eyebrows both shoot up, then draw together instantly.

Like she expected something else entirely, and then is confused.

“Oh!” She clicks her fingers. “Is that where Luca had his miniature pony riding accident?”

Annamae is sweet, she’s kind, a lovely person who I can imagine has a big heart. But I have to wonder just whether she has the kahones to be hanging out with these guys. I’ve already begun to learn that with this lifestyle comes a lot of stress, a heap of worry, and a ton of oh-shit moments and that this could be the time your man leaves and doesn’t return.

It’s a very real possibility, and you must have a backbone like no other, to know that’s the truth and still be able to support them walking out the door to face death every other day.

I wonder if she is just too sweet for that.

Too innocent.

“Yes,” Everly answers quickly, her head bobbing. “They farm miniature ponies.”

“Would you like a shovel?” I murmur under my breath.

For that massive hole you’re digging.

Everly hears me but just grins, continuing to hold her friendly gaze with Annamae. “That’s why they had to rush out of here. Another accident. Those miniature ponies are just crazy, I tell ya.”

“Oh my goodness,” Annamae gasps, the water sloshing around us. “Does that happen often?”

“More often than you could imagine.”

Annamae nods her head like she’s taking all that in. “So Tanner, she’s interesting…”

We all raise our brows. “How so,” Lily replies.

“Oh, I don’t know. I just mean… a woman, hanging around all those men all the time, doing a man’s job… she’s got to be a little—”

“Get out!” Ruin’s harsh yell across the patio as he struggles to get to his feet, has us all stunned. “Get out… move outside, now!”

He’s hobbling, trying to get to us despite the obvious look of pain on his face.

All of us girls scramble over the side of the hot tub. “The hell is going on?” I demand, not even a second to reach for a towel before Ruin shoves us toward the front door. I tuck in beside him, my arm wrapping around his waist to try and take some of his weight. “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“We’re going to fucking explode if we don’t get out of this place,” he snaps back, the group of us shooting out the front door. The girls sprint ahead, but I refuse to leave Ruin behind, helping him as fast as we can move without tearing one of his injuries open, and yet, expecting at any moment to be hit with flying debris from an exploding house.

Because Kace and Lily’s house is directly at the end of the cul de sac, we race out onto the road, my heart thumping like a beating drum in my ears, the anticipation of what might happen to force a shot of adrenaline through me as we make our way further and further down the street.

Suddenly, the hard acceleration of a motor sounds, my eyes look up, expecting to see the boys and their SUVs shoot around the corner, but instead, a little blue Honda skids, its back end sliding out just a little, as it pulls urgently onto the street.

For a second, I think I’m going to have to push Ruin to the side and be run down. But the brakes of the car suddenly screech to a halt a couple of houses away, right front tire up on the curb.

“Mom! What the hell!” Everly screams, rushing toward her mother who almost falls out of the driver’s door.

“Jack called,” Mama Coal huffs, fighting to catch her breath with her hand on her heart and tears already streaking her cheeks. “He said—” her eyes suddenly find Annamae and cut her off mid-sentence as they grow wide. “He said… um…”

“Gas leak,” Ruin offers, dropping onto the front lawn of what I think is Tanner’s house. We’re at least halfway down the street now, a reasonable distance from any exploding buildings. “He rang and said there was a gas leak.”

Lily wraps her arms around herself, raising a brow at Ruin.

These houses don’t have gas connected for that exact reason.

A swift breeze rushes past, reminding me just how practically naked I am standing on the side of our street in my one-piece bathing suit, which is a little more than what the other girls are in, their string bikinis not covering much more than the important parts.

Suddenly, I feel a heavy weight on my shoulders, Ruin’s leather jacket and club cut settling over them and instantly warming me through.

Not just a feeling of protection from the cold.

But also anything fucking else the world is about to throw at us.

But that’s family—my family—so I’m coming to learn. 

I turn to thank him, but he already has his phone pressed to his ear, his brows knotted. “Nothing happened.” There’s silence for a second, then he shouts, “Good? You call screaming at me about the house exploding and then when it doesn’t, you say, oh cool, that’s great?”

I can’t hear the conversation on the other end, but I can imagine what’s being said. Axel is telling him to shut up and look after me until he can get here. These two are way too predictable.

“Fine. Yes. Of course, I fucking will.”

Annamae shuffles over to us, a blanket around her shoulders that Mama Coal pulled from her car. “So… we’re okay? No gas leaks?”

Ruin clears his throat. It’s almost amusing to see him try to lie, just because I imagine he doesn’t do that often. Because it’s not what Malice MC is built on. You don’t lie to your brothers, you don’t lie to your family.

“No. Apparently wrong street.”

“Wrong street…” she questions slowly.

“Yeah, let’s just hope they get hold of the family a few streets over before they blow up,” Ruin mutters, pressing his hand to my back. “Come on. Axel said to go to his place and wait for them to get back.” Then under his breath he mutters, “Just in case.”

 

 

“So everyone is okay?” Annamae questions as Noah takes her hand and leads her to the door.

He pauses, looking over his shoulder at the rest of us. “Yeah, they all look okay.”

Her light giggle lights up the room, breaking the tension a little as Noah opens the door, holding it for her like the perfect gentleman I’ve come to know. “No silly. At the farm. The miniature pony accident you went to.”

Noah’s head snaps back again to us, and I wave. Lily just behind me, buries her face into Kace’s chest, an ample sized bandage on his arm as she tries to stifle her giggles, while Everly and Luca cackle loudly on the sofa.

They have no shame—I swear.

“Yeah… the farm…” Noah groans as he pulls the door closed behind them, no doubt ready to describe a very detailed fake farm as he drives Annamae home.

I can’t wait to hear all about it.

A strong arm curls around my waist, tugging me back against his chest. “You girls are gonna have to answer to that one,” Axel whispers, his breath tickling my ear. I spin, turning to face him and lifting my hands to cup his jaw. Despite the playful words and soft touches, it was tight. His teeth are clenched. His body on alert.

“So? Anyone want to explain what that shitshow was about?” Ruin demands loudly the second he hears Noah’s vehicle pull out of the driveway. He’s slumped on one of the large armchairs, his hand pressing to his side because he’s done too fucking much trying to rush us out of the house.

I sigh heavily, tiptoeing up to press a light kiss to Axel’s lips before slipping away and heading for the refrigerator.

“We found Brandon.”

My fingers pause as I reach into the freezer for something cold, my heart stopping as I wait for something to be added to that sentence.

Anything.

We found Brandon… and he ran away.

We found Brandon… and he kissed a fish.

But I’d prefer… we found Brandon and now he’s dead.

“He got away.”

Or not.

I swallow back the lump in my throat, grabbing a bag of peas and wrapping a few paper towels around it before walking over to Ruin and placing it on the chair’s arm. “Put it on.”

He frowns up at me like I’ve just outed him to the room. He doesn’t want people to know he’s hurting, especially Axel, who’s now watching with a fierce frown.

“I swear to God, Ruin, put it on, or I will put it on for you.”

“So, where the hell are we at now?” Kace questions, his fingers playing with the tips of Lily’s hair. It’s almost an unconscious gesture, something he finds natural as his eyes stare off across the room. “A lot of shit he said today… that can’t stand. Someone needs to take responsibility for what they’ve done, and I’m pretty sure you know who I mean by that someone.”

“You mean your bitch of a mother?” Luca scoffs out, earning him a hard elbow to the stomach from Everly and a sharp narrow glare. “Hey! I was held hostage today. A gun pressed to my head. My life flashing before my eyes.”

“Oh, my poor little soldier.” Everly pouts at him, running her fingers through his hair in a loving way. She leans in, pressing her lips to his then pulls back with a smirk. “Now suck it up. You’re supposed to be a man, not a mouse.”

Everyone chuckles, including Luca. He runs his hand up her thigh suggestively. “And this is why I love you.”

Axel tightens his grip around me, a low rumble emanating from his chest. “Kace… we have to do something about Camilla.”

“Yeah, we do. And we’re going to. We need to head into The Agency to get set up. Kenzi, I think it’s safest if you and Ruin head back to the club. Just as a precaution.”

I glance at Axel, and he nods in agreement.

I guess it’s time to head home.