I reached out and ran my thumb along her cheek, removing the tears. “Tell James I forgive him,” I whispered.
She looked confused. But James would understand. He’d know I was talking about Brooklyn. The least I could do was make that right. I pulled my hand away from Penny’s face.
I peered around the end of the island, but I couldn’t see anyone.
“Matt,” Penny hissed.
The footsteps stopped. “Is someone there?”
Fuck. I made my way around the side of the counter and poked my head out. I could see high heeled boots through my vantage point beneath the kitchen stools. They weren’t the high heeled black ones the hitwoman had been wearing the other day. They were shorter with a thick heel and kind of beat up in an on-purpose kind of way that I’d never understand. But it had to be her. Who else could it be? I gripped the knife tighter.
“Hello?” the hitwoman called again and made her way farther into the kitchen. Farther. Farther. Until her feet paused right next to my hiding spot. Before I could convince myself not to, I reached out, grabbed her ankle, and pulled as hard as I could.
She yelped as her feet got pulled out from beneath her and her gun clattered to the ground. I climbed on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
She screamed and started thrashing beneath me.
“Penny, get the gun!” But when I reached out to knock the gun farther away from the woman, all I saw was a high-end camera. A very broken high-end camera. I looked down at the woman beneath me. And for just a second I lost my breath.
Her dark hair was splayed out on the hardwood floors and she was staring at me like she wanted to kill me. Honestly, it wasn’t the first time she’d looked at me like that. And definitely not the only time I deserved that look of disdain. It had been years since I’d seen her. I’d asked Brooklyn for a sign at the graveyard the other day. And when I’d first seen the hitwoman there, I’d thought she was Brooklyn’s best friend, Kennedy. My sign was a few days late. But here she was. “Kennedy?”
Just as her name left my mouth she kneed me hard in the balls.
Fuck. I rolled off of her and tried not to start crying. Why did women keep trying to maim my member? Couldn’t they just slap me or something?
“Don’t move,” Penny said. She’d grabbed a knife too and was holding the teakettle in her other hand like she was going to throw it at Kennedy’s face. It wasn’t a bad plan. The metal and boiling water would be enough to hurt her. But I didn’t want Penny or Kennedy to get hurt.
“Stop,” I groaned, but it was barely a whisper.
“Put your hands in the air,” Penny said.
“Who the hell are you people?” Kennedy said. But she didn’t try to get off the ground. She just sat there, the look of anger replaced by fear. She slowly lifted up her hands.
“Who the hell are you?!” Penny countered.
“Stop,” I groaned again. I winced as I tried to sit back up.
Penny took another step forward, waving the knife around. “If you don’t tell me in two seconds who you are, I’ll… I’ll stab you in the face,” Penny said with very little conviction.
But Kennedy didn’t know that Penny wouldn’t hurt a fly. She looked as scared as Penny had a minute ago. There were even tears in her large brown eyes.
“Penny, put the knife down,” I croaked. “I know her. Kennedy…Kennedy it’s me.” I gestured to my face, waiting for recognition to hit her.
Kennedy blinked, the tears still pooling in her eyes. She didn’t seem to know who I was. Maybe because my face was distorted in pain.
“It’s me. Matt,” I said.
She searched my face. “Oh my God. Matthew freaking Caldwell? Oh my God.” She put her hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.” She reached out like she was going to touch my nuts and then pulled back. “Do you need some ice or something?”
“You two know each other?” Penny asked, her arm still outstretched with the knife.
“Penny, would you put down the knife?” I asked again.
I watched as Penny put the knife down on the counter. But she was still holding the teakettle, like she was worried I was reading the situation wrong.
“I’m so sorry,” I said to Kennedy. “I didn’t know you were coming…wait, why