A dull smile pumps from me. “You hit the crap on the head, all right.”
“So, who is she?” Rex cranes his neck in twelve different directions right alongside of me. I know that if I confess to Rex how I feel about Lucky, it’s the same as telling Jet.
I glance around and find Ava and Grant huddled against the wall just behind her, their arms are wrapped around one another right here in the open. I happen to know that Owen is here tonight and that he’s finally accepted Grant, so the two of them are free to express themselves in any way they wish. That’s what I want with Lucky. That is, if she wants it, too.
Then in a moment of startling beauty, Lucky blinks to life in this sea of tangled limbs, brilliant and shining like the brightest star. Her lips expand in what I can only hope is a smile as those nightshade eyes of hers hook to mine.
“Do we know this girl you’re trying to impress?” Scarlett jumps up, trying to get a handle on what I’m looking at.
“Yeah, you do.” I temper a laugh because for the first time ever I feel free. “Her name is Lucky Madden.”
I head in her direction, and my grin widens as I make my way over, but Lucky inches back as if I’ve come to snatch her purse. Turns out, that wasn’t a smile she was sporting for me. It was a smirk.
“Hey.” I swallow hard just taking her in this close. My entire body shakes, begging for just one touch. “Can we go in the back and talk?”
Her features darken as she looks past my shoulder, panning the room in what looks like a mild panic.
Lucky licks her lips with one quick revolution of her tongue, and something about that simple action makes me ache for her ten times harder. “Let’s go.”
I lead the way to the farthest room in the back and entomb us inside.
My arms find themselves around her waist, and I bury my face in her wild hair, just taking in the clean sweet scent of the woman I love. Holy hell, I do love her. I love her so much it feels as if my heart is bleeding out on the inside.
“Lucky.” I pull her in and bear my gaze into hers. “That night in the tree, under the stars, the fireflies, the moon dancing in your eyes—that was magic.”
She takes a deep breath as if bracing herself for the worst. Moisture builds in her eyes, and she blinks it away, losing her gaze to the wall.
“Lucky”—I touch my finger to her chin and bring her eyes right back to mine—“I realized that night the feelings I had for you, they were more than I could have hoped for. Lucky—I’m in love with you.” A dull laugh rumbles from my chest, and her eyes widen as if I just sidelined her. “I love it when you’re near me, and it kills me when we’re apart. It kills me to think you might really think I’m an asshole—that you might really be into Eli Gates.” I blink hard at that one. “Most of all, it kills me to think that maybe you won’t feel the same. And I want you to know that whatever it is you feel for me—love, hate, friendship—I’m willing to accept it. I just want to see you happy. I want to see you around, have you in my life in some capacity.” I swallow hard because it hits me that Lucky has never been this quiet in my presence before. Silence cannot be a good fucking sign.
Her hard glare softens. A tiny smile curves her lips up at the corners, and she breaks out into a bubble brook of laugher.
“What’s so funny?” At this point it doesn’t really matter because she sliced through the tension with a razor wire, and I’m feeling relaxed right down to my bones.
“Lawson.” Her lips quiver as she cups my cheeks with her hands. Her eyes swell with tears, and this time they spill over. “I’m in love with you, too.”
I give a knowing nod into her admission—disappointment swimming rife through my veins. I knew it would have taken a lot. I knew—“What did you say?” I tilt my ear toward her in the event I didn’t hear her right.
“I said I’m in love, you big goof!” She gives a light slap to my cheek. “That was for dry humping that cheerleader last night. We both know it should have been me.” She slaps the other cheek, markedly harder, but I can’t help but laugh. “And that’s for letting her gnaw on your face like a rat to cheese.”
“I guess that makes me the cheese.” I pull her in tight and land my lips to the top of her head, and I linger there for a moment. I never want to let go.
“Lucky for you, I happen to like cheese.” She pulls my face toward hers, and our mouths explode over one another. Lucky and I are all tongues and teeth. Our heavy breathing rivaled by our swiveled hands moving over one another’s bodies at the speed of light.
Lucky loves me. I can’t breathe or think or see straight. This girl, right here, is all mine. There’s not an Eli Gates, not a Jet Madden, or any one person in the world who is able to stop us.
We back into the table, and Lucky jumps up and wraps her legs around me, forcing that tight little dress of hers to roll up to her waist. I glance down and catch a glimpse of her black lace panties, and my head tips back as I let out a groan.
“Come here,” she pants. “It’s time for me to meet Prince Albert.” She pulls my mouth over hers, and her hands work my jeans loose.
Shit. I’m hard, and there’s only one sure way out of this. We should go. I should take her out the back and run her all the way to Briggs, to The Row, to my bed where she belongs. I can fill her in on how I abdicated the throne before I was ever crowned. But first, I need one quick bite of those sweet, luscious tits I’ve missed so damn much.
I pull down the top of her dress, and the girls spring out like a couple of happy apples. I bury my face in them, kissing—them in turn, so fucking happy to—
The door bursts open, and the noise from the party spills inside.
“Lucky!” a male voice booms like an engine about to combust, and I don’t need to turn around to confirm it’s my worst nightmare—Jet Madden himself.
“Shit!” Lucky screams so loud, the instruments in the room vibrate like tuning forks. I do my damnedest to stuff myself back into my pants while Lucky backs away from me as if my dick just caught fire. Most likely, Jet is getting the gasoline ready.
Daisy appears and tries pulling Lucky toward the exit, but Lucky scuttles back and hides behind me. I’d let her in on the fact that I’m most likely not the safest place she could take shelter, but at this moment I want nothing more than to protect her, to protect us.
I spin around to find Jet with fire in his eyes. The cords of his neck are frozen in time as he bears those fangs at us. Not one but two cameras are narrowly squeezed in the doorway along with a sound stick that lets me know they’re hoping for a show. Rex, Owen, and Grant spill into the room, just as a fist the size of a ham comes swinging my way.
“You lousy fuck!” Jet snatches me by the shirt and thrashes me against the wall, sending an entire box of metal instruments crashing to the floor, and Lucky screams nonstop. “You little piece of shit!” he roars as he bashes my head into the wall over and over. My instincts tell me to knee him in the balls, but that’s a chick move, and I know that Jet is only trying to protect Lucky. I should take it—let him splatter my brains against the wall. I probably deserve it. Who the hell did I think I was taking advantage of his sister under his roof?
Rex steps in and tries to pluck him off, and Jet flicks him away like a rag doll.
Jet pulls me forward with such a thrust, I actually feel my ears pop from the pressure. “I fucking paid you to keep the filth off of her, and here it was you I had to look out for.”
“What?” Lucky shrieks through tears.
“That’s right.” Jet shoves his knee into my gut and compresses the air right out of my lungs. Owen jumps on his back, and Grant tries to get between us, but Jet proves unstoppable. “I gave this little shit two solid grand, and he not only took advantage of me—he took advantage of you!” He gives a violent shake to my shirt before launching me backward, and I hit my head with a watermelon-like thump. A warm gush of fluid runs down the back of my neck, and the room spins and sways. I hit the hard floor with a thud.
Lucky shouts so
mething unintelligible as Grant pulls me toward him.
“Stay with me, dude. I see blood. Let’s get you out of here.”
“I don’t do blood.” A heavy wave of nausea envelops me, and, just as I try to sit up, the room flips upside down.
“Lawson!” Grant barks and gives my cheek a brisk slap. The room bounces in and out, flickering dim as a candle.
The world fades into a fog of darkness, and I fade right along with it.
Heart on the Line
Lucky
“You killed him!” I break free from the hold Daisy has on me and start throwing punches at my brother like a monkey on fire.
“Stop!” Ava gets between us, and I accidentally land a right hook over her eye.
“Sorry!”
“Shit!” Grant pulls her over, and I run to where Lawson lies in a quickly growing pool of blood.
“I’m so sorry, Lawson.” My fingers touch over his forehead, and he’s warm to the touch, clammy.
Jet kneels next to me with an arm full of towels, carefully lifts Lawson’s head, and places one underneath it.
Rex and Scarlett fall next to us.
“Honey?” Scarlett lightly taps her brother over his cheeks. “Wake up, hon. I promise you can sleep later.”
Lawson gives a groggy moan, his lids fluttering as if he’s ready to rouse, and I’m flooded with relief at the sight.
“Lawson, it’s me Lucky! Please open your beautiful eyes. I just want to see them one more time.”
Jet growls over at me, clearly unhappy with the sentiment, but I can give all of zero fucks at the moment. I’m not through with him by a long shot.
“Don’t you even start.” I grit my teeth up at my brother. “If there’s anything wrong with this boy, I will never forgive you.”
Jet’s eyes light up like flares. “He’s lucky he’s still breathing.” Jet’s chest pulsates with rage. Most likely at the memory of what he witnessed. I of all people should know that was enough to kill both him and Lawson.
Owen and Piper make their way over with a bag of ice they place near the top of Lawson’s head as if it might actually do something.
A cameraman gets in close, and Jet lets out an earthshattering roar. “Everybody out! Especially you. I want all crew, every single soul in this place to go home,” he barks. “Party’s over.” Jet bites down over his bottom lip, and it quivers. His eyes fill with moisture. “I’m sorry, dude. Wake the fuck up. I’m not going to kill you.”
Scarlett lets out an insolent huff. “Damn right, you’re not going to kill him. You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t sue the shit out of you.” Now it’s Scarlett with a fire brewing in her eyes, and her fury is solely directed at my barbaric big brother and his need to tear people to pieces for the sake of my purity.
Rex shakes his head at Jet. “He’s not going to do that.”
Jet sighs so hard his entire body sags. I haven’t seen my brother looking so dejected, but then again, I haven’t witnessed him coming so close to a homicide before.
“I knew”—my voice shakes as I ready to let my violent ass of a brother have it—“I knew that you were capable of tearing anyone I ever dated limb from limb, but I never thought you’d do it. I thought you’d grow up like Owen!”
Ava cringes from behind her brother and shakes her head at me as if willing me to stop.
“But no.” My fingers interlace with Lawson’s, and I cradle his hand in mine. “You really are the primal ape you want everyone to believe you are. And now look. Lawson might never be the same again.” Tears flow freely down my cheeks, and I don’t stop them. I don’t want them to stop. If all I can do about this is cry, then so be it.
Daisy runs in, leading the way for the paramedics. “We need to clear the room.”
Bodies file out, but I refuse to leave. Soon Lawson is strapped to a stretcher, hoisted up onto a gurney, and wheeled out to the mouth of a waiting ambulance. The blinking lights, the two police cruisers who accompany it on the street, every last bit of this scene frightens me.
Scarlett jumps into the back of the ambulance, and just as I’m about to do the same, one of the paramedics carefully moves me back a few steps.
“Are you family, ma’am?”
“No, that’s my—” a thousand thoughts sail through my mind—“boyfriend.” I’m not sure if that’s what Lawson is, but I do know he’s more than a friend.
“You can meet up with us at Hollow Brook General. We’ll get him there safe for you.”
It all happens so fast. The slamming of the doors, the wailing of the siren as they speed off down the street, the emptiness they leave in their way.
Jet tries to wrap his arm around me, but I buck him off. “Don’t you touch me. In fact, don’t talk to me either.” I run over to Ava and Grant. “Ava—ride with me. I don’t want to be alone.”
“You can’t drive.” Grant shakes his head at the idea. “You either come with me, or Ava drives your truck and I’ll meet you there.”
And that’s what we do. Ava drives my truck as I slink in my seat and sob all the way there.
We wait for two solid hours—Jet and all his friends, Ava, Grant, and me. Rush and Eli came down when they heard the news. It’s been a party all right. More like a wake. And among the worrying, the praying, I can’t get those words Jet shouted out of my mind. He paid Lawson to keep an eye on me. Paid him? What was that about? Jet mentioned keeping me away from people. This is insanity. I don’t know who to be angrier with, Jet for making the offer or Lawson for taking it. But for tonight I’m shelving the entire horrible reality. There’s actually a far more horrible reality at hand with Lawson lying in a bed somewhere fighting for his life.
Finally, Scarlett comes out, and I race over with a strong desire to shake any details I can out of her.
“He’s going to be fine.” She closes her eyes for a moment. “Thirteen stitches and some heavy drugs took care of it. The CT scan came back perfect. No swelling on the brain.” She blushes when she says it and wipes my cheek dry with her thumb. “He’s asking for you. My family is wrapping up their visit, so you can go back there. The doctors want to keep him overnight for observation, but he’ll be back at school come Monday.”
“That’s too bad, I guess.” I let out a nervous laugh. “Thank you.” I pull her in and bury my face in her dark crimson locks. I shoot a quick glance to Jet, and he offers me a thumbs-up. I’m so relieved that Lawson is going to live, that he’ll be back home tomorrow, I give Jet a thumbs-up right back.
It takes less than a minute for me to find the cubicle they’ve sequestered Lawson in. Trixy offers me a quick hug before she takes off with Knox. Lawson’s dad and stepmom leave with apprehensive smiles. I’m sure they’ve heard the entire sordid tale by now. I’m the Lolita who charmed his pants off, only to have her brother bash poor Lawson’s head in.
And then I see him. There he is. My heart stops. Lawson sits propped up, leaning against an icepack with that crooked grin plastered to his face. His lids hang low, and his eyes are glossy. His face is swollen as if he just ate a beehive, and his left eye is ringed a powder blue quickly turning purple. Lawson looks as if he was hit by a semi, and it frightens me. Jet and that beating he doled out echoes through my mind, and I’m filled with the sudden urge to run very far away from Lawson Kent, if only to keep him safe.
“Hey.” I give a little wave as I make my way over. “How do you feel?” My lips twitch. My cheeks jump, and it’s all I can do not to enter into an all-out sob. Jet didn’t really do this to him alone. I’m the reason Lawson Kent is banged up and lying in a hospital bed.
“I was feeling like shit.” He pumps his grin a little wider. “But now that you’re here, I’m feeling a hell of a lot better.” He pulls me down by the cheek and lands a hot kiss to my lips. “Much better.”
“You sound exhausted. I heard they’re keeping you overnight. Maybe I should go?” My heart creeps up into my throat and twists itself into a pretzel. Try as I might, I can’t get another word out. I want to te
ll Lawson that I love him. I want to tell Lawson that I would do anything to be with him. Mostly, I want to tell Lawson that I want to keep him safe—to forgive me for what I’m about to do. I lean in and offer him a gentle kiss to the lips, my tears falling over him like the curse they’ve become. In truth, it’s me that’s the curse. I cursed Jade, then my parents, and, tonight, I cursed Lawson. Yes, I did.
In a morbid way, I belong to Jet, and deep down I know he will never approve of Lawson and me together. Tonight is a prime example of that—a precursor of demented things to come.
“I’m sorry,” I mouth as a flood of heaviness fills me. A hot river of tears burns a trail of pain down my cheeks.
And just like that, I leave.
Lawson Kent and I are over.
He can keep my heart.
I don’t need it anymore.
The next morning, Ava and Harper sit on the bed across from me with their wordless judgments, their glaring accusations that scream louder and harsher than words ever could.
“Would you two stop?” I grunt just as my phone goes off once again. Lawson has texted and called a dozen times, but I’m too afraid to have a conversation with him right now. I’m too afraid to have anything to do with him ever again.
Don’t shut me out.
That’s his latest, but not his greatest plea by a mile. You didn’t do this to me—now that was a good one. He’s right in theory, but I can’t shake the feeling that yes indeed I did do this to him.
“Text him back.” Ava’s tone comes off like a threat. “Do it or I’ll steal your phone and do it for you. Grant says you’re killing him.”
“No, I’m not.” My heart wrenches at the thought. “I’m saving his life.”
Harper moans at the idea. “You’re not saving anything. You’re ruining things. The way you described what was said in that room before all hell broke loose—that’s every girl’s dream. You’re insane if you let your demented brother rule your life this way. Don’t you see? You’re giving Jet just what he wanted. Now the next time you’re with a guy all he has to do is break a few heads, and he knows you’ll be single by morning. You need to teach him a lesson and stick to your guns. Lawson and you were meant to be together.”