Trial By Fire - Bouncing Back, Book 1

Six

Declan looked up when Kennedy walked in the next day. He was tired, and it showed, but he was happy to see that the teen he had been helping raise for the last eight years was alive and well. "The prodigal sister returns. How are you feeling, Kenni?"

"Like I was hit by the Via Rail," she answered. Moving to the refrigerator, she grabbed a bottle of water. "I had a nice conversation with Thomas about my relationship with Memphis, though. We settled our differences in the process of my therapy."

His azure eyes narrowed, "What relationship? I didn't say you could date.”

Kennedy scoffed. "Oh, like it's really going to damage my grades."

He scowled at her, not liking that he hadn’t been consulted on the matter at all. "Teen boys have…"

"Hormones, I know,” she said, cutting him off. “So do teen girls, but can you really see me doing something that could potentially ruin my high school career?"

Declan glared at her before sighing in acceptance. "I want you done with school before you guys do something stupid. s*x should be the furthest thing from your mind right now. Now, go to your room, and stop distracting me. I'm working."

Grinning at his curt dismissal, she grabbed an apple off the table. "Do I have any other homework that I didn't get brought home? I finished all the stuff I missed."

"Figured that you would, little smartass," he grunted.

“I had eight hours a day, five days a week for four weeks to work on my s**t, so I got it done. If you don’t like it, shove it up your ass.” She giggled when he threw his stress ball at her.

"If you’re that bored, I heard Thom mention something about a written assignment that’s worth fifteen percent of your grade. Memphis called earlier to ask me about letting you out for a few study sessions, but that was before you mentioned being in a relationship with him."

Her grin widened as she walked to the door and put on her sneakers, "Sweet. Memphis needs all the help he can get where he struggles to keep up with the rest of us book-wise. Thanks for the intel, Declan. Love ya!"

"I love you, too, brat," he called back as the door shut behind her.

Stepping off the elevator a few minutes later, Kennedy came face-to-face with her now-boyfriend standing with their friends while the crew was engaged in lively chatter. "Hey, guys, did ya miss me?"

"Who could possibly miss a tomboyish b***h like you?" Skylar commented with a laugh as she hugged Kennedy. "Welcome home."

"God, I missed you guys," Kennedy breathed as she embraced each of her friends. "Markus, next time you f**k up, you face me. Jaxon's our youngest, so stop being an ass."

Markus groaned, "Not you, too, Kenni! Jaxon, please, baby? It's been a week already, please talk to me?"

Noticing when the younger teen angrily stepped from his boyfriend, Kennedy grabbed him by the collar. They were a team, and something like this was not going to fly with her while she still held the title of Phoenix’s Shield. Kennedy growled, "He made a mistake, yes, but you’re damn lucky it was my people that found you and not some rival gang. The Horsemen would not have hesitated to use you as a warning to me, Jaxon. The worst reaction you had to that was flight when you should have stayed to fight. Next time, knock his ass out.”

Jaxon's eyes brimmed with tears. They had all been warned about the gang that rivalled the Scorpions. Knowing that she was right, but not wanting to admit it, he said, "He took me to where my parents died."

"You're not the only one that lost their parents, Jaxon." She snapped, shoving him roughly. “I lost mine, too, remember? Just like you, I watched them die.”

Skylar looked at Kenni with an understanding smile. "I guess you forgot that we all got issues, didn’t you, little brother? I mean, my mother dropped me off at the front gate and tossed me a bag before driving off. That was the last I ever saw of the cow."

"Hold up, you had a mother? I thought you were spawned," Memphis chuckled, high-fiving Markus as they laughed. Shaking his head, he said, “Mine ditched family life to chase the almighty dollar.”

Lukas grimaced, "Ours walked out on us, too, but I don’t wanna talk about it."

Phoenix bit his lip as regret filled him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "I kind of feel bad now. You’re all either orphans or from single-parent households, and here I am with both parents and a slew of sibs.”

"Oh, honey, you can keep your family," Skylar said with a wave of her hand. "Your brothers put the fun in dysfunctional."

Memphis snorted a laugh, "You’ve got to be kidding me? We could care less what kind of house you’re from, Boss. You brought us together, made us your team. It’s you that we're loyal to. If we have a problem with you and your s**t, we say it straight. We actually like that you don’t backdoor or sugar-coat anything for us."

Kennedy's eyes softened. She recalled growing up under his grandfather's direct tutelage. "Hans always taught us that loyalty and respect get you a lot further than anything else in this life. He was right. Anyway, enough of this sappy, Let's-Share-Our-Feelings therapy-style crap. There’s a written assignment I need to get from Thomas and Memphis promised me a movie night."

Memphis reached out to grab her wrist. He gently pulled her close before his lips crashed down on hers hungrily. He listened as Kennedy moaned, noting the moment her legs started to tremble as he sank his fingers into her red locks. PDA was never their thing, but the people around her were her friends, not strangers. Breaking the kiss, Memphis grinned, "Dad left to go home ten minutes ago. I can’t do a movie night just yet because my grades need some serious work.”

Glaring up at him, she recalled the warning she’d gotten from Ambrosia and Declan. Kennedy sighed, “s**t, I can’t go alone. Walk me to your place?"

“Sure, and I’ll walk you home when you’re ready,” he replied.

Leading her out of the building, Memphis couldn't help but laugh under his breath at the way their friends were jokingly tormenting them. He could feel his anxiety building as they neared the porch and started praying that his father remained civil with the redhead beside him. “What’s the assignment about?”

"Not a clue," she replied.

Sighing, she folded her hands behind her head as she walked. Biting her lip, she tried not to let him know that being alone with him did things to her she didn't understand. She knew what the feeling was, but it was alien to her. Heat spread through her like wildfire, pooling at her center as she bit back a groan. There was no way to mistake this feeling.

It was s****l, raw, and it was driving her crazy.

"You're not in pain, are you?" he asked, catching the grimace on her face.

Kennedy shook her head. “Non, mon amour. I’m not in pain.”

He stopped suddenly, his hand millimetres from the door handle. "Did you just...? Why?"

Shrugging, she tried to forget the feeling that nagged her. "I just felt like saying it. It's not a crime to call someone my love, is it?"

"Well, non, but…"

"Nope, no buts," she snapped, "Might as well behave like we're boyfriend and girlfriend since that's what we are now, so don’t go there.”

The front door opened, revealing his father. "Don't go where?"

"Gah! Thomas, can you talk to your kid? I'm starting to rethink this whole relationship bit," Kennedy told him.

"Say what? Je viens de t'avoir," Memphis complained as he stared at her.

She turned back to him, her eyes narrowing, "And you'll lose me just as fast if you do stupid s**t like flirting with other girls and slacking off at school or training. Those are the only reasons I would leave you, Memphis, so play your cards right."

Thomas blinked at them. Having just caught the tail end of their conversation, he was unsure if he should say anything at all. Finally, he stepped aside to let them into the house. “Why are you here?”

Her grin morphed into a smug look of pride. “Declan told me about the assignment, and Memphis needs to pull his grades out of the dumps. The end of our prison term at that school is only a few months away. I have got plenty of time on my hands, so we’re going to work on his stuff.”

She was actually happy about the homework, which scared Thomas slightly. He couldn’t think of anyone else that he knew of who thrived on learning as much as she did. He shuddered, letting some of his agitation show when he spoke. “I’m killing your brother-in-law. No one else knew about the assignment, but I’ll let you off with it. Thanks for being here for Memphis, though. I looked at his marks the other day, and I have to admit he certainly suffered while you were down. I can trust you two not to pull a stupid, right?”

Memphis’s eyes went wide as his face heated up, “Dad!”

“No, he’s right,” Kennedy shrugged. “Diablo already gave me the same warning. You do realize we’re going to have to double-date with Nix and Romie, right?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that,” the younger man grunted. “Do we really?”

She nodded slowly, “We’re their Shields. So, that said, it’s up to us to keep them safe, and potentially stop them from making stupid decisions.”

Watching them vanish over the stairs to Memphis’s room, Thomas snickered when he heard the girl grumble about how messy his son was. Putting the kettle on, he listened as Kennedy ripped Memphis apart for not keeping his room cleaner. “Yeah, she’s definitely good for him.”