The Price We Pay (21 page)

Sofia

I was being released.

I was going home.

With Kennedy.

My mother had brought some clothes by and we refused to talk about my father. I had no idea what was going on, and I honestly didn’t care. I wanted to put it all behind me, even though I’ll have a daily reminder of what happened.

My ring and pinky finger were gone, never coming back, but the pain medication helped dull the physical ache. So, for now, I was ignoring that also. I wanted to pretend it never happened.

“Gabe called while you were in the bathroom,” Kennedy said grabbing my bag. “A lot has happened since you were taken and we need to talk about it.”

“Now what?” I said holding my hand to my chest. It just felt better this way.

He ran a hand through his hair which I might add was styled today. I kind of liked it that way. It was just doing its own thing.

I smiled at him.

“Randy,” he said. That’s all he had to say. I heard the sadness in his voice and saw the pain in his eyes.

I choked up, “What?”

“There was an altercation and unfortunately, Randy didn’t survive.”

I sat down on the hospital bed filled with sadness. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t have all the details but it happened the same day you took your finals.” My eyes were burning with the tears that were filling them up. “I have more to tell you.” He pulled me into his arms and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. “Something happened with Harper and Marvey the day after Randy passed.”

“Are they okay?” I asked through my tears.

“Yes, they’re both down in the ER.”

“Oh my God,” I shot off the bed, “Let’s go.”

I wiped my tears, Kennedy grabbed my bag, and we ran out the door. I needed to make sure they were okay and find out what happened to Randy. He was so nice to us when we were there. Like a big brother and always giving us advice. “I can’t believe Randy’s…”

Kennedy wrapped his arm around my waist and tried to change the subject. “You should wear that sling they gave you.”

I glanced down and saw myself holding my bad hand to my chest. They had given me something that I could wear, but it looked awful and would bring unwanted attention.

“You changed the subject,” I said eyeing him and he gave me a small smile.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able-”

“Just stop!”

“But I-”

“Kenny, please,” I begged and turned to stand in front of him, “just…stop. It wasn’t your fault.”

I moved up so I could meet him with a kiss. “I love you,” I whispered against his lips and his arm tightened around my waist.

“I love you Sofia, and if we weren’t already getting married, I’d ask you to marry me.”

“You could ask again.”

Technically he asked me to marry him, in front of our parents at a Gala Ball party a few years back, but he had to do it. I knew he was going to do it so it wasn’t a surprise. But now, now it was different. For some reason when he took the bullet for me, it opened up my eyes and my heart. I was finally falling in love with my best friend. He loved me, not because our family said we had to be together but because he actually loved me.

“I told you things were different now,” he started to say and the elevator door dinged.  Kennedy popped his head up and I turned around and was graced with my father’s presence.

“Well isn’t this nice,” he said eyeing Kennedy. “Making out in an elevator. No-”

“Shut up!” I hissed as we walked passed him.

“Sofia Black-”

“Don’t talk to me!” I yelled back, pulling Kennedy with me.

“You don’t talk to me that way. I’m your father!”

I dropped Kennedy’s hand, turned around and stomped back to him. I looked him in the eye. I wasn’t backing down anymore.

“Technically yes, you are my father, but look at me!” I shoved my hand into his face. “You did this to me! I’m missing the most important finger I’ve got. You did nothing. You let your pride and your ego get in the way. Always have,
Father
.” I dropped my hand back to my chest but I wasn’t done. “I’ve lived my whole life the way you wanted me to. Everything I did was because of you. Every decision was made by you!”

“Sofia,” he warned.

“You can’t control me anymore,” I ground out. “I’m my own person. A real fucking person, not some puppet you can control.” I spun around towards Kennedy and yelled back at him, “You’re not invited to the wedding!”

Kennedy grinned at my words.

“Sofia,” my father warned again and I was getting tired of it. His words meant nothing to me anymore.

I spun back around. “I’m sure your lawyers will keep you out of jail, but I hope to God you’re punished for your crimes. Karma’s a bitch, Father.”

I turned around and before he could say another word, I yelled over my shoulder, “Foda-se, Pai!”

“You just told your father to fuck off.”

I grinned.

“Have I told you how much I love you?”  Kennedy asked, putting his hand on my lower back.

“No,” I joked.

“I have to agree my sweet Sofia.”

I glanced up at him and saw his smile. “Oh…”

“From now on, it’s just us. No more shit from our parents. Fuck what everyone else thinks.”

“I couldn’t be happier right now.”

A few minutes after talking to a nurse we found out which room Marvey was in. She had a private room and it was full of people. Latch, Laken, and Pacer were there. They all stopped talking the second I walked into the room.

“Sofia!” Marvey scrambled from the covers and slammed into me with a hug. “You’re okay.”

“I’m alive.”

She pulled back and saw my hand. “What the hell?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “They took a few fingers.”

“Oh. My. God!” She spun around to Latch. “They took her fingers!”

“I know,” he replied.

“What are you going to do about it?” she asked putting her fists on her hips. “Her ring finger, Latch!”

“Babe.”

Marvey huffed and turned back around. “Latch will make them pay if they haven’t already.”

“I’m fine, Marv.”

“She told her dad to fuck off,” Kennedy added proudly.

Marvey gasped, “It’s about time.”

She hugged me again and she told me about Randy, and then she explained what happened with her and Harper. Jaxon was with Harper in another room, she’d been through worse than Marvey. Apparently, Marvey slept through the whole thing, she only remembers the Arsen guy showing up at their hotel room and one of the guys jammed a needle into her arm.  She woke up in the hospital, safe and sound, and Latch had to fill her in on what happened.

“I slept through it all,” Marv said. “I missed my chance at kicking some ass!”

We all laughed at that.

“I can kick some ass,” Marv reiterated in defense.

“I’ll teach you some moves,” Kennedy said, and Pacer added, “I can help also.”

Pacer Daniels was an MMA fighter and I briefly thought who’d win in a match between Kennedy and him, and realized it was a given. My Kenny would win.

I liked this group of people. As much as I hated what has happened, I’m glad we all met. I was happy to have met Randy even though it was short lived.

I could feel the pain medication wearing off; my hand was steadily moving from a dull ache too full on agony. “Can you tell Harper I was here?” I asked Marv while giving her one last hug.

“I’m leaving soon and we’ll stop by to visit her.”

“Where are you going tonight?” I asked glancing at Latch.

She leaned forward and whispered, “He told me not to worry about it.”

“He’s good for you, Marv.”

She winked. “I think so.”

“We have so much to talk about.”

“We do Sofia, but not today.” She gave me one last quick hug. “Go rest up and I’ll do the same.”

Kenny and I said goodbye to everyone and went home.

Kennedy

It was dark by the time we got home. Sofia wanted to take a bath, so I got that ready with lots of bubbles and a glass of wine.

“I don’t think I should drink with these pills in me.”

“Crap.” I stood from the tub and went to grab the glass of wine.

“It’s okay,” she said with a sweet smile, “I haven’t taken one in over an hour.” She picked the glass up and took a sip. “I’ll be okay if you help me drink.”

“Sure babe.”

I helped her undress, then helped her into the tub because she couldn’t use her hand at all. She wasn’t to put any pressure on it and to change her bandage every couple of hours. She would have help with that, though; Mother took it upon herself to hire my nurse back to care for Sofia. I wasn’t in the mood to fight her so the nurse would be here first thing in the morning. Sofia has refused to let me see her hand without the bandage.

She slid down into the tub with her elbow on the side, holding her hand up. “This is nice, Kenny,” she said softly, closing her eyes and relaxing into the water.

I drank most of the wine and then stripped down so I could join her. I slid in behind her and let her lay her back on my chest.

I ran my hand over her breast and then played with her nipple. “I’ve missed you, Sofia.” My cock was growing hard already. I’ve never hidden my feelings from her. Even though we haven’t had sex yet, we’ve done most everything else.

“I’ve missed you, Kenny,” she murmured. She placed her good hand over mine, while I continued to massage her breast. “I’m sick of waiting.”

“Waiting?”

“Why haven’t we had sex?” she asked, pulling my hand down her belly.

I grunted, “You know why.”

“Fuck them and their rules,” she said softly, continuing to pull my hand lower, down between her legs. “Think about it, Kenny.” Our fingers moved over her clit and she spread her legs wider. “This is our life. I want us to live our life.”

“I like the sound of that,” I whispered into her ear, circling her clit.

She moaned and started to arch her back, “Kenny, can we go to bed now?”

“Anything you want.”

It was a brilliant idea. We were waiting for marriage only because our parents told us we had to. Sofia wanted to go to college, which put the marriage off and we agreed it was best that we wait.

I helped her out of the tub, dried her off, and we walked back into the bedroom naked. I helped her into bed and hovered above her. She bit her lip, nervously.

“Sofia, honey…”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Kenny.”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with
you
, Sofia.”

“I just have to be careful with my hand,” she said, putting it above her head and onto the pillow.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“No condom, just us,” she whispered and I agreed, “Just us.”

“I don’t want to rush this Kenny, but we’ve done everything but sex. As much as I love your mouth on me, I want you in me. I want to feel you in me, please.”

My cock wasn’t going to argue.

I started to push in and she was right, she was ready to go.

“Oh God.” She was already panting.

I pushed a little further and pulled out slowly and back in again.

“Kenny,” she panted and I kissed her while I continued to make love to her. It was the best feeling in the world, and part of me was glad we waited because now I knew she was all mine. This whole experience changed her and now she looked at me like she was truly in love with me.

“Kenny,” she panted heavier, her fingers digging into my arm.

“God, you feel good.” I kissed her hard and went faster.

We stared into each other’s eyes the entire time, never once breaking contact.

“Your hand okay?”

She nodded, so I reached back and hooked her knee in my elbow.

“Fuck,” I grunted and she encouraged me to go faster.

“Oh fuck,” she panted, her legs squeezing me tighter.

“I’m ready, Sofia.”

She nodded at the same time she squeezed her eyes shut. I felt her orgasm, I felt her holding on tight, and I came with her. I pressed my forehead to hers and she opened her eyes. I slammed into her a few more times until my orgasm completely tore me apart and then collapsed on her.

“I’m sorry it didn’t last long enough,” I told her while listening to her heart beat fast and wild.

“It was amazing, Kenny.”

I pushed up and let her breathe. “It’ll be better next time.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Kenny, it was everything I wanted it to be.”

“Just us,” I said, kissing her lips softly.