Rocking Kin (Lucy & Harris 3)

“If Kassa can’t get her to go I guess I’ll fly out there and drag her.” I wasn’t going to let this go without making sure my adopted mother was okay. Her being sick for any reason scared the hell out of me. Suddenly having severe headaches like that was freaking me the fuck out.

“Hell, man. If it comes to that I’ll go with you.”

I nodded, but didn’t say another word to him as I finished my breakfast. Alicia was like a mother to Gray, too. She’d treated him just as much like a son as she had me. I knew she was his second favorite person in the world, second only to Kassa.

After breakfast I called her to check in on Alicia. She’d set up an appointment for her the next morning and I told her to keep me informed. Relieved that Alicia was actually going to the doctor, I dropped down on my bed and pulled up my call history. Still nothing from Kin.

Cursing, I swiped my thumb over her name and lifted the receiver to my ear. It rang twice before going to voicemail, which told me loud and clear that she had sent me there after seeing my name pop up on her phone.

“Okay, baby. I get the message loud and clear. You’re still pissed. Good. It shows me that you still feel something.” I grinned even though I was disappointed. She wouldn’t have been so mad if she didn’t still care.

Right?

“I’ll give you a few days to cool off. Don’t think I’m giving up, though. I’ve missed you, Kin. Seeing you last night showed me that I was wrong, baby. I never should have let you go.”

Lowering the phone, I hit end and then reached for my pillow. Fuck this day. If I couldn’t get her to talk to me, then I’d catch up on some sleep.

Chapter 7

Kin

“I never should have let you go.”

My fingers were actually trembling as I listened to the message again.

For the tenth time.

“I never should have let you go.”

Asshole.

Dropping the phone on the bed, I rushed to get ready. Lucy and I were going out tonight after I’d twisted her arm. Hard. Her Aunt Emmie had told me that First Bass had an open mike night and I was excited to try out one of the songs I’d written since I’d arrived in California.

The fact that Jace St. Charles might be at the club didn’t bother me.

Much.

I was ready to see him again. After spending Sunday through Tuesday lying to myself that I was, I’d spent all day today talking Lucy into using her pull with the whole ‘name on the VIP list’ to get me in. Now I was going to walk in there, show Jace that I was just fine with him being in the same state with me once again, and sing the song I’d written for my mother.

That was all that really mattered. The song.

Thinking of the song I’d written had my heart twisting painfully, just as it always did when memories of my mother blindsided me.

Pulling on a pair of jeans that had seen better days but were my favorite, I threw on a white T-shirt, pulled on a leather vest over it and grabbed my phone and guitar case before heading downstairs. Lucy and Marcus would be there to pick me up soon and I didn’t want Lucy to have to come in to get me. Jillian was anything but nice to my friend, and the step-bitches weren’t any better. I put Jillian’s pettiness at how she treated Lucy down to the fact that Layla Thornton had used her pull in their social circles to ostracize Jillian out of more than one event over the years. Georgia and Carolina’s treatment of my friend was more of them not liking that Lucy still got noticed by the paps—something she hated—but my two step-bitches craved just as much as their mother did.

I was just about to open the door when it swung inward and Scott came in. He glanced up, saw what I was carrying and lifted a brow. “That looks too big for you to be carrying.”

I shrugged. “It’s not heavy.”

“Where are you headed?” he asked, and I paused long enough to look up at him. Since when did he care where I went or what I was doing? He was rarely home and when he was he was so far up Jillian’s ass I was sure he didn’t even remember I existed.

“Out with a friend,” I finally told him.

“Have fun,” he called over his shoulder as he headed deeper into the house.

“I’m out of this hell-hole, so yeah. I’m gonna have a blast,” I muttered to myself as I opened the door and stepped out onto the front step. With each passing day I regretted making my mother that stupid promise more and more. I knew she had wanted what she thought was best for me, to show me what it was like in my father’s world, but after the first two days I had learned fast that I hadn’t been missing anything. I wanted to be back in Virginia with Carter and the twins so badly I could taste the crisp fall air and

almost hear their laughter as we raked the multi-colored leaves that fell into the front yard.