This just wasn’t right.
No wonder Kin looked so miserable. It wasn’t just because of what had happened between us, I would bet money on it. She was feeling lost right then, having just had to uproot herself from Caleb and Angie, and felt abandoned.
On stage, Kin finally settled in and licked her lips a little nervously, before releasing a small laugh that seemed to wake up my entire body. “Hi,” she greeted the room with that easy grin in place. “I’m Kin and this…” She broke off and I watched as her eyes filled with tears. Seeing how she tried to blink them back only made me want to jump up on that damn little stage and wrap my arms around her. “This song is for my mom.”
I clenched my hands into fists as she started to play. Because she was still fighting tears, she started out a little slow but less than half a minute into it her natural skills with the guitar took over and she settled into it like the rock star I knew she was. The longer I watched, the harder it was to catch my breath.
Fuck, she was amazing.
Her voice was better than a lot of the pop stars I’d heard on the radio with Auto-Tune making them sound the way they did, but it wasn’t the kind of rock voice that people would stop and take a second look at. That didn’t matter, though. Her skills with the guitar made up for that, and the words that I knew she must have written herself, were so full of emotion—so fucking moving—that the entire club was soon stopping what they were doing and taking a harder look at the girl on stage.
Kin had a talent with writing music and poetry. She could destroy a person with her words, make them feel as if they are nothing or everything. She could open herself up and show the world just who she was with one song. For me, music was everything, and Kin was so incredibly talented that she made me feel that life without her music had no meaning at all.
She was what made it better, made it worthwhile.
What the fuck had I been thinking, walking away from her?
The song came to an end and Lucy was out of her seat, rushing forward to meet Kin as she jumped down from the small stage. The two embraced, but I was rooted to my seat, too caught up in the nightmare of realizing just how much I’d fucked up with this girl to so much as breathe.
I heard a weird noise coming from the guy seated across from me and only then was I able to tear my eyes away from Kin as she and Lucy hugged and laughed, both of them already celebrating Kin’s successful first open mike. Harris looked pale as death, sweat beading on his brow and his eyes had a glassiness to them that if I hadn’t known better I would have thought he was high as a kite.
“Dude, you look like shit. You’re all sweaty and there is a crazy wild look in your eyes. What’s the matter with you?”
Harris waved a waitress over. “Yeah. I’m just tired, man. I need to get back to the office and handle things.” He ordered a bourbon and told the blonde to bring it to him in his office. He was going to bail? I figured he would hang out with Lucy for a little longer at least.
Kin and Lucy returned, still laughing, but the second Lucy’s dark eyes landed on Harris the laughter died and she was putting her hand on his forehead. “Are you getting sick?” she demanded, looking concerned. “You feel hot and look a little flushed.”
Harris rushed through an explanation and after making Lucy promise to call him, he left us to get back to work.
I waved a different waitress over and ordered another beer for me, and two fresh ginger ales for the two girls. With Harris gone and Kin’s turn on stage over, I didn’t want them to rush off on me. I wasn’t ready to say goodnight to Kin, and this sure as hell wasn’t going to be the last time I saw her.
“Great job, babe. I’m so fucking proud of you.” I reached out to catch her hand, but she moved around the table to avoid my touch. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself she needed time.
“You two coming to the show tomorrow night?” I asked as I held Lucy’s chair out for her.
She looked from me to Kin and then to the chair before shrugging and taking her seat. “What show?”
With her seated, I pulled out the chair between her and Kin. “Tainted Knights plays every Thursday night,” I told Lucy. “You two should come see us.”
Kin sat back in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched me. “Pretty sure I’ve seen plenty of Tainted Knights. Unless you dickheads have some new material, I’ll pass.”
I grinned. “Cash and I have been writing a few songs lately. Maybe I’ll sing one for you tomorrow night.”
“I’m game,” Lucy assured me as she took a drink of the fresh ginger ale a short-haired brunette placed in front of her. “Want to come with me, Kin?”
She blew out a frustrated breath and shot me an icy glare, but she nodded her head. “Sure. Not like I have anything better to do anyway.”
“Great,” I said with a grin as I turned to Lucy and gave her my cell number. She entered it after only a small hesitation. “I’ll let Harris know you’ll be joining us. We can hang out after.”
Kin gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything. Lucy, however, gave me a smile that was full of all the evil thoughts I was sure she normally kept hidden. “Sure, Jace. That sounds like fun.” She rubbed her index finger around the rim of her tall glass of ginger ale, her dark eyes never leaving mine. “But there’s something you should remember if you want to hang with me and Kin.”
My brows lifted, curious as to what threat she was going to drop on me. “What’s that, Lucy?”
“My father loves me more than any other person on this planet,” she murmured as she traced the condensation on the tall glass of ginger ale. “And he’s taken a liking to Kin in the last few weeks as well. Fuck with me or her and it will only take one little whisper in his ear and no one will ever find your body.”
Before I could even decide if she was screwing with me or telling the truth, Lucy stood and offered Kin her hand. With her guitar case in hand, Kin stood and took Lucy’s hand. There was a smirk on her beautiful face as she wiggled her fingers goodbye at me and followed Lucy and the guard out of the club.
It was only after the two were gone and I was still sitting there—wondering if I should actually worry about a Demon coming for my head—that I realized Lucy must have been teasing. I didn’t think she was the tattletale kind of chick.
No. Not Lucy Thornton.
I would have bet money on her taking care of something like hiding my body in the desert on her own. She was a badass like that and if I hadn’t been so lost where Kin was concerned I would have been tempted to find out just how feisty Lucy Thornton really was under all that sweet beauty. Between Kin and Harris, however, I knew that would have never been an option.
Still, it was going to be fun having that chick as a friend.
Kin
For the third time in less than a week I was back at First Bass.
The first time we had come, on Saturday, it had been a new experience for me. I wasn’t used to clubs that needed waiting lists to get on the final list. I knew that Caleb and Angie went to some of them when they went up to New York for the occasional weekend, but they’d never taken me to those. My fake ID probably wouldn’t have worked in a place like that.
Wednesday night had been a new experience for me as well. Open mike nights weren’t something I’d ever witnessed or been a part of until then. Sure I’d gone to karaoke bars at least once a month with my stepsiblings, but nothing like what Wednesday night had been like. Karaoke was just for fun; open mike nights were for people who were trying to get themselves noticed.
Thursday night was just as much a new experience for me as the other three nights had been in First Bass. Getting into the club was a little more difficult than it had been the other three times because there was a different man standing outside keeping people out and only letting those on the lists—or with nice enough tits—into the club. Lucy had to call Harris to tell them his guy wouldn’t let us in and he’d come out so pissed there had actually been steam coming out of his ears.
“You see this girl?” he snarled at the big guy with an ear piece in one ear and a clipboard with names on it. The big man’s eyes strayed to Lucy, but only for a second before Harris was back in his face. “Take one good look at her, asshole, and then you keep your beady little eyes to yourself. Lucy Thornton has top priority in my club. Give her trouble again and I’ll make sure you’re flipping burgers at the Burger King two blocks over. Understand?”
“Harris…” Lucy grabbed his hand and entwined their fingers and I watched, speechless, as all the anger just evaporated from him.
Harris Cutter, six foot six of all lean muscle, went from raging monster to a mewling little kitten with one touch from Lucy. Aquamarine eyes softened and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he guided her into the club. “I’m glad you came tonight, Lu. Jesse give you trouble about it?”
“Daddy actually likes that I’m spending more time with you,” Lucy told him with a roll of her eyes. “I think he and Mr. Cutter are going golfing tomorrow.”
“Good for them. I’ll have to give Nat a call and see how that goes.” Opening the door to the club, he stepped back and waited for Lucy and then me and Marcus to enter First Bass before following us in.
Inside, Harris nodded at the head of security. Tiny, the dark and delicious man who Lucy and I had met on Saturday, gave him a firm nod but remained silent as we headed into the lower level of the club. The noise level inside was almost deafening. The place was packed to capacity, but with Harris and Marcus helping to clear the way, Lucy and I were quickly standing right in front of the stage set up for Tainted Knights and their Thursday night shows.
I tried to take it all in while some tech guy did a sound check on stage. The front row was a mixture of men and women, all of them wearing Tainted Knight shirts. Oddly enough I wondered how I could get one. Sure I hated Jace, but Tainted Knights made some great music and I would always be a fan. Besides, Cash Graves, who was a bassist in the band, was an old friend of Caleb’s.
They were the kind of friends who didn’t have to keep in constant contact to know that if one of them needed the other, they were only a phone call away. I kind of envied that friendship between my stepbrother and Cash, yet at the same time I was kind of sad for Cash. The guy didn’t have many friends he could rely on other than Caleb. His family was full of snotty bitches who had turned their backs on him when he’d told them that he wanted more out of life than spending the old money his family had inherited. He wanted to make his own way in the world, and when they had told him that he could do that without their support, he’d just shrugged his shoulders and moved to Bristol at eighteen.
That was where he’d met the guys of Tainted Knights and that was how I’d come to know them too.
“The show is about to start in a few minutes,” Harris told Lucy as he kept his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, as if he was trying to protect her from the crowd. Since the crowd was anything but rowdy I didn’t think that excuse was worth beans but I wasn’t going to question him. “Do you two want something to drink?”
“Water would be good,” I told him.
“Yeah. Water is fine with me,” Lucy assured him, pulling back so she could smile up at him. “Do you have work to do tonight, Harris? Or can you hang with us?”
“I’m all yours tonight, Lu.” He waved over a waitress and took two bottles of water off her full tray. Handing them over, he pulled Lucy back against him. “The show lasts about an hour and then we can go upstairs and relax.”
Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but the drummer chose that moment to come out onto the stage and took his place. My eyes zeroed in on Kale Conway. He was a nice guy, always fun to be around and rarely took things seriously. I remembered him making me laugh the first night I’d met him. I loved to laugh and if Jace hadn’t already knocked me off my feet that first night, I would have been drawn to him first.
With Kale in place, Cash was next to take the stage, followed just as quickly by Tate Sinclair. I didn’t know what his story was because he was the most elusive of the five members of Tainted Knights. He went by Sin rather than Tate, and the guy was one cocky sonofabitch. He had a huge chip on his shoulder and was the biggest bastard I’d ever met.
While the other three settled into their places, Grayson Knight came out and every chick around me screamed like their lives depended on it. I put a finger in my left ear when the girl behind me screamed so loud that my eardrum vibrated. I couldn’t say I blamed the chick, or anyone else for that matter. Gray was…
Well, Gray was the thing that all wet rock star dreams were made of. With his dark hair long on top and shaved on the sides, his dark complexion and those sinfully delicious sand-colored eyes, he screamed sex and rock and brought to life every woman’s most intimate fantasy.
He was also a douchebag and only fucked the chicks who knew the score. One hour—one night if they were lucky—with him was all they got. He didn’t offer his heart to anyone and some thought he didn’t have one to offer. I knew that wasn’t true though. All anyone would have to do was see the way Gray’s eyes changed when he looked at Kassa St. Charles to know that he did have a heart and it belonged to her.
Thinking of Kassa had me lowering my eyes to study my hands. In the months Jace and I had been together, I’d come to think of Kassa as a friend and just as much like a sister as Angie was to me. She was a sweet chick, with a heart of gold, but she could be tough as nails too. That sweetness hid a fiery side that many ran like hell from when they came face to face with it. She’d tried to call me once after Jace had left me, but I had Angie get rid of her. I didn’t want her kindness when I’d been falling apart with grief and the kind of heartache that left a person numb.
On stage, Kale was beating out a countdown to the beginning of the first song, but it wasn’t until I heard Jace’s voice from the side of the stage that I was forced to look up. Slowly, as if he knew all eyes would follow him even if he decided to jump into a pit that dropped straight into hell, he walked on stage, singing one of the few slower songs that had been a favorite of all the fans back in Bristol.
How dare he sing that song tonight?
I clenched my fists tighter, my nails biting into the palms of my hands as I glared up at him. He’d won my heart with that song. Had seduced me with it. Had won every inch of my soul with that one fucking song.
He knew it, how could he not? He’d sung the damn song to me the night he’d made love to me the first time. He’d sung it again just moments before he told me he loved me. He’d…
I was going to jump up there and take Kale’s drumsticks and beat the hell out of Jace St. Charles, that dirty bastard. He wasn’t playing fair. My heart was aching, my soul feeling like it was being shredded with each word that left his lips. I wanted to block it all out, wanted to destroy my left eardrum so that I would never have to hear another chord, beat, word—anything representing that song ever again.
The song kept going on and on. Jace’s voice dropping lower than normal, he sung the words he knew had chained me to him for life that first night. Blue eyes caught mine, refusing to release me as he put his hand over his heart and dropped to his knees right there in front of me on that damn stage—singing for me and only me in a building full to capacity.
Without thinking, I took a step closer, my eyes still trapped in his. The song was slowly coming to its end and my heart was in my throat as I took one tiny step at a time until we were right there in front of each other, mere inches separating us. The last guitar chord was slowly echoing into nothingness and the entire club was suddenly silent as if everyone were holding their breath while Jace continued to hold my gaze hostage.
“Kin,” he began, his voice rough and full of emotions I didn’t want to know about.
Lifting my hand, I slapped him across the face as hard as I could. His head snapped back and my hand fell to my side, stinging like I’d just thrust it into a flaming pit, but I relished the physical pain. A red outline of my handprint blazed on his cheek,
and the crowd around us was so stunned no one dared speak. Angry tears started to fill my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
“Fuck you, Jace.”
Soft hands wrapped around my waist and I turned with just the smallest of urgings from Lucy. “Let’s go sit upstairs, babe,” I heard her murmur.
“Ice,” I thought I heard Harris say to another waitress as they both led me upstairs.
My hand felt like it was blistering, it was still stinging so bad, but I relished that pain as Lucy pushed me down onto a leather couch in a back corner of the VIP floor. Feeling pain meant I was alive. The pain that had weighed down my heart for so long now hadn’t won and I actually felt like I could take a deep breath for the first time since I had stepped foot in California.
It was with that thought that a grin teased at my lips and an actual laugh escaped me as Lucy pressed an ice pack to my red palm. “Can I do that again?” I murmured as I glanced over at her.
Harris dropped down onto the couch beside her, his aquamarine eyes dancing with humor. “Maybe next time. He’s got a job to do tonight, and I have a packed club who will riot if he doesn’t finish up the show.”
“Next time,” Lucy agreed with a wicked grin as she scooted back against Harris so she was facing me more. “Feeling better?”
I shrugged. “Better than I have in a long time, babe. It was kind of cathartic.”
“Good,” she laughed. “Now let’s have a good time.” Her gaze went to the man standing in the corner and she waved Marcus over. “I think we will be here for the rest of the night. You can relax and get yourself a drink.”
Marcus glanced from Harris and then back to Lucy before nodding his head once and heading over to the VIP bar to get himself a glass of soda. Moments later he settled into an empty chair not far from our couch. It was positioned so he could keep his eyes firmly on Lucy, but offered her some space and privacy so she could be herself.
Harris draped an arm along the back of the couch and lifted his beer to his lips. “This is nice. I’m glad you came, Lu.”