Chapter Forty-Five
Kelley felt a chill creep up his spine as he drove up the driveway and parked his Escalade in front of the house. It didn’t feel like mere months since he’d last been there, but years. He realized also that this house had never been his home, not after living in Carey's home. He knew that no matter what happened here today, he'd never be able to look at his mother the same way.
The front door opened just as he reached the steps of the stone porch and Laura smiled as she stood waiting for him. Sudden guilt hit him at how he’d treated his mother the last time he’d spoken to her but the feeling didn’t last long.
“Kelley? What are you doing here?” She looked genuinely confused at his sudden appearance at the house.
“Charles invited me to dinner, and said we needed to talk.”
“Oh, come in.” Her smile lit up her eyes and Kelley gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ve missed you, Kelley.”
Kelley felt awkward as he stepped inside the house. It still looked the same but it felt completely different, like he’d lived there in another lifetime. He didn’t have a nostalgic moment of good memories flooding him, he only remembered that last night in the kitchen.
“Is he here?”
“In his study. I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Kelley remained standing in the foyer, not really feeling comfortable enough to make himself at home. He had no idea what Charles wanted and he regretted now not asking John to accompany him. There would never be a truce between them, that much Kelley did know.
Kelley waited for fifteen minutes before Charles came walking down the hallway and into the foyer. Laura followed demurely behind her husband and Kelley could see by the look in her eye that Charles had said something to her.
Kelley hated the fact that Charles had so much control over her, had made her soft and weak. That’s what had drawn him to Juliana, her strength and the fact that she never looked down, not for anyone and she’d challenged him, daily.
“Kelley, I’m so glad you could make it.”
“You can cut the bullshit, Charles, we don’t have to eat or pretend to get along. Why am I here?”
“My, my, you really have grown up in the short time you’ve been gone.”
Kelley looked stoically at Charles, not wanting to betray any of the hundred emotions going through him. Charles looked smug, like he’d already won and Kelley had no idea where he stood in this war, only that he might be losing.
“Mary’s already prepared your favourite roast, let’s not waste it.”
Charles led the way to the dining room and Kelley sat down, leaving a chair open between him and Charles. It wasn’t where he usually sat and Kelley liked the look of surprise on Charles’s face. Charles didn’t comment on that but merely nodded his head for the food to be served.
Charles offered Kelley a drink, which he declined and actually scoffed at given the circumstances under which they last saw each other. Laura hadn’t said a word since leaving Kelley in the foyer and he looked intently at her. She avoided his gaze at all costs and Kelley had to wonder why.
“How’s school, Kelley?”
“You want to make small talk?” Kelley scoffed. “Fine then. School’s good, our football team annihilated Private and we won the Trent Howell trophy. My grades are still the same, top of my class. I had a girlfriend until two weeks ago and I have a job as well. I’m doing good, really good.”
“Despite what you think or believe about me, Kelley, I do care about your welfare.”
Kelley smirked in anger and pointed to his eye. “Yeah.”
“Where did you go when you left this house? Where did you sleep, Kelley?”
“In a motel and now I live with my new brother, Mason, and his mom.”
“This could still be your home, Kelley.”
“At the cost of what? Nothing’s free when it comes to you.”
“You’re a fast learner, I’ll give you that. You always were too smart for your own good.”
Kelley pushed his plate forward and placed his elbows on the table, something Charles had always hated and looked pointedly at him. “No, I wasn’t nearly smart enough for you. You were fucking Norah, and you probably still are, the joke’s on me I guess.”
“That incident was unfortunate. I shouldn’t have shoved it in your face like that. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
Charles dabbed at his mouth with the linen napkin before putting it down on the table. “Our lifestyle is kept private for a reason. It’s not for everyone, but everything we do is consensual. We’re not animals, Kelley, just men that take what they want from women willing to give it.”
“It’s sick. I don’t care how you try to label it.”
“I’ll change the subject then since we won’t see eye to eye on that matter.”
Kelley leaned back in his seat. “Finally we’re getting to why I’m here.”
“I need you to stop with Petey’s case. It was an accident, a terrible accident and we’re all very sorry for your loss but that doesn’t mean Petey’s life has to end as well. Don’t you think enough people have been hurt?”
“You want to talk about being hurt? Where were you when they beat me up with a baseball bat? Where were you when I lay in hospital with a brain bleed from their beating which Petey had a hand in? Where were you when they beat Marella up and dumped her on the street?” Kelley’s fists were clenched now and he relaxed his hands on his knees, gripping them instead.
“What?” Charles looked confused and Kelley realized something else.
“You didn’t know …”
“No! I most certainly didn’t know or authorize you being beaten to within an inch of your life!”
“Authorize? What the hell are you doing, Charles? These are people’s lives and I lost someone I love, she’s dead and Petey needs to pay for that!”
“There are things you don’t know, Kelley, things you don’t understand. At this point I can’t let Petey go to jail.”
“He killed Jule!”
