by Anna Bloom
Miriam swung herself up onto a high bar stool, her legs stretching as she crossed them at the thigh. “Now isn’t this cosy on a Friday night?” She sipped at her wine and pulled a face. I bit down on my smile. “If I’d known you were working the bar instead of drinking it, I would have come here more often.”
I offered her a tight grin. “Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ve always known what’s been going on here. Isn’t that right, Miriam?”
She tinkled another laugh.
Honestly, I expected Jensen Collins to stroll in like a cowboy at any point and tell everyone to get out of his bar. I knew now, too late, that it had never really been mine. None of this had.
Jack Cross making the wrong choices again. Like a curse I couldn’t break.
“Hey, Alex.” Lyra came up, placing her hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I thought we were meeting at campus after my shift?” She smiled up at him, those blue eyes wide and clear. The fact they were turned in his direction and not mine burned through me like lava straight out of a volcano and I gripped the cloth in my hand, wringing it tight.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Evan shaking his head.
“I thought I’d come and meet you here. You like surprises, right?” He slid an arm around her shoulder and kissed the side of her head.
Okay. And. Stop.
What the actual fuck?
I ground my teeth together, ignoring Miriam’s smirk.
“Ahhh, but you’re going to ruin dress-up time.” Eva grouched, oblivious to the cut-throat tension circling around the small group.
Lyra laughed and turned to her friend. “You know I hate dress-up time, and anyway,” she turned back to Alex. “This is just an icebreaker, right?” She smiled up at him and it twisted in my gut.
“If that’s what you want to call it.” He flashed her his best million-heir smile. “I call it drink and a pizza.”
As if on cue, loud shouts broke out across the bar and Evan called me over. Two guys in their late twenties had obviously been on a long lunch from a local office and had now decided after five hours of day drinking together that they hated each other.
Normally the situation would be shut down straightaway. We worked hard to keep things straight, we had to in this part of the neighborhood.
But my mind couldn’t move from Lyra and that kiss Alex had placed on her temple, so the punch that landed on my temple as I waded into the fight before Eddie or even Evan could join me came as a surprise.
My teeth rattled and I stumbled stunned.
It had been years since someone had landed a punch on me. The person I’d become no longer relied on his fists to get his point across.
“You fucker.” I spun and grabbed at the shit who’d caught me off guard. His eyes bulged as I lifted him by the neck of his dress shirt.
“Jack!” Evan caught my wrists, lowering them back down. Dazed, I dropped the guy to his feet, shaking my head to try and dislodge the stars swimming in my vision.
“The fucker got a lucky punch in.” I rubbed at the side of my head.
Laughing, Evan shook his head. “Right.” He pointed at the day drunk. “You’re barred for punching the boss.” Then he pointed at me. “You go and sort yourself out. You’re no good to anything if you are like this all evening.” Chuckling, he shook his head, muttering something under his breath about a bad action movie.
Ignoring him and massaging at my forehead and left eye socket, I stalked for the stock area and punched the code into the security pad. As I pushed open the door, I glanced over my shoulder. Miriam wasn’t looking at me, instead, she was tapping something into her phone… good to see she cared—not. Lyra still talked to Eva and Alex.
Hmm.
Inside the cool stockroom, I dropped down into a crouch, resting my head back against the wall.
My problem was quite simple really. I didn’t like the thought of Lyra going anywhere with Alex Collins. I knew she had this whole plan to get him to talk, to try and incriminate the bastard family so we could leave and never have to look over our shoulders, but it rankled deep down inside me.
Leaving together was now our only option. I knew that, hated the fact that Lyra wouldn’t go home without me, but also knew that if she did it would hurt me in ways that no one else had ever been able to do.
Not my dad.
Not the Collins’.
Not even Lyra herself until this point.
If I could go back, then none of this would be an issue.
The burning hate I’d allowed to simmer for the last four years came back to the boil. The night I left, stupid decisions and bad choices all crept back to the surface leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
If I’d left the night before then none of this would have happened.
None of it.
But then maybe my dad wouldn’t be in jail.
My mom would have still been living hell…
Maybe it all had to happen. Which meant that if we were on a pre-destined path of fate then Lyra had to go out with Alex Collins tonight to try and get us out of half of the mess.
I didn’t want her blacklisted wherever she went.
I knew she said she hated the violin, but I also knew that had a lot to do with me. I’d tied her violin playing into my darkness, pulled it in, sucked the life out of it, so that when I left, she no longer knew what to play for.
That chain… the one she’d told me about… I’d always known it existed. Maybe I’d known it would snap when I left, maybe I’d wanted that in some twisted way.
I dropped my head onto my knees.
“Jack?” The door eased open and I looked up.
“Not too busy with Alex?” I dropped my head back down, listening to the soft tread of her footsteps as she walked closer.
“It’s just the plan, Jack. Remember?” She curled her hand around my bicep, rubbing her thumb in a circle. “Look at me.”
I did, my chest tightening as I looked up into her perfect face. Her hair piled on top of her head, her lips parted.
“I wish I’d never got this scholarship.”
I nodded. “But then you and I would never have seen one another again.”
“Maybe. But then maybe not.”
I rested my head back, my hand slipping around her jaw, my thumb brushing across her lower lip. “All the time I’ve known you, things have never once been simple or easy.”
“Because you are my brother’s best friend?”
My heart actually ached like it had been punched.
“Some of it. But also because it’s all been wrong from the start.”
“Jack.” She threw herself onto her knees by my side, clutching my face in her grasp, making me wince at the bruise forming. “Even if I never saw you again, I would never have forgotten you, never been over you. You must understand that.”
“I do. And it kills me.”
A tear slipped down her cheek and I brushed at it with my fingertips. Her eyelashes briefly shut.
‘And you’re sure you’re happy to never go home?”
Those pale-blues opened and stared at my face. “For you. Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Lyra. I’ve made so many mistakes.”
“Please don’t make loving me one of them.”
I tugged her in tighter, slipping my fingers into their favorite place, cradling her jaw, tilting her mouth so it opened under mine.
“Have I told you how much I’ve hated not touching you this week?” I brushed my words across her lips.
“Tell me now.” She gasped, hitching her breath and I crushed her mouth with mine, inhaling her scent, letting it drive me insane.
Lyra would always be the poison that could destroy me, but she’d also always be the antidote.
My tongue stole between her lips, flicking against hers, creating an electric dance. My muscles tightened all over.
“You taste heavenly.” I skimmed my nose down her throat, inhaling deeply.
Pushing me back, she stared at me with an expression of such hunger it gnaw
ed at my insides. Her kiss landed on mine, harder, insistent, her tongue sweeping with boldness. “Lyra.” I caught her face and gave a gentle shake of my head. “Not here. You deserve more.”
Her bottom lips dropped into a cute pout. “You’ve given me more, now I want this.” Her hands ran down my chest and I let go of her face just so I could catch them and pull them away before she strayed them near my hard dick.
“In a couple of days, we’ll be gone. And I promise to give you whatever you want, whenever you want.”
“Anything?” She arched an eyebrow.
“All of it.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s just a couple of days. You say you’ll leave with me and never go home, then let me do this right, Lyra, please. I want my future with you, but I won’t skulk in shadows anymore, won’t wait down alleyways for you, and I won’t take you on the floor surrounded by vodka bottles and out of date beer.”
Her lips curved. “The beer’s out of date?”
Laughing, I pushed her off me. Not that hard, she was as light as a feather and I wondered if she’d been looking after herself during this week of hell. It didn’t matter. I’d look after her from now on. I’d do everything for her, so I never had to lose her again.
“I love you, Lyra Bird.”
“And I love you. Always have, always will.”
She crowned me a king with those words.
God forbid she ever had reason to take them back.
Chapter Thirty
Lyra
“Quick, dress-up.” Eva launched herself towards my closet and yanked open the doors, pulling items of clothing out that I’d forgotten I’d packed.
“Eva, it’s really not necessary. It’s pizza.”
She turned, one hand holding up some of my smarter pants. “Pizza is pizza.”
“And remember the Collins family issue…” I motioned to my skin. Like we needed a reminder why they were assholes.
“Ah, but that’s Alex’s parents, not Alex himself. He’s lovely, and so nice, and thoughtful. I mean he came to see you at work, how cute is that?”
“Real cute.” I ducked as a pair of pants were launched at me.
“Those, with that wide cropped T-shirt you had on the first night.”
“It worries me you can remember what I wore our first night.”
“It’s clothes, I remember everything.”
I shook them out from where they’d landed on the floor.
“Right, go shower.”
I scrunched my face. “I don’t want to shower. It’s too cold.”
“Lyra Lennox, you can’t go out for a date without a shower!”
“It’s pizza… and I can.”
Jeez, the last thing I wanted was to make any more effort than strictly necessary for the sake of the ‘plan’. Jack’s expression as I’d left Blue’s bar had already fired arrows into my heart. I didn’t need to feel any more guilt over it.
“Five minute shower and I’ll do your makeup.”
“Eva…” She wouldn’t let it go though, so I turned for the bathroom and snatched up all my stuff.
To be honest, the shower helped. The hot water eased the tight knot of nerves and the stiff spot between my shoulders.
I wanted this all over. Wished that Jack and I were on our way already, but I couldn’t leave things the way they were, couldn’t have them hounding him, or me, or worse getting near Grams.
Grams.
My stomach dropped. I needed to call her and talk. I didn’t want her to worry about me, wanted her to know that I was happy with my choices.
Did it make me selfish that Jack trumped everything else? The tightness in my chest told me that yes, it made me very selfish indeed.
I couldn’t leave him though.
Couldn’t, wouldn’t, go home without him. Not now I knew what being with him was like. Everything and anything all at once.
To finally kiss him, have his skin on mine, to experience that one split-second of sheer earth-shattering absolution in his arms, our gasped breaths timed, our fingers clutching and holding on to never let go.
I couldn’t walk away from that now.
Jack might have left once. One day he might confirm my fears as to why.
Regardless, I couldn’t leave him.
Eva, true to her word, kept the makeup makeover to a minimum. Half an hour after Alex had dropped us both off at the door to our floor, I picked up my purse and steeled my nerves.
For Jack.
This wasn’t cheating.
This wasn’t even doing anything wrong.
It was a shot at freedom.
Remember that, Lyra.
As I walked down the stairs my phone beeped in my hands.
Jack: Back out. We can think of a new plan.
I paused on a step.
Me: No. Enjoy work and don’t worry.
The dots at the bottom of the screen jumped to life and I grinned insanely.
Jack: How can I? My face hurts and the only one I want to kiss it better has gone on a date with another man.
Laughing, I quickly typed as I started walking again.
Me: You just worry about the Collins still sat at the bar and let me worry about me.
Jack: Hmm.
Ignoring him and knowing I had to get down the stairs, I fiddled with my phone and then slipped it inside the top pocket of my denim jacket—a tight fit, but it would do.
“Hey! Sorry, I’m late.” I smiled as I turned the last set of stairs, finding Alex waiting below.
“Wow, uh no, that’s okay. You look very pretty.” He pulled at the toggles of his hoody. “And now I feel really underdressed.”
Sighing dramatically, I rolled my eyes. “I told Eva it was just a pizza. Shall I go and get changed?”
“Welllll.” He flung his arm around my shoulder, crushing me into his side. Thank God, I’d talked Jack out of his lurking add-on plan he’d come up with. “I figured I could manage one better than pizza, especially for the Collins kid.”
I groaned. “You know I hate being called that.”
Alex turned me, hands on my shoulders to face him. “But you are the Collins kid. A lot of students would do anything to be in your position.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“Well,” he let go of my shoulders and we started walking again, pushing out of the double doors and into the cold outdoors, “Brittany for one is determined that if she sleeps with Jack Cross she will either bribe her way into a better position, or blackmail.”
I shuddered but turned it into a shiver, pulling my jacket around me. “Your parents must really love the arts to spend all the money they do putting strangers through college.” I eyed him speculatively. “I mean, they’ve got their own kids too, right?”
“Yep.” His lips turned down.
“But then I suppose you’re lucky you don’t have to work in a dive like Blue’s bar.” I tried to read him more. “Did you see that fight break out over nothing earlier? Jeez, what’s with some people?”
He laughed. “I have to say I think you’re the first scholarship winner who has actively gone out of their way to be as anti-establishment as you have.”
“Anti-establishment? What do you mean?”
We headed out on the grass which mushed under the soles of my Vans. Eva had definitely not chosen me an outfit for marching in mud through the dark.
“Well, you know. Most scholarship winners are reclusive maestros lost in their own genius.”
“You make it sound like you’ve met a lot of them before enrolling here yourself.”
He snorted. “Being a Collins you are expected to act a certain way. Lots of functions, dinners; boring really.”
“But you do love music yourself though?”
His gaze flicked over me. “Sure, I do.”
“That’s good to know. For a moment there I thought you were just doing this in some masochistic way to get desperate attention from your parents.”
He laughed, shaking his head, and pointe
d to a blanket laid out under some trees.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“I told you, I figured I’d do one better for the Collins kid.”
A large oak with a giant trunk sheltered the blanket holding a picnic basket. “This is definitely not an icebreaker.” I curved an eyebrow and shot him a lopsided grin.
He held his palms up. “No expectations. I just thought it would be nice to hang out. We’ve got a lot in common.”
“In common?” We reached the blanket and he motioned for me to sit first. I thought it would be damp from the mud, but it was one of those plastic backed rugs which crinkled as I lowered myself onto it.
“Yeah, you know. Here I am, struggling to be seen by my parents, doesn’t matter how well I play the violin, and there you are…” he cocked his head, analyzing me, “apparently not even liking the violin.”
“You know.” I wagged my finger. “That’s not even true. I used to love the violin.”
“Used to?”
“Yeah, once.” I trailed off, my focus settling on the ice dusting of stars above our head. “And I guess I always hoped it would come back.”
He snorted a laugh. “Bloody ironic that my parents invested all this money on someone who doesn’t want to play.”
“You’re jealous?”
Alex chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“I mean, you’ve asked me out here, gone to all this effort,” I swept my hand at the blanket and the basket. “Is it real, or is it some sort of game?”
He sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Okay, I’ll admit, Lyra. When I took you to the gala the other week, I wanted to piss Dad off. Wanted him to see how fucked off I was that they didn’t take my application seriously for the scholarship.”
“Application?”
“Sure. I applied, without them knowing, of course.” He opened the basket and clinked out a couple of bottles of beer, using the ring on his right-hand ring-finger to open the lids.
“Did you get to the interview stage?”
“Sure. Then the board said no.”
“Where did you come?”