Craving Lucy

by Terri Anne Browning

  Looked like Lucy had moved on from feeling hurt. Now she was pissed at me and I wasn’t sure how to approach a pissed-off Lucy. Fucking hell, if it was anything like when my stepmother was pissed at my dad, I probably needed to take shelter and wait for the storm to pass. But I knew that wouldn’t help. Hiding from her wasn’t going to make any of this better. Trying again, I’d told my first floor bartender to have one of the waitresses to ask her to come back to my office.

  “We need more Patron out here, boss. Oh yeah, and Miss Montez has informed Michelle that you know where Miss Thornton is. And there was something about fucking yourself.”

  I blinked as the voice of the bartender filled my office over the small intercom I had on my desk. It let me keep up with my bar staff. All of their headsets connected to that small, little device and had cost me a pretty penny but had been worth it. At that moment, I wanted to throw it against the wall and break it into a hundred different pieces.

  In one of the two chairs sitting in front of my desk, Jace chuckled. I’d completely forgotten that he was there. “Sounds like something Kin would say.”

  “Damn.” I raked my hands through my hair and glared up at the ceiling. “She’s going to be stubborn, isn’t she?”

  “Of course she is. Would you want her if she came running to do your bidding whenever you snapped your fingers? Its not fun if you don’t get to do a little chasing.” Jace got to his feet lazily. “I’ll go talk to her.”

  I smirked at my friend. “Good luck with that.”

  “Is that a challenge?” Blue eyes flashed with interest and I chuckled. “I bet I can get her to come back here.”

  “No way, no betting.” I made it a rule to never bet on anything. Ever. That shit only caused trouble and I didn’t need any more than I already had at the moment. “But I wouldn’t mind watching you attempt to persuade Lu to come back here.”

  “I can talk any chick into doing anything I want her to do,” Jace informed me with an arrogance that made me laugh out loud.

  “Oh yeah? So what’s up with Kin? You just not trying there?”

  Blue eyes darkened with irritation. “Kin is different. She’s a whole new type of stubborn that no one has ever been able to conquer. She’s not going to forgive me until she’s good and ready. I just have to bide my time.”

  “And if it takes fifty years?”

  Jace grunted. “So I’ll wait fifty years. Fuck, I’d wait the rest of my life. She’s worth it.”

  I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant by that. “Yeah, man. I feel the same way about Lucy.”

  “Look, bro, I don’t know if I would admit this to anyone else, but I really fucked up with Kin. I don’t know how to fix it but I’m going to try my damnedest to get her back.” He scratched his scruffy face again. “Any ideas on how I can start?”

  My brows lifted toward the ceiling at his question. Was he serious? “Maybe start with not fucking anything with a pussy. That seems like a good place to begin.”

  Jace’s nostrils flared but he nodded his head and left my office. I waited until the door was closed before grabbing my phone and sending a text to Lucy. Maybe she would come back to see me if I asked her nicely. When she didn’t answer back right away, I sent another. I drummed my fingers on the top of my desk, waiting for a response.

  Nothing.

  Fucking hell. She was going to make me really work for it, wasn’t she?

  Raking my fingers through my hair I hit connect on her name and listened as the phone rang and rang and rang some more before going to voicemail. I hung up before her voice finished the greeting and sent her one more text, asking her for just five minutes alone with her.

  For ten solid minutes I sat there, glaring down at my phone, mentally willing her to text me back or call. Damn it, I’d fucked up and now I might have lost even her friendship.

  Muttering enough curses that would have had my stepmother slapping me on the back of the head, I tried to focus on the last of the paperwork that needed my attention. As soon as I was done, I was going out there and forcing Lucy Thornton to talk to me.

  --

  Jace hadn’t come back by the time I’d finished all the shit that needed my immediate attention. I knew that he wasn’t going to succeed and hadn’t figured he would be back if Kin was with Lucy. Maybe the dumbass had taken my advice and was going to stop screwing around so that he could get that chick back.

  It had taken over half an hour to get things sorted out enough that I could leave the office for the night. Not wanting any distractions, I left my phone on my desk and went out to find the reason that my gut was tied in knots.

  Passing the bar, I nodded at the big man mixing drinks. West wasn’t as good as Nate, who could run the VIP unassisted if he needed to, but he was professional and I trusted him to run things on the first floor. When he waved me over, I contemplated pretending I didn’t see him so that I could find Lucy, but it could have been important and I couldn’t let my club suffer because I’d fucked up my personal life.

  I stopped at the end of the bar where three chicks in their late twenties were sitting drinking margaritas and giggling like teenagers. West leaned forward and I cocked my head so that I could hear the bartender over the drunken women. “What’s up?”

  “There’s a party going on over at Miss Thornton’s table. Her guy isn’t looking too pleased with it. You might want to get Tiny to send a few guys in just in case things get ugly.”

  I frowned and stepped back, searching for Lucy and her ‘party’. I spotted Marcus first, standing right behind Lucy at a table for five across the room. His face was just as neutral as always, but the set of his shoulders and the fact that he was standing so close to Lucy let me know that West was probably right.

  I couldn’t see Lucy clearly because the big man was standing in my line of sight, but I saw the two guys sitting at the table. One look and I could tell that they were tools. Preppy motherfuckers with just enough money to make them think they were gods’ gift, but not enough to make them able to buy their way into VIP status.

  The one sitting to Lucy’s left was way too close. His chair was just inches from hers and he had a hand on the back of her seat. I watched as he leaned in, whispering something to her. She moved her head back, but I thought I saw her grinning. On her right sat a guy that was trying to chat up Kin but she didn’t seem all that impressed as she concentrated on the papers spread out in front of her. On the other side of Kin sat Jace, who was sitting just as close to the girl as the preppy was to Lucy, but his eyes were on the big man standing behind the smoking-hot brunette at the table.

  Jealousy churned inside of me and I turned cold eyes on West. “Let Tiny know we are going to need two of his security guys down here, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  I stepped away from the bar and turned to cross the room. The closer I got to Lucy’s table the more pissed I became. The guy was getting a little too ballsy for my liking and I was about to go full-on rage monster if he actually touched my girl. From the angle that I could see her from, she wasn’t doing anything to discourage the dickhead who was inching his way closer and closer to her.

  Does she like that fucker?

  Marcus took a small step forward, as if he were ready to extract Lucy from the table at any second; making me wonder if I was seeing the full picture from the angle I was at. I shifted my gaze on Jace who seemed to be tensing up. My gut twisted with dread and I broke into an all-out run. If that fucker was touching Lucy, I was going to break his face.

  The place was crowded and I had to push two people out of my way in my rush to get to Lucy. I could feel eyes on me as people stopped what they were doing and watched me. Most of these people had to know who I was, either through the tabloids or any number of different avenues. I was probably acting like a lunatic to them, or they figured they were going to get a good show. When I reached the table, Jace’s jaw was clenched and Kin had pushed her papers away to turn her bright blue eye
s on the dickhead sitting so close to Lucy. The other guy sitting beside her scooted his chair back, looking anywhere but at the dude next to my girl.

  “You did not just say that to me,” Lucy snapped as she got to her feet and stepped away from the preppy motherfucker. “Who the hell do you think you are, asshole?” she demanded as she glared down at the guy.

  I stopped right behind Lucy and my eyes went straight to the guy still sitting there, grinning up at her. “Take it easy, honey. I meant no offense. I thought all you rocker bitches sucked dick for fun.”

  Jace’s chair scraped back as he stood, Marcus moved forward as if to grab the douchebag, and I took a step forward to move around Lucy and reach that motherfucker. No one talked to Lucy like that. No one. I would beat the hell out of this piece of shit. I would…

  Lucy moved faster than any of us. One second the guy was grinning like the tool he was, and the next his head was snapping back and he was holding his nose as it gushed blood. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, you godsdamn motherfucking piece of shit. I will cut your dick off and feed it to you.” I didn’t think she even realized she had used the plural for God—something that Emmie did all the time. It only showed me just how upset Lucy really was that she was falling into old habits that her aunt had taught her.

  Marcus grabbed the guy by the back of the neck and forced him to his feet. I was torn between wanting to beat the hell out of the prick and wanting to check on Lucy who was now cradling the hand she’d used to break the guy’s nose. I struggled for less than a second before I was reaching for her hand to examine it. Lucy would always come first.

  I heard my security guys speaking to Marcus and was vaguely aware of them carting the preppy and his friend out of the club, but I was too concerned with the broken skin on Lucy’s knuckles to give a damn what they did to the fucker. Her hand was going to be bruised pretty badly by morning. It was already starting to swell. “You need some ice, baby.”

  She tried to pull her hand away. “It’s fine,” she muttered in a hoarse voice, refusing to meet my gaze. “I just need to go to the bathroom and wash it off.”

  Kin moved to stand beside Lucy, putting an arm around her to comfort her. “Come on, slugger. Lets go clean you up.”

  Reluctantly, I released her hand. When she turned to follow Kin, I thought I saw tears in her eyes and reached for her without thinking. Lucy wasn’t a crier. Either that fucker had said something even viler to her than what I’d heard or her hand was killing her. I wrapped her up in my arms and tucked her head against my chest. “Baby,” I breathed against her sweet-smelling hair, “it’s okay. I’ve got you.”

  A small sob escaped her. “I-I think I broke my h-hand,” she murmured, burying her face in my chest.

  I clenched my jaw, hating that she was in so much physical pain, but relieved that she wasn’t crying over what the preppy prick had said to her. My girl was too strong to let some idiot that didn’t matter get to her. I doubted, however, that she had broken her hand, although it probably felt like it to her. Her hand was probably just bruised and maybe even sprained. “Okay. I’ll take care of you.” I pulled back just enough to look down at her and bent my head to brush a kiss over the tip of her nose.

  Lucy nodded and stepped back, scrubbing her uninjured hand across her damp eyes. “I need to call my dad. And Aunt Emmie. That guy knows who I am. He’ll go out there and start talking to the paps and this will be all over the tabloids in the morning.”

  “That can wait, baby.” I lifted my head and saw both Tiny and Marcus standing behind Lucy. I nodded once at Marcus then inclined my head at my head of security.

  Tiny stepped forward and spoke into my ear. “Got him in the back, boss. What you want us to do with him?”

  I stroked my hand over Lucy’s hair, unable to keep my hands off her as Kin lifted the possibly broken hand and examined it closer with Jace. “Keep him there,” I muttered low enough so that only Tiny could hear me. “If he starts getting hostile, tell him that the cops are on their way for solicitation of a minor.”

  Tiny’s eyes widened, his jaw clenching. The man was scary as fuck—which was one of the reason’s I’d hired him. The quickest way to piss him off was for a man to hurt a woman in any way. “Did he?”

  “Might as well have.” I stepped closer to Lucy, wrapping my arm around her waist, needing to feel her against me. “I’ll deal with that piece of shit later.”

  For now, I needed to make sure that my girl was going to be okay.

  Chapter 3

  Lucy

  The minute we walked into the emergency room, Harris took charge. He took a nurse aside, told her what had happened and who I was and, even though the ER was pretty crowded, the nurse took me back to one of the triage rooms. I guessed after years of watching his stepmom work her magic, he’d picked up some valuable tricks.

  Now he was sitting in a chair beside the small gurney I’d been told to sit on, his phone in his hand as he typed one message after another. Marcus was standing outside the triage room while Kin and Jace were out in the waiting room because the nurse had only let one of them come back with me. I would have rather had Kin with me, because for once in all the years I’d known Harris Cutter, I didn’t know how to act around him now.

  A number of conflicting emotions were churning inside of me like a storm. I was still upset that he couldn’t be bothered to so much as text me back in the last week and a half. I was hurt, pissed off…and so damn glad he was here with me now.

  I didn’t know what was going on with him, but I didn’t want the kiss that we’d shared to mess with our friendship. Going eleven days without talking to him in any shape or form had wilted my heart. I loved him so fucking much that it scared me, but to be without his friendship? I didn’t know if I could survive that. He kept the bad dreams away. He protected my sanity.

  When Harris had come back into my life, the nightmares I’d been living with since I was nine years old had calmed down. I had only had a few in the months since we’d reconnected. For the first time in four years, I’d been getting enough sleep. In the eleven days since I’d last spoken to him? I’d had nothing but nightmares about that damn night with my biological father. Sleep had become my worst enemy and I’d fallen back into old habits that helped me deal.

  Hitting send on another message, Harris finally raised his head and flashed those damn dimples at me. “How’re you doing over there, baby?”

  I clenched my jaw, refusing to shiver at the little endearment. I didn’t want him to call me baby. Didn’t want to be shuffled into the same category as every other girl he’d had in his life. “Don’t call me that,” I muttered and lowered my eyes to my bruised and swollen hand, hoping the pain that was causing my entire hand to throb would distract me from the guy sitting so close. Physical pain was my friend. It had always been a release from the emotional pain I’d had to deal with. Tonight, however, with my hand feeling like I’d punched it through a brick wall instead of using it to break that bastard’s nose, it wasn’t helping much. I still felt raw emotionally, and it was all Harris’s fault.

  The sound of him scooting his chair closer made me raise my eyes to find him less than an inch away. Tossing his phone onto the gurney beside me, he took my injured hand into both of his. “Ouch. That can’t feel good.” He lifted my hand closer, his eyes skimming over the broken skin on my knuckles. The blood had dried and no one had given me time to go to the bathroom to clean it up. “If you were Trinity, there would be only one solution good enough to make this feel better.”

  I knew exactly what he was talking about and tried to pull my hand free before he tried fixing me up like his baby sister would demand to be fixed. His fingers tightened and he lifted my injured hand to his lips, brushing them tenderly over my skin. I couldn’t help the instant reaction I had. Couldn’t stop the shiver or the gooseflesh that popped up along my entire arm. Had no control over the sudden tightening of my nipples or the dampness of my panties.

  How could he af
fect me like this when I was still so damn hurt?

  With his warm, damp lips still pressed to the back of my hand, he lifted his aquamarine eyes and captured my gaze. He knew exactly what he was doing to me and from the look in his eyes, he liked that he was doing it. I jerked my hand back, wincing at the pain I’d just caused myself.

  Desperate to dispel the sudden sexual tension that was filling the room and especially filling my body, I reached for my phone. “I should call my dad.” Dad would distract me. He would even toss Harris out if I wanted him to.

  Stupidly enough I didn’t know if I wanted Harris gone or not. Damn it.

  “No need,” Harris assured me, sitting back in his chair and watching me closely. “I texted both him and Emmie on the ride over. Jesse and Nik are already over at First Bass.”

  My eyes widened. “Why would Daddy be over there?”

  A smile tilted his lips, but it wasn’t a smile that relieved me in any way. If anything it was enough to stress me more than I already was. It was full of sinister amusement that made me want to smack his handsome face. “Tiny detained your friend and the guy he was with. I thought I would give your dad first dibs on sorting out the problem.”

  “You didn’t,” I groaned when he shrugged his shoulders. “Damn it, Harris. My dad is going to end up in jail. He will destroy that guy. And he took Nik? Do you know what they will do to him?” It wasn’t going to be pretty. I’d seen my dad and Nik beat the hell out of a man before. Don’t get me wrong, I understood exactly why they had done it, and yeah, part of me had been vindicated to see it, but the sight still haunted my dreams…

  “Emmie went with them, so stop worrying. She’ll make sure things are dealt with properly.” He spoke like the whole subject bored him and I glared down at him. “When they’re through, they’ll come over to the hospital. If we’re still here.”

  With my uninjured hand, I pushed my hair back from my face and turned my head away from Harris, not wanting him to see the emotion I knew was shining in my eyes. Tonight had been a disaster. I never should have left the house, should have just told Kin that she had to go on her own. Nothing good had come out of going back to First Bass. I had no business going there ever again.