Baby Bitch (Bitches and Queens) (10 page)

“Hello, Hollywood,” Sam teased when she walked
into his home still wearing her oversized sunglasses. “Did you keep the
paparazzi off your trail?”

“Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
McKenna whispered.

Sam’s jovial grin flattened to a frown.
“All right,” he answered warily as he strolled past the front room that was
crammed with giggling, teenage dancers and into the kitchen. He leaned calmly
against the oak sink island. “So what’s going on?”

McKenna let out a ragged breath and
slowly removed the shades. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” she muttered.

“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Sam hissed. “What
in the hell happened to you?”

“I was riding on the back of Trevor’s
motorcycle, and he had accident,” McKenna explained miserably as she stared
down at the floor.

Sam walked over and reached for her
hands. He held them wide and then shot back sarcastically, “You fell off the
back of a motorcycle and didn’t get a single scratch but your face looks like
it was beaten with a two by four. That’s amazing.”

McKenna’s lips started to tremble.
“Please, Sam. I didn’t know where else to go. My face hurts like hell, and if Mommy
sees me like this, she will have a
fit
.”

Well—at least that was something we agree
upon.
Although Sam
wasn’t quite sure
having a fit
was an accurate description for what
Hannah’s reaction would be when she learned about this. He was thinking
something more along the lines of
flying off into a murderous rage
. And
to think only moments ago he believed his days of worrying about Hannah landing
herself in prison were long over.

“I just need to stay here a few days,”
McKenna pleaded.

“And you think that will go away in two
days?” Sam asked as he gestured towards her swollen, black eye. Pushing away
from the counter, he grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water. Next,
he filled a plastic baggie with crushed ice from the refrigerator and then
handed it to her.

“Please Sam,” McKenna cried. “I just need
you to call her and tell her that I’m here and everything is okay.”

“You want me to lie to her?”

“No. I just don’t want you to tell her
the truth.”

“If I let you stay here, if I go along
with this
story
, I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything,” McKenna rushed.

“I want you to promise me that you will
never
see him again,” Sam declared firmly.

“Sam… I… I can’t even think straight
right now,” McKenna sputtered.

“Promise me, McKenna,” Sam warned icily.
“Either way, I am going to call her. It’s up to you to decide what I am going
to say.”

“I promise,” McKenna groaned.

“Good. I’ll deal with her while you play
with the ballerinas.”

“What? Are you serious? I’m not going out
there. I don’t know anyone but Abby,” McKenna pouted.

“My house. My rules. Now go play,” Sam
proclaimed firmly.

Once she had, Sam let out a quiet growl, silently
wishing for the day when he would cross paths with Trevor Dean. For Trevor’s
sake, he hoped he ran into him before Hannah did. She might look like innocent
angel on the outside, but she could fight like a bloodthirsty ninja. Sam knew
from personal experience. If Hannah ever got her hands on Trevor, there
wouldn’t be anything left of him.

Hannah answered her phone by saying, “Is
McKenna there?”

“She got here a few minutes ago. Abby
invited half the dance company over for a slumber party, and she’s in there
with the other girls.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, sounding genuinely
surprised. “What about Trevor? Did he come inside with her?”

“No,” Sam said flatly.

“Good. I don’t want her to see him this weekend.”

“Trust me, I won’t let that happen.”

The entire left side of her face was
throbbing. She was terribly confused and surrounded by whirling and twirling
fourteen year olds. McKenna felt it was safe to say she had never been more
miserable. She spent most of the evening sulking on the sofa. The ibuprofen
barely touched the pain. Kate came every half an hour with a fresh bag of ice,
which was really sweet, but it wasn’t the same as having her parents close by.

 Being eighteen, she thought she should be
able to handle this stuff on her own, but deep down, she wanted Hannah to tell
her that everything was going to be okay. She was almost tempted to call her
just because she wanted to hear her voice, but McKenna knew she couldn’t do it
without breaking down. On top of everything else, she was beginning to feel
very guilty—
as if she had done something wrong.
But hadn’t she? She knew Trevor’s background, she knew the things he did—for
heaven sake she was in a car with him just this evening while he was carrying a
kilo of cocaine—but she hadn’t mentioned a word to her parents. And now, she
had to deal with this mess alone.

She just wished he would stop calling
her. By the eighth try, she had finally had enough. Reaching for her phone, she
went upstairs to Abby’s room for a little privacy. Someone had left the light
on in her bathroom, so McKenna didn’t bother to turn on the overhead light. She
sat down on the end of the bed, pulled the ridiculous sunglasses off her face,
and hissed into the line, “What do you want?”

“Doll face, I’ve been calling you all
night. Why haven’t you picked up your phone?”

“Hmm, Trevor, let me think about that for
a minute.”

“We need to talk about what happened.”

“I think you’ve already said enough.”

“What in the hell were you thinking?”
Trevor asked angrily.

“What was
I
thinking? What were
you thinking when you punched me in the face?”

“What did you think was going to happen?
You hit me first,” Trevor exclaimed.

“So what. That didn’t give you any right
to lay me out on the…” McKenna suddenly stopped when she heard a quiet scamper.
Turning around with dread, she discovered that she wasn’t alone. A semi-dressed
Tinker Bell was standing just outside the bathroom door, looking as horrified
as she did. “…I’ve got to go.”

“When can I see you again?”

“I… I… I don’t know. Just don’t call back
tonight,” McKenna answered and then ended the call.

“I thought this room was empty,” she
grumbled as she reached for her sunglasses.

“I was changing my clothes,” the girl
answered defensively.

“Did you overhear my conversation?”

The girl shook her head in denial. “I
thought I locked the door. Could you turn around, please?”

“Huh?” McKenna questioned blankly, only
becoming aware that she had been staring at the slender, tall, brunette girl
who was clutching the shirt to her chest as if was the last life jacket on a
sinking ship.

McKenna rolled her eyes, or at least
tried to, but with her left eye swollen shut, the effect wasn’t the same. “God
Tink, they’re only breasts. It’s not like I haven’t seen them a thousand times
before. I have two moms, you know.”

“Please,” the girl pleaded desperately.

McKenna smirked at her shyness, but did
as she asked.

Once she turned around, the girl
whispered, “My name is Natasha.”

“Whatever Tink,” McKenna shrugged. “Speaking
of, and I am no means an expert on the world of ballet, but why did they cast
the tallest girl in the dance company as Tinker Bell? Wasn’t she supposed to be
a tiny, little fairy?”

“They wanted me to play Peter, but I
didn’t want to.”

“Why? Because he is a boy?”

“Something like that,” Natasha muttered.

“I can’t blame you. I would never play a
boy’s part either. Sam didn’t do your makeup. If you don’t mind me asking, who
did?”

“I did.”

“Really?” McKenna questioned with
surprise as she turned back around. Natasha was bent over, putting on her
shoes. The back of her shirt had crept up to reveal skin. What McKenna saw made
her loudly exclaim, “Oh My God.”

Instantly, Natasha stood up straight. Dismayed,
she yelped, “What?”

“You have a tattoo,” McKenna explained.

“What?” she sputtered. “Yeah, it’s no big
deal.”

“You’re only fourteen years old.”

“I’m sixteen,” Natasha corrected.

“That doesn’t make it any better. Do your
parents know about that?”

“My mom helped me come up with the
design.”

“Really?” McKenna questioned, perplexed,
while thinking Natasha’s mom wasn’t anything like either of hers.

A little after two o’clock in the morning,
most of the ballerinas had drifted off to sleep. Since she was oldest, McKenna
claimed the sofa, but it didn’t help her sleep. She was laying with her back
facing away from them when she heard Abby and Natasha start whispering.

“I really like your dad. He’s super cool
about stuff,” Natasha confessed.

No, he’s not
, McKenna thought to herself. Sure, Sam
was helping her out now, but that didn’t make up for everything else.

“No, he’s not,” Abby whispered. “He’s
super strict about everything. He won’t even let me wear a bikini to the pool.”

That’s not true.
Sam had never said that Abby couldn’t
wear a bikini. He had only said that if she did, he would wear one too. McKenna
couldn’t blame her for not wanting him to. He really did have killer legs.
Undoubtedly, the only pair of legs that looked better in a two-piece belonged
to Hannah. Now if they were considering tits, Willow would win hands-down.
Unfortunately, McKenna hadn’t inherited that gene from her. Now that she was
thinking about it, she realized that she didn’t inherit very much from her, unlike
Kenyon.
God, he is so selfish.

“At this rate, I’ll be an adult before I
ever kiss a boy,” Abby admitted miserably.

“You’ve never been kissed?” Natasha questioned,
sounding surprised.

Of course, she had never been kissed.
She’s only fourteen.

“No, and now I’m afraid everyone else
will be so experienced that I will look stupid,” Abby said.

“It’s nothing to be afraid about,”
Natasha answered.

“I guess not, but I don’t even know what
to do with my tongue.”

“Do you want me to show you?”

What!
McKenna’s eyes widened with shock until she remembered how
much that hurt.
Wasn’t this the same girl that was freaked out about, heaven
forbid, showing her bra? And how in the heck was she going to show her?
As
discreetly as possible, she rolled over so that she could see them. Her jaw
hung open.
Oh my, what would Sam think if he saw his baby French-kissing
another girl?

“
What
?” McKenna grumbled into the
phone after Trevor called for the twelfth straight time in row.

“I need to see you.”

“Trevor, that isn’t going to happen. Not
now.”

“You’re sitting over there with your
fucking family listening to their bullshit poison. We need to talk.”

“Whatever,” McKenna snapped. “Say what
you will about my family, but at least none of them has ever punched me in the
face.”

“Look McKenna, I know what happened was
wrong, but you’ve got to understand…”

“I don’t have to understand shit.”

“What the fuck did you think was going to
happen?” Trevor gritted through his teeth. “You disrespected me in front of a
crowd of Devils Kin. If I hadn’t done what I did, they would have torn you up.
Do you honestly believe I wanted to hurt you?”

McKenna’s emotions began churning
tumultuously. It was so easy to stay angry when she wasn’t talking to him, but
now she began to doubt. Was he telling the truth? Obviously, her family would
say absolutely not, but they had lied to her for years. She no longer knew who
or what to believe.  A ragged breath escaped her lips and then she whispered,
“I don’t know what to think.”

“That is why I
have
to see you,”
Trevor insisted. “Please, just give me a chance to explain.”

“I can’t see you again,” McKenna denied.
“I promised Sam.”

“You don’t owe that man shit,” Trevor
declared. “What the fuck has he ever done for you except tell lies and pretend
to be something he’s not? He doesn’t love you. Fuck, he wishes you had never
been born.”

McKenna’s lips began to quiver. Tears
burned like hot ashes in the back of her throat. “That’s not true,” she
whimpered.

“All right, then tell me his daughter’s
name,” Trevor challenged.

McKenna gasped and then held her hand
over her mouth.

“
Say it
,” Trevor demanded cruelly.

“Abigail,” McKenna cried. “His daughter’s
name is Abigail.”

“That is a fucking lie. He has two
daughters but only loves one.”

“Trevor, please stop,” McKenna pleaded.

“No, not while you are with them. Not
until I can see you again. Not until I can make you understand that you don’t
owe him a damn thing.”

“I… I can’t. I’m staying at his house,
and he is watching everything I do,” McKenna rushed.

“I just want to talk, McKenna. I can come
over tonight after he has gone to bed or early tomorrow before he wakes up.”

Sam woke up early the next morning with
an acute sensation that something was wrong. Glancing over, he saw Kate
sleeping soundly. He toyed with the idea of rolling over and going back to
sleep, but decided since he was up, he might as well check on Abby. After
pulling on a pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt, he walked down the hall to
her room. Everything appeared normal and he was just about to shut the door
behind him when he realized what was missing—McKenna.

“
Fuck
,” Sam growled under his
breath and took the steps two at a time, stopping only to reach for his keys
and wallet on his way out. He started the engine as he waited for the garage
door to open. Once it reached the halfway point, he saw the bastard leaning
against his motorcycle and McKenna standing beside him.

“
Oh fuck no,”
Sam shouted as he
pushed open the car door and flew out.

“Hey, I’m just here…” Trevor started to
explain.

The first punch broke Trevor’s nose and
sent his blood gushing to the concrete drive. As he was kneeling over, Sam
reached for his shoulders and then kneed him in the crotch.

“SAM... SAM... STOP!” McKenna screamed
hysterically.

“I hear you like to hit girls,” Sam spat
sarcastically and then drilled the left side of his face with his fist. “God, I
wish I was in my heels so you know how it felt to have your ass kicked by one.”

After a few seconds, Trevor got his
bearings. He started to swing, but Sam kicked his feet out from under him. Once
he was on the ground, Sam jumped on top of him and starting punching him with
both fists.

Hearing the commotion, Kate sprang from
the door and was quickly followed closely behind by Abigail.

“Sam, stop!” Kate screamed.

“Dad,” Abigail called out.

Sam leaned down and whispered into
Trevor’s ear, “Listen here, you little fucker, if you ever try to see her
again, I’ll fucking kill you. Now get the fuck off my property before I change
my mind and decide to go ahead and do it now.”

Once Trevor had ridden away with the
wind, Sam turned around and found the trio of females steadily watching him.
Kate’s eyes were the most comfortable to meet at the moment. She didn’t appear
to be particularly surprised. In fact, he half-expected her to ask him what he
wanted for breakfast instead of discussing what had just happened. Next, he glanced
over at Abigail. His little girl looked positively stunned. Considering he had
never been what anyone would ever describe as butch, he really wasn’t surprised
by her reaction. Finally, he looked at McKenna. Unlike the other two, she was
furious.

“How could you?” McKenna demanded.

“You promised me,” Sam spat back.

“Trevor only wanted to talk,” McKenna
cried.

“Yeah,” Sam snorted sarcastically. “He
wanted to convince you to let him beat the shit out of you again.”

“That’s not true,” McKenna hissed.

“It is true, McKenna, because guys like
that never change. If he hit you once, he will do it again.”

“You don’t understand. It was a misunderstanding.”

“You don’t honestly believe him. You
can’t be that stupid,” Sam groaned.

“Trevor has never lied to me,” McKenna
screamed.

“No, he just used your face as a personal
punching bag,” Sam smirked and then waved his arms with frustration.

“He loves me.”

“Newsflash, McKenna, you don’t
purposefully hurt people you love,” Sam shouted.

McKenna stormed past him. By the front
door, she turned back around and spat, “I guess you would know all about that.”

Kenyon arrived later that morning to
bring McKenna home. As soon as he walked through the door, he felt the weird
tension in the air. He figured McKenna was probably just being herself, a
little bitch, and had outstayed her welcome. No doubt, they were all more than
ready for her to leave.

He waited for her with Abby in the front
room. When she did finally manage to come downstairs, she seemed in no hurry to
go home.

“Come on,” Kenyon grumbled.

“I’m not going home,” McKenna declared.

Kenyon rolled his eyes impatiently.
“That’s not going to work. Mom wants you to come home.”

“I don’t care what she wants. I am
staying here,” McKenna exclaimed.

“You have to be the one to tell her
because I’m not going to get into the middle of that shit. And what’s with the
sunglasses?” Kenyon asked as he reached up and snatched them off her face.

“Kenyon, don’t,” McKenna yelped.

Catching sight of her shiner, Kenyon
stepped back and whispered, “Oh my God.”

“Kenyon, you don’t understand. It was an
accident,” McKenna cried.

Kenyon turned away. He reached into
pocket, pulled out his phone, and dialed his mother’s number.

“Kenyon, what are you doing?” McKenna
rushed.

Sam walked into the room as Kenyon turned
back around with his phone held out in front of him.

Hannah’s voice echoed from the speaker.
“Hello, darling.”

“
Kenyon, don’t,
” Sam silently
mouthed.

“Hi, Mom. McKenna doesn’t want to come
home because Trevor gave her a black eye,” Kenyon explained.

For several long moments, the room was
flooded with thick silence until Hannah finally answered calmly, “Stay there.
I’ll be right over.”

“Ah shit,” Sam gritted through his teeth.

“She was going to find out the truth,”
Kenyon shrugged.

Everyone gathered in the front room and
waited. Kenyon kept his eyes glued out the front window. When they did arrive,
he turned back at McKenna, who was waiting miserably in the corner and said,
“You’re in so much shit, Kenna. They drove separately.”

“Shut up, Kenyon,” McKenna cried.

Hannah strolled through the door a moment
later. Her features were fixed, motionless, and gave nothing away. She walked
over to McKenna, reached for her hand, and led her to the window. She gently
tilted McKenna’s head so she could see the damage and then quietly asked, “Did
he do this to you?”

“It was…” McKenna started but Hannah put
her finger on her lips to silence her.

“Don’t lie to me,” Hannah cautioned.

“Yes,” McKenna whispered. “Trevor hit
me.”

Hannah nodded softly. “I’ve played your
game long enough, McKenna. Now we are going to play mine.”