The room was silent after I answered Cayden’s question. Cain and Asher, sensing something was wrong, had stopped their petty little argument and were now watching the three of us with wide eyes. Cayden face was a mixture of emotions as he tried to make sense of what I had said. Dylan stood in front of me, an arrogant smirk on his face. I could tell he was proud of himself for finding me, something that he promised he would do but I was sure it would never happen. I stood rooted to the spot, arms still extended in an attempt to protect my sons, my eyes trained on Dylan. He had hurt my sons once before but he wasn’t going to do it again.
“Leave. Now. I’m not having you around my sons or me for that matter. Not after what you did,” I said, my voice shaking slightly from fear so it didn’t have the desired effect.
“I think I’m pretty comfortable here,” Dylan responded smugly, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
I glanced beside me to look at Cayden, whose eyes had gotten hard. The look on his face was murderous and he launched himself across the room at Dylan. Usually, I’d yell at Cayden for resorting to violence but, in this case, I didn’t care. I watched frozen as Dylan and Cayden threw punches at each other, blood flying everywhere. Behind me, Cain and Asher were crying, but I couldn’t risk turning my back on Dylan.
“This isn’t over, you little bitch. I’ll be back for you,” Dylan snarled at me as he managed to break away from Cayden and run out the door.
I let out a whimper, spinning around and scooping the boys up, clutching them to my body protectively. I wasn’t going to let him hurt them again.
“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay babies. Everything’s going to be okay,” I said, trying to soothe my hysterical children.
“I’m sorry. Daddy didn’t mean to scare you,” Cayden soothed, hugging the boys from behind.
The boys turned away from me to snuggle up to Cayden so I stood up and made my way to their room. I went to their closet and grabbed the duffle bags that were in there. Setting one of the bags on top of the dresser, I yanked open the top drawer and started shoving the contents into the bag, repeating the process with the rest of the drawers.
“Kenzi, what are you doing?” Cayden asked as he appeared in the doorway, one son on each hip, as soon as I finished packing the boys’ clothes.
“I’m packing. He knows where I’m at and he’ll come back for me. I can’t let him hurt the boys again, I won’t let him. I need to go to my parent’s house. He doesn’t know where that is,” I answered, my voice slightly panicky, as I grabbed the other bag and tossed everything else that the boys would need into it.
“Kenzi, calm down and explain to me what’s going on,” Cayden requested as he set the boys on the ground and grabbed my shoulders.
“I’ll explain everything to you, Cayden, but we need to go. I can’t have the boys here and I’m not leaving them with that psycho around,” I responded, tears starting to trail down my cheeks.
He stared at me for a moment before nodding. I think he could see that this was something I had to do and he probably knew that I had to do this before I explained what was going on.
“Come on. I’ll help you pack. I guess I need to pack too since I’m not letting you go alone,” Cayden said, grabbing the boys and following me into my room.
I grabbed the duffle bags from my closet and started haphazardly throwing my stuff into them. I didn’t care about the stuff. I only cared about the two little boys that were currently jumping on my bed. Normally, I would scold them, but I ignored them instead, continuing to pack my things. I could hear Cayden in his room doing the same thing. Once I was done, I threw the bags down in the living room with the boys’ bags before heading into the kitchen. I grabbed the diaper bag that was on the counter and started raiding the refrigerator and the pantry for drinks and snacks, knowing the boys would get hungry along the way.
As soon as I put the last item in the bag, I felt arms wrap around my waist, pulling me into a hard chest. I jumped and had to stop myself from screaming as my body was still shaking in fear. Cayden, sensing the effect he had caused, brought his lips to my neck and started placing tiny kisses there in an attempt to calm me down.
“Calm down baby. I know you’re scared and I don’t exactly know why but you can’t do this to yourself. Grab the boys and your purse, I’ll grab the bags and we can go,” Cayden said softly against my skin.
I nodded, my body starting to relax at Cayden’s touch. He pulled his face away from my neck and turned me around to face him. He lowered his head so that his forehead was resting on mine, his eyes locked on mine.
“I love you baby girl. I love you and our sons and I won’t let anything happen to any of you. We’ll get through this, whatever this is,” he said before placing a soft kiss on my lips and pulling away to grab the bags.
I hurried to the couch, where my purse was, and slung it over my shoulder before scooping the boys into my arms and hurrying out the door. I buckled them into their car seats as Cayden piled the bags in the bed. Once I got Cain and Asher buckled in, I hopped into the passenger seat, knowing I was in no position to drive. Cayden finished loading the bags, locked the house up, and slid behind the wheel. He waited until he had pulled out of the driveway and had gotten on the freeway before speaking.
“Okay baby girl, what’s going on? What do you mean Dylan held the three of you hostage?” he asked, his knuckles turning white as he clenched the steering wheel.
I took a deep breath, glancing behind me at the boys, before starting to explain.
“When I first moved to Arizona, I didn’t know anybody. I had never been there before except the few times we had gone to visit Chloe so I had never gotten a chance to meet anyone who lives there. I met Dylan about two weeks after I moved there. He was really nice and we became fast friends. He’s the one that introduced me to James, Jen, and Parker. Dylan always made comments about us being together but I ignored them, thinking he was joking. He knew I was pregnant and knew I didn’t want anything to do with a relationship. The two of us, along with James, Jen, and Parker, became inseparable. The four of them helped me throughout my entire pregnancy and I honestly don’t know what I would do without them. As time passed, Dylan’s comments occurred more often and he started to get a serious edge to his voice when he would talk about it, but I still played it off as a joke. I didn’t want to be in a relationship and he was one of my best friends and I didn’t want to lose him so I didn’t say anything. Now I wish I would have. When the boys were about two months old, it was just the three of us home. Storms are unique in Arizona but there was one that night and it was bad. At that time, Cain and Asher slept in the same crib in my room since I didn’t want them to be too far away. Asher was asleep and I was breastfeeding Cain when I heard the doorbell ring. I grabbed one of the blankets and threw it over my shoulder to cover myself up as I made my way down the stairs. When I opened the door, Dylan was standing there. It was pretty common for either him or James or Parker to show up at my house during a storm to make sure I was okay so I let him in and led the way back upstairs. Cain had finished eating by that point so I burped him and put him in the crib while Dylan took a seat on my bed. I pulled my shirt up to cover myself up before taking the blanket and tossing it onto the recliner in the corner of my room. I joined him on my bed and we started talking. He put his hand on my thigh and I pushed him away jokingly, thinking he was messing around again. He did it again and when I pushed him away, he got mad. He started yelling at me, saying all this stuff about how we were meant to be together and how I was his. I protested, telling him that we were never going to be together and he needed to get that thought out of his head. That angered him even more and he forced me back onto the bed and crashed his lips to mine. I struggled, but he was stronger than me. He shifted on top of me and I was able to knee him in the groin. He groaned and rolled over, clutching himself. I jumped up, trying to put as much space between us as possible. I didn’t want to leave the room because the boys were still in there. When he got over his pain, he didn’t come for me like I expected. Instead, he went straight to the crib and grabbed Cain, holding him in his arms. I panicked. Dylan had an evil glint in his eyes and I knew he was about to do something stupid. Tears were running down my face as he yelled something about how I couldn’t have any kids if they weren’t his and he needed to get rid of the boys. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it threateningly against Cain. I started pleading for him to stop and to leave my babies alone. I told him I would do anything if he’d let them go. He didn’t believe me and he sliced the knife against Cain’s leg. Cain started screaming and blood was flowing down his little leg as I launched myself across the room. I managed to catch Dylan off guard and I yanked Cain from him, holding him to me protectively. I made the mistake of turning my back on Dylan as I ripped my shirt and tied it around Cain’s leg, trying to stop the blood from gushing out. Cain was still crying his little head off in pain and he had woken up Asher, who was also crying. I heard the click of the gun over the crying. I put Cain in the crib next to Asher before turning around to find I had a gun pointed at my face. My eyes widened as I looked at Dylan, who was going on about how if he couldn’t have me, no one could. He said he loved me and he didn’t want to kill me, but he would if he had to. He probably would have shot me, too, if James hadn’t walked into the door at that moment. He took in the scene and tackled Dylan to the ground. The gun went off, narrowly missing me. James yelled at me to run as he fought with Dylan. Not needing to be told twice, I picked up the boys and ran out of the room. I grabbed the house phone and called 911, telling them what was going on. As soon as I hung up the phone, Dylan came running down the stairs with James right behind him. Dylan ran out of the front door and James followed, trying to capture him for the police. I could hear sirens in the distance and I slid to the ground in the living room, clutching the boys to me. The police showed up with an ambulance and the EMT’s immediately took Cain from me and started assessing him. I panicked, not wanting him out of my sight, but the police officer assured me that he was in good hands. The police officer asked me where Dylan was and I told him that James had chased him out of the house. He immediately began talking into his walkie talkie thing, requesting backup and telling the person on the other end where Dylan had gone. An EMT came and told me Cain would have to go to the hospital and the officer allowed me to go, telling me he would question me at the hospital. Once everything was said and done, Cain had to have five stitches and Dylan was missing. James had lost him due to the storm and the police couldn’t find him. They put a warrant out for his arrest and I got a restraining order against him, but they never found him. He just disappeared. So I guess he didn’t hold us hostage, but it was bad enough,” I explained, tears continuing to stream down my face.
Cayden pulled off the freeway and turned into the parking lot of the gas station that was on the corner. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that I thought he was going to break it. He turned the truck off and got out, gently closing the door behind him. He walked a few feet from the truck and sank to the ground, punching the ground repeatedly. I glanced at the boys to confirm that they had fallen asleep before jumping out of the truck and running to Cayden.
“Cayden, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself,” I pleaded, sinking down in front of him and grabbing his wrists.
He looked up at me and I could see the hatred for Dylan in his eyes.
“I want to kill him Kenzi. I want to tie him up and torture him to death. I’ve known him for two years and I had so many opportunities to hurt him. He tried to kill my family and I let him get away with it,” he growled and I could see that he was mentally beating himself up.
“Cayden, you didn’t know! Stop beating yourself up over it,” I said, cupping his face and making him keep eye contact with me.
“He hurt you and I didn’t do anything about it. I’ll never forgive myself,” he said and I could see how bad he was hurting.
“Don’t do this Cay. Let’s just get to my parent’s house. We’ll talk to Malachi; he should know what to do. Plus, if we’re there and Dylan somehow manages to find us, there will be more people there to protect the boys,” I said.
He looked at me for a minute before nodding and standing up, taking me with him.
“I love you Makenzi and I won’t let anyone hurt you or our sons. I promise,” he said fiercely before crashing his lips to mine.
The kiss was short, but it was filled with promise. The promise to find Dylan. The promise to protect me and our sons. The promise to always be there. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.
“It’ll be okay, I promise,” he assured me, squeezing me tighter to him.
“I know,” I answered.
Cayden put gas in the truck as I sat in the truck with the boys. Cayden slid behind the wheel and I grabbed his hand, clutching it between mine.
Twenty minutes later, my phone rang. I answered it quickly so that it didn’t wake the boys up. Looking at the caller ID, I say that it was James.
“Hello?” I answered, keeping Cayden’s hand in one of mine. I was still scared but there was something about Cayden that helped me stay calm.
“Kenzi! What’s wrong? You sound scared and worried,” he said, instantly sounding worried.
“You got all that from one word?” I asked incredulous, laughing slightly in spite of the situation.
“You’re not that hard to read Kenz. Now tell me what’s wrong,” he commanded.
“I ran into Dylan today. He and Cayden got into it and Dylan says he’s coming back for me and the boys,” I said, my voice coming out shaky.
“He’s there? Are you okay, Kenz?” he asked frantically.
“I’m fine. He didn’t do anything except punch Cayden a few times. We’re in the truck on our way to my parent’s house. I figured the boys would be safer having everyone looking out for them instead of just the two of us,” I answered.
“I’m coming to you. I’ve got the money for a plane ticket. I’ll see you later,” he said instantly.
“James, we’ll be fine. I don’t want you getting hurt,” I protested.
“I’m coming whether you like it or not so you may as well be happy about it. Now I’m going to go tell Jen and Parker and I’ll see you later. Love you Kenz,” he said.
“Thanks James. Love you too,” I answered gratefully, hanging up after saying bye.
I tapped the red phone and tossed my phone in the cup holder, keeping it close in case I needed it.
“What was that about?” Cayden asked curiously.
“James is coming here. I have no idea why he originally called, but he could tell something was wrong by the tone of my voice and he started questioning me. He says he’s getting on a plane to come here as soon as he tells Jen and Parker what he’s doing,” I explained.
“Good. It’ll be good to have him here. I don’t want anything happening to you or the boys,” he said, squeezing my hand with his.
“I just don’t want him to get hurt,” I said, leaning my head on Cayden’s shoulders.
“I know, but it’ll be okay,” he assured, kissing the top of my head.
I fell asleep not long after that, using Cayden’s shoulder as my pillow. When I woke up, I noticed that we were only about ten minutes outside of our hometown. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I sat up and turned to face Cayden.
“I called your dad. He’s gathering everyone, including Malachi, and we’re meeting them at your parent’s house. He knows what’s going on so we don’t need to explain that,” Cayden told me, noticing my gaze on him.
“Thank you Cay,” I said, leaning over to kiss his cheek.
He smiled at me in response and continued driving towards my parent’s house. When he pulled into the driveway, everyone started spilling out of the doors. Mom and Dad were the first ones, followed by Emily and Trent. Brian and Megan were right behind them and my brothers, Rox, Tristan, Liam, Tegan, Malachi, and Nikki followed them. My eyes widened when I saw the giant mob coming towards me.
Over the next few minutes, we were all mauled with hugs and assurances that it was going to be okay. Easton tried to grab Cain to take him inside, but I took him away, giving my brother an apologetic smile. It’s not that I didn’t trust my brother; it’s just that I didn’t want my sons out of my sight. Cayden, with Asher in his arms, appeared at my side and grabbed my hand as we walked in. I sighed, wishing that they day, which was only half over, would be over already.
“Okay baby, I think it’s time to explain what happened then and what happened this morning,” Daddy said, giving me an encouraging smile but I could see the anger in his eyes.
I took a deep breath before retelling the story. Mom and Dad knew as well as Easton, Rox, Talon, and Tegan. I made them promise not to tell anyone else so not even Nikki knows. I watched the facial expressions of the ones that didn’t know change as the story progressed. They all looked angry and Cannon looked ready to kill. I smiled in spite of the situation, glad to know I had so many people behind me. I told them about the encounter this morning and how he said he was going to come back.
“I figured this would be the safest place to go. He knows I used to live here but there’s more people here to help me protect the twins than if we had stayed and it was just me and Cayden,” I ended my story.
“He’s dead,” my brothers, Tristan, Liam, and Malachi chorused, once again making me laugh.
“So Mr. Police Officer, where do we go from here?” I asked, turning my attention to Malachi.
“Well, I need to go to the station and explain to them what’s going on. I need to inform them that this guy probably knows you’re here and there’s a good chance that he’ll come after you. After that, we’ll figure out where to go,” he answered.
“Okay,” I said, nodding.
He walked over and kissed the top of my head before waving to everyone and leaving the house. I sighed, leaning against Cayden, feeling a little better now that we were here. I knew that no matter what happened after this, I had my family around me and I knew I was going to be okay.
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Here you go. I hope you guys enjoy. So I got a new tattoo this morning and it's right above my ankle so I keep kicking it on accident. It really hurts. Anyway, tell me what you think!