I didn’t even blink. That was all she needed to say. If Lucy needed me, then I was going to be there for her. She was my best friend and had helped me through some of the worst times of my life. I owed her.
“Good, thank you.” She grasped my free hand—the one not entwined with Jace’s—and pulled me along with her to the idling SUV just outside the hospital’s entrance. I didn’t even have time to glance back at Jace as she rushed me away.
Drake Stevenson was behind the wheel and put it in gear as soon as the door shut behind me and his wife. He gave me a grim nod in the rearview mirror and hauled ass. I reached for my seatbelt. “Is Lucy okay?”
Lana glanced back at me from the front passenger seat. “No,” she said with tears in her eyes. “This is all a clusterfuck, Kin. I can’t explain right now because I don’t know what all is going on. All I know is that Layla called me, nearly hysterical. She and Jesse were having an argument and I could hear him raging in the background. I didn’t ask questions. Since we hadn’t made it home yet, I told Drake to come back and get you. Whatever is going on, I know Lucy will need us both.”
Layla and Jesse Thornton arguing? They were such an amazing couple. What the hell were they arguing about?
Drake remained mute the entire drive to the Thorntons’ house. I knew he adored Lucy and she loved him just as much. There was a strong bond between them, that much anyone could have seen when they were around each other. I figured that he was being pulled in two directions right then. Wanting to take care of Jenna. Wanting to comfort Lucy. It must have been killing him.
“It will all work out,” Lana kept murmuring and at first I thought she was just talking to herself, but then I saw the way she would reach for Drake’s hand every time she said it. She was trying to reassure him even though her own worry and stress was so evident on her beautiful face. “It’s going to be okay, babe. I promise.”
He would only nod and then push down harder on the gas.
As soon as the SUV pulled into the driveway, I was rushing to get out and follow behind Lana. She didn’t bother to knock, but walked right in to her sister and brother-in-law’s home. I could feel the tension in the house as soon as I stepped inside, but things seemed quiet. If Jesse and Layla had been arguing they had stopped. For the moment at least.
“She doesn’t want to go!”
My head snapped around at Jesse’s bellow and Lana and I looked at each other before hurrying toward where his voice had come from. Upstairs. Lana moved faster than I would have thought a heavily pregnant woman could have and reached the second floor landing just as Drake was coming through the front door.
“Be careful, Angel.”
“She needs to go. It will be good for her. Staying here will only make things harder for her,” Layla’s voice raged back. “Some time away from all this shit will give her some breathing space.”
“I-I won’t go,” I heard Lucy sob. “You can’t make me!’
What the hell was going on?
Lana paused long enough to open the door where all three voices were coming from and I stopped when I saw the scene inside Lucy’s room. She was lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillows as she sobbed over and over again, her body shaking from the force of each one. Jesse stood on one side of his daughter’s bed while Layla was on the other, both of them glaring at each other as they yelled back and forth at each other.
“I won’t let you send her away. She needs us more than anything right now. If she’s across the country how will we help her? Huh, Layla? How?” His voice shook with the force of his emotions as he pointed his finger out the window. “I won’t let you and Emmie send her away, godsdamn it. My little girl needs me.”
“Lana!” Lucy had lifted her head and spotted her sister. “Lana, don’t let Mom send me away. Don’t let her.”
Lana moved toward the bed, going straight to Layla. “What’s going on?” she demanded, her gaze going from one person to the other, lingering on her upset baby sister before landing on her oldest sister who was openly crying just as hard as Lucy was right then, but the determination in her brown eyes told me she wasn’t going to give up the fight.
“I told Emmie to get Lucy’s paperwork ready. She’s going to Georgetown on Monday.” Layla wrapped her arms around herself, her body shivering as if she were physically sick.
“What?” Lana exclaimed, her honey-brown eyes widening. “Layla… Do you think that’s a good idea right now? Look at Lucy. She’s a mess.”
“Weren’t you a mess after what happened with Drake?” her older sister demanded and Lana’s mouth tightened just as the man in question walked through the bedroom door. “How wrecked were you, Lana? And how much did it help to put distance between you and here?”
With a hand that noticeably trembled, Lana pushed her hair back from her face and turned away from them all. Her eyes on the carpet, she seemed to take in what Layla had said and consider it.
Drake moved to stand beside Jesse. He must have heard what Layla had told his wife and was choosing his brother-in-law’s side. “Leaving doesn’t solve anything, Layla,” he growled. “You’re just showing her she can run from her problems and it will make everything okay.”
“No, I’m showing her that sometimes you have to walk away and put yourself first,” Layla snapped.
“That’s bullshit.” Jesse yelled so loud I was sure the Armstrongs heard him two houses over.
“I don’t want to leave,” Lucy cried. “I can fix this with Harris if you would just give me time.”
“The boy’s head isn’t on straight and neither is yours,” Layla told her daughter in a tone that was full of pain. “You can’t fix this when you don’t even know how you feel right now, baby.”
“I do know. I love him. That’s all that matters.”
Lana finally turned around and sat down on the edge of her sister’s bed. With a watery smile she pushed Lucy’s tangled hair back away from her face. “Lucy, Layla’s right. You need time to clear your head. So does Harris. Give yourself some space, honey. Go to Georgetown for a semester. Focus on school and let your heart heal a little.”
Lucy went still at her sister’s words just as everyone else in the room seemed to suck in a deep, pain-filled breath. For a moment Lucy looked like she was going to argue, but at the last second her face crumbled and she fell against Lana’s chest. “It hurts, Lana. It hurts so much I can’t breathe.”
Lana wrapped her arms around her, gently rocking her back and forth. “I know, baby. I know.”
Both Jesse and Drake seemed to lose all steam for the argument as they watched the two sisters. With a haunted look in his blue-gray eyes, Drake moved to stand beside them and rubbed both their backs as Lucy cried. Jesse lowered his head, tears already pouring down his face.
“You’re right, Layla,” he muttered. “She needs to go.”
Jace
At his stepmother’s urging, Harris went home with his parents.
I thought it was better for him to go with them rather than return to the place where he’d nearly died. Plus, I doubted he could get much rest with the way things were going with Jenna right then. Jenna was basically trapped in her apartment for the moment. Even though she was an adult, she lived off of the allowance her brothers put into her bank account every month since she didn’t make much off of her artwork. With the threat of having her livelihood cut off, she had no choice but to listen.
I felt bad for her but at the same time knew Jenna had only brought it on herself. She should have told her family about rehab. She should have broken up with Tessa before she’d even come back. Fuck, she shouldn’t have gotten involved with a drug addict in the first place. Her bad decisions had brought her to this point, no one else’s.
Since Lana had pulled Kin along with her, I went home alone that night. I was glad Gray wasn’t home when I got there, but at the same time I wished he was there so I didn’t have to think about all the things going through my head right then.
Trying to keep myself o
ut of my dark thoughts, I showered and crawled into bed. I hadn’t slept in anything but a plastic chair for four days and my body ached for some real rest, but my brain wouldn’t shut down. I lay there, staring at the ceiling for the longest time. I thought about calling my sister but didn’t want to disturb her with what was on my mind. I thought about texting Kin, but didn’t want to interrupt whatever she had been dragged off to deal with. From the look on Lana’s face earlier, it had been important.
Being front and center while Harris’s life had been tossed upside down made me take a harder look at my own life. My friend had had everything going for him. A successful club that he’d built up on his own. A girlfriend who loved him and would do anything for him. It was a life that anyone would be envious of and one that had turned to ash overnight. He’d nearly lost his life, had lost his girl, and he didn’t even want to talk about his club. Thankfully he had a full staff who could handle his absence effortlessly.
What did I have?
A girlfriend I loved more than life. A career that was showing some kickass potential of success. A sister and adopted mother who loved me.
It wasn’t a bad life, that was for sure, but I felt like it was missing something.
I was still trying to figure out what that something was when my phone rang. Without looking at the screen I put it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hi,” Kin’s voice came out on a husky sigh but I still heard the quiver.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m outside. Can I come up?” she asked, but I was already jogging through the apartment.
“I’m on my way down, babe.” I punched the call button for the elevator but it was three floors up. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” she muttered. “I’m just tired, Jace.”
Finally, the elevator arrived and I stepped on. There were three other people already inside and two of them gasped when they saw me. I grimaced and looked down at myself. I was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. Not even shoes. Shit. In my rush to get to Kin I hadn’t even thought about clothes.
Ignoring the other three people, I tightened my hold on the phone. “It’s getting late, baby. I thought you would’ve gone back to your dad’s.”
“I should have, but I couldn’t bring myself to go. If you don’t want me to come up, I can just take a cab back to Malibu.”
“No,” I nearly shouted, making the other people in the elevator jump. “No, I want you to stay. I was just worried about you, that’s all.”
“Oh.” She let out a sigh that sounded relieved.
The elevator felt like it took forever to descend. I tapped my hand against my thigh as I impatiently waited for the doors to open. Once they were wide enough that I could get through, I jogged through the lobby and out to the street where Kin was waiting by the door. Relief washed over me in a way I didn’t understand and scared the hell out of me as I wrapped my arms around her.
She fell against my chest, her body almost limp from exhaustion. “Lucy’s leaving,” she burst out. “She’s leaving.”
I jerked in reaction. “What?” I grasped her chin and tilted her head up to meet my eyes. “She’s leaving? Where the hell is she going?”
“Georgetown,” she said, wiping at her tear-stained face. “Her mom thinks it will be the best thing for her. She didn’t want to go, but Lana convinced her it would be a good idea. She’s leaving and I won’t have anyone…” She stopped, shaking her head. “Fuck, that sounds so selfish.”
I pulled her into the building and toward the elevators. We needed privacy. I didn’t want anyone to overhear us talking about Lucy. Thankfully we were the only ones on the elevator this time and I pulled her against me as I tried to wrap my mind around Lucy actually leaving.
How could she do that to Harris?
How?
It pissed me off that she was just going to abandon him. It wasn’t right, damn it.
Back in the apartment, I took Kin into my room and pushed her down onto the edge of my bed. “So she’s really going to leave? What about Harris?”
Kin grimaced. “She didn’t want to go, Jace. It wasn’t her idea. It’s what her mom wants and Lana agreed it would be best for both her and Harris to have some time and space to clear their heads.”
Some of my anger at Lucy evaporated. She didn’t want to go, but her family was pushing for it. With my head a little clearer I could see what her mom meant. Maybe the distance would help her and Harris through the shitstorm Tessa had stirred up.
Blowing out a long breath, I dropped down next to Kin on my bed. “Well, fuck.”
She nodded her head. “Agreed.”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her head down onto my chest. “You going to be okay, baby? I know she’s your best friend.”
“I’ll miss her, but I agree that Lucy needs some time to clear her head. She’s a mess though, Jace. Whatever was in those texts fucked her up. Do you know what it was? Did Harris tell you?”
My hand tightened and I had to let her go or risk hurting her. “Yeah, babe. It was some ugly shit that I don’t want to fill your head with. She took videos of her and Harris doing things and tried to post them to revenge porn sites. Emmie was able to get them down before they went viral.”
“That’s so fucked up. No wonder Lucy is so destroyed.” She shook her head, her eyes glassy with more tears. “If that had been us it would’ve killed me to see you with another chick.”
“You won’t ever have to worry about that happening, Kin. I haven’t been with anyone since I saw you at First Bass that first night. Once I saw you again, I knew there would be no one else for me.” I’d been blindsided by how much I’d been lying to myself. I’d missed her, but up until I’d seen her again I hadn’t realized just how much. This girl was my world and I’d fucked up royally when I’d walked away from her.
“So you never took any of those girls you used to make me jealous home?” she looked up at me with a mixture of amusement and hurt.
I cupped her face in my hands. Tracing my thumb over her full bottom lip, I told her the truth. “No. Not one of them. I was only trying to get a reaction out of you; other than that they meant nothing.”
Relief flooded across her face and she gave me a tiny smile. “I’m glad. I had some pretty ugly pictures running through my mind of you with them. And me cutting off your balls.”
I winced at the last part. “Damn, baby. Have some mercy on my boys.”
She laughed and it was music to my ears.
She was so beautiful right then that my breath got trapped in my chest and I couldn’t have kept my hands to myself even if I’d tried. Lowering my head, I caught her mouth with my lips and dived in for a kiss that had us both seeing stars.
She followed me under as a wave of need consumed us both. Her hands went to my bare chest, her nails biting into my flesh as she raked them down over my stomach. We fell back onto the bed and I pulled her over me, letting her have the upper hand. If she wanted this to stop, she could stop it, but I needed her too damn much to put the brakes on myself.
The kiss went on and on, her tongue exploring my mouth while I savored the taste of her on my own. Fuck, she tasted good. Her body stretched out along mine, her thighs spreading so that she was practically straddling my waist. With her hair falling over her shoulder I felt like we were being curtained in and we could hide from the world for as long as we wanted.
Gasping for air, Kin lifted her head, but only long enough to pull her shirt over her head. I wanted to push her onto her back and feast my eyes on the skin she had just bared for me, but she was already lowering her head and I was lost once more in the taste of her.
My body was aching—throbbing—for her. I needed to be inside of her, needed to have her wrapped around me while I marked her as my own. Her hands explored me and it was only as her fingers traced over my heart that it came to me what my life was missing.
Nothing.
I wasn’t missing out on anything
. I had the girl I loved. I had my family, friends, and career. Nothing else mattered. As long as Kin was right there in my arms, my life was fucking perfect.
Epilogue
Kin
“Wake up!”
I jerked awake, sitting straight up in bed. My hair was a mess and I was sure there was drool on my face, but I didn’t bother to wipe it away as I glared up at the person standing over my bed.
“I hate you,” I grumbled as Carolina flopped down onto my bed.
She giggled and made herself comfortable among my pillows before pushing something into my hands. “Happy birthday, Kin.”
I blinked sleep out of my eyes as I focused on the present my stepsister had just put in my lap. Over the last month, Carolina and I had gotten closer. She had become the friend I’d needed when Lucy had left for Georgetown and I wasn’t afraid to admit that I’d needed her friendship more than I’d realized. With my stepsister having my back, it was easier to go back to my father’s house at the end of every day.
“You didn’t have to get me anything, Caro,” I scolded her even as I started unwrapping the pretty present.
“I wanted to,” she assured me as she watched me open the box underneath. “I hope you like it.”
Finding the picture inside had my heart clenching. It was a beautiful frame, which had probably cost Carolina a full month’s allowance, but it was the picture that was the real present for me. I blinked back tears as I saw myself between Lucy and Angie. I remembered Caleb using my phone to take the picture the night I’d snuck out with Angie to go to First Bass. The picture had been on my phone and I’d put it on my computer, which was where Carolina must have found it.
Seeing Lucy’s smiling face made me miss her that much more. I hadn’t seen her smile since her birthday. When I talked to her on the phone I heard the pain that was still so close to the surface, and when I FaceTimed with her I saw the shadows under her eyes. She was a ghost of her former self and my heart broke for her.
Harris wasn’t much better, though. He never smiled anymore. His eyes were cold and dead and he was working himself into an early grave with all the new projects he was undertaking at the club. I worried about him more than I did Lucy, though. I knew how strong Lucy really was. Harris wasn’t nearly as strong—even if he did want the world to think he was.