I gave him a bright smile that felt brittle. “I’ll be right back. I just have to check in with my worried roommate. Eat. This won’t take long.”
“What do you want? I’ll order for you.”
My stomach growled hungrily as my heart melted all over again for him. “Bacon, scrambled eggs, and Cinnabon pancakes.”
“You got it,” he told me with a wink.
Riley’s phone went off in my hand, and I saw it was a text from Lindsey. Sighing, I swiped my thumb over the text and hit connect. She was already answering before I could even reach the exit.
“Riley, I need Amara!” she half sobbed.
I closed my eyes. “What’s going on, Lin?”
Hearing my voice, she let out a relieved sigh. “Amara, your stepdad won’t leave me alone. The landline has been going off every hour, and every time I tell him you’re not here, it only gets him angrier.”
“Did you tell him where I am?” I demanded, anxiety making my tone harsh. Aches that had healed years ago began to throb just thinking of my stepdad.
“Of course I didn’t!” she cried defensively. “You know I would never do that to you.”
I gritted my teeth, knowing she would never give me up, even under fear of death. Which was exactly what she was probably feeling. I knew the best thing to do was catch the next flight home and deal with Malcolm on my own, but right then—for the first damn time in my life—I wanted to be selfish. “Look, turn off the ringer. Don’t answer the phone or the door for that matter, in case he comes over. Riley and I will be home tomorrow night.”
“You mean you’re not coming home today?” she groaned loudly.
“No.”
“Amara! He’s only going to be that much more irrational when you do talk to him. Please, just come home now, and you can be at your parents’ house by tonight.”
I knew she was right, and I was already dreading the conversation—or worse, the face-to-face meeting—that was inevitable. There was no way I was walking away from that unscathed. But I was having a good time with Cash, and I wasn’t about to end it before I had to. Whether we continued this thing once we were both back in California or not, I wanted this time with him. Whatever Malcolm dished out would be totally worth getting to spend the extra time with Cash.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night, Lin.”
She sighed resignedly. “This is going to end badly.”
“That’s my problem.”
“No. It’s both our problems. You’re my best friend. If something happens to you, I’ll have no one.” She sighed tiredly. “Go. Enjoy your last weekend of freedom. I doubt you’ll have another peaceful moment after this.”
The sad thing was, she was being completely realistic. Swallowing the panic that was trying to consume me, I put on my best fake smile. The one that my mother had made me perfect over the years so the outside world didn’t see just how broken I really was on the inside. I could have won a fucking Oscar with this damn smile.
“See you soon,” I told her with a laugh.
“I hope so.”
Ending the call, I stood there for a long moment, trying to make my heart return to a more normal pace. A pissed-off Malcolm was unpredictable. I needed to go into that conversation with a clear head. I wiped my sweaty hands on my shorts, my stomach in knots now. There was little chance I was actually going to be able to eat any of the food Cash was ordering for me. A scream bubbled up in my chest, making it hard to breathe, and I had to fight hard for my next inhale of oxygen.
I didn’t want to think about what would happen tomorrow. Didn’t want to imagine what kind of storm I would go home to and have to face on my own. That was how it always was, though. I was always alone when it came to my mom and her husband. I had no one to stand behind me, not even Riley and Lindsey, because I loved them both too much ever to subject them to Malcolm’s wrath.
“You okay?”
I yelped and turned to find Emmie standing right behind me. My smile still in place, I nodded. “Sure. Just some family drama. Nothing unusual.”
The look on her face didn’t change, and as those big green eyes seemed to bore straight into me, cutting through every layer I’d ever erected around my soul, I knew she could see the scared little girl I was underneath.
Shame made my face heat. Lowering my eyes, I started to move around her, hating that she of all people could see the truth about how fragile I really was. Emmie Armstrong was my hero, the girl who came from nothing but became a fucking goddess in the music world. While I knew I could never aspire to be even a little like her, that hadn’t kept me from dreaming.
A soft hand caught my wrist when I would have passed her, holding me in place. Lifting my head, I met her gaze and saw total understanding in those green depths. “If you ever need anything—anything, Amara—come to my office. I’ll do whatever I can for you.”
My smile started to crumble, my chin quivering without my permission. Quickly locking it back into position, I nodded once. “Thanks. I…I should get back.”
A waitress was setting plates of food in front of Cash when I returned. I gave Riley back her phone and took my seat beside him. My stomach protested when I looked down at my own plate of food, but I picked up a slice of crispy bacon and forced myself to eat half of it.
Cash draped an arm along the back of my chair, his fingers playing with my hair as he inhaled his food and talked to everyone around us. I smiled and nodded whenever it was appropriate and pretended to eat my breakfast, but mostly I kept quiet as I tried to push thoughts of Malcolm out of my mind.
“What’s on the agenda for the day, kid?” Shane asked Riley. “You going back to the festival?”
Riley smirked at the rocker. “What’re my other choices?”
“We were thinking of doing a friendly little paintball war later,” he said with a shrug. “You girls want to join in?” He glanced my way, letting me know I was included in the question.
“This is Riley’s weekend. I’ll follow wherever she leads,” I told him as I took a small bite of my pancakes.
“Depends.” Riley grinned. “Whose team would we be on?”
“Captains!” Drake called, and at least eight hands shot forward as round after round of Rock, Paper, Scissors began.
“How did the quiet chick beat you?” Devlin Cutter asked his brothers-in-law. “Is she really a voodoo princess?”
“I don’t know, but I’m kind of scared of her,” Shane said with a grin in Roanna’s direction. “Peace, rock goddess. Let me be on your team so I don’t have to watch my back.”
“No way!” Aubree shook her head at him. “I say, all of us girls against the guys.”
“I’m in,” Santana told her and laughed at Kale when he pouted at her.
Shane snorted. “That’s not fair to your team, ladies. There are twelve of us and only seven of you because I know Emmie won’t play.”
“Scared?” London challenged.
“Of course not.” But I could see the irritation playing across his face at the challenge. “I just want to make it fair to you girls.”
“I’d be more concerned for your own team if I were you,” Genesis snickered. “We’re totally going to smoke you idiots.”
“Let’s make this interesting,” London offered. “How about a little friendly bet?”
“No bets,” Devlin groaned, but Shane was smiling smugly.
“Okay, kid. What you got in mind?”
“London,” Roanna warned, but the other blonde only shushed her. “Sin, stop this before it gets out of hand.”
“Don’t worry, sweet girl. If London can’t take it, she shouldn’t be issuing challenges,” Sin tried to reassure her.
“I’m not worried about London,” she groaned. “It’s you guys.”
Riley and I shared a look. Grinning, we nodded in unison. “We’re totally in. What’s this bet?”
“Ah, Dreamer. You’re not going to be on my team?”
“Sorry, babe. I’m with the girls on this to the end.
” I winked and popped my last piece of bacon into his mouth. “We can play later, though.”
“Pride is at stake, fellas,” London said with a smirk that was beautifully evil. “Losers have to announce to the world via all social medias that they lost. That’s going to be you, by the way, Stevenson.”
“Deal,” he agreed, offering his hand for her to shake.
“With pictures and video.”
“Oh God, this is going to end badly.” But Roanna sighed resignedly much like Lindsey had earlier as the other three Bombshells rubbed their hands together gleefully.
Chapter 6
Amara
The groans around me sounded like actual fallen soldiers—and not those just taken out by paintballs. It was a gruesome sight, the majority of the victims having been blindsided by orange paint. Those in blue—which was mostly just me—were few and far between, leaning up against trees to support their backs as they wiped sweat from their brows or drained bottles of water.
Riley and I stood off to the side with Santana who had been videoing with her phone the last hour more than participating. It had been our jobs to keep her safe so she could video the Bombshells in action. The curses that had charged the air as one rocker after another had been taken out by the four blondes had been symphonic, and I was still wondering how the four of them had taken on all twelve of the guys and come out untouched.
Nik groaned as Jesse plopped down beside him and punched him in the arm. “I thought you were going to watch my back. I had that London chick in my sights and would have taken her out if you’d been watching behind us.”
“Dude, Genesis is like a damn ninja. I didn’t even hear her coming. She snuck up on me so fast I couldn’t even react.”
“Sin,” Kale snapped at his friend. “Your girl is a fucking sniper. Where the hell was she hiding?”
Sin grunted a reply that none of us heard, but it still had Riley and me in stitches just thinking about it. Santana was softly snickering as she got a close-up of her boyfriend’s face, covered in neon orange paint, with his goggles outlining the only part unaffected. Beside him, Sin had a splat of paint where I would assume his heart was and another on his left arm.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going. Gods, you chicks are ballbusters.”
Every head shot around at the sound of Shane’s voice, and we watched with gaping mouths as all four Bombshells marched the Demon toward us with his hands on his head like a prisoner of war. He was covered in paint, from his hair down to his shoes. If it hadn’t been so funny, I might have felt a little sympathy for him. Those damn paintballs hurt, and he’d gotten drilled from head to toe.
“On your knees,” Aubree commanded.
He glared at her over his shoulder. “This was not part of the deal,” he gritted out.
“Sure, it was,” London told him with a glare. “Santana, get your sexy ass over here. We gotta get this quick before he goes into beast mode.”
Shane dropped to his knees with his hands still on the back of his head just as Santana stepped forward. “Speak!” Genesis ordered.
He rolled his blue-gray eyes. “I’m Shane Stevenson, and I freaking made a huge-ass mistake by even making a bet with these bitches.”
“Shane,” Jesse called out. “This is going on social media. Do you want Violet and Mason to hear that?”
His face twisted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Let me rephrase,” Jesse laughed. “Do you want your wife to hear you say that?”
Exhaling long and hard, he glowered up at the camera. “You gonna be able to edit that out?”
“No editing,” London told him. “We don’t want anyone claiming this isn’t real.”
“Christ,” he groaned. “Yeah, okay, whatever. Harper, beautiful, I’m sorry I called them bitches. But do you see what they’ve done to me? They totally fucked up my favorite running shoes.”
“Boo-fucking-hoo. Should have worn boots,” Aubree sniggered.
“Get on with it,” London commanded.
“I’m Shane Stevenson, and we just got our asses handed to us by the Blonde Bombshells during a game of paintball war.”
“Who is ‘we’?” I asked, fighting to keep my grin at bay.
He shot me a glare, but Santana was already turning the camera on the other fallen rockers once again. “Demon’s Wings and OtherWorld got their asses kicked so hard by a few little bitty girls. Aw, and look at the poor, fallen Tainted Knights. Babe, you’ve got paint in your ears!” Santana laughed when Kale flipped her off.
“Wait, where’s Cash?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t seen him since we’d passed him in the woods. Someone, probably Roanna since she was sniping those harder to get, had pelted him three times in the back. I’d stopped, to Riley and Santana’s dismay, and kissed him. When his hands had grabbed my ass and he’d deepened the kiss—and I’d gotten lost in the taste of him all over again—my friends had dragged me away.
“He got a call. Said he’d be back in a few,” Liam told me.
“Are you happy now?” Shane asked London. “Can I get up?”
“London,” Roanna groaned when the other Bombshell seemed to be thinking it over.
“Aw, Ro, you’re messing with my fun.” She sighed exasperatedly. “Fine, Stevenson. You’re free to go.”
“Hey!” Santana squealed, dropping her phone just as Riley screamed in surprise.
I didn’t have to ask them what was going on, because I felt the sudden impact of a paintball hitting my shoulder. The Bombshells moved as one, putting Roanna in the middle like she was a baby elephant and they were trying to protect her. Aubree got hit first, then Genesis and London back-to-back. Roanna took one to the back of the shoulder, the blue paint vivid in her platinum blond hair.
It was over in seconds, and by the time Roanna was hit, I knew where the shots were coming from. Drake walked out of the woods, his gun tossed over his shoulder and a grin on his face.
“Never underestimate the Stevenson brothers, ladies,” Shane taunted them, getting to his feet to embrace his brother in a back-slapping hug.
“How did we miss him?” Aubree groaned, stunned.
“Fuck it all. We were so focused on taking out Shane, we forgot about Drake,” Genesis muttered. “How did we miss him, though? He’s the hot brother.”
“Gen, they look almost like twins,” Roanna reminded her.
“Key word ‘almost.’ You know I love long hair on a guy.”
London was already confronting the two brothers. “You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
Shane’s grin was hypnotic the way it brightened his entire face. Holy shit, but the Stevenson brothers were still hot as fuck even in their forties. “Sweetie, I saw those wheels turning in your pretty head back at breakfast. You’re just like my wife and daughter, thinking you could one-up me and get away with it. Only difference is, you’re not my wife or baby girl. You can’t twist me around your finger like them.”
“How long have you been waiting up there?” Aubree demanded.
Drake shrugged. “Never left this area. I’ve been here since the game began.”
“You sat in one spot for an hour just to snipe us?”
“Kid, I’ve got four daughters and a pregnant wife who drags me shoe shopping every weekend. I’ve sat in one spot for a hell of a lot longer than an hour.” He patted her on the head. “Better luck next time.”
Kale, laughing so hard he could barely see, pulled out his phone and jumped to his feet. “Come on, girls. Smile pretty for the camera.”
I quickly turned my head so the camera only got my profile as he videoed us. Shit. I hadn’t expected this, and now that we’d lost, I was going to end up on freaking YouTube and every social media known to man. One of the reasons Riley and I had been guarding Santana during the game was to make sure I was out of range of the camera at all times. If Malcolm was pissed now, seeing a video with me in it go viral would send him through the roof, and whatever I had to face when I got home would be ten times worse.
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“Is there a bathroom around here?” Riley asked.
“Up the hill, back at the shop where we got our gear,” Nik informed her.
“Mar, didn’t you say you had to go?” And that right there was the reason Riley was my best friend. She had my back every minute of the day.
“Yeah. I’ll be right back.” I practically ran up the hill just as Kale was having the Bombshells tell the world what happened.
Slowing my pace, I made my way to the bathroom. As I was coming out, I nearly ran right into Cash’s chest. He caught me against him, his hands sliding down my back and over my ass, holding me against his already hard cock. But his eyes were on my blue shoulder.
“Did you get hit twice?”
I grimaced. “Drake was waiting in the woods for the Bombshells to drop their guard. He sniped us all.”
He threw his head back, belly-laughing. The vibrations made my entire body zing with awareness, and I snuggled closer against him. “When do you leave?” I asked, feeling sad at the thought of his going without me.
“I have to drive up to Virginia in the morning. But I’ll be home late tomorrow.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Want to grab some dinner with me Monday night?”
The warmth in my stomach was engulfing my heart now, and I found myself smiling. “I’d like that.”
“It’s a date.” He lowered his head to kiss my neck, and I turned my head to give him better access. “Bring a change of clothes, and we can make it a sleepover.”
“Break it up, you two,” Riley commanded in a bored tone. “We’re headed to watch a movie. Shane’s making up for tricking us by taking us to see the new Marvel release.”
“Fine with me.” I cuddled into Cash. “I’ve never made out in a theater before.”
My roommate grabbed my elbow and pulled me away from him. “And you’re not going to now. This is opening weekend of the movie. There are going to be kids everywhere.”
Cash’s fingers locked around mine, refusing to let Riley take me too far. They fought a battle of wills with their eyes, and I was surprised when Riley gave in. No sooner had she released me than I was back against Cash, his lips on my neck again. “Fuck, even sweaty, you smell like heaven.”