Chapter 11

"Dad! DAD!" Kendall slammed the front door, throwing
her bag against the wall. This was the last draw with
him. Her blood boiled the more she thought about what
he had done to Jeff. She yanked open the living room
doors to find him on the couch with his back to her,
"How could you?"

Michael took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. His
third round match was about to begin. "What did I do
now?"

"You're kidding right?" she scrunched up her face,
"You know darn well what you did! You tried to bri.
Granddaddy!" she ran across the room jumping into the
elder mans arms, "I'm so glad you're here." She felt
like she was a little girl again running to him for
safety.

"Cupcake what are you yelling about?" he shot an angry
look to his son, who just threw his hands up.

She turned from her grandfather to her father, "Do YOU
want to tell him or should I?"

"I went to the place where her friend works and."

She cut him, "He's my boyfriend, would you please call
him that?"

He glared at her, "No. Like I was saying, I went to
where her friend works and had a little chat with
him."

She gasped, "You tried to pay him off to leave me
alone!! Granddaddy see what I mean?"

"Son how could you? Don't you trust Kendall enough to
make her own call?"

"No!" she stomped her foot, "Only if it involves that
loser Robert McSwain. Then I'm all peachy keen again."

Michael rose up from the couch, "Oh he didn't take the
money. He said he wanted Kendall more than my money."

"He's strong. I like that." Granddaddy nudged her;
"Well, then what did you do when he said that Jr.?"

"What makes you think I did anything else?" he walked
to the leather bar at the end of the living room.

"Because I know you and when bribery doesn't work, you
always do something else. Now I'll ask you again, what
did you do?"

Michael sipped on his scotch, rolling his eyes, "I
ordered him to stay away from her."

"What was the ultimatum?" Granddaddy pulled her closer
as he noticed her anger turning to tears.

"I didn't give him one. I didn't say or else. He told
me when she told him to get lost then that's when he
would."

"I really like this boy now cupcake." He whispered
into her hair, getting her to giggle, "Are you
satisfied now?"

Michael shook his head, "No! I'm not finished. He is
not proper for her and I'll be damned if she makes a
mockery of this family by dating some little punk
who'll be washed up by the age of twenty-one. He's
going nowhere and I will not have my daughter bound to
someone like that." He spun around seeing the tears
sliding down her face.

She marched up to him, staring directly into his eyes,
something she wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing
before. "I'm not gonna stop seeing him. You don't
understand. I'm the one dating him, not you!"

"I know boys like him. They're gold diggers. As long
as you live under my roof, you WILL stop seeing him!"
he screamed into her face making her flinch.

She turned away from him sadly, her hand touching the
cold scotch bottle. The anger began to boil in her
stomach. Her body was shaking inside and out, "Then I
WON'T LIVE UNDER YOUR ROOF!" she slammed the bottle
down, screaming as the shattering glass sliced into
her palm.

"Tinkerbell." Her father grabbed a cloth from behind
the bar, touching it to her hand.

She yanked away from him, moving across the room to
the door, "I'm gonna have Lucy help me. I need to get
away from him." She kissed her granddaddy's cheek then
bolted from the room.

"Jr. this is it. You've drawn the last line between
you and your daughter. Now I'm crossing it."

She heard her grandfathers threat as she closed the
doors behind her.


      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


Jeff drummed at the table after explaining all the
days events to his father and brother with Kendalls
dad.

"Her life was much easier before me, maybe I should
back off. Leave her alone." He couldn't believe he was
saying that. Was his love that strong for her already
that he'd let her go?

Gilbert Hardy reached for his sons arm, "Is that what
she'd want you to do?"

"No. She's been fighting for us. I can't give up now.
I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt her."
Jeff ran his finger up and down his glass thinking of
the hurt in her eyes when he told her what her dad had
done. He looked out the kitchen window; "I hope she's
ok. This waiting is killing me. I'm gonna go fix my
bike, come get me when she calls please."

"Of course son." Gilbert wiggled his eyebrows at Matt,
"She is so far under his skin. I don't think he'll
ever be able to leave her."

Matt chuckled, "Yeah but it's good for him."


       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Owe Lucy." Kendall whined trying to pull her hand
away as Lucy dabbed the iodine on her cuts.

"Don't pull young lady." Lucy gripped the young girls'
hand.

"But it stings." Kendall blew on her hand, stomping
her foot lightly on the white tiled floor of the
kitchen.

"Perhaps you should keep your anger in check next
time. You're just like your grandfather."

"Thanks for the compliment. Owe." She spoke through
gritted teeth, "I meant what I said in there and so
did he. I guess I'm more like my father than I want to
admit."

Lucy smiled, "Yeah stubborn and hard headed."

Kendall stuck her tongue out quickly pulling it back
when her granddaddy came around the corner. He gave a
disapproving look at her hand.

"Is she gonna live, Lucy?" he teased, pulling at
Kendalls nose.

"Yes it's a long way from her heart." She wrapped the
gauze several times around the hand, taping the end
down.

"Did you have to use so much gauze? I can barely bend
my fingers." She shook her hand.

Lucy stared at her sternly, "Stop whining. There are
two cuts on that hand missy."

"Sorry. Thanks Lucy." She leaned onto her granddaddy,
smiling at the protective arms around her. She didn't
need to explain anything to him.

He lovingly kissed the top of her head, "Let's go for
a ride shall we?"

"Is this the part where you side with dad telling me
I'm an immature snippet?"

"No this is the part where I get to meet the young man
who you're willing to give up your house for. You're
fighting very passionately for this young man."

"He's worth it granddaddy. I haven't known him for
very long but there's something different about him.
Something that makes him stand out from the rest. He's
just. amazing. I feel so connected to him and we
barely know each other." She kept the moment when he
told her he loved her to herself, a special private
moment that she wasn't ready to share yet. She kept
her arm around him as they got to her car.

Michael Sr. winked at his grandbaby over the roof of
the car, "That's what I said about your grandmother
when I met her. Now let's go so I can meet this boy
who's stealing away my cupcake."

"Granddaddy I'll always be your cupcake."

"Forever and eternity."

She sat behind the steering wheel with a blank look on
her face, "I don't know where he lives."

"Just drive. We'll find him unless you want to go back
inside and call him." He snickered.

"No that's ok. I'll ask around. He's lived here all
his life, someone is bound to know where he lives."
She gave a ragged sigh glancing one last time at the
house.

Chapter 12

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