kendallalexander:
“Two weeks?” She asked, “Two weeks?!” She added a bit louder, “You’ve been out of jail for two weeks and you’re already hanging around in a strip club? Jesus Christ, Riggs. That is not getting your life together. That’s wasting your time and money.” She hated how fragmented their relationship had become, but when he threw his life away for a fucking needle, he essentially threw his entire family away too. “Do mom and dad know you’re out?” She inquired with a shake of her head. Of course they didn’t. Her mom would have told her. Warned her. Prepared her for such an encounter.
Not wanting to create a scene in her place of employment, Kendall grabbed her brother’s elbow and led him outside. She’d never been so simultaneously elated and infuriated in all her life. “Now, talk. Explain. Why are you here? Where I work?” She asked pointedly, only to lower her voice to a whisper when she noticed a few interlopers. “As their accountant.” Without giving him a second to breathe, Kendall went right for the heavy hitting questions, “Are you still using?” She inquired, not bothering to sugar coat things. “Let me see your arms.” She loathed how much distrust existed between them, predominantly on her end, but her brother had burned this bridge time and time again.
Truth be told, she honestly didn’t know if she could go through them rebuilding their relationship only to once again lose him to the drugs. In fact, she was pretty sure they’d had this very same conversation in the past and it always led to disappointment. That being said, she couldn’t bring herself to walk away. “Show me your arms, Riggs..”
***
It shouldn’t have surprised Riggs how quickly Kendall pulled him away from the crowd to talk. There was so much between them that hadn’t been discussed, hadn’t said, and Kendall not losing a breath in venting her anger out wasn’t unwarranted. His face couldn’t hide the surprise that she worked her but softened as she explained it was the books. Riggs mentally kicked himself that his second thought was how much of valuable asset she could end up being. If the cartel was funneling money into the club, it could establish a trail. But Kendall wasn’t an informant. She was his little sister and the anger she had at him was stewing and justified.
It stung how much she distrusted him for a faked drug addiction. That was the cost of his choice. His own family couldn’t trust him. They had made the addiction real to the public eye. It had been painful, sticking needles in his body over and over to convince everyone that Riggs was falling into a hole. Lifting his arms, he rolled his sleeves and showed the scars, clearly old. “I’ve been clean almost three years. Detox in prison sucks K.” There was a laugh, almost automatic. Maybe it wasn’t time for jokes. “I’m working the program. I’m clean. And I’m not going back.” It was a promise that was easy to make for Riggs, seeing as his entire addiction was faked for the sake of appearances. “How’d you end here?” The question was loaded, almost pleading for an answer that told him his sister wasn’t connected to some sort of cartel and drug operation. Looking around, realizing where they were, Riggs knew this wasn’t the question he wanted to ask. “Can we go somewhere else? Talk just not here?”
















