Authors: Marquita Valentine
“
No.”
“
So my dad is making you
do this?”
She sighs. “No one is
making me do anything, Mr. Hunter. It’s my job.”
Mr. Hunter?
Who am I—her professor? “If you teach me how to
sew, then I’ll teach you how to play another song, Miss
Davenport.”
“
I’ll be happy to teach
you, but I’m tone deaf and after our lesson yesterday, I’m a little
reluctant to start again.”
Her response makes me grin.
It’s easy being with Bliss. There’s no drama and all honesty. “No
one’s actually tone deaf.”
“
What about people who
really are deaf?”
“
There are degrees of
deafness,” I inform her. I am the not-so-useless facts King. I read
books about random crap on my iPad all the time. “And everyone can
pick up on vibrations, on the beat… you feel it in your entire
body. It’s just natural.” I lower my voice. “Primal.”
Bliss snorts. “You’re so
pretty, Jaxon.”
I give her a look. “Do I
detect a little sarcasm?”
“
No.”
Before I can respond to
that, she grins and says, “You detect
a
lot
of sarcasm.”
Laughing, I tilt my head to
one side. “Want to go to dinner with me?”
Her face turns pink. “I
can’t.”
“
I don’t mean as a date,
more like friends. I’ll bring my sarcasm detector.” What in the
hell am I saying?
“
I already promised Violet
to go with her again.”
“
Fine.” I shrug. “I’ll be
the third wheel.”
Bliss stands, dusting off
her ass with her hands. As she does, I take in today’s outfit.
She’s wearing jeans and a green top, nothing sexy or plain. Just
there, like her. “She thinks you’re the reason why Callie and Joy
Anne got in a fight.”
Violet would think that.
Then again, everyone thinks that about me. But right now, I only
care about what Bliss thinks. “And you?”
She looks away, her glasses
sliding down her nose. How can she see anything out of those? The
lenses are scratched to hell and the indentations on her nose from
the frames can’t be comfortable.
“
I told her that you
weren’t the reason for their fight.”
That’s
good
, I think. Violet might listen to an
impartial party i.e. Bliss Davenport. But I’m not content with
that. I want know why Bliss bothered to tell her in the first
place. “How are you so sure?”
I lean into her, bracing my
hand against the metal wall behind her head. Her chest rises and
falls like crazy. My heart is pounding, waiting for her
answer.
“
I’m not—” Her tongue
darts out, licking her top lip, and I want to lick her there, too.
Actually, I want to lick her everywhere.
“
It’s okay. You can tell
me.”
“
I saw your dad take Joy
Anne into your bus with him, and not come out for a long, long
time. Callie knocked on the door, but when they didn’t answer, she
got all mad and tried to open it.”
My face flushes hot as my
body turns cold.
“
I’m so sorry,
Jaxon.”
I straighten, not wanting
to hear anymore. I’m so damn tired of Everett and his ways. “It’s
not your fault. Callie overreacted.” Overreacted was putting it
mildly.
“
Callie thought you were
cheating on her with Joy Anne.”
“
Doesn’t matter anymore.
Callie broke off our engagement, and I’m fine with it.” Actually,
I’m more than fine. I’m ecstatic.
“
I know.” She touches my
face. “I’m sorry, Jaxon, but sometimes what goes around, comes
around.”
“
You think I deserve it,
huh?”
“
I wasn’t talking about
you… I was talking about Callie.”
My heart stops beating then
resets, pounding like an 808 drum. “Bliss, you do know about what
happened with Violet and me, right?”
“
No,” she says and I
believe her. Not everyone follows celebrity gossip. Not everyone
cares.
It’s like I’m a clean slate
around her. But she’s not what I want, I remind myself. Violet is,
and I can’t be messing around with Bliss, no matter how good she
makes me feel.
I don’t cheat on the ones I
love. “Then you should know that I plan on getting back together
with her. I love Violet, Bliss. Only Violet.”
Her hand falls from my
face, and it’s all I can do not to put it back. “I think you need
to leave.”
“
I think you’re right.” I
walk out of there, feeling her gaze on me the entire
time.
I’m not sure what happened,
but what I am sure of… Bliss Davenport and I need to stay the hell
away from each other.
*** *** ***
Violet
Strumming my guitar, I pick
out the melody of Cole’s song. I need to hear it, need to remind
myself of the guy I love. Despite his words, I do love
him.
“
Pathetic,” I say out
loud, but this time I don’t have to worry about anyone hearing me.
Callie’s gone and from the gossip, she’s going to be in jail for a
little while for assaulting an officer or two.
On one hand, I’m glad she’s
gone, but on the other… Jaxon is no longer held back by her, or in
any way that he thinks I’ll find disagreeable, and I know this
means he’ll start coming on stronger.
As if my thoughts conjured
him, Jaxon appears at the door of my bus. He knocks on it once and
steps inside. His strawberry-blond hair is all purposefully messy
while his violet blue eyes are turbulent.
“
Can I ask for a
favor?”
“
Depends,” I say lightly,
gripping my guitar tighter.
Please don’t
ask me to kiss you, or go out with you
, I
think. I don’t want a fight. I just want to finish this tour and go
home.
He shoves his hands in the
pocket of his jeans, the material of the t-shirt he’s wearing
stretching over his biceps. “Could you take Bliss’s glasses from
her and give them to me?”
My mouth drops open and not
just from the absurdity of his request. I actually thought he was
going to hit on me. “You want me to steal from her?”
“
Stealing means never
giving back. I want you to borrow them and give them to
me.”
“
Why on earth would you
need her glasses?” I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you trying to play
a joke on her, because if you are, so help me, Jaxon, I
will—”
A blush steals up his neck
and I gape at him again. “No. I wanted to get the lenses fixed
without her knowing it was me. We have off tomorrow, and I thought
if you could get them, then I could get her a new pair.”
I blink at him. This is the
Jaxon I used to know—sweet, kind, and thoughtful. But I don’t trust
him. “Why don’t you take her there yourself or give her money to
pay for them?”
Jaxon gives me this
come-on look. “I thought you wanted me to stay
away
from her?”
“
I do, but—”
“
No buts, get her damn
glasses, Violet, and let me take care of the rest,” he growls, his
blush deepening.
Could it be that Jaxon
Hunter, my no-good, lying, cheating of an ex, is actually doing a
good deed that in no way will be a benefit to him?
“
Okay, I’ll get them
tonight.”
He smiles, smug and wicked
as ever. “Knew I still had it.”
I roll my eyes, unable to
stop from smiling back at him. “Whatever.”
“
Oh, and Violet?” He
places one hand on the door, his gaze turning hungry. “You and I
still have some unfinished business that needs to be
settled.”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Jaxon
After dropping Bliss’
glasses off at the ophthalmologist’s office, I drive to the hotel
we’re staying in, ready to get everything all out in the open and
make sure he knows that there’s no way he’ll ever control my life
again like that.
I storm into my dad’s hotel
suite and make a face as the unmistakable sound of my dad boning
some random chick fills the air.
Oh hell no.
I’m not covering for him
again. I’m not pretending to be anyone’s anything for him. Or my
mom. They both can go to hell. Or stay living in the one they
created.
Though I’m sure my mom is
happy down in Florida, in her special vacation spa. She’s
practically lived there my whole life.
And now that Callie’s gone,
I don’t have to worry about that girl down in Atlanta either. Yeah,
that might make me selfish, but I never touched Tara.
“
Everett,” I shout. “Get
out here, you piece of shit.”
The door opens and an
actual woman walks out. She smiles at me, brown eyes sparkling. She
tosses her long, blond hair over one shoulder and grabs my dad’s
wallet from the table, taking out a wad of cash.
I’m not saying anything.
She could rob him blind, and that’s what I’ll pretend to be if any
questions are asked.
“
Get back in here, baby,”
he says. “I’m not done. Jaxon, carry your ass out.”
I make a face. She slams
the door shut and braces a chair against it.
“
But I am.” She glides to
me, dressed thank God, and pulls something out of the pocket of her
tight jeans. It’s a flash drive. “For you, Jack. I hope it sets you
free.”
No one’s called me Jack
since I was in first grade. I take another look at the woman
standing in front of me. She looks vaguely familiar.
“
Jeannie?”
My nanny from the time I
was three to the age of eight smiles at me. For some odd reason, I
want to hug her. Well, not entirely odd. For five years I’d loved
her and when we were alone, she’d let me call her mommy.
“
You’re not mad, are you?”
She tips her nose in the air, equal parts defiant and ashamed at me
catching her, I think.
I shrug. “You could do
better.”
“
I plan to,” she says, and
then waves the flash drive. “Take it.”
“
Will it self-destruct in
five seconds after I look at what’s on it?”
She raises her brows in the
direction of the bedroom. “No, but he will.”
“
Why are you giving this
to me?”
“
Because what you’ll find
on it, that was me, when I was seventeen and he promised to make me
a star, but he didn’t keep that promise, and I ended up with a kid
and nowhere to go.”
Shit. How many brothers and
sisters do I have out there?
“
And I’m not the only girl
on there, Jack. He uses these pictures against them, to make them
do what he wants,” she says, heading toward the door.
“
Why give it to me? Why
not just do it yourself?”
“
Because what’s on there
isn’t technically illegal, since all of us were just the right age.
And especially since none of it ended up on the Internet. Besides,
knowing how he’s gonna squirm when he can’t find it… well, that’s
way more satisfying. Eventually, though, he’ll slip up and be with
the wrong one.”
An image of Tara comes to
mind. Is she on here, too? “He already has.”
“
There you go, then.” She
smiles sadly. “Love you, Jack.” Then she slips out of the room,
leaving me standing there in stunned disbelief.
Everett pounds on the
bedroom door, startling me.
Going to the door, I move
the chair and let him out.
“
Where is she?”
“
She who?”
He rounds on me, blue eyes
hard. “That blond bitch you were talking to.”
“
She left.” I slip the
flash drive in my pocket, right by my phone. “We need to
talk.”
“
About what?”
“
Everything.”
“
Not again.” He scrubs at
his face. “I already told you that your momma and I paid her to
have you for us. We wanted you. I only told Cole that shit
to—”
“
To do what? Because you
can? Because it’s true?”
“
Papers I got on you say
otherwise,” he says with a smug grin.
“
After this tour is over,
we’re done.”
“
We’re done when I say
we’re done.” He strides across the room and decants a bottle of
whiskey, pouring himself a glass. “No movie either. I’m pulling you
from the project.”
“
But I signed a
contract.”
He stares at me over the
rim, and then sets the glass down. Growing up, I wanted to be like
him, with his dark hair and confident smile. Everyone seemed to
love him, but now I know it was fear and the promise of a career
that kept people around.
Now I know he’s nothing
more than a bully, using his hands and fists to get what he wants,
at least on me. I have no idea if he’s ever laid a hand on Cole or
Cole’s mom.