Fuck, I missed my stepbrother.
Clenching my jaw against the sharp pain of loss I felt every time I thought about my family back in Virginia, I tried to distract myself by people-watching. Lucy and I stood there watching over her friend for a while, waiting for this guy Harris to show up, before I realized I needed to go to the ladies’ room before we made our escape. “Where’s the bathroom?” I asked Lucy as I glanced around.
“It’s that way,” Marcus was quick to offer me.
Lucy’s head snapped around at that. “Go with her,” she commanded the bodyguard. Marcus turned his gaze on her but she was quick to shake her curly head at him. “Harris has plenty of staff up here who will watch out for me for the few minutes it will take Kin to use the bathroom. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t wait long enough to see if Marcus did as she asked, but took off for the bathroom. As far as bathrooms went, it was probably the nicest one I’d ever seen at a club. The line was just the same as any other club, though. Chicks lined up to use the stalls who were half drunk or possibly even as high as Jenna was. That wasn’t anything unusual for me to see, but the whole drug scene wasn’t for me.
I was gone for nearly twenty minutes because of the line. By the time I returned it was to find Lucy arguing with a guy twice as big as she was. I hurried toward her when I saw her raise her hand and smack the dude across the face. What the fuck? Behind me, Marcus increased his pace, until we were both practically running toward Lucy.
Dark eyes turned in my direction and I saw a mixture of emotions crossing her face. The anger was to be expected, but the hurt had my blood boiling. Who the fuck had put that look in her eyes?
“I’m so ready to get out of here, Kin,” Lucy told me as I pushed between the two guys and wrapped my arms around her neck.
When I felt her tremble slightly I tightened my hold on her. I would kick anyone’s ass who hurt my new best friend. Lucy was the only saving grace I had right then. Without her friendship and her family taking me under their wing, I was sure I would have lost my mind living with my father by now.
“What’s wrong?” All it would take was one word from her and I would make sure the guy she had just smacked would taste his balls for a week.
Lucy sucked in a deep breath and shook her head as she pulled back. “I just want to go. Do you mind?” Her voice was stronger now and I could actually see walls going up around her heart.
“No,” I assured her. “Of course not, babe.” I took her hand, giving it a supportive squeeze before I started to walk away with her, not even bothering to look at the guy who Lucy had been arguing with.
“Kin?”
Everything inside of me stilled at the sound of my name coming from a voice that was so achingly familiar. My heart stopped and I closed my eyes as I tried to tell myself that I was just hearing things. There was no way it was really him. No. Way.
Jace St. Charles had left me when I’d needed him the most. Not two days after I’d cried myself to sleep on his shoulder because I was scared of the thought of losing my mother, Jace had broken up with me. He was taking off with his band, Tainted Knights, and didn’t want to be tied down. He’d broken my heart, and I hadn’t tried to put it back together. There was no use when I knew it didn’t matter.
He’d been my world for a few short months and I’d fallen hard for him almost overnight. Maybe it was because Jace had been my first—in everything—or maybe it was just because I had been going through so much at the time, but I’d thought for sure that Jace was going to be part of my future.
Wrong.
Slowly, because I was sure that I was losing my mind, I turned to look at the guy who had said my name. When my gaze landed on the one face I had once memorized every inch of, I felt my throat tighten with emotions. I wanted to rage at him for breaking my heart when it had already been bruised and cracking from the thought of having to say goodbye to my mom. I wanted to cry and throw the biggest fit any ex had ever thrown.
Instead I clenched my jaw and met his blue eyes head on. “Jace.” My voice was so cold it could have caused frostbite right then.
For the first time since I’d met Jace St. Charles, he seemed to be at a loss for what to do. The guy I knew was always self confident enough that he could handle anything life threw at him. Was he that surprised to see me?
“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?