The big man’s mouth dropped open in surprise. I was sure that he wasn’t used to people telling him no when he relayed messages from his boss. Kin smirked beside me and before anyone could say another word, Marcus was pushing us forward. He found us a table and seated us before stepping back and analyzing the room.
Kin ordered us sodas but I couldn’t focus on anything. I was confident with my decision to not run off at the first sign of Harris wanting to see me. I was not that girl who jumped at the chance to be with a guy at the first sign he was interested again after being ignored. It might sound childish to some people—I should have probably gone to see what had been going on with him for the last two weeks—but I just wasn’t built to chase after a guy like that.
A waitress I recognized set my drink in front of me. “Mr. Cutter would like for you to join him in his office.”
“Tell Mr. Cutter to go fuck himself,” Kin snapped at the waitress. “If he wants to see her so damn bad, he knows where to find her.”
The blond chick’s eyes glittered and her lips twitched as if she wanted to grin, but she didn’t. Instead she inclined her head and walked away. I watched her as she went back to the bar and spoke to the bartender. The man had a headset on and must have relayed what Kin had said to whoever was on the other end. I didn’t know whether to laugh or hide in the bathroom when, a few minutes later, Jace appeared at the table.
&n
bsp; The blue-eyed rocker had eyes only for Kin at first and she point-blank ignored him as she focused on the lyrics she had spread out in front of her. After a few moments, he seemed to grit his teeth and turned those hypnotic blue eyes on me. “Harris wants to know why you won’t come back to see him.”
“It probably has something to do with him being a dickhead. Better be careful, I hear it’s contagious.” I covered my mouth, gasping. “Oh, wait, too late. You’ve already caught it.”
That produced a small snicker from Kin but she didn’t lift her head. Jace shook his dirty blond head, a small grin teasing at his lips. “Been taking lessons from Kin?”
“Probably the other way around.” I lifted my drink and took a small sip. “If you want to sit with me while Kin preforms, that’s cool. When you aren’t trying to stomp on her heart and pride, I actually like you.”
“Just my pride, Lu. My heart is no longer involved,” Kin assured me, still focused on the song in front of her. I knew she was lying, but Jace must have believed her.
His jaw clenched. “I’ll come sit with you, Lucy. If you come back and talk to Harris.”
“See you later, Jace. It was good talking to you. Maybe we’ll see you next Wednesday.” I took another sip of my soda and set it down before pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket. I had it on silent and noticed that I had three missed calls from Harris and two text messages.
Really? He dares to start reaching out now?
Rolling my eyes, I deleted the texts without reading them. Pulling up my emails, I started reading through a few while Jace just stood there, frowning down at me. “You aren’t coming tomorrow night to watch Tainted Knights?” he finally asked after a few minutes of complete silence at the table.
I shrugged. “I’ve seen you and your band play before. I’m sure I’m not going to miss anything important. The only reason I’m here now is because of Kin. As soon as she’s done, we’re leaving.”
“Damn it, Lucy. Harris wants to see you.”
Lifting my gaze from my phone, I met his eyes. “I’m right here.”
Chapter 2
Harris
Blowing out a tired breath, I tried to focus on the computer screen in front of me. It had been a long week and a half and I had barely slept during that entire time. All I wanted was to go home, crawl into my bed and sleep for at least two days. But I’d been in Arizona for ten of the last eleven days so going home just now wasn’t an option. I had things that needed my attention at First Bass and, honestly, I didn’t want to go home anytime soon if Tessa was going to be there.
The bitch was mental.
Things felt like they were becoming out of control and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. From the moment Lucy had left my office after I’d kissed her, everything had gone to hell. I’d gone home to find Tessa high as a damn kite and trashing my apartment, raging about Lucy and how she’d forced Jenna into rehab. I’d locked myself in my room, feeling like a fucking prisoner in my own home.
Waking up at six thirty on a Sunday morning after only a few hours of sleep was not my idea of a good time. Getting a phone call from Jenna screaming at me that she was going to come home two weeks early from rehab because I was treating her girlfriend like shit was definitely not my idea of a good time. I hadn’t been able to make her understand what was going on and had had no choice but to grab the first flight out to go see her.
The clinic that Jenna was staying at only allowed visitors for an hour each day. I’d spent every minute of the time they would give me trying to make Jenna see that the girl she swore she was in love with was nothing but trouble. I didn’t tell her that Tessa had been trying to sleep with me for weeks now, or that she had basically attacked me in my office Saturday night. I didn’t know how she would react to that, but didn’t want to chance it setting her off in a bad way and ruining the hard work she’d already put in at rehab.
I tried to make her see that it was Tessa who had gotten her into the drugs that had been clouding her mind and judgments for so long. Attempted to make her see that the girl she said she loved so much really didn’t love her back like she thought. It had taken me a while to see how Tessa really was, too, because she had been so good at hiding it. What I’d seen when I’d finally opened my eyes were the same girls that had chased after my dad and his bandmates for so many years before they had settled down and started families of their own. Tessa was nothing more than a desperate, gold-digging whore that was only along for the ride on whatever money train she could climb aboard.
At first Jenna hadn’t wanted to believe me, but I was sure that I’d convinced her that breaking up with Tessa when she got home in a week would be a good idea.
During that time I’d had to focus all my attention on her and hadn’t dared look at my phone…
Okay, so that was a copout. I’d been avoiding looking at my phone. Even when I was trying to concentrate so hard on Jenna, I’d been fighting the need to talk to Lucy. Fuck, I’d wanted to talk to her so bad. To spill everything that was running through my mind to her. The only reason I hadn’t was because if I heard her voice—fuck, if I’d so much as seen her name on my phone’s screen—I would have wanted to kiss her again.
And a hell of a lot more.