Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

AUSTIN

I got a notification on my phone for an article about the dinner. After the debacle with the float, I’d wanted to stay up to date with what was being said about Kennedy, so I’d set a news alert for any mention of her or the hotel.

So far, it’d all been terrible to read, but as I scanned this latest article, I grinned. For a change, everything that had been written was positive. It looked like one of the local business owners we’d invited had spoken to an online publication about Kenny “graciously hosting members of the local community.” The picture they had painted of her was as a champion of “a historic house on heritage row,” a woman who was working hard to restore it without damaging its original character at all.

There was no telling which of the business owners it’d been, since the reporter had simply cited an anonymous source, but I was surprised by the general tenor of this new article. Instead of labeling our dinner as an attack on local heritage by the one percent, it lauded Kennedy as a respectful and responsible prospective hotelier.

Whoever this person is, they deserve a drink.

For the very first time, Kennedy and the Dahlia Hotel and Restaurant were being accurately represented in the media, and I smiled. All of this might just work out okay after all.

After getting called to a client meeting at work earlier, I was now running late to meet her at the hotel. I’d read the article in the elevator on my way down to the parking garage, and when the doors finally opened, I quickly strode across the lot toward my car.

When I reached it, I climbed in and immediately backed out of my spot, eager to see her and really hoping she was still there. As I left the garage, I tried calling to let her know I was on my way, but there was no answer. The phone rang and rang over the speakers in my car, and the disembodied voice of her voicemail eventually picked up.

I sighed and settled in for the drive, resigning myself to possibly having missed her. Up ahead, a string of red brake lights in the gray morning light told me I was about to get stuck in traffic on top of everything else. As I eased to a crawl behind the other commuters, I groaned, but according to my navigation system, I was still on the fastest route.

When I finally got to the hotel, I was over an hour late and frustration was coursing through my veins. I climbed out of my car and brought the box of stuff for the bedrooms with me. As I entered the property, I was surprised to find someone else there, his fist poised to knock on the door.

“Tate?” I frowned, blinking hard to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but sure enough, he turned at the sound of my voice and there was no mistaking that it was, in fact, my former colleague. “What are you doing here, man?”

“I, uh, hi,” he said, lifting the gift basket he was holding in his hands as if that explained everything. “I brought this for Kennedy, but I didn’t just want to leave it at the door.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, still frowning as I walked up the front steps. “Why, though?”

He raked a hand through his hair, a strangely nervous gesture I hadn’t seen from him before. “I wanted to apologize and wish her the best of luck with this place.”

My eyebrows inched up. “Right.”

Tate took a step closer to me, appearing genuinely contrite as he held my gaze. “Look, I know you probably don’t want me anywhere near her, but I just want the opportunity to make amends.”

“Are you working a twelve-step program or something?”

He shook his head. “Part of the package the firm offered me was counseling. I’ve been unpacking a lot of stuff, including how truly shitty I’ve been to so many people. I owe Kennedy an apology. What I did that day was wrong, unprofessional, and embarrassing for all of us. I shouldn’t have done it and I’m hoping that she’ll allow me to express how sorry I am for my behavior.”

I inhaled deeply, stunned but impressed that he’d actually gone for the counseling and that he was putting actions to his words by coming here to apologize in person. “That’s pretty big of you, man. Have you knocked?”

“Yeah, a few times,” he said, glancing back at the door. “I don’t think she’s here, though.”

Fuck . “Well, I’ve got a key. Let’s drop this stuff off inside and I’ll ask if I can send you her number. It’s not the same as doing it in person, but at least you’ll get to talk to her.”

“That sounds fair,” he agreed.

I slid my key into the lock, but when I twisted it, I realized it’d been open all along. “That’s weird,” I said as I turned the handle and pushed the door open for us. “Kennedy never leaves this place unlocked.”

Tate shrugged. “Maybe she was in a hurry and the latch didn’t click. It happens.”

“Yeah,” I murmured, but I was unconvinced.

As I walked in, I got the weirdest feeling that something was wrong. My eyes narrowed as I glanced one way and the other, but I didn’t see anything out of place.

“Is that…” Tate trailed off, his head cocking. He set the gift basket down on the restored hutch in the foyer. “Do you hear voices?”

My ears perked and I suddenly realized he was right. It’d been quiet as we’d walked in, but I could now hear raised voices coming from one of the living areas in the back. I couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but unease slammed into me. I set the box I’d been carrying down on the floor.

I hurried down the hall and Tate shot after me. My own unease glittered in his eyes when he glanced at me. “This isn’t good.”

“No, it’s not.” My jaw hardened and my muscles tightened. I rolled my fingers into fists at my sides, already preparing myself for a fight.

Tate and I followed the voices to the den that opened up onto the back garden. I took the final corner first, and when I saw Danny towering over Kenny, my feet slammed to a stop. She was sitting in one of the sofas, listening as he tried to talk her into taking him back, but it looked like she was ready to run for the hills.

Her eyes were wide and shimmering with fear, her posture rigid as he stood over her. “Give me a chance,” he was saying. “I’ll pay for the baby. Whatever it needs. Just come back to me, baby. I promise, I won’t even look at another woman again.”

Rage ripped through me, my muscles tensing to the point of pain. If you want her back, scaring the shit out of her isn’t the way to do it, asshole.

“You didn’t get an invitation,” I snapped as I strode into the room with Tate hot on my heels. “You’re trespassing. Leave before I call the police.”

Danny spun around and blinked in surprise when he found Tate and me standing shoulder to shoulder, both of us glaring at him. While he obviously hadn’t been expecting the interruption, it didn’t take him more than a few seconds to recover. His chin rose defensively as he sneered at me.

“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily this time, pal. Kennedy and I are talking. Wait your turn.”

“Excuse me?” I scoffed and closed the distance between us in a couple of long strides. “I didn’t hear her doing any talking. If she had something to say to you, she would say it. This conversation is over.”

Danny scowled at me. Red splotches appeared on his face as he shook his head. “It’s over when I say it’s over. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll fuck off right now.”

I planted my feet about a foot apart and crossed my arms. “I’m not going anywhere. I have every right to be here. You, on the other hand, have none. Tate will call the cops as soon as I give him the word, and I’m about to do just that. This is your last warning, man.”

Backing me up without question, Tate slid his phone out of his pocket in my periphery. Cocking an eyebrow at Danny, he poised his thumb over the screen. Kenny’s ex, however, didn’t seem to think he would actually make the call.

He scoffed down a bark of dry laughter. “No cop is going to arrest me. This house belongs to the city and my father has connections on the council. We’re developers, bro. We know everyone, including Kennedy’s family, who will vouch for me.”

“Maybe they will, but she won’t.” I stood my ground, not the least bit afraid for myself, but I hated that Kenny had to go through this. “What are you even doing here, bro ? Get it through your thick skull. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Quickly glancing past him, I shot her a questioning look. Right then, I was talking for her and I wasn’t sure she appreciated it, but Kenny still seemed frozen, watching the scene unfold with her eyes just as wide as they had been when we’d walked in, her spine still ramrod straight.

My teeth ground, but I returned my attention to Danny. Getting him out of here was my first priority, but as soon as the threat was removed, she would be my every priority.

The idiot ex didn’t seem to feel the same way, though. His eyes narrowed to slits, his shoulders bunching as he took the final step closer to me, getting in my face as if he truly thought that would intimidate me.

“She’s mine ,” he hissed. “Back the fuck off right now, or this is going to get ugly.”

I sighed, my head shaking as I stared back at him. Apparently, that set him off, and the next thing I knew, he was swinging at me. I caught his fist and spun around to check on Kennedy again, but Danny stumbled forward with the momentum of his swing, bumping into the coffee table and knocking off a vase that had been standing on it.

The crash and clatter of the glass on the hardwood floor snapped her out of her trance and she reared to her feet, getting between us with a palm stretched out toward each of our chests. She glanced from me to him and back again, her eyes filled with desperate pleas as her gaze met mine.

“Please don’t get into it right now,” she begged. “You’re going to ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for if you start throwing punches. That might just have been a vase, but what do you think this place is going to look like if you get into an all-out brawl?”

As I held her gaze, I saw something behind the desperate pleas. An icy panic combined with a wary alertness that told me she was ready to duck but wanted to run. It made me furious to see it. Red spots danced at the edges of my vision, but before I blew a fuse and beat the hell out of the guy, I spoke to Tate.

“Get him out of here.” I was still looking directly at her, but thankfully, Tate took one for the team, grabbing Danny’s arm and manhandling him out of the room.

The guy didn’t go quietly, fighting against Tate’s grasp and shouting threats and obscenities, but I heard my former coworker cut him off as soon as they were in the hallway. “Shut up. Just go, man. If you ever show your face around here again, I’ll knock your teeth out. I have a lot of rage issues I’ve been working through, and I would happily vent my aggression on a prick like you. So just leave before we all wind up spending a night in jail and you need dentures.”

Their footsteps faded as Tate dragged him further away, and as soon as I knew we were in the clear, I strode over to Kenny, opened my arms, and wrapped her up in them. She let me pull her closer, shaking like a leaf as she laid her head on my chest and leaned into me.

“Thank God you guys showed up when you did. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I don’t think he would’ve let me leave here if you hadn’t.”