And then she’d heard him yelling at her mother after lights out, saying that she coddled Kinsley too much. Her mother’s response had stayed with Kinsley to this day. You think I turned her into what she is to spite you? I have news for you, Herold. I don’t like her any more than you do.
As an adult, Kinsley realized that her mother was lashing out in anger at being accused of ‘ruining’ Kinsley like there was some kind of scorecard and she’d come up short. Kinsley probably wasn’t the ideal child. She’d made good grades and followed most of the rules. But she’d always marched to her own drum beat and searched for truth in every situation.
Case in point, her relationship with Gabriel.
While many in town had written him off as lost, Kinsley had seen the real him. He might put up a tough front but, on the inside, he cared more about what people thought than he’d ever admit. He was loyal to a fault. How many times had he ended up in the principal’s office for doing something she knew full well he hadn’t? Half a dozen? He got into many fights but never started one.
Middle class and wealthy boys in Evansville had targeted Gabriel and his friends. Teachers always believed the boys from the so-called right side of the tracks. The injustice had burned Kinsley up to the point that she took it upon herself to come to their defense. That move had brought even more heat onto the boys from the Foster Farm.
Gabriel hadn’t seemed to care. He’d sought her out in order to thank her. She’s burst into tears saying that she’d only made the situation worse. Boys teased him and his ‘brothers’ even more and worked even harder to get them into trouble with teachers and school administrators. Gabriel had quieted her with a hug, kissed her and told her that she was the first person who’d put themselves on the line for him.
She’d pressed up on her tiptoes and kissed him back. And from that day forward they’d been a couple.
Kinsley had noticed that teachers treated her differently once they saw her and Gabriel holding hands in the hallway. She’d received her fair share of dirty looks from classmates. Her best friend, Lainey, had threatened to stop hanging around with Kinsley if she didn’t break off the relationship with the ‘scrub’ boy.
None of those protests or threats mattered to her. She saw so much good in Gabriel that it drowned out everyone else’s opinions.
As for her parents she wished they would’ve approved of the relationship, that they could’ve truly seen Gabriel for the person he was instead of a reputation that was blurred.
But then Kinsley’s mother was borderline depressed on a good day. It was so obvious now that her mother fought hard against the role of wife and mother. Even though she would never consider getting divorced for fear of what everyone would think her circumstances had made her feel entombed.
Marriage and taking care of children had been a trap that Kinsley’s mother had been unhappily snared in. Would Kinsley feel the same about a child of her own?
She didn’t think so but there was no amount of books that could tell her what her individual reaction to becoming a parent would be. From everything she’d read and seen, she surmised that some people took to parenting while others didn’t.
Following behind Gabriel, watching him sacrifice his own health and well-being to make sure she was okay the thought struck that he’d make an amazing Dad. His kid would be protected, that was for sure.
Three times in an hour, Gabriel had to stop to catch his breath. He was weak and walking wasn’t good for him.
“You should call your friends and have them split us up,” Kinsley finally said.
Gabriel leaned against the tree trunk of a sturdy oak. He reached for her hand and put it in his.
“It’s selfish of me but I have to know that you’re all right. I need to see it with my own eyes. I know you better than anyone else. I can protect you the best. But I won’t force you to stay with me, Kinsley.”
Her heart squeezed. Did he think she was rejecting him? Pulling back? Trying to protect her heart? Because it was too late for every single one of those things.
She brushed a kiss on his lips. “There’s nowhere I want to be right now than with you, Gabriel. I want you healthy. I don’t want to be the reason something bad happens to you. I wouldn’t recover.”
“You couldn’t be.” He smirked. “Believe it or not, I’m damn good at what I do. The mind is powerful, Kinsley. I made mine up a long time ago.”
“So I’ve noticed,” she said with admiration.
But he was hurt and the men who were after them wouldn’t exactly take it easy on either of them because he was injured.
And then there was the matter of her heart.
When this was all over, would it recover from losing Gabriel the second time?
Chapter 13
A tree branch broke to their left about three yards due east. A shot of adrenaline boosted Gabriel’s energy level. A much-needed increase of power surged through him.
He put his index finger up to indicate they couldn’t afford to make a sound. A realistic self-check said he was running at about sixty percent power at best physically. He had enough strength to take down one person in a brief fight but more than one or if the tussle lasted longer than a few minutes Gabriel was screwed.
He and Kinsley could stay on the move but that could prove deadly if they walked into a trap. He was also losing precious energy by trying to press on.
He could set up a camp and hunker down for the night, give himself a chance to rest and reboot after a couple of hours.
Based on his energy level and the fact that there was an
