Rocking Kin (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series Book 3) (6 page)

“What are you doing here?”

That had to be the million-dollar question. What the hell was I doing there? I should have just stayed home and locked myself in my room to avoid Jillian and the step-bitches. I could have put on my Beats and listened to music to drown out their nagging. Fuck that. I should have been back in Virginia with Carter and the twins. I wanted to be back there so damn much in that moment that it almost hurt to breathe.

“Lucy invited me.”

Lucy shifted beside me. I could feel her eyes on my face but didn’t look at her. I didn’t think I had the strength right then to keep my emotions in check if I did.

Jace shook his dirty blond head while his eyes skimmed over my entire body. That I felt his eyes like a physical touch only pissed me off that much more. Damn it. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, not after how he’d shattered my heart into a million pieces. “No. I mean…what are you doing here…in California?”

That he didn’t seem to remember what I’d been going through with my mother at the time he’d broken up with me was like a slap to the face. I lowered my eyes so he couldn’t see the pain his question had caused me. I’d cried on his shoulder, told him how much I didn’t want to move in with my father when my mom died. “I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to my life story since I last saw you.” I turned away from him, my emotions too close to the surface for me to dare look at him another second. “Let’s go,” I muttered to Lucy.

“No.” Jace moved quickly and was blocking our path to the exit. One large hand reached for mine and caught it before I could think to pull away. “Don’t go.” He swallowed with difficulty and the thought that he was just as emotional at seeing me again as I was at seeing him had me pausing for a moment. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

The pain those words caused left me hemorrhaging on the inside. He’d missed me? He’d missed me?

He’d. Missed. Me.

What-the-fuck-ever. I didn’t believe that for two seconds. He’d missed me, but where had he been when I’d needed him the most? Where had he been when I’d said goodbye to my mother for the last time? Where was he when I’d watched her being lowered into the ground? Where was he when I thought my whole world was over and I had to step on that fucking plane with Scott Montez and leave my real family behind?

He’d been off screwing some random chick, no doubt. He’d been living it up with his bandmates and partying. Jace had been living his life without me while I’d been falling apart. While all I’d wanted was his arms around me and his voice telling me that it was going to be okay. I didn’t have the patience to stand there and hear him lie to me.

“Yeah, I could tell from all those phone calls and text messages you didn’t send. I’m not in the mood to listen to your bullshit, Jace. Move or be moved.” I felt Marcus step up behind me and Lucy, and I could have hugged the normally stone-faced bodyguard right then for having my back.

Jace’s blue gaze went to the man standing behind me and glared at Marcus for a long moment before finally clenching his jaw and stepping aside. Without giving him another look I pulled Lucy with me as I headed for the stairs.

By the time we got outside and Marcus had passed off the valet ticket to the attendant, I was numb. The shock at seeing Jace again had messed with my head and my heart didn’t know how to handle the things going through my mind right then.

Lucy tried to talk to me a few times on the ride home, but I was lost in the past. I asked her to drop me off at my father’s house. I’d rather have to deal with their coldness than the caring, motherly love I would have gotten from Layla Thornton right then. If she hugged me at that moment, I was sure I would crumble into a million pieces on the floor.

The ride home passed in a blur for me and I wasn’t sure if I even said goodnight to Lucy or not. I was in a daze as I used my key to unlock the front door. The house was dark, but I knew no one was in bed. It was barely ten on a Saturday night. My father was either off doing something for the new movie he was directing or at some party with Jillian. Georgia and Carolina were no doubt doing things with friends. I wasn’t stupid. I knew Georgia came home high most nights. She went out with friends after cheer practice and didn’t get home until after midnight sometimes.

I made my way up to my room and locked the door behind me before falling onto my bed. I didn’t see the pastel colored walls or the few pictures hanging there. I was reliving every moment I’d ever had with Jace—from the moment I’d first seen him singing with Tainted Knights at a bar in Bristol to the very second he had told me he couldn’t be with me anymore because he needed to focus on the band.

He’d said he loved me. He’d
shown
me that he loved me.

And it had all been a lie.

Chapter 6

Jace

The sight of Kin knocked the breath out of me. I’d been thinking about her a lot lately so when I’d seen her it had felt like I was in a dream.

It couldn’t be real. This chick just looked like her and my imagination was seeing what it wanted to see. It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d seen Kin’s face in other girls. Then she had turned around and I’d nearly dropped to my knees when I met that familiar blue gaze that had always had the ability to see straight to my soul.

What the hell was she doing in California? Not that I was complaining. This was fate telling me that she was meant to be with me after all. I just wanted to know what had brought her to California when I knew that she should still be in Virginia. She still had to finish out her senior year of high school. Why the fuck would she be uprooted during that last year and move over three thousand miles away?

After Kin and her friend left with the muscle-head bodyguard, I bailed on Harris and headed home once we got Jenna into a taxi. Jenna wasn’t my favorite person, but it was more because of the drugs than anything else. Her girlfriend, however, was another story. I couldn’t stand Tessa. She used people, was a hardcore drug addict and she was quickly turning Jenna into one too.

My thoughts didn’t stay on Jenna and her skanky girlfriend for long. I got home by eleven and went straight to bed, ignoring the annoying giggles coming from Gray’s room. The dude had a different girl every night and the less they had going on in the brain department the better he liked it. The way he whored himself out would have exhausted me. I only brought a girl home when I got shit-faced, and that wasn’t often these days.

Grimacing, I dropped down on my bed and pulled my phone out of my pocket. The wallpaper picture on the screen had my chest tightening with emotions as I ate up the sight of Kin gazing back at me so lovingly.

So trustingly.

I’d met her after a show at the bar where Tainted Knights had a steady gig every Friday night back in Bristol. It was college night and the place had been packed. Cash, our bassist, had invited friends from high school and had promised them we’d hang out after the show. I’d been set to bail on them and get home to Kassa, but a tall curvy redhead had caught my attention.

Kin had been wearing skintight jeans with holes in the knees, cowboy boots and a Demon’s Wings T-shirt that had fit perfectly over her tits. Her long hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, showing the world her long, graceful neck and the fact she had a freckle just under her left ear. I’d instantly wanted to taste that freckle and had been about to make my move when Cash had shaken hands with the mountain of a man standing beside her.

Caleb Jacobson was one scary-looking motherfucker. He was as wide as a car and looked like he could bench-press one with ease. The way he’d been so protective of Kin made me jealous for the first time in my life, but that was quickly squashed when I realized that the two were stepsiblings and acted like they were related by blood.

Kin hadn’t been shy and hadn’t played games with me. Her blue eyes had found mine as we’d all stood there talking and I’d known that she was mine for the taking. Caleb had kept a close eye on us throughout that night, but hadn’t tried to step in. Not that it would have mattered. I would have taken him and ten other guys just as big to be with Kin. It had taken less than an hour before I knew I wanted more than just one night with the beautiful redhead. Less than a week later I’d known that she could own me if I let her, and I’d been the first one to say ‘I love you’ a month later.

Kin’s mom had been sick a lot then, and I drove up to Wytheville to see her when Kin couldn’t make it down to Bristol to see the band play. I’d gotten to know all the Jacobsons, including Kin’s mom, Abigail. She was a nice woman and a great mom, so when the doctors told her that she didn’t have but a few months left, Kin had been destroyed. I’d held her, let her cry herself to sleep in my arms after finding out that she was going to lose her mother. I knew I’d feel the same way if it were Alicia who was battling cancer and was told she wouldn’t last until Christmas.

Harris had shown up at the bar just a few days later and had offered Tainted Knights a gig playing at his club back in L.A. We’d all known that taking this job would get us the attention the band deserved. Harris Cutter had connections in the music world that none of us could ever hope to have. I had been torn, though. I wanted to take the offer but at the same time I wanted to walk away from it all. If I left, what would happen to me and Kin? She needed me and I wanted to be there for her.

But this chance was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. So I had to make a hard choice and in the end I’d picked the band. It was Gray who had pointed out to me that Kin was still young. She would get over me if I left her right then. She could move on and I would be just a memory. While that had been a bitter pill to swallow, I’d known he was right. Kin was only seventeen. I was her first, and while I’d wanted to be her last, I knew that the chances of us lasting were against us.

I broke up with her the day before I left Bristol for California. It was the hardest thing I had ever done and most nights I fell asleep thinking about how she’d looked with tears flowing down her cheeks and her eyes so full of pain that I felt gutted.

I’d been such a dick, but I wouldn’t take the time I’d been in California back. Tainted Knights was my life and I wanted to be front and center for the ride I knew we would all be taking now that we had a contract waiting on us with the most sought after manager in the music world. Emmie Armstrong was going to take us places. So even though I’d been a mess mentally without Kin, I knew I was where I needed to be.

Yet seeing her now, three thousand miles from her home, told me that Kin was supposed to be a part of my life too. I could have them both.

Forcing myself to stop looking at the picture on my phone, I pulled up my contacts list and found Kin’s number. I should have deleted it when I moved, but I was glad I hadn’t. I hit connect and put the phone to my ear. It rang and rang until I was eventually sent to voicemail. I hung up and tried again.

Three more times and with each one of them I was sent straight to that damn voicemail. Fuck. She was probably still pissed. Grimacing, I waited for her voice to fade on the greeting and left a message. “Kin…” I cleared my throat. “We need to talk, baby. Call me back. Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

Lowering my phone, I hit end and sent her a text. The message quickly showed that she had gotten it, but she didn’t text me back. I wasn’t expecting her to, but it didn’t keep me from hoping. Kin was stubborn as hell and while most of the time I thought that was cute, it annoyed me right then.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remembered, early morning light was shining through my window and my phone was buzzing. Hoping it was Kin, I reached for it blindly and lifted it to my ear. “Kin?”

There was a long pause before I heard a harsh exhale. “Nope, sorry, dude.”

Harris. Disappointment washed over me and I clenched my jaw before forcing my eyes open and glaring at the ceiling. “What’s up, man?”

“You bailed on me last night,” Harris grumbled.

“You didn’t seem to know I was there, bro. Who was the hot chick?” I remembered the brunette with all the curves and big brown eyes that I’d thought had been full of pain and maybe a little regret when she’d looked at my friend. “Lucy, right?”

“Lucy.” Harris blew out a tired sigh before chuckling with little humor. “She’s my best friend in the world, man. Or she was a million years ago. I’m heading over to her house after I pick Trinity up. Figure I need reinforcements to get me through her door. I have to talk to her about Jenna.”

Picturing Harris’s baby sister, I figured she could get him in to Fort Knox with those damn cute dimples that popped out every time the six-year-old smiled. Trinity looked just like her brother and father, with the exception of her blue-gray eyes that she’d gotten from her mother. “Yeah. Pretty sure she could get you in anywhere, dude.”

“So…Kin?”

“It’s a long story,” I told him honestly, but didn’t tell him anything more. I wasn’t ready to talk about Kin to anyone except her. First I had to see her again.

“Like that, is it?” Harris’s laugh held actual humor this time.

“Yeah,” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my face.

“I’m getting Jenna into a rehab in Arizona. She leaves in the morning.”

As subject changes go, that was a good one. I sat up in bed, more than a little shocked that Harris had finally been able to talk his roommate into taking the first step to getting clean. “That’s great, man. It’s about time she got her act together.”

“It was under duress. I told her I was going to tell her brothers and Natalie if she doesn’t go. Only clincher is that she wants Tessa to stay in the apartment while she’s gone.” I could actually hear Harris gritting his teeth and knew why. Tessa was a toxic bitch. She would cause trouble for Harris and Jenna any way she could. “I can’t say no, because the apartment is half hers and I don’t want to give her a reason to back out of going.”

“You can crash here any time you need to,” I assured him as I sat up on the edge of the bed. Harris and Jenna had an apartment in the same building as I did a few floors up. The first year’s rent had been a present from Alicia when we’d moved out to California.