Loving Kinnick

He Is Not Taking You From Me!

I waited to text Kinnick. After he went out last night, I knew he needed sleep. He stayed out pretty late. The text messages at three in the morning telling me how much he missed me told me so. It was cute. We've been apart for less than twenty-four hours, and he couldn't bear the distance.

Miles texted me a few times to remind me he would help whenever I needed him. I appreciated how supportive everyone was being. Charlie and Chrissy came over this morning to help me finish off packing while dad stopped at Ashely's house. I wasn't sure what his plans are for the day, but I hope coming home wasn't included in them.

This was going to change everything.

It wasn't until I sat alone that I started thinking about what could happen. My dad jumped him because we spent time together. What was he going to do when I moved in with him? I want him to respect our relationship, and if it came down to it, I would talk Kinnick into filing a restraining order.

Kinnick isn't the man my dad made him out to be. He wasn't the man the town described him as, and he certainly wasn't the man I ever saw coming. He has taken my life by storm. Around him, my heart pounded like thunder. My body flooded with joy and safety. He lit up my life like lightning in the middle of the night.

"Boston!"

My dad's voice echoed through the house, reminding me that today wasn't going to be easy. I ran down the stairs to find him and Ashely standing in the kitchen. He had a look of disappointment on his face.

"Chrissy's dad stopped me at the grocery store," he narrowed his eyes. "He wanted to know where you were moving to. He said Chrissy came over to help you pack because you had to be out by this afternoon. Now, I don't know what you've heard, but I haven't asked you to leave."

"Kinnick asked me to move in."

He sucked in a deep breath before slamming his hands down on the counter. "Damn it! That's it! He is not taking you from me!"

"You don't want me here anymore," I spoke softly, trying to remain calm.

"Why would you believe that?"

"You're never here," I look around the house. "I have practically lived on my own for the past two years, ever since mom died. The only time you're home is to sleep. I've been staying at Kinnick's for a while, and you didn't know because you have been at Ashely's house."

"I'm an adult, what I do -"

"I am a fucking adult!" I threw my hands down. "I turn twenty in three months. What I do is not your say so."

"You live under my roof," he growled, stepping towards me.

"Not anymore."

"You don't know what that boy -"

"Is capable of!" I finished off his sentence. "You've been saying that for months. I am more than aware of what he is capable of. I've seen that man at his worst. I've seen that man drunk and pissed off. Not once have I worried about my safety."

"Because you're young and you think you are in love! You don't know what love is!"

"I haven't felt love since my mom died!" I screamed. "You've never shown me what it is like to be loved!"

"Boston, I have given you everything."

"No, you haven't," I snapped. "Mom bought this house. She stayed at the hospital busting her ass off while you drove around in your SUV with the sirens on, claiming to provide for this family. Don't for one second think you've given me anything other than two years of complete misery."

Ashley looked at me. "Seth, you don't have to let her talk to you this way."

My head almost rolled off my shoulders at the way I turned my head to look at her. "I'd keep your mouth shut if I were you. You do not get to come in this house, and stood where she did, talking about how my dad doesn't have to let me talk to him this way. I'll talk to my dad however I please, and you're going to sit there and keep your mouth shut."

"Boston!"

"I have no problem coming over there and shutting it for you."

"This is what I am talking about! He has changed you," my dad exploded. "You would have never acted this way!"

"Why?" My throat burned as I raised my voice. "I was scared too! I thought you spanking me as a child was a part of a parent's way to discipline their child, but it wasn't! You would do it when I did nothing wrong. You did it because no one would see the bruises you left!"

His face fell. "Bo -"

"I was raped!" My voice broke, and I tried keeping focus on his face, but my tears were in the way. "The night I called mom to pick me up, I snuck out of the house, to hang out with my friends. But I didn't drink. I didn't pick up a single cup of alcohol. That piece of shit, Warren, you brought into our house, raped me after his friends slipped a drug into my drink."

I almost stopped breathing at the pain pounding in my chest. "And you claim to be such a great dad, who sees everything, but you didn't see me! I needed someone to save me. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't fucking breathe. You watched me slowly kill myself with pills, and you didn't ask any questions when I stopped seeing my therapist!"

He was pure white by now, not a single thing left his mouth. "My therapist told me there were certain things she couldn't keep confidential. I'm sure you can put it together. So, I lived with it. I lived with all of it. Seeing my mom's body when I closed my eyes, the way Warren pinned me to the bed. And the smell. The fucking smell of burning flesh."

"That's enough," his voice was scratchy.

"No!" I stomped my foot. "I have been silent in fear but I am done! I've been quiet for too long. I won't keep my mouth shut because it makes you uncomfortable."

I found myself standing in front of him. "Everything I went through, I went through alone. You never made me think twice about wanting to be alive. The only thing I could thank you for is enrolling me in those boxing classes because I met Kinnick. You think he is a bad person but the days of me being here were numbered until he came around. You should be bowing at his fucking feet."

His hand smacked the side of my face. Ashley's scream of terror would have hurt my ears but all I heard was ringing. A rumbled erupted the house. I looked back to see Kinnick coming through the house.

He caught me by the arm, putting distance in between me and my dad. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, holding my face. "Move your hand."

He pulled my hand away when I didn't. The anger made his body shake, and I couldn't stop him. His agility to shove Ashely to the side, and send an uppercut to my dad's jaw, happened so quickly, no one could have stopped him.

Ashley pulled a gun from her waistband, pressing it against Kinnick's head. "Get off of him."

Kinnick chuckled. "Take that gun away from my head before I disarm you myself."

"Stand down," my dad snapped. "If she wants to choose the criminal, let her."

Ashley pulled it away, dropping the weapon to her side. Kinnick stood from the ground, towering my dad as he laid on the ground. My tattooed fighter joined me by my side.

"Go get your shit," he mumbled in my ear. "I won't let him hurt you."

"But wait," my dad smiled. "You haven't heard the best part."

Kinnick's body straightened beside me as my dad opened his mouth. "You want to play house with him, but he killed your mom."