The BFF Job

Chapter One

Eliot looked out at the setting sun and sipped his beer. It was spring and the days were getting longer and he was missing home more and more. The knock didn't surprise him. He heard footsteps on the stairs. It was a woman. Light on her feet and about a hundred and thirty pounds. It wasn't Parker. She was silent as the night. And Sophie…well Sophie didn't do anything quiet. The knock was soft. Almost hesitant. Like she was making up her mind if she wanted to make her presents noticed or not. He didn't check the hall camera because he kind of liked the element of surprise. Setting his drink down he walked to the door and opened it.

"Long time no see cowboy." The woman smiled. Her brown eyes darker then he remembered. Her hair was a honey blond. Nothing like the sandy brown she had the last time he'd seen her.

"It has been a long time." She took a step forward and his arms opened automatically. He engulfed her in his arms and she closed her eyes. This was home. Eliot Spencer knew he was letting a wall down but for her…he'd move mountains.

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(Flash Back)

He was nine when his sister brought home a waif of a girl home from school one day. She had been a little older then Jodi, maybe seven. She wore faded jeans and a t-shirt that was a size too small. The shoes she wore were just as ragged as the jeans. His mother took one look at her and decided she needed a little more love then she was getting at home. That was the day McKenna Hawks came into their lives. It took months for her to talk to anyone but Jodi. She was there every day after school and she would stay till dinner. Their mother tried to get her to stay and eat but those first few months she said thank you and headed down the road to the run down shack near the rail road tracks.

(Present)

McKenna was different. She was strong and confident. Not like the girl who left Kentucky ten years ago. But the warmth that he had always seen in her eyes was gone. No matter what life threw her back then she always had a sparkle in her eyes.

"What brings you to Boston?" He handed her a cup of coffee.

"Passing through. I stopped by the farm last week and Jodi gave me your address." She pulled out a box from her bag and handed it to him. "She wanted me to give you this." Eliot looked at the package. His sister was always sending him recipes from home as well as starter herbs for his garden.

"Does she forgive you?" He looked into her eyes. She could never lie to him. Even when they were kids.

"She knows why I left."

"Why did you leave Kenna?" He stood up. "You left her alone."

"Jodi knew why. You know why. I wasn't going to let her be taken down for my sins." There was a coldness in her voice. One he hadn't heard in a long time.

"We could have worked it out."

"Worked what out Eliot? I was sixteen. I made sure Jodi was safe and I ran as far and as fast as I could from that hell hole."

"I could have helped you." She laughed a cynical laugh.

"You were long gone and had your own demons chasing you. I solved my problem the only way I knew how." She stood up. "It was nice seeing you Eliot." As she headed for the door he stood.

"Killing him wasn't the answer Kenna." She turned and looked at the man who as a boy made her world a better place.

"If I hadn't Jodi would have been killed and me along with her." Grabbing her bag she headed out the door. Parker was coming in as she went out. Eliot knew better then to go after her because she would be gone before he made it to the door.

"Who was that?" Parker watched the emotions play on Eliot's face.

"An Old friend." He looked at the blond woman standing inside his door. "Did you need something?" She handed him a beer.

"What to talk about it?" He shook his head.

"Will you leave me alone if I do?" She smiled.

"Only if you don't leave anything out." Eliot took a swig of his beer and sat down on the sofa. Parker sat next to him and crossed her legs under her.

"My sister brought McKenna home from school when she was about seven. Jodi brought home strays all the time but that was the first human one she'd taken under her wing. My mom and Jodi dotted over her like she was a new puppy. I was all of nine and though she was just another mouth to feed but she never asked for anything. Some days I knew she must have been hungry but she would never stay for dinner."

"Did she live nearby?"

"About a mile or so down the road. I really didn't know much about her till she'd been hanging around about six months. My mom ran into her mother at the drug store. Mom said the woman was a mess and that she wasn't fit to raise Kenna let alone the five brothers' and sister's she had. That was the start of a friendship that lasted through thick and thin. Jodi and Kenna did everything together. My mom started insisting that first summer that Kenna stay till after dinner. Then me and Jodi would walk her home." Eliot looked at his beer. "I was twelve the first time I saw what she had to deal with." Parker could hear the strain in his voice.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He looked at his friend. For the first time in a long time he did want to tell someone about that night.

"Jodi stayed home because she had fallen off her horse earlier that day and my mom told her she had to take it easy. Kenna said she could walk herself but it was getting dark and I didn't want her to run into a rattler or something worse. It was later then we normally headed out because of Jodi's accident. My mom would of told Kenna to stay but it was Saturday and church was a big thing with us and Kenna…well Kenna and God weren't seeing eye to eye around that time." Parker smiled. She might like this Kenna person if she got to know her.

"Been there." Eliot looked at her and smiled.

"Kenna was the youngest at the time. We got about a hundred yards from the house and she stopped. I was standing close enough to her that I felt the goose bumps on her arm. Then I heard the yelling. I looked up to see a man dragging Kenna's sister Kelsey out the door. He was screaming that he paid for her and he was going to have her. I looked at Kenna and back at the house. If her mom was pimping out her twelve year old sister what was saying she wasn't doing it to Kenna." Eliot stood and looked out the big bay window. "I took her hand and nearly dragged her back to our place and I sat her down in the barn and made her tell me everything."

"Was she getting abused too?"

"Not like the others. But it wouldn't be long. That night I started showing her how to protect herself. I told my mom that Kenna needed to stay with us for a few days. When her mom came looking for her I told her I knew what she was doing to her kids and she wasn't going to do it to Kenna."

"How did that go over?"

"Kenna spent the whole summer with us and most of the next seven years. She would go home for a few days now and then but she'd come back. I think she missed her brother's and sister's. Then one day after I had been gone from home for about two years Kenna up and left. She was just shy of seventeen."

"She didn't tell your sister where she was going?" Eliot looked at Parker and took a deep breath.

"Kenna pulled Jodi out of a bar in Lexington. One of Kenna's mother's boyfriends came after them. They made it to the county line when he finally caught up to them. He had a gun. Kenna had a knife…and with the skills I taught her over the years she killed him just before he was going to shoot my sister." Parker gasped. She hadn't been expecting that. "Now you know all about McKenna Hawks." He put down his beer and headed to his room. Alone was all he wanted to be right and he knew Parker wouldn't leave him so he shut his door and hoped she'd get the hint.

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I hope this is something you'll want to read. As usual I don't own anything but my own characters.