She walked towards me and slid her hand into mine, and then held on while we went outside to my car.
Once I’d pulled a clean t-shirt on, I wrapped Thalia up in my arms and kissed her on the top of her head. “I don’t want to let you go…but I don’t have any choice.”
She snuggled into my chest and held me so hard around my waist. “Don’t let me go, please Phoenix.”
Thalia made me smile when she used my nickname. I took hold of her face and brought us practically nose to nose, and had no clue about where to start.
We both moved to sit on the steps at the back of the bar, where I pulled her down beside me.
“Why didn’t Liam tell me about this…that you could sing and that you did in…Deception?”
She looked at me waiting for an answer so I tucked her head into the crook of my neck and told her, “I love music and always have, but my parents think it’s a waste of time and most of my life growing up was spent arguing with them about it and the fact that I wanted to be a rock star.”
She chuckled and kissed my chest.
“As soon as I realized they planned on grooming Liam for the law firm, which he so did not want to do, I changed and started to follow what they’d set out for my brother so they’d leave him alone…and they did. I rebelled in my own way, hence the tattoos and piercings’ that nobody knows about, that’s why I always wear long sleeves. My parents would flip if they knew what I was doing here with Donovan and Reece. I know I’m a grown man and shouldn’t worry about what they think, but having never had their approval for anything…I’m just used to staying silent.”
Fuck, I felt like a girl admitting most of that to her, but I needed her to know what my life was like.
Chapter 38
Thalia
As I listened to Jack, who’d become Phoenix to me, I wanted to cry for him…and myself for falling for him when he wasn’t free to be with me. Yeah, we’d just had the most amazing ‘almost’ sex…in a storeroom at the back of Kix, which shouldn’t have happened, but was inevitable.
A giggle burst forth, which I tried to contain by slamming my hand over my mouth, but no such luck, as the giggle became a full belly laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he asked with an unreadable expression.
I grinned. “Us, practically having sex in the back room, in there.”
“We did have sex in there.”
“You didn’t come inside me, so it doesn’t count…I still want you Phoenix, so much.”
He shuddered against me. “You’re driving me crazy. All I want is to take you home with me and keep you forever…but I can’t.”
Standing up he pulled me up with him and was moving in to kiss me when Liam appeared in the doorway looking pissed as hell.
“Where the fuck have you two been?”
“What’s it got to do with you?” Phoenix replied.
“Well, Phoenix,” Liam emphasized, “Ryder wanted to know why you weren’t on stage.”
“He was talking to me,” I yelled, anger making my tone ice cold.
“Yeah, well, it looks like you were doing more than talking,” Liam replied.
His gaze moved to his brother. “And you’re engaged, damn-it. How could you do this to Mia?”
Phoenix looked at Liam with a frown and looked about to say something in reply to him, but then seemed to change his mind and looked between the both of us. “My heart wants Thalia, and I can’t stay away from her.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Can I rely on you both not saying anything about this to anyone?”
“We won’t. Right Liam?”
“Why keep it a secret? We’re not kids anymore.”
“Can you imagine the grief I’ll get from Dad, and Lewis for that matter? I’m supposed to be a respectable soon-to-be-lawyer, not someone who hangs around bars in a band full of body art.”