In Exile

Gavin stared at the hot brunette who was apparently looking for him, baffled. He’d had dreams like this, where he opened a door and a hot girl was on the other side, desperately needing him. More often than not these days though those dreams involved women that he actually knew, the women in this room and in this cabin, but Gavin didn’t recognise this woman. And yet somehow, she seemed to know who he was, at least by name.

Of course, Gavin wouldn’t recognise Kendra MacKenzie. He was aware of the former upperclassman by name and would have saw her occasionally around school, usually with Zack’s sister and her friends but, having no older siblings of his own, he had no real knowledge of who Kendra was. She had been just another older teen when he’d seen her at school, and now her name was one who associated closely with Shawn. But beyond that, he had no idea who was standing in front of him.”

“That’s me,” Gavin said, putting a hand to his chest and tapping. “I’m Gavin Westher.”

“No,” Kendra shook her head. “Victoria’s boyfriend, Gavin.”

“Yes,” Gavin insisted, frowning. “Well, ex-boyfriend.”

“No, no,” Kendra growled, not liking this game. “Tall, blonde, fit guy like…” she peered around the doorway, into the cabin and pointed at Kurt. “You!”

“Kendra?” Kurt asked, taking a few steps closer and peering out to see if she was alone on the porch. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, Gavin,” she grumbled, as she walked into the cabin without being invited. “Though clearly that’s not your real name.”

“Kurt,” Chloe said, eyeing Kendra coldly from the couch. “His name is Kurt.”

“Why are you telling people that you’re me?” Gavin demanded, though inwardly he was a little flattered. It was surprising to him that the cool, confident Kurt would want to be him.

“It was their mistake,” Kurt said briefly, before looking back to Kendra. “But I’ll tell you only when you tell me why you’re here? Has something happened with Shawn and Victoria?”

“What’s she doing here?” Ashley asked, entering the room along with Brandon from the dining area, having expected to see Trent, and instead her eyes falling upon the brunette that she remembered hanging out with Hannah when they were at school. More recently though, she’d seen Kendra, dressed in a full body stocking, seducing Kurt on a security camera.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Chloe told the blonde cheerleader, glancing over the sofa.

“Wait, shouldn’t Victoria be here for this?” Gavin asked, as he closed the door finally. “She’d want to know what’s going on.”

“Is that such a good idea though?” Brandon countered, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. “If she’s still in contact with Shawn, we could just be feeding him more information.”

“Right, like how she tipped him off that I was heading to the apartment,” Kurt mused, then looking back at Kendra. “But…if she hasn’t gone back to him, and she is trying to change, we’re going to make her feel even more untrusted if we don’t involve her.”

“Well, maybe she hasn’t earned that trust,” Ashley remarked, her anger simmering just beneath the surface.

“Doesn’t anyone care what I have to say?” Kendra asked, looking at each of the teens in turn. “This is important.”

“Sure, but we have to figure out how to handle this first,” Kurt said, sucking on his teeth.

At that moment, Madison walked into the room, wearing a dress that fell right to her knees, the top covering her shoulders and arms to her elbows. Chloe hadn’t been kidding about her conservative clothes. But this was the best outfit that Madison could find that both fitted well enough and she was able to button down the top a little to show off a little more skin. It wasn’t as sexy as she hoped, but Trent likely wouldn’t care once it was on the floor. She glanced around at the reflective crowd but didn’t see Trent, just some brunette.

“I heard the doorbell twice,” Madison said, looking at everyone in the room. “Isn’t Trent here yet?”

“No,” Brandon told her. “This is Kendra.”

“Oh, Shawn’s Kendra,” Madison’s face brightened as she put a face to the name, though immediately worrying that she might reveal what happened last night, she quickly added, “Do you want to talk to Victoria? I can show you to her room.”

“No, I want to talk to Kurt,” Kendra insisted. “I don’t really care who else is around to hear.”

“That’s not a bad idea though,” Kurt admitted, scratching his neck. “Why don’t you and I go and talk to Vic, and you can tell both of us everything you need to say.

“So, you’re just going to trust her?” Ashley asked, not clear whether she meant Kendra or Victoria.

“I have to,” Kurt told her, motioning for Kendra to walk down the hallway. “She’ll never find her way back if we don’t at least give her the opportunity to prove that she’s changed. Maybe she still won't even if we do, but at least that’s a maybe. That’s better odds than an impossibility.”

There was another, more selfish reason that Kurt wanted to do this in front of Victoria. Part of him hoped that whatever pain and suffering Shawn had caused this time would convince Victoria of the need to do something to deal with him. Even if she wanted to accept the consequences of what she had done under his influence, perhaps this would convince her of the need to stop others from becoming pawns in his game too. And with Kendra’s help maybe they could build an actual case.

He knocked on the door and paused, waiting for Victoria’s voice to call him in, before entering, Kendra behind him. Victoria had just finished dressing, in tight jeans and an oversized hoodie, her hair wet and skin glowing from a hot morning shower. She smiled softly at Kurt, though it quickly vanished as she saw Kendra, just a step behind. The tall blonde shook her head in disbelief and took a step back, almost expecting Shawn to be right behind them both, smirking and sneering as he came to reclaim her.

“What?” Victoria croaked, looking from Kurt to Kendra and back. “What is this?”

“Kendra has something she needs to tell us,” Kurt said, approaching Victoria cautiously, like a wild animal, and taking her hand, he led her to the bed where they sat in front of Kendra. “Well, me. But, since it likely involves Shawn, somehow, it seemed only right that you be privy to it too.” Kurt looked to the brunette. “Ok, you can tell us now.”

“Finally,” Kendra sighed, slumping her shoulders. “Well, it’s quite simple. I’m in exile.”

“Exile?” Victoria echoed. “Like Leon Trotsky exile?”

“I prefer to think of it more like Marlene Deitrich, but the idea is the same,” Kendra conceded. “Shawn and I are no longer speaking the same language.”

“Shit,” Kurt grunted, his one inside connection to Shawn gone. “How? Why?”

“Well, after last night, while I was talking to you, apparently some other girl got into the bathroom. I was meant to be keeping watch, but I had to abandon my post to give you Victoria’s bottoms from the other night,” Kendra explained matter of factly. “That the other girl was able to get close to him made him suspicious. I don’t think it’d have been a problem except he was already pissed with me for letting Gavin…sorry…Kurt…can’t get used to that…anyway, when I let ‘him’…” she motioned towards Kurt, ‘…leave before Shawn gave the order.”

“I remember Shawn talking about that.” Victoria titled her head thoughtfully. “When he was fucking me in the bathroom, he made me tell him that I’d never betray him like that.”

“I didn’t betray him,” Kendra argued bitterly. “As I told him, I was looking out for his interests.”

Victoria raised her arms in a “don’t shoot” fashion. “I’m just using his words. After telling Kurt everything that happened in the apartment, it’s not like I can profess to be any kind of saint.”

“He exiled you just for that?” Kurt asked, perturbed.

Kendra shook her head. “No, that was just the instigator. As I said he was already suspicious, so when that other girl, who knew who he was, got into the bathroom, he started asking questions, like what I did with the stuff from the apartment. I told him I got rid of it, but he didn’t believe me.” She grimaced, and, as an aside, said, “I’ve never been good at lying to him.”

“But if you had got rid of it, there’d be no way for him to know, right?” Victoria clarified, hopefully.

Sighing, Kendra offered an embarrassed smile. “Unfortunately, the stuff was still in bags in my car because I was planning to put it in a burn barrel down at the warehouse later. When he didn’t believe me, he searched the car, and when he couldn’t find the bottoms in the bags, he demanded to know where they were.”

“So, you told him, right?” Kurt deduced, his face drooping.

“What other choice did I have?” Kendra asked. “I already told you I can’t lie to him.”

Victoria jumped to his feet, head in her hands. “I’m dead. He’s going to come for me. There’s no way he’s just going to let me go. He’s going to stick his cock in me again and I’m going to lose my mind again. Shit, shit, shit.”

“Easy, easy,” Kurt jumped up and grabbed the distraught blonde, pulling her into a tight embrace and allowing her to deliver her frantic babbling into his shoulder. He stroked the back of her hair and said, “I’m not going to let that happen. Hear me?”

“Promise?” Victoria insisted, pulling away from him slightly, still held in his hands.

“He’s getting to you over my dead body,” Kurt said adamantly, his eyes locked on hers. “Now, you just sit here…” he guided her back to the bed, gently easing her down to sit. “…and I’ll go get you some water.”

Victoria nodded, staring at the floor, while Kurt turned to leave, grabbing Kendra’s arm and dragging her with him.

“Come on,” he told her, his voice low. “We’ll finish this talk just the two of us. I had hoped to convince Victoria that Shawn was a danger to others. Not to her. This was too much.”

“Well, that’s why I only came to talk to you, but no one wanted to listen to me,” Kendra grumbled as she allowed Kurt to pull her into the hallway. “Unfortunately, there’s not much else to say. Shawn got mad and said he never wanted to see me again. I felt lost, so I came to the one place I felt I might get find a sympathetic ear.”

“Oh, that’s not what I want to talk about,” Kurt revealed. “I want you to tell me everything about Shawn. Where he is, what he’s doing, what he’s planning. Everything.”