She shrugged. “It’s about a girl who hates this guy so much she cuts his dick off and feeds it to the sharks that frequently swim in the ocean behind her bastard father’s house.”
“Ouch,” I muttered, but my grin stayed in place.
“Wroth Niall has a really badass machete,” Lucy commented as she turned her attention back to her phone. “I can ask him to overnight it to me and lend it to you, Kin.”
A smile teased at my girl’s lips and my heart literally stalled in my chest at the sight. When was the last time I’d seen Kin smile, even that little bitty smile that was teasing at her lips right then? The sad truth was, I couldn’t remember and my gut twisted with regret. Damn it, Kin should always smile. That I was one of the reasons she didn’t anymore fucking killed me.
Her head lifted and she winked at Lucy. “I’ll let you know if I need to take you up on that, babe.”
“Hey, you’re Jesse Thornton’s kid.”
My head shot up at the sound of some guy’s voice just as Lucy and Kin turned to face the newcomer. I could tell this douchebag was going to be trouble just by looking at him. He had some smug-ass grin on his face, like he was an actual somebody who deserved everything handed to him. The guy standing behind him didn’t appear to be nearly as much of a prick as his friend but, when his gaze went to Kin, I was ready to knock his teeth down his throat.
Lucy’s brows lifted as she looked up at the guy who had just spoken. “I’m Lucy Thornton,” she told him with a new coolness to her tone that I hadn’t heard often from her.
Without being asked to join us, the douchebag pulled out the chair between me and Lucy and dropped down into it like he owned the fucking place. When his friend pulled a chair up on the other side of Kin, I couldn’t keep my hands from balling into fists. Yeah, I’d love to make that prick eat some teeth.
“What’s it like to be a rock star’s kid?” the guy beside Lucy asked as he leaned closer.
She shrugged. “He’s a great dad.”
“I bet you’ve seen some awesome shit. Who’s the most famous person you ever met?” He turned toward her even more. “I saw a picture of you with your old man and that dude from that big science fiction movie a few years back. That must have been cool, huh?”
“His name is Chris, and no, it wasn’t cool at all. Chris is friends with my family. I see him all the time.” She picked up her glass and took a thirsty swallow, trying to give the fucker the cold shoulder, but he only moved in closer.
His head lowered toward her ear and Kin and I both stiffened when we saw the hunted look in Lucy’s dark eyes. She didn’t like this guy getting too close, and I could see a trace of fear in her gaze. That small sign of fear was all I saw, though, as her entire body seemed to clench like she was about to strike. I wondered just how much damage Lucy Thornton could cause. Knowing her father’s reputation, I was sure he’d taught his daughter a thing or ten about protecting herself.
Behind her, I saw Marcus moving closer, as if he knew that he needed to get Lucy away from this idiot, but was waiting for a cue from Lucy.
The idiot said something low enough that only Lucy could hear, laughed at his own joke, then leaned in even closer to say something else. Lucy’s face turned blood red with anger and I scooted my chair back at the same time Kin did. Marcus moved in even closer and out of the corner of my eye I saw Harris rushing toward the table.
“You did not just say that to me,” Lucy raged as she pushed away from the table and stood so she could glare down at the douchebag. “Who the hell do you think you are, asshole?”
The guy laughed, like he was having the best time of his life. “Take it easy, honey. I meant no offense. I thought all you rocker bitches sucked dick for fun.”
I jumped to my feet, forgetting about the second guy in my need to make that fucker bleed. Kin was already reaching for him at the same time Harris stopped behind Lucy and Marcus moved to stand behind the prick who was still grinning up at Lucy like the moron he was.
I was so intent on ending the sonofabitch that I didn’t see Lucy move. One second she was standing there, seething with justifiable rage, the next she was shaking out her hand. The blood now gushing from the guy’s face told me she had broken his nose. He wasn’t grinning now as he cupped his nose in both hands, his eyes already starting to swell.
“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, you godsdamn motherfucking piece of shit. I will cut your dick off and feed it to you,” she screamed in his face.
Marcus moved fast, grabbing the bleeding dude by the back of the neck and forcing him to his feet none too gently. Several of Harris’s security team appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him and the bleeding guy’s friend.
Kin rushed around the table, and I followed a little more slowly.
“You need some ice, baby.”
Lucy pulled her hand away from Harris’s hold. “It’s fine. I just need to go to the bathroom and wash it off.”
Kin wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Come on, slugger. Let’s go clean you up.”
She nodded and started to turn away from Harris, but I saw the slight sheen of tears in her eyes and in the next second Harris was pulling her into his arms. “Baby, it’s okay,” I heard him murmur. “I’ve got you, Lu.”
Her shoulders started to shake and a moment later a small sob left her. “I-I think I broke my hand.”
Shit.
I took a menacing step toward the bleeding fucker, but Marcus tightened his hold on his prisoner while two security guys stepped between me and the guy who I wanted to put my fist through. Who the hell treated chicks like that? Alicia would have skinned me alive if she ever heard me say anything like that in front of a girl, and I’d always been careful how I treated chicks in front of my sister. That this idiot had upset Lucy so much only made me want to take a turn or three at kicking his ass, so I could only imagine what Harris was feeling right then.
But instead of worrying about the dude bleeding all over his club’s floor, Harris was caught up in soothing Lucy who was still crying. “Okay, baby. I’ll take care of you,” he promised her as he pulled back and looked down at her before bending to brush a kiss over the tip of her nose.
Fuck, I should take notes from my friend. Maybe if I paid enough attention I could work some of that magic on Kin.
While Harris talked to his security, I moved closer to Lucy and Kin, who was now examining Lucy’s hand. Her knuckles were already swelling and bruised. She had blood on her hand, but I couldn’t tell if it was hers or just the douchebag’s. She needed to wash it to make sure she didn’t have any cut skin, and an ice pack to help with the swelling.
Harris turned away from his security personnel who were already dragging both the bleeding fucker and his friend away. “Let’s get you to the emergency room, Lu.” He pulled her against his side and headed for his office that led out onto the back street.
A Range Rover was already waiting outside for us. Marcus opened the back door and Harris climbed in and pulled Lucy right onto his lap. Kin got in on the other side and I nudged her over so I could sit with them. I wasn’t gonna lie. Marcus was a scary-ass fucker and I’d much rather torture myself sitting next to Kin than deal with that hulk of a badass by riding in the passenger seat.
Like I had expected, it was pure torture sitting beside Kin. The ten-minute ride was hell-filled-heaven stuck in that back seat. There was no room so Kin was pushed up against every inch of my right side. I hadn’t been this close to her in a hell of a long time, but I was thankful for it nonetheless. I could smell her shampoo, could practically taste the body wash she had always used. The combination was intoxicating and my mouth watered for just a tiny taste, even as other parts of my body hardened and begged for her closer touch.
The SUV came to a sudden stop in front of a nearby hospital and I would have given my left arm to have had just a few more minutes with Kin like that. Instead, Marcus got out of the front seat and reached for Lucy. Harris didn’t let her get far, though
, as he took charge of the situation from the second her uninjured hand was back in his own.
I got out on my side of the car and offered Kin my hand to help her out. To my surprise she took it, and my heart pounded at the contact so hard it nearly burst out of my chest, but as soon as she was free she pulled away and followed after Lucy.
Grimacing, I headed into the emergency room where Harris was already talking quietly to a nurse. By the time I reached them, Harris and Lucy were being led back to a room with Marcus, but Kin and I had to stay in the waiting room.
I hated the circumstances that had brought us to this, but I wasn’t going to waste a fucking second of the time I would get to be alone with Kin. The waiting room was half full and Kin found two seats in the back. I dropped down beside her and she didn’t shy away when I draped an arm over the back of her chair.
“Do you think her hand is really broken?” Her voice was slightly shaky and she looked up at me with worried blue eyes.
“I doubt it. It’s most likely a bad bruise or a sprain, but those can hurt worse than a break. Kassa sprained her foot when she was thirteen. The doctor said she would’ve had a shorter recovery time if she’d actually broken it.”
She let out a relieved sigh. “Caleb broke his foot his freshman year of high school. He had to have a plate and wore a boot for three months. Football was a no go, so that’s when he started going crazy with the weightlifting.”
“I remember you telling me about that,” I murmured, remembering her stepbrother who could easily bench-press one of the cars he was so intent on learning to engineer in college. “He tripped over Angie’s curling iron in the bathroom.”
Kin’s eyes widened and the smallest of smiles teased at her lips. “Yeah.” The smile was quick to disappear and she looked away from me. “Yeah…”
Her voice was full of so much sadness that it gutted me. I knew how close she was to the twins. She probably missed them just as much as I missed Kassa. “Don’t you get to see them at all, Kin?”
She was quiet for a long moment and I was sure she wasn’t going to answer me when she finally shrugged and shook her head. “Scott won’t let me go visit them for Christmas, but Carter said he might be able to come out here to California for a few days. That helps a little.”
My hands clenched into fists and I glared off at nothing in particular as I realized just how lonely Kin must be. I knew she had Lucy, but she was probably the only person Kin had right then. She needed more people to support her, to help her grieve for her mother. To just be there for her.
I should have been one of those people.
“I’m so sorry about your, mom,” I told her, and her head snapped around. It was the first time I’d actually given her my condolences for losing her mother. Fuck, I sucked. “Abby was a great woman, and I know how close you two were. I’m sorry you lost her. I’m…sorry for everything.”
Kin stared up at me for nearly two full minutes, but I didn’t dare look away or break our gazes in any way. She wasn’t glaring at me, and the look in her eyes told me she wasn’t plotting my death. But I could see the hurt still shining bright, could see the pain that was right below the surface.
Finally, she blew out a long harsh breath. “Thanks, Jace. I really appreciate it. My mom… She liked you. When you left for California, she was proud of you and the other guys.”
A white-hot blade stabbed into my chest. Abagail Jacobson had been proud of me? Fucking hell, why did that hurt so much?
Because you haven’t done shit to make her proud, dumbass. All you’ve done is break her girl’s heart and fuck around.
We sat there in silence for nearly ten minutes. I tried to find the right words to tell her again how sorry I was, not just for her mom, but for leaving. For not calling. Not finding out if she was okay or to see how she was handling what was going on with her mother. I wanted to say the right thing that would make her forgive me for so many fuckups, but nothing would come. Me, Jace St. Charles, had no words for the first time in my life.
Before I could find the right thing to say, she surprised me by turning in her hard, plastic seat and looking me in the eyes. She blew out a harsh huff, but then gave me a grim smile that made me want to put my fist through a wall for some fucking reason. “Look, Jace, I’m sorry. I’ve been a huge bitch to you for months now.”
I had to clench my teeth to keep from opening my mouth and saying something stupid. Yeah, she had been a bitch, but I’d deserved it. So I sat there, staring at her with wide eyes as she continued. “I understand why you left, and I’m actually really proud of you and Tainted Knights for accomplishing so much.” She smiled, but it was full of sadness. “I knew the second I heard you guys performing in Bristol that you would go places. It’s just…I guess everything happened all at once. You left. My mom got so sick and then…died...”
Her voice broke but she cleared her throat and continued as if she hadn’t just nearly cried. Nearly broken down and sobbed. But that was Kin. She was strong when she needed to be. That she’d had to be so strong and on her own for too damn long only pissed me off that much more. At myself. At her father. At the fucking world.
“I had no right to be so mad. I’m sorry I was a bitch,” she said with a little more strength in her voice.
“Kin…” I didn’t want her apology. She had nothing to be sorry about. I should have tried harder, should have fucking been there for her when she needed someone to hold her through losing her mother. Through having to uproot herself during her senior year of high school and move in with a new family she didn’t know, like or trust.
She shook her head. “No, don’t say anything. I just… Can we be friends? I mean, we’re going to see a lot of each other, what with your best friend being so obviously in love with my best friend. We could at least be civil to each other and try to be friends.”
She wanted to be friends.
Friends.
Civil.
Fuck friends.
Fuck civil.
But hell, it was more than what I had right then. Maybe she would even answer the damn phone when I called her now. So biting back my need to yell at the world that I wanted more than friendship—that I wanted her back in my arms where she belonged—I nodded. “I’d like that, Kin.”
Chapter 12
Kin
Thankfully, Lucy’s hand wasn’t broken, but like Jace had said it probably would have hurt worse if she had. She was in pain, but refused to take anything harder than the ibuprofen that the doctor had suggested she take. She was stubborn, but I knew her reasons. She’d told me what had happened when she was nine, so I understood why she didn’t like touching anything but over-the-counter pain relievers.
The next morning Lucy couldn’t find her phone, but her mother handed Lucy her own and we were out the door. For once the school day passed quickly when all I wanted it to do was drag. I wasn’t in a hurry to get home and face the consequences of skipping out on Georgia the night before. All too soon the last bell rang and while Lucy and I walked out to the student parking lot, I saw Georgia waiting impatiently in her little sports car with Carolina.
Awesome.
I would have rather just gone home with Lucy, but hiding from a difficult situation wasn’t my style. Besides, I needed some fresh clothes that were my own and not the borrowed ones I’d gotten from Lucy that morning.
I hugged my friend as she got into her Range Rover and clenched my jaw as I headed toward the step-bitches. I’d left my guitar at First Bass but Jace had put it up for me the night before. He’d texted me twice the night before and for the first time I hadn’t ignored his messages.
My heart had been heavy as I’d sent him a reply thanking him for taking care of the guitar for me. That guitar was special to me and he knew it. Carter had given it to me when I was ten and it was actually signed by DJ Ashba, my third favorite guitarist behind Drake Stevenson and Wroth Niall.
Goodnight, babe. Hope I see you at the show tomorrow night. Sweet dreams.
That had been Jace’s second text the night before and I’d been half asleep and my heart had been weak when I’d returned his message.
Night. See you then.
Up until then I hadn’t planned on going back to First Bass that week. Seeing him Wednesday nights was hard enough, but going on Thursdays was always harder and I hadn’t been back to see a Tainted Knights show since Jace had played tonsil hockey with a groupie. But now we were supposed to be friends, so I couldn’t let shit like that bother me.
Friends.
I’d asked for friendship.
I must have been high or some shit because I don’t even know why I’d said something so stupid. We’d just been sitting there in a crowded waiting room and the tension between us had been unbearable. I’d caved and told him I was sorry.
Me.
Sorry.
But as the words had left my lips, I’d realized that it was true. I was sorry for acting like a complete bitch to him. It was true that I was proud of him and the other guys. And it was true I was tired of fighting with him so much. Tired period. So, while it would hurt like a death blow to the chest every time I saw him with someone else, I had to move on. Hadn’t I said that I had so many times that I was blue in the face?
Well, now it was time I proved it.
It was actually kind of a relief, not having to worry about seeing him whenever I went to First Bass with Lucy. Maybe now I could add one more friend to my short list, and be able to confide in him like I’d once done a million years ago.
As I climbed into the back of Georgia and Carolina’s car, Georgia shot me a smirk in the review mirror. “Mother wants to talk to you.”
I barely refrained from rolling my eyes as I pulled my cellphone out of my messenger bag. “I bet she does,” I muttered as I swiped my finger over the screen and saw that I had ten text messages waiting on me from Jace.