“Set him down there and I’ll keep an eye on him while you go figure out who’s going to stay with you.” Stupid Bas for getting drunk, and stupid Vi for wanting to spend the night in at Jake’s. Realistically I knew it wasn’t their fault, they both deserved to have a night where they didn’t have to worry about me, but I really wasn’t looking forward to asking one of the other guys for help.
I hoped Ace would be willing. I was beginning to really enjoy his company and I was the most comfortable around him but before I could find him to ask, I came across Kyden and harpy Barbie. I hadn’t seen her all night until then and I tried, unsuccessfully, to change directions and skirt past them without being noticed.
“If you’re looking for Ace Princess, you won’t find him.” Kyden’s voice held a bitterness that I found surprising, but secretly pleased me.
“Why not?”
“Him and Danny just split.”
“Damn it.” I muttered under my breath.
“Babe, come on, let’s get out of here.” Kaylie practically purred in his ear while pressing her breasts up against him and I had to fight back the urge to gag.
“Just a sec.” He shrugged her off and then turned back to me.
“What you need Ace for Princess, you planning on throwing yourself at him next?”
Jerk.
“No.” I snapped. “I just …” I didn’t really want to tell him that I needed someone to stay with me. I didn’t know whether I was more afraid that he would or wouldn’t offer.
“Just what Princess?” I sighed in frustration, but knew that if Danny and Ace were both gone I didn’t have a choice.
“Bas is really drunk, too drunk to go back to my place.”
“You need someone to stay with you Princess?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry about it, I’ll find someone else to-”
“No you won’t. I’ll stay.”
“What the hell?” Kaylie whined and grabbed his arm. “You said we were gonna-”
“Yeah, well now we’re not.” He cut her off and pulled out of her grasp, leaving her fuming. Of course instead of being mad at him she turned her anger on me.
“Why don’t you grow the fuck up and get your own man. It’s pathetic that you have to play poor, helpless female to get a guy to go home with you.” She sneered.
“Kaylie shut up and go find someone else to put you on your back tonight.” Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. I kind of expected her to hit him. I would have.
“Why, you think that little girl will be better? You know she’s not as good as me.” Was I supposed to be insulted that I’m not as slutty as her?
“Doesn’t fucking matter. I’m not screwing her. Unlike you, she doesn’t have to get me off for me to want to spend time with her.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“I already said not tonight.” For the second time I thought she was going to slap him. He deserved it, but she just turned and stormed off.
“Did you have to be so harsh?” I asked.
“Why do you care? She’s a bitch to you.”
“I know, but still, you two are … well whatever you are and no girl deserves to be treated like that, no matter how wretched I think she is.”
“There really is no winning with you, is there?”
“Are you trying to say you were mean to her for me?”
“Well I wasn’t going to let her take her anger at me out on you. I was trying to be a nice guy and all that shit, but obviously I shouldn’t have bothered.” How could someone so dense, have so many girls begging for a piece of him?
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate your intentions, but I can stick up for myself. I really don’t care what she says. Really all you did was make her hate me more, so next time you should probably just work on not being such a jerk to women.” He rolled his eyes at me and let out a groan.
“You’re going to be that obnoxiously pushy friend who tries to make me a better person aren’t you.”
“We both know I can’t make you do anything, but I do fully intend to help you realize when you’re not living up to your potential. I’ve seen you be kind so I know you’re capable of it and somewhere inside of you is a partially decent guy.” I think. Maybe.
“Fuck, this friendship thing isn’t going to be as much fun as I thought. You sure we can’t just have sex and then you can hate me or whatever? That seems simpler.” It probably would be much simpler than trying to be friends with this guy, but apparently I’m a masochist and wanted to drag out my torture.
“Do you really want me to hate you?” He just sighed and grabbed my hand, pulling me along behind him as he moved through the thinning crowd to where Chris and Bas were still waiting at the bar. I couldn’t help the smile that curled up the corners of my mouth. “That’s what I thought.”
“Come on Princess before I change my mind.”
“Hey Jazzy look, ya found im. Nowya can tellim ya didn’ wanna kiss Ace. Ya wanna kiss im.” Why couldn’t he have already passed out? When he sobered up I was going to kill him. Kyden thought he was incredibly amusing and his typical cocky grin was plastered across his face. Mine, however, was getting redder by the second. Could I seriously not go five minutes in his presence without blushing? The more I blushed the bigger his grin got.
“Would you take him home already?” Chris laughed but helped Bas to his feet.
“He going home with you Tink?” He nodded at Kyden.
“Yeah, he is.” I sighed
“Where you guys parked at?”
“We’re out front on the street.” I answered.
“Okay, well I’m out back so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” We said goodnight and then Kyden and I exited the front of the bar and walked down the sidewalk toward where we were both parked. He was walking just slightly ahead of me, enough that his body partially blocked my view of my car as we neared it so it took me longer to notice what had made him stop dead in his tracks.
All four of my tires were flat, not just a little, but completely flat. Kyden stepped toward my car and bent down to examine the first one. “Fuck.”
“What?” But he didn’t need to answer me, when I got closer I saw what had set him off. They had been slashed. I wanted to cry but somehow I managed to hold it together. I had become complacent, confident that Connor had backed off, but this was a cruel reminder of just how relentless and cunning he could be. I’m sure it was his plan to let me think I was safe before striking. He would drag this out and play games until he got what he wanted or someone stopped him.
“What do I do?” I had never been in a situation like this and because of my fear I wasn’t thinking clearly either.
“I’ll take care of, just get anything valuable out. We’ll leave it here for now and in the morning I’ll have it towed. You can ride with me to your house.” I nodded, thankful that he was calm and collected enough to take control and tell me what to do. I dug my keys out of my jacket pocket and walked around to the driver’s side so that I could get my purse out from under my seat. When I got around the car and reached for my door my heart stopped and I froze. Scratched into the door was a message:
See you soon lover.
My hands were shaking and my breathing became shallow. I couldn’t focus on anything except those four words. My knees were ready to give out when I felt strong arms wrap around me. He pulled me back into his chest and started whispering in my ear. “It’s okay Princess. You’re okay, nobody is going to hurt you. I’ve got you. Just breathe. That’s it, just concentrate on breathing in and out.” His arms didn’t leave me and I leaned back into him, resting my head against his chest until the sense of terror passed. When I was finally calm enough to stand on my own he released me and took the keys from my hand and unlocked the door.
“Under the seat.” I managed to croak out. He reached in and pulled out my purse, then locked the car back up and led me over to his bike. It was probably a good thing I was still partially in shock or he might never have gotten me onto the
back of his bike.
Only when the powerful machine roared and began vibrating beneath me did I fully realize what I was doing. I squeezed my arms tighter around his waist as the bike shot forward. I pressed my cheek into his back and closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply, taking in his scent; clean and masculine with just a light hint of whatever body wash or cologne he used. Whatever it was, was delicious and all sexy man. I didn’t loosen my grip the entire ride to my house as the city became a blur around us.
Chapter 14
“Kyden?” I called out hesitantly. I had already crawled into bed but I sat back up. He poked his head into my room with a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah Princess?”
“Umm …” I was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to look desparate or give him the wrong idea.
“What is it Princess?” He stepped all the way inside the room clothed only in his boxer briefs. He really wasn’t shy at all and now I was having a hard time stringing words together for an entirely different reason. Finally I managed to get out what I wanted to ask him.
“Will you stay in here with me?” Almost as soon as I heard myself say it out loud I regretted it. He would think I was weak, or looking for pity or possibly even something else. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine; I think I’m still just a little freaked out but really I -”
“Shh, Princess, scoot over.” I was relieved when he slid in next to me. I really didn’t want to be alone. I knew I was going to have nightmares. I turned on my side facing away from him and I was thankful that he didn’t make a move to get any closer to me. I wasn’t looking for comfort like that. I’d just gotten so used to Bas sleeping next to me that the idea of being by myself, after what happened tonight was more than I could deal with.
“When you’re ready Princess, you can tell me what he did to you and I’ll listen.” I squeezed my eyes tightly to stop the moisture from leaking out. I knew that he was being sincere, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I didn’t want him to think I was more broken. Seeing the pity in his eyes when he looked at me after he knew, would be unbearable. Even though he was probably forming his own ideas and making assumptions about what had happened, I couldn’t confirm anything. As long as he didn’t know for sure how screwed up I was, I could face him. He didn’t bring it up again and before long I was sound asleep.
“Please no, oh God, please don’t do this.” I cried out but he didn’t stop. I screamed again, even though I knew there wasn’t anyone around to help me. They had made sure it would just be the two of us here tonight. I kicked and jerked as hard as I could hoping to throw him off, but he was too strong. He had me trapped beneath him. The tears streamed down my face and my throat was raw from all the crying and screaming but I couldn’t give up. I felt sharp pain from the gravel digging into back and bare legs.
His hand traveled roughly across my skin and bile rose in my throat. I finally managed to break one of my hands free from his grasp where he had them pinned above my head. I swung my hand and caught him across the face. I dug my nails in as hard as I could hoping the pain would be enough to get him to let go. Instead it only infuriated him more and he brought his fist down hard on my jaw. It took everything I had to stay conscious after his strike. My vision was dark and spotty so I couldn’t see what he was doing but I felt him shifting around on top of me. I felt something cold and sharp on my stomach, and then all I felt was a burning sensation followed by the most intense pain I had ever felt. Another scream tore from my throat.
“Come on Princess, wake up. I’m right here, it’s just a nightmare. Please wake up.”
My eyes popped open and I shot up ready to kick and scream to get Connor off of me before he-it was then that he wasn’t the person gripping my arms and shaking me. It was Kyden and he looked horrified as he stared down at me and I realized I had been dreaming about that night again. I wasn’t really back there. I was safe and the morning light was peeking through the curtains. I breathed a deep sigh of relief and squeezed my eyes shut to cut off the flow of tears streaming down my face.
“You’re okay now.” Kyden said gently sitting down beside me then rubbing his hand down my back and pulling me into his chest. He ran his fingers up through my hair and gripped my head tightly to him all the while still whispering that I was okay. When I stopped shaking and the tears were finally done falling Kyden pulled me away from him, far enough that I could look up into his face.
“Pack a bag Princess, we’re leaving.”
“What do you mean we’re leaving? Where are we going?” I wiped at my eyes and tried to pull myself together.
“The cape.”
“Vi’s place?”
“Yeah, I called Chris and Sebastian this morning and filled them in on everything. They took care of the arrangements. Everyone is driving down today. They should be here in about an hour.”
“How long are we going to be gone?” We had planned to head to Cape Cod on Wednesday for the 4th of July celebration, but today was only Saturday.
“A while. I don’t know, just pack whatever you might need for a week, we can always make trips back to town for more stuff later if we end up staying longer.”
A week? I couldn’t just take off and disappear for a week.
“I can’t be gone that long, I have a job interview on Friday I have to be back for.” I had enough left over from my Mom’s insurance that I didn’t have to work, and I had saved practically every penny from my job in Portland, but I needed something to do. I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing something, to be productive in some way. I had stopped in several of the local galleries in Boston with Vi and one of them had a position open. Thankfully they were willing to overlook my lack of art degree because of my experience at the gallery in Portland, which was quite well known.
My former boss had taken a chance on me then when I all I knew of art was what I had learned in my high school classes. She took me under her wing and taught me everything she knew about the art world. Eventually I had been promoted and put in charge of the website and all social media interaction as well as promoting artists, events and showings. From what I understood the position I was interviewing for here would be similar. It was work that I really enjoyed and I was not going to let Connor ruin it for me.
“I’ll bring you back for the interview, but you are going. It’s not up for discussion. So unless you want me digging around in your panty drawer I suggest you start packing.” I quickly climbed out of my bed and ushered him out the room. He wasn’t going anywhere near my under things.
Forty five minutes later I had packed, showered and eaten the French toast Kyden made me. I could get used to having him around if he was going to keep cooking me breakfast. I was going to have to start running again though.
“Don’t you guys have a gig tonight, it is Saturday?” I asked Kyden as we stood at the kitchen sink and washed and dried the dishes together once again.
“Nah, we cancelled it. The guys wanted a break anyway. We’ve been hitting the bars and clubs hard the last few months.”
“You guys won’t get in trouble for cancelling? Won’t that make them not want to let you play there anymore?” He just snorted.
“We play where we want Princess. We bring in a big enough crowd to make up for cancelling one night. Besides it was one of the smaller bars here in the city, they can find someone else easy. Next weekend we play in Worcester again before we‘re back at The Scott.”
“Do you guys play a lot of shows outside of Boston?”
“We play all over the state and we’ve played a few gigs in New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York City. We’re hoping to tour the whole east coast eventually.” I could see it. They were bigger than just Boston, or even Massachusetts. They belonged on the stages of sold out arenas. “You should come with us next weekend to Worcester.”
“Hmm … following the band around the state? Wouldn’t that make me a groupie?”
“No, smartass, that would
make you a friend. You’d have to let me sleep with you for you to be groupie.” He teased and quirked an eyebrow at me.
“I’ll think about it.” When he grinned I realized my mistake. “I meant I’d think about going, not the other part.” I smacked him playfully with the dishtowel I had just used to dry the last pan.
“Oh Princess, bad move.” His eyes darkened. I backed away slowly but he stalked after me. I watched him closely, waiting for him to make his move. He pounced so quickly I didn’t have time to run. I twisted around and the towel was yanked from my grasp. A second later I felt the snap of the towel just barely graze my backside. I took off toward the living room with him close on my heels. We circled the couch until he decided just to leap over the top and I ran toward the entry way so I could make the loop back to the kitchen and get something to defend myself.
Right as I skidded onto the hardwood floor of the entryway the front door opened and Bas stepped into house, closely followed by Chris and I could hear the rest of the gang out on the porch. I tried to stop, but my momentum was too much and I slid smack into his chest and he stumbled backwards, knocking into Chris. Kyden was close on my heels but managed to stop before joining the pile up.
I felt one more sharp snap on my butt, I yelped and jumped further into Bas’ chest. The guys laughed at my and I gave them each a dirty look.
“I see you two are getting a long great, Jazz. “
“When we heard all the squealing and thumping around from outside I thought we were gonna walk in and find you guys naked wrestling. Glad to see you’re fully dressed this time Tink. Seeing you in your panties once was enough for this lifetime.”
“Unhhh.” I groaned, and they all laughed again.
“I’m so glad you told us that story.” Spade pushed his way into the house. “You got your bikini packed Rainbow? Looking forward to tossing you in the lake in it.” My heart dropped at the thought of putting a bikini on in front of anyone. I could never openly show off my body like that, not without getting looks of horror. “If not, it’s okay you can go in the lake in your little Tinkerbell panties, or in no panties at all. We won’t mind.” He winked and I wanted to bang my head against the wall repeatedly.
Finding Ever After Page 16