Saving a Legend: A Kavanagh Legends Novel (7 page)

“Ancient history, my ass. There’s nothing ancient about it! And I never did that stuff like you did—I was just having fun and fucking around. Yeah, I went too far, but I paid for that mistake. You haven’t been clean that long, and other people are still paying for how you were back in the day.”

“What are you talking about?” Rory looked confused, but then he waved his hands as if to dismiss the conversation and started walking away. Kieran had no plans to let him off that easily. Rory couldn’t just yell at him like he was a child and then walk away like it was nothing.

Everything he’d wanted to say for two years was standing at the gate, banging to be let out. Kieran’s clenched jaw and tense shoulders told him he couldn’t hold it back much longer. He followed Rory and grabbed his upper arm, pulling him back to face him.

Ace growled at him the moment he touched Rory, causing Kieran to drop his brother’s arm quickly.

“I’m talking about me! You put me in prison, Rory. I’m still paying for what you did to me! You’re talking about all these people knowing where I was—well, how do you think I got there? You ratted me out!”

Rory advanced on him fast, turning the tables. Anger flamed in Rory’s eyes as he held up a finger between them in warning. There was something else there, too, though. Kieran saw a pain he wasn’t expecting lurking underneath his brother’s fury. The combination surprised him and caused him to take a step back before holding his ground.

“You put yourself in prison, no one else. You shouldn’t have been there that day. You shouldn’t have been doing that shit. You hurt the whole fucking family when you went down, and you’ve no one to blame but yourself.” Rory’s angry expression morphed into sadness as he stepped back. “You haven’t been here, Kieran. You didn’t have to watch Ma crying every day for weeks after you got sent up. Get back to work. I’m done fucking talking about this.”

—

“Ready for your second day?” Nora smiled sweetly at him as he walked into her office at the youth center later that afternoon.

Kieran nodded. “Sure, I had fun yesterday.”

“Making community service fun; now, that’s looking at it glass half full,” she teased. If anyone else had said something like that to him, he might have gotten defensive, but Nora had a way of making you smile. She was lighthearted and easygoing, and in the one day he’d known her, he could see her intentions were always friendly.

“Tell that to my parole officer,” he said, only partially kidding, since she would be the one to report regularly back to Officer Huppert about his work.

“Keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll get a glowing report from me,” Nora assured him. “The kids all had great things to say about you yesterday. You’ve got the high school boys this afternoon. You’ll probably find most of them out on the basketball court.”

“On it, boss.” He left her office and navigated his way through the center until he exited into the back. The yard itself wasn’t much to look at, just pavement fenced in by several buildings. The alley down the side was a garden area lined with storage sheds. Along the far side was a half-sized basketball court made up of a rickety basket attached to a brick wall and a few painted lines on the concrete.

“I’m going to kill you, motherfu—” Sudden shouting caught Kieran’s attention, and he turned to see a circle of boys facing away from him. Looking harder, he could see the group had congregated around two boys who were in the midst of a fistfight.

“Hey!” Kieran rushed over to them, pushing kids aside to get in the middle. “Stop it!”

The surrounding crowd suddenly dispersed, but most stayed close, pretending to be doing something else but really watching the drama unfold. Kieran had both boys by their shoulders, holding them apart despite their attempts to keep hitting each other.

“He was talking shit about my—” one boy started to say.

“I don’t give a shit who he was talking about,” Kieran said sternly. “There’s no fighting here.”

The boys pushed away from him, sullenly moving in different directions and trying to save face in front of their friends.

Kieran kept his eye on them both, in case a repeat performance was to occur. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. He’d spent two years in prison for aggravated assault. He’d been raised his whole life to be a fighter, and his family owned one of the most famous mixed martial arts gyms in the country. Yet here he was, telling kids not to do the very thing that was ingrained in his DNA.

Scowling at himself, he tried to push the thoughts out of his head as he prowled over to the basketball court. Splitting the kids into teams, he arranged a pickup game of hoops and supervised as the kids played. Occasionally, he would join them and give pointers, but mostly he coached from the sidelines.

“What’s wrong with you today?” a small voice spoke up next to him. Kieran looked down to see Shea watching him curiously.

“What do you mean?” Kieran asked, tilting his head slightly to look down at her.

“You’re louder than yesterday,” she said matter-of-factly before turning to watch the basketball game. She had a book in her hands, but he watched as she studied his stance and then mimicked him. She moved her feet apart a bit wider and crossed her arms over her chest. Her earmuffs were around her neck, and he wondered if she’d been able to hear him over them when he was breaking up the fight.

“I’m louder?” Kieran frowned, not totally sure what to make of her description. “Sorry, guess I’m a little grumpy today.”

“My sister calls me that when I’m hungry,” Shea said slowly, as if she was thinking about it deeply. “My mom used to tell me I don’t understand when I’m grumpy.”

Kieran chuckled. “I think most people don’t understand when they’re grumpy.”

“Really? Like me?” Shea asked.

Kieran shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“My teacher at school says I’m not like everyone else,” Shea admitted, a hint of sadness in her voice. He had yet to see any emotive responses from her, so it made him pause.

He squatted until he was eye level with her, even though she wouldn’t meet his gaze, and softly patted her shoulder. She stiffened slightly but didn’t move away. “It’s okay to be different, Shea. I’m not like everyone else, either. We can be different together. How’s that sound?”

“Okay,” she replied simply as she looked past him. Then she put on her earmuffs, opened her book, and walked back toward the building. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight; the little girl was really starting to get under his skin in the best way.

Kieran finished coaching a game of basketball with the young boys before heading in and doing a few tutoring sessions one on one, mainly algebra and some science. He thought about what Shea had said and wondered if he could bring MMA to the youth center, give the boys who wanted to fight a way to control their impulses. He made a mental note to ask Nora tomorrow about giving it a try.

A few hours later, he was getting ready to leave, when he found Shea and Fiona standing in front of him in the hallway. Fiona was pulling Shea’s hair back and twisting it into a long braid as the little girl put several books into her backpack and zipped it closed.

“Two times in one day you show up where I’m working. Now who’s the stalker?” He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, but her smile gave her away.

“Fiona, can Mr. Kavanagh come get frozen yogurt with us?” Shea piped up as her sister finished tying off her braid and stood up.

Fiona shook her head quickly. “I’m sure he’s busy, Shea.”

“Are you busy, Mr. Kavanagh?” The little girl turned his direction, but her gaze just seemed to miss his own.

“I’m not busy at all,” he told her, “but call me Kieran. Mr. Kavanagh is my father, and I’m a lot more handsome than he is.”

“Shea, I don’t think—” Fiona bit her lip nervously, her hands fidgeting as she tried to come up with an excuse not to invite him.

“Come on, I know a great place a couple blocks from here,” Kieran interjected before she could say anything further, then he ushered them toward the exit.

Fiona shot him an unconvinced frown before finally following him.

Chapter 5

“Which flavor are you going to get?” Kieran asked Shea as they stood in front of the ten different frozen yogurt dispensers and tried to decide.

“No-sugar-added vanilla yogurt,” Shea responded automatically.

Kieran wrinkled up his nose. “Really? You like that?”

Shea shrugged as Fiona grabbed a paper bowl off the shelf and handed it to her. She was doing her best to ignore the fact that Kieran was here at all or that this felt way too much like a date.

And she didn’t date.

“Here, hold on a second.” Kieran took the bowl out of her hand and instead handed Shea several tiny little paper sampling cups. “Let’s try a bunch of different flavors and see what you like.”

“Kieran, she always gets the vanilla. Just let her get what she wants.” Fiona had been here enough times with Shea to know that Shea wasn’t going to change her mind about what she ate. Her routines were too ingrained to be changed now, and honestly, it just wasn’t worth a possible public meltdown.

“How’s she going to know what she wants in life if she doesn’t give something new a try?” Kieran’s sea-blue eyes looked at her pointedly. Fiona looked away, suddenly aware of the fluttering sensation in her stomach as she considered the meaning behind his words.

“I like the vanilla flavor,” Shea said again, her voice less sure this time. She took the sample cups from him anyway, and he helped her fill them with various different flavors.

“I’m going to go get a smoothie,” Fiona told them as she walked to the front of the shop and placed an order with the clerk, keeping note of the two of them out of the corner of her eye.

Slowly, Shea tried each one and her smile grew as she did. Fiona tilted her head to the side and watched with confusion as her little sister laughed, actually laughed, as Kieran made a funny face at a sample he’d just tasted. Between laughs, they were talking in hushed tones conspiratorially, and Fiona wondered what he was saying to her. Shea looked happy, like any other child you’d see in a frozen yogurt shop.

The moment warmed her heart. She wanted for Shea everything that other kids had. They were already at a disadvantage with the loss of their mother and the fact that their dad had not stuck around for more than a few days after Shea’s birth, so Shea’s autism only added to the difficulties. Fiona frowned at the thought, sipping her smoothie after the clerk handed it to her.

As the cool drink slid down her throat, she turned back to watch Shea and Kieran. They were finished with samples and were now filling up regular bowls. Shea’s was already loaded high with toppings, and Fiona pursed her lips, worrying about the consequences of too much sugar.

She decided she could overlook it today. After all, despite whatever difficulties had been placed in their lives, Fiona didn’t want Shea to be any different. Her disabilities aside, Shea had the most gentle and sincere spirit of anyone she’d ever known.

She’d never want that to change.

“Look, Fi!” Shea called her by her nickname, and Fiona’s brows raised. She hadn’t heard that name in a while. She hadn’t even realized it until now, but she had really missed it.

“That’s a lot of ice cream, Shea.” Fiona smiled at her little sister.

“It’s not ice cream. It’s frozen yogurt, but it tastes kind of the same. I didn’t get the vanilla flavor today. I got cookies and cream with caramel and Oreos and peanut butter cups and cookie dough pieces.” Shea proudly held the bowl out in front of her, surveying it from all sides.

“Wow! Sounds delicious,” Fiona said as Shea triumphantly marched out of the store and sat at a patio table out front. She pulled her earmuffs over her ears and dove into her bowl of sugar, causing Fiona to smile again at the seriousness on her sister’s face.

Kieran walked up to where she was standing at the cash register and the clerk rang up a flat rate for all three of them.

“Let me get this,” he said.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about us. I can pay for mine and Shea’s.” Fiona opened her purse to find her wallet as she put her smoothie down on the counter.

“Not a chance, flower girl. The man always pays on a date.” He handed the clerk a large bill and accepted the change, then the duo headed toward the exit to join Shea.

“This is not a date, Kieran,” she informed him, her head held high as she tried to avoid direct eye contact with those mesmerizing blues. It certainly felt like one, though.

“Then why’d you let me pay for you? Sounds like a date to me.” He smirked, glancing sideways at her.

“I said not to!”

“Oh, yeah, you really fought me on that,” he teased, his smile as wide as ever. “That whole let-me-dig-around-in-my-purse-just-long-enough-to-look-like-I’m-going-to-pay scheme. I’m onto your games, flower girl.”

“I didn’t—” she opened her mouth to say something more because she was definitely not that kind of girl and had every plan to tell him so, but the words vanished from her tongue. His close proximity and the hungry way he looked at her—it unnerved her. Forgetting what she was going to say, she shot him a dirty look instead as he held the door open for her and they stepped outside.

“I’m just messing with you, Fiona,” he said, before lowering his tone and whispering softly in her ear. “Plus, I like to take care of my woman.”

Fiona shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold drink in her hands. Kieran stepped around her and joined Shea at the patio table.

“How’s the chocolate explosion?” he asked her. She looked at him in confusion before pulling her earmuffs off.

“What?”

“How’s the chocolate explosion?” Kieran patiently repeated his question.

“I like this much more than the one I used to get. I’m going to get this every week.” Shea spooned another heaping bite into her mouth.

“Uh, I don’t know about that,” Fiona intervened, wondering if this was going to backfire on her.

“Every week?” Kieran’s face held a look of mock surprise. “Then it won’t taste as good.”

“What do you mean?” Shea’s eyes went wide, and her mouth was full of cookie dough bites.