sp; Rodger was my cousin Mia’s bodyguard. It was crazy to think that my honorary little cousin needed as much protection as I did, but her mom was even more overprotective than my dad was. Aunt Emmie hadn’t been the same ever since a fan had nearly taken Mia, and now Mia didn’t even get to go outside without Rodger shadowing her. She had just turned eleven and she told me she felt like her mom was smothering her. I could relate, but we both knew that having a bodyguard that watched our every step was something that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
After a moment, Dad’s voice faded away and then Marcus knocked on my bedroom door. I glanced at my reflection in the long mirror attached to the inside of my closet door. I hadn’t gone crazy on my makeup, but I had put on a little more than I normally would have. My lips looked plumper and glossy, my eyes highlighted just a little more to make them stand out. I was wearing my favorite jeans that had rips in the knees and hugged my ass. I was glad it was winter and I got to wear my favorite boots with the three-inch heels. The top I’d picked was a favorite and something I’d worn a few times to First Bass, but adding a scarf changed up the look a little. Grabbing my leather jacket, I slipped it on and then opened the door.
Marcus stood in the hallway with his usual stoic expression. I thought I was getting to know him a little better and was able to decipher his expressions. While his face might have looked unemotional, his eyes always gave away the slightest hint to his mood. Earlier in the day, when he’d been following me around school, I’d thought he was bored—typical for a big, scary man following around a senior in an over-priced private school. I’d been bored so I was sure he had been, too.
Now he looked like he was slightly amused. Slightly. His eyes crinkled at the edges just a little and his gray eyes were lighter than they normally would have been if he were in a grumpy mood. I smiled up at him and stepped out of my room. “Ready when you are,” I told him.
He inclined his head and led the way downstairs. Marcus was definitely a man of few words. At the door, I called out to my parents that I was leaving and my dad came out of the living room with a twin on each leg. He walked with ease despite having at least seventy-five pounds of extra weight added to his calves. The twins snickered as they held on tight, enjoying the ride.
“Be careful, Lu.” Dad stopped in front of me and hugged me. I hugged him back, holding on for an extra few seconds when he would have pulled back. There was nothing better than a hug from my dad. Nothing. “Have fun,” he murmured before pulling away.
“Bye, Lucy,” Lyric said.
“Yeah, bye Lu,” Luca chimed in, giving me the same sly grin as his twin. “Don’t get in any trouble, sis.”
“Bye. Love you.” I stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets as Marcus opened the front door for me and led me out to my Range Rover that was parked in the driveway. It was stupid that I had a nice SUV but hadn’t gotten to drive it more than twice in the almost two years since I’d started driving. Marcus drove me everywhere and the few times that he hadn’t, it had been one of my parents behind the wheel.
I didn’t complain about it out loud, though. I knew that my parents just wanted to make sure I was safe. But next year, when I went off to college, I was going to try and convince them that I didn’t need Marcus to go with me. Most likely they would overrule me and make me take him, but I wasn’t going to give up without a good fight. Still, that was a while away so I was going to store up all my arguments on the whole bodyguard subject until then.
Kin lived only a few blocks away so it didn’t take more than two minutes to get to her house. She was already waiting in the driveway when Marcus pulled to a stop beside her. She tossed her guitar case and backpack into the back before Marcus could even get out and jumped into the back seat with me. “Go!” she ordered just as I saw the front door to her house opening and her step-monster coming out onto the porch.
My eyes widened when I got a good look at Jillian Montez’s face. She looked livid. “What did you do, Kin?” I asked with a laugh as Marcus pulled out so fast the tires squealed.
“Damn bitch wanted me to take Georgia with me.” She covered her face with her hands and screamed her frustration into them. Marcus shot us a quick glance in the rear-view mirror but kept driving. When she looked at me again her face was set in stone. “Because—really, she said this—Georgia needed more exposure with the paparazzi and being seen with us at First Bass would get her on TMZ.”
I couldn’t help the snicker that left my lips. “Wow, she’s a real trip.”
“Georgia was still getting ready when I came outside, but what she was wearing...” She broke off, shaking her head as if trying to clear her head of the image her stepsister had put in there. “Promise me if I ever leave the house looking like a cross between a high-end prostitute and skankzilla you will do the right thing and slap some sense into me.”
That had me falling into a fit of giggles and I had to wipe my eyes while Kin sat back and grumbled. “It’s not funny, Lu. You should have seen her. I guess she thought that since Harris owns it and is the son of a rocker, she should try to look like a groupie. But she over-jumped the boundaries. I think it’s against the law to wear the clothes she had on in public. If she was going for shock value, she hit it hard. Her hair was as high as a Texas beauty queen’s and her makeup… It was horrible. That eye makeup will haunt my dreams tonight.”
“Stop,” I begged as I continued to giggle. “You’re killing me.”
A smile teased at the corners of Kin’s lips. “I’m being serious here.”
“I know. That’s what makes it so freaking hilarious.” Wiping my eyes, I turned in my seat to face her. “I’m surprised you were able to ditch her.” Georgia was like a dog with a bone when her mother put an idea in her mind. I doubted the girl had a viable thought in her head that hadn’t been planted there so that Jillian could live vicariously through her oldest daughter.
“It wasn’t easy. Going home tonight isn’t going to be an option, either. Can I stay with you?”
“Of course you can.” My mom would have let Kin move in with us if she wanted to. If Kin hadn’t promised her mother that she would try to get to know her father and his family, she would have taken Mom up on the offer.
Well, probably not. If Kin hadn’t made that promise to her dying mother, she would have been back in Virginia with her stepdad and the step-twins that she loved so much. I hated that my friend was miserable at home, but I wouldn’t lie and say I wasn’t glad that she was now living in Malibu. We probably never would have met if she hadn’t made that promise and I was thankful for her friendship now.
The crowd outside First Bass was as crazy as ever. Marcus handed the keys to the Range Rover over to the valet and then opened the back door for us. As we approached the big man letting people into the club, he barely gave us a second glance before he was unlatching the velvet rope and letting us through. He didn’t smile or even speak to us and I was more than glad for his disinterest. It made the paps across the street flashing their cameras at me and Kin less interested.
Marcus opened the door for us and I stepped through, holding Kin’s free hand. On Wednesday nights we didn’t go up to the VIP since Kin always preformed something. Tiny had gotten used to us not going upstairs on open mike night, so I was a little startled when the big, scary yet beautiful dark-skinned man stepped out of the stairwell.
“Miss Thornton.” His voice was just as scary as the rest of him and, as I always did when I was confronted with such a terrifying man, I automatically took a step back, getting closer to Marcus. “Mr. Cutter asks that you join him in his office at your earliest convenience.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “So Harris is here?”
“Yes, Miss Thornton. He returned last night.”
Relief that Harris was there and okay washed through me, but I wasn’t about to jump at his bidding. I didn’t know where he’d been or if he was okay. He could have at least texted me back and told me he was fine during the last eleven days. I was still hurt and yeah, definitely still pissed off. Magically reappearing and then asking his muscle to tell me to go to his office was not going to fly with me.
Who the hell did Harris think he was?
Kin’s hand tightened on mine, silently offering me strength, and I gave Tiny a small smile. “Thank you, Tiny. But please inform Mr. Cutter that I won’t be joining him in his office. If he couldn’t find two seconds to send me a text letting me know he was alive, I sure as hell don’t have time to visit with him now.”