107: The Golden Boy's Keeper

Fracville Trailer Park, Baltiney, New York...

 A clenched fist struck the nearby wall as a frustrated and rather drunken Jeffery Allen Kennison found himself glaring at the newly punched hole in the wake of all that had transpired in terms of his reprimanding from his father and family following the events of his confrontation with his elder brother Ryker Kennison at the dinner turned engagement party. He had been against it from the very beginning, citing that Ryker needed to be committed and it was in everyone's best interest including his wayward elder brother if he had been. He had known better than anyone how far the Golden Boy had fallen since the moment he'd awoken from his coma following the car accident that had not been much of an accident on Ryker's part. Much like Malcolm, Jeff had concluded that Ryker had done it all on purpose, even going so far as to finish out his shift to ensure the company had better readings beforehand. 

Jeff had been watching him like a hawk ever since he'd been released and it only served to increase his concerns. The rest of the family did not know the reason why Jeff had been so caught up on what Ryker's mental capacity had been nor why he'd taken so much interest in his wellbeing but Jeff didn't owe them any explanations, he had been indebted to one person and one person alone when it came to his concerns and explanations and that had been his elder brother. 

It had been extremely difficult for Jeff to come to terms with what had become of Ryker Kennison, "The Golden Boy" of The Kennison clan, and even worse for him to have to see the family rock endure the worst possible pain imaginable with the loss of his wife and small boys. 

Jeff had arrived late when the news broke about Sera and the boys not making it, but he'd been just in time to hear his bother's soul-crushing cries when they informed him that there was nothing more anyone could do and that Sera and the boys were gone. When Malcolm and their father assisted the orderlies in carting Ryker off to a separate room and sedated him, it was Jeff who had snuck in and sat by his elder brother's side the tears cascading down his cheeks as he in his drunken and high state attempted to make sense of the chaos that had been swirling around them. 

It had shamed Jeff to no end to have shown up to the hospital in his condition, high out of his mind only to be sobered by the sorrowful cries of his elder brother whom he had known all too well and had been unable to process the news that his wife's flight had gone down when the call had come. He'd been determined, more than determined to find Sera and the boys no matter what it cost him and he had managed to do the unthinkable. 

Jeff had nothing going for himself, no family of his own to speak of as he spent countless hours throwing away his life with drugs and alcohol living life in the fast lane spending their family money as if it was going out of style. His mother's death had never been anything he'd gotten over, even when reaching adulthood, and the lack of support on more than one occasion from the family for being the bastard child of an extramarital affair. Ryker himself had never let him forget this fact but at that moment, Jeff couldn't care less how his elder brother viewed him at that time. 

Not even he had wished anything so horrible on his less-than-ideal elder brother to the likes of which had happened to him. 

Jeff sat beside Ryker until he'd fallen asleep and slinked off when no one had been looking to avoid the questions about his being absent when the news broke or his disheveled and high appearance. No one had known it at the time but Jeff Kennison had been the original valuable customer of none other than Spyder himself. Back when the lad was small-time and working for Brazen a known street dealer. Spyder had his own ideas for making better product, but Brazen was not hearing any of his schemes in those days. 

He kept a steady rate of clientele and Jeff had been an ideal sucker given his mommy issues and family troubles. He had no wife and kids to go home to and no one truly gave a shit what he did all day. He didn't even have a time clock to punch most days but a good deal of cash had been in his future. 

Jeff had been hitting the hard stuff rather heavily and ended up getting into something of a two million dollar debt, a debt that he didn't exactly have the cash to cover and was rapidly gaining with interest. 

Brazen had sent out the dogs to collect and Jeff had been in a bad way and jonesing for a high no matter the pay grade. It was in this unfortunate state that his already ailing elder brother found him, breaking into his house and opting to hawk anything for cash for his next fix. Jeff had never considered himself a junkie before but the look on Ryker's stern face and the disappointment behind his dark eyes as he snatched him up by the collar and slammed him into a nearby wall at their parent's house had indicated all he needed to know about being at rock bottom. 

"What the fuck is the matter with you!?" shouted Ryker enraged as he gripped Jeff by the collar who attempted with no success to fight him off. 

"Fuck you." hissed Jeff unashamed. "You think I give a fuck what the golden boy thinks of me, why don't you go save a kitten in a tree or better yet go put out a fire." 

"Jeff..." said Ryker his voice had been shaken and soft for the first time since he'd gotten a real good look at the junkie his younger brother had become up close and personal, his face solemn for a few moments as the now defensive and dangerously withdrawing Jeff glared at him indignantly. 

"FUCK YOU, you think you're better than me....because of who your mother is, that bitch is no prize let me tell you....but you already know that," growled Jeff enraged and hurting and humiliated all at once. "Fuck you Ryker you think you're so perfect, you couldn't even save your own wife and boys....rather chase a dollar than die with your family on vacation....some husband and father you turned out to be."

Those words, he could tell even then had cut through Ryker like a hot knife through fresh butter. He had wished to have been able to take them back, even as he huffed and puffed enraged at his older brother being the one to witness him being so strung out. 

He had used to be able to manage it, hide it well from the others, especially from Ryker, he didn't ever want to give him the satisfaction and now here he was a broken busted junkie confronted by him after some of the worst news to hit the family since the death of his mother. 

To his shock and later horror, Ryker said nothing. He didn't even bat an eyelash, he simply glared a Jeff for a few moments before pulling him into a tight brotherly hug for the first time in either of their lives. 

"L-Let me go...." began Jeff feeling himself crumble beneath the weight of his elder brother's genuine affection for him. "Let me go Rye....I can't...I'm just a fuckin' junkie...I got nothing else going for me."

Ryker only held him closer. 

"Jeffie....you're my kid brother and we're going to find some way to deal with this... You're gonna come home with me little brother....no one will ever know and I'll take care of everything." said the elder Kennison son in a rather steady tone. 

"But..." began Jeff unsure why Ryker had taken a sudden interest in wanting to help him. 

"No buts...we're family, now come on get your stuff before someone sees you, I'll take care of whatever mess you've made but we gotta move now so no one else has to know," said Ryker meeting Jeff's bewildered eyes once more. 

"Alright.... we should go," said Jeff allowing himself to listen to his elder brother's direction. 

He had taken off with Ryker and gone back to his place that night, true to his word no one else in the family ever knew what went on that night or about Jeff's addiction. For the next few months since that night, Ryker had taken it upon himself to nurse his younger brother through his addiction and kept it all under wraps from the rest of the family. 

While he'd been in rehab, Jeff had heard that Ryker had taken the liberty of cashing out the two mill plus interest with the incentive that Brazen and Spyder both never sold drugs to Jeff again, they agreed, and Brazen moved on to greener pastures with the new profits and Spyder was a street man again with his own ideas but no longer associated with either Brazen or Jeff Kennison. 

The night before Ryker's accident, he'd called Jeff to his house and they shared a few drinks and stories about their sibling rivalry and the reasons behind some of their less-than-reputable acts toward one another. Jeff had noted Ryker's increased efforts to spend time with and get to know him better, as well as everyone else in the family. He'd gone so far as to have him join the company even in the wake of his mother's dissatisfaction with the changes being made.

The Golden Boy had been team Mommy through and through before their new understanding and it had come as quite a shock to everyone that he'd seemed to have taken strides to bond with Jeff despite no one being the wiser as to why it had been, not even Jeff had been privy to it at the time. 

 The years seemed to roll on with Ryker in good spirits despite the tragic circumstances with Sera and the boys being gone and the family seemingly closer than ever. That fateful night, however, Jeff had a sickening feeling and knew not what to do about it. 

He'd been among those with his father at the house when they'd gotten the call, Ryker had been in a horrific accident and it was looking as though he'd been dead right along with Sera and the boys, five years after the crash and a few months from the time he'd single-handedly pulled Jeff back from the brink and fished him out of the gutter. 

"I love you Jeffie." had been what Ryker had told him the night before at his place, an odd time for sentiment with them looking out over the city and sharing a couple of beers during a friendly chat. "I didn't know what to expect when Pop came home with a little worm like you, but you turned out to be an okay little brother."

Jeff had been blindsided back then but he'd been vigilant now. There was no way he'd let Ryker slip into darkness on his own again, no matter how unpopular he looked they had almost lost him once and Jeff had been determined to ensure that never happened again any time soon. 

"I love you Rye," said Jeff at last breaking the silence that had befallen him since his fist went through the bedroom wall of his trailer. "I know I'm lousy at showing it...but I love you too."

The second elder of the Kennion brothers turned up a half-empty bottle of whiskey and sighed as he thought back to how close he'd truly come to never having told his elder brother how much he meant to him that day. He made up his mind to watch over him, as he had him before the accident, even if it made him the "bad guy" in the equation. in doing so he'd found out that Ryker had many unhealthy dealings with Spyder and frequented Spyder's Kandy Shop often. 

There had been only one thing that Ryker would have been interested in at Spyder's place aside from the loose women and for the most part, it had been the specialized "kandy" and some young blond lad who just so happened to have frequented the establishment weeks before Ryker bringing him to dinner.