KENNICK: A Bad Boy Romance Novel Read Online Free PDF

The Town Hall appeared to also house the DMV, Town Clerk,
Post Office, Mayor's Office, Town Council, and just about every other possible
government office one could imagine, while the courthouse next door doubled as
the police station. A single poster hanging from a streetlight outside the town
hall invited readers to the weekly farmer's market, held in a small park
nestled between Main Street and the woods that began not four blocks away.  

 
    Out past the main street, the town grew slightly more
industrial, and far less charming. There were a few car repair shops, a pawn
shop, some office buildings and advertisements for an insurance agency, a
pediatrician, and a tax agent. A diner called Sid's boasted a whopping six cars
in its parking lot and promised, on its retro-style sign, “Best Eats 'Til
Dover”.

 
    And then the town dwindled again, houses few and far
between, and it was here, just before the town ended entirely, that the kumpania had made their new home, in the
very same trailer park that Pieter Volanis had brought his caravan to thirty
years prior.

 
    The gypsies made quick work of clearing up the place,
which had fallen into a sorry state in the few decades since they'd last
occupied it. With a bustle of energy and loud music to accompany their labors,
they set up a new home for themselves in the span of an afternoon. There was
business to attend to, applications to fill out, shipments from vendors to
check on, connections to be made, and a bevvy of other responsibilities, all
doled out to whomever was ready, willing, and able to lend a hand.

 
    Even the oldest and youngest members of the kumpania made themselves useful. The
unease lingered amongst the different families that made up the caravan, but
they covered it with cooperation, companionship, and, at the very end of their
first day, a party fit to raise the dead.

 
    And, in effect, wasn't that the whole idea of
returning to Kingdom? They would raise the dead, and demand the truth. Be it
whispered or shouted, it would be heard. And then they would be free.

Chapter Five

 
    The mayor was already well-situated by the time Kim
arrived at the bar. By the smell of his breath and the woozy appearance of his
eyes, he was quite well-situated indeed. He sat at a table near the bar with
four men, all of whom were business owners or employees in the town hall. Kim
would be the only woman. That was not unusual. Ordering a beer from the
bartender, she hoisted herself into an empty stool at the Mayor’s side.

 
    “Kimmy! You made it! But you already have a beer. Bad
girl, I told you I was buying,” Mayor
Gunderson said with mock disapproval.

 
    “You can get the next one, Tom,” she said, slipping
into a more casual lingo now that they were out of the office. Across the
table, Paul Tiding was smiling at her, and she respectfully returned it,
wishing heartily that he wasn’t there. Paul, who worked for the town council,
had been trying to get into her pants for years. She was not interested, and as
often as she told him so, he never stopped trying. He was persistent. She
supposed, in some people, that was an admirable trait.

 
    Ed Kerry, owner of the town’s only supermarket, Phil
Topher, banker at First Delaware, and Bob Talkee, council member, made up the
rest of their little party. From the look that Bob was giving her, Kim knew she
was less than welcome at their informal round table. He was of the old order,
and didn’t see what place women had in a bar, with men, talking politics. Or
anything else, for that matter. Kim sipped her beer, staring daggers right back
at him, though her anxiety yanked at her stomach and begged her just to go home
and leave it be.

 
    “So, what’s up?” Kim asked, her voice giving no
indication to her discomfort. She hoped their conversation would somehow allow
her to discuss the business proposals she’d spent the last two hours going
over. They excited her. Well, most of them did, anyway.