Hands All Over

Ch. 119 Aftershock

Kenny was sitting in the Alvarez's kitchen bright and early, feeding Evie from a bowl of warm rice cereal with Tessa Alvarez talking his ear off at his side. Angela hadn't been able to stay in her house the night before. As soon as she'd packed more of her and Evie's stuff, along with her laptop, she'd made them all get into the car and go to Oakland. She was bottling up everything she was feeling inside, keeping it all to herself in an attempt to be strong. He knew it wasn't the best way for her to deal with the pain, but it was better than her abandoning her kids to "clear her head" like his Pops had done after him Mom was murdered. At least Angela was hanging around.

He heard a throat clear over his shoulder and turned to find Marcus Alvarez himself walking into the kitchen. The older man looked him over, raising an eyebrow. "Who're you?"

He opened his mouth to answer but started stuttering instead. Alvarez intimidated the crap out of him. He'd met him once at his dad's wedding, but it'd been quick and in passing, but there was no forgetting who he was. "I uh...I'm uh..."

"He's Angie's son," Tessa put in, swinging her legs happily. "I'm his Tia, right, Kendo?"

Kenny let out a sigh of relief, thankful for Tessa's rambling. She'd been talking about how he was her new nephew for hours now and though she was annoying as hell, he couldn't help but smile at the little girl. "Yeah," he agreed softly. "We uh...we kinda met at my dad's wedding. He uh...he was..."

"Opie," Alvarez finished on a sad frown. "Good guy. Sorry about the way he went out."

For some reason, Alvarez's apology felt more real to him than any apology he'd ever gotten from a Son. "Thanks," he said, nodding his head. "Ang kinda...took me in."

He nodded in approval. "And the Sons don't mind that you're here?"

Kenny wrinkled his nose in distaste. "The Sons can go..." he paused, censoring himself. While Angela didn't mind people swearing in front of Evie, he had a feeling Diana and Marcus would mind him cursing in front of Tessa. "They're not really a part of my life. All they do is kill people I care about."

He looked impressed for a brief moment, bobbing his head. "Wasn't expecting such an honest answer from you."

"Don't want you thinking I'm here to spy or somethin'."

"He's a good boy, Marc," Diana said as she rushed in, setting a plate in front of him. She ruffled his hair lovingly. "Helped me with breakfast."

Marcus nodded slowly, his dark eyes landing on Evie and warming considerably. He walked over and rubbed a hand over her head. "Hola tesoro," he said, stroking her chubby cheek. Evie, ever the friendly baby, grinned back up at him. "She's beautiful. Looks just like her Mama." (Hello, treasure)

Kenny knew Angela would correct him for that. While Evie had a lot of her features, there was no hiding who her father was. "Thanks for taking me in, Mr. Alvarez. Know you don't owe me nothin'," he said, hoping like hell it got him on Alvarez's good side.

"Don't worry about it, mijo," he replied, sitting down at the table. "How's she doin'?"

"I'm fine," Angela stated flatly as she walked in looking freshly showered and dressed for the day. If it wasn't for the bags under her eyes, it'd be hard to see something was wrong. She kissed Evie's cheek before ruffling Tessa's hair lovingly. "I'm actually going to uh...head over to TM. Pick up the rest of...his stuff."

Kenny didn't miss the way she avoided saying Juice's name; she hadn't said it since they told her what had happened almost as if she thought saying it would make it real. "You think that's a good idea?"

She shrugged a shoulder as she poured herself some coffee. "Got nothin' else to do today. The boys won't let me work."

"Got a meet with Nero later," Marcus stated from his seat, his eyes worried as they looked at Angela. "Business deal. You always had a head for numbers. Could use those smarts to look over it."