I grinned at the text and then at the next one that followed.
Maybe…
Laughing, I grabbed my keys and headed out.
Kin
Angie had called and told me to be waiting on the curb. I hadn’t questioned her, just gotten dressed for a night out in my favorite jeans, a tank top and my coat. I’d tiptoed downstairs in my sock feet and silently closed the front door behind me as I’d carried my boots with me.
She was already waiting on me when I got to the curb and I jumped in without giving my father’s house a second glance. Angie gunned the engine of the powerful car Caleb must have rented, burning rubber for a moment before she was pulling out into traffic.
I started slipping my feet into my boots, already laughing at the fierce look on my stepsister’s face. I’d just snuck out, but there hadn’t been any problems with getting caught. Jillian and her daughters were out, but Scott was somewhere in the house. But the look on Angie’s face and the smirk on her lips made it seem like she had just helped me escape Folsom or some shit. From the way she was driving, I was pretty sure she thought the cops were going to appear at any moment and try to take me away from her.
“You okay?” Angie asked five minutes into the drive.
“With you and Caleb here, I’m more than okay.” It was the truth. I had never been more okay than I was right in that moment.
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“Good.” She nodded, her blond hair falling into her face. With a sigh she pushed the thick locks back. “Where ya wanna go, little sis?”
“First Bass,” I didn’t hesitate to tell her. “It’s where Lucy will have taken Caleb.”
“The rocker boy’s club, right?” She nodded to herself. “Cash and the guys play there, right?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Every Thursday night. Cash won’t be there tonight, though. Not unless Caleb called him.”
“He couldn’t get hold of Cash, so it’s just us.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the texts Jace and I had been sending back and forth before turning my gaze back to Angie. “Jace will be there.”
She didn’t even blink. “Will he? Good.”
“Please be nice,” I told her. “Don’t start trouble in Harris’s club.”
Angie was quiet for so long that I wasn’t sure she was going to answer me or not. Then she blew out another sigh and shot me a smirk. “Not in Harris’s club. Gotcha.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again and it felt like it actually came from my soul. It was so good to be so close to someone I loved more than life itself. I was happier than I’d been in a very long time and it made my heart feel warm in a way it hadn’t since the day I’d known my mother wasn’t going to be with me forever.
Thinking about my mom, I couldn’t help but feel tears sting my eyes. I blinked them back and turned my attention out the passenger window of the powerful sports car, not wanting to be a downer when I should be ecstatic that Angie and Caleb were actually there for me.
The car came to a slow stop and I frowned, noticing that we hadn’t stopped for a light or traffic. “What…?”
Loving arms wrapped around me, shutting off my question. “I miss her too, you know,” Angie whispered. “She was the only mom I really knew and I miss her every damn day, Kin. It’s okay to miss her. It’s okay to cry.”
Pain tightened around my heart and I tried to pull away, but she only tightened her arms, forcing me to stay in the hug. The tears filled my eyes without my permission and suddenly I was sobbing. Sobbing for all the lost time I’d missed out on with my real family. Sobbing for the loss of my mother. Sobbing for the loneliness.
Sobbing for me.
It was the first time I’d let myself really cry since my mom had died. The first time I’d let the tears fall so freely and openly. And even though it hurt to cry so hard, it felt good too. It was cathartic. I’d tried to be so strong for so long, but right then, I needed to be weak and it was okay because I knew Angie could be strong enough for the both of us. If only for a few minutes.
Jace
As soon as I got to First Bass I headed straight up to the VIP floor. Friday nights weren’t as wild as it was on Thursday nights after a Tainted Knights’ show, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t any less full. Especially on the top floor. Everyone who was anyone that wanted to be seen was there, hoping to rub elbows with each other.
I didn’t give two fucks about the celebrities there. All I wanted was to find Kin and hopefully have that damn talk we should have had the night before. Knowing that Lucy liked to stay in the back corner where it was quieter and more private, I headed straight for the couches back there.
Finding Lucy sitting on Harris’s lap while they sat talking to Caleb surprised me. The two guys were laughing and drinking beers while Lucy rested her head on Harris’s shoulder and sipped her usual ginger ale through a straw. She looked sleepy, but her eyes glowed with amusement as she sat on my friend’s lap, listening to the two guys talk.