Destroy Me

24 // HE HATH FALLEN

I RAN TO CATCH up with Kendall, but something was off about her. She had her head turned up and she was muttering something.

"Ken," I frowned. She looked at me and it was like the sight of me broke her. She started tearing up and I worked out what she had been saying.

Don't cry.

"Come on," I said as I grabbed her arm and pulled her into my house. I sat her down on the couch and went to get her a drink.

"I just want to be loved," she whispered as I gave it to her. "No one has loved me since my dad died."

"Elijah loves you," I told her.

"There are twenty people that Elijah would choose over me," Kendall scoffed. "I want to be someone's number first priority for once. I want someone to wake up and go to sleep with me on their mind."

"What about your mum?" I asked.

"My mum loves alcohol," she scoffed, "and if it's not alcohol than it her new boy for the week."

"You're going to find someone," I assured her. Before I could say anything else, the door opened and Lindsay walked in. She froze when she saw Kendall, then looked at me for an explanation. "He hath fallen."

"Good," Lindsay snorted and to be honest, I was a little surprised that she understood what I meant. She walked straight past Kendall and I and up the stairs. Elijah finally arrived and he had a blank look on his face.

"Elijah," I mumbled.

He ignored me and went out the back.

"Where is he going?" Kendall asked.

"To get Tequila," I answered.

"Tequila?" She rose an eyebrow. "As in... The alcohol?"

"No, the chicken," I corrected her. "You want to see them?"

She nodded and I lead her outside. Elijah was sitting beside the coop with Tequila in his lap and Kendall's face lit up.

"Do you want to hold one?" I asked her. She nodded again and I grabbed Royce out of the coop. I held her out to Kendall and she took her happily. I could see that Elijah was calming down as he held Tequila, which was strange considering Tequila was only a chicken and not a cuddly house pet.

"Why do you have chickens?" Kendall asked me.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I came home one day and they were just here."

"Do they lay eggs?" She checked.

"Not yet," I answered. "The man that my dad bought them from said they were too young at the moment."

"We need to tell Vince," Elijah told us, "and I suggest soon. His birthday is in four days and if he doesn't know about Jessie by then, then his heart is just going to be rebroken."

"I... can't do that," I mumbled. "What if he goes back to the way he was? And if he does, what if that starts a chain reaction and my family falls apart again?"

"If you don't do it, I will," he assured me and I narrowed my eyes at him.

***

I woke up to Vincent eating cereal loudly. Last night, I'd invited Kendall to stay the night and Elijah must have stayed too. The three of us had fallen asleep in the lounge room watching movies.

I looked up and he was standing in the archway between the kitchen and the lounge room with a bowl of cereal.

"Who's your friend?" He asked and I motioned for his to be quiet. "Why? It's almost one, you all need to wake up anyway."