“Ignore Sin,” Cash told her as he glared at the other bassist. “He’s an ass half the time, and the other half he’s a bastard.”
Sin didn’t bother to deny it. With a shrug that more or less agreed with Cash’s assessment of his personality, Sin swallowed the rest of his beer and set the empty bottle on the floor at his feet.
Kin turned to face Cash better. “Have you spoken to Caleb lately?”
“Nope. He’s been busy with school. Otherwise I would have already known you were on the West Coast and would have come checked on you.”
Her face tightened up. “Do me a favor and don’t tell him that we’ve seen each other.” Her gaze lifted to mine for only a millisecond before turning back to Cash. “I’m not ready to deal with the drama that will follow if he knows I’ve run into you guys. You know he will tell Angie.”
“Noted.”
The others didn’t stick around for long. Kale left first to go find something else to drink and never returned. Sin and Gray each went trolling for a hookup for the night, but Cash stuck around so there was no way I was going anywhere either. We hung out for over two hours before Lucy finally told Harris that she had to get home. The two chicks stood and Harris pulled Lucy close for a long moment before reluctantly letting her go. “I’ll call you,” he promised and she gave him a bright smile.
Kin gave Cash a hug, shot me a nasty glare and then took Lucy’s hand. “Thanks for having us, Harris.”
He inclined his head, a smirk on his face. “My pleasure, Kin. But let’s try to keep the bodily harm down to a minimum next time, okay? I don’t want my club becoming famous for the hot chicks slugging my entertainment.”
A grin teased at her lips and she cradled the hand she’d slapped me with earlier close to her. “I’ll try my best.”
As the girl
s started to leave I stepped in front of Kin. She’d ignored my every attempt to talk to her all night long, but I couldn’t let her go without saying something. “I’m sorry,” I blurted out because I still had no clue what else to say to her. “I’m sorry about everything.”
Auburn brows lifted. “O-kay. You’re sorry. Good to know. See you around.” With that she tightened her hold on Lucy’s hand and walked around me, leaving me standing there with my heart in my throat.
Chapter 9
Kin
Scott had left for Canada to film on location for his newest movie, so I was left alone at home with the step-monster and the two perfect step-bitches. If it were possible, things at their house became even more unbearable.
I’d never been one for Disney princess movies, but I could suddenly relate to Cinderella a little more. That chick’s need to have a night off from her terrible family was totally relatable and I was able to get that with Lucy.
Hanging out with her, however, meant I was at First Bass more often than not, it seemed. I was okay with going in on Wednesday nights since I’d been getting some attention for my songs that I played during open mike, but Thursday nights I would rather deal with the three hags than have to watch Tainted Knights perform and then watch one girl after another chase after Jace.
Jace mostly ignored them, but there was more than one time he’d let the groupies get close and they had been all over him after the shows. I tried to tell myself that I was immune to seeing him with other chicks, but he and I both knew that was a lie. How could he not know that it hurt like a paper cut to the heart every time I saw a girl touch his arm, whisper in his ear and giggle, and then kiss him?
It fucking destroyed me a little more each time it happened and before long I wasn’t going to the club nearly as often, which meant I had to deal with Jillian and the step-bitches more and more often. I got a lot of reading done, and I was pretty sure I’d done all the homework for the entire semester during the nights I locked myself in my room ignoring them all. At least my history grade was staying steady and my GPA was exceptional.
There would be no ignoring the evil bitches tonight, however. Jillian and her daughters were going to some Halloween party and I could either go with them, or go to First Bass with Lucy. Seeing Jace was definitely the lesser of the two evils and I dressed to kill in a cop outfit I’d been able to find at Party City. Lucy hadn’t been thrilled about dressing up, but somehow I’d talked her into it anyway.
Getting her out of her house dressed like any guy’s wet dream wasn’t easy, though. Jesse Thornton would have had an aneurism if he had seen what his daughter was wearing, so I wrapped her up in an old trench coat I’d found in my father’s hall closet and distracted Jesse while Lucy hurried out of the house.
My heart was still racing from the thought of what would have happened if Jesse had seen Lucy’s outfit as we entered First Bass. I took off my jacket and handed it over to Tiny as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the VIP floor.
“Miss Thornton, it’s always a pleasure to have you with us,” Tiny told her as Lucy started to take off the trench coat.
She gave him a warm smile as she shrugged it off and handed it over. Behind us I heard Marcus mutter a curse, the first real sign of emotion out of him I’d ever seen. Tiny’s reaction wasn’t much better. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Clearing his throat, he folded Lucy’s coat over his arm. “Shall I inform the boss you’ve arrived, Miss Thornton?”
“No, please don’t bother him, Tiny.” She gave him a sly grin. “I’d like to surprise him, if you don’t mind.”
I saw the hesitation in the big man’s dark eyes, but after only a second he nodded his head and stepped aside so we could climb the stairs to the VIP floor.
I wasn’t used to heels as high as I was wearing, and neither was Lucy, but the five inches on the killer stiletto knee-high boots made our legs look endless paired with our ultra-short black shorts and ripped, black leggings. We both wore matching gun belts and our tops barely covered Lucy’s assets, but we looked hot and that was exactly what I was going for.
I wanted to make Jace sweat that night, and I knew Harris would definitely be unable to hide how affected he was once he saw his ‘best friend’ all dressed up. It was slightly amusing to see how much Harris worshiped Lucy, yet how hard he tried to hide how much he really cared.
Guys were so stupid.