“Bry said he gave you a birthday present already,” War said, breaking into and seeming to hijack my thoughts.
“He did.” I nodded.
“He’s a thoughtful guy. But I’m not him. I’m not going to try to compete with him. Those prep classes he gave you, they’re after school, yeah?”
I was surprised Bryan had told him. It was a thoughtful and extravagant birthday gift, one that probably depleted a good portion of the money he’d saved from working this past summer.
“I’m going to walk you to those classes and home from school from now on, not him.”
“But your voice lessons and—”
“Choir lessons are over. The other commitment is too.”
“Okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if my agreement was even required. War’s words sounded more like orders.
“Good.” He tilted his head. “Are we okay now? You and me?”
“Yes, we’re okay.”
“Ah, babe,” he purred, his lids lowering. “And now you’re seventeen. There are so many things I want to do to you.” He slid his hands lower, cupping my ass and rocking his erection into me.
Unable to stop myself, I responded. He was sexy, and he was hard. I was wet, but I wasn’t ready to have sex with him. Not tonight.
“I can’t jump right into bed with you. Not after all that’s happened.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m sorry, War. If that’s an ender for us, then we’re ended. I need more than just words to believe the things that are important to me matter to you.”
“It’s not an ender,” he said through gritted teeth. “But it sure as fuck is disappointing.”
He released me. Without his embrace, cold air rushed over me.
“I’m sorry for the disappointment.” I wrapped my arms around myself.
“Where’s your jacket?” he asked.
“Where’s yours?”
“Gotta say.” He grinned slowly. “Missed your attitude.”
I raised a brow.
“Did you miss me a little?” he asked, showing me a touch of vulnerability.
Knowing and understanding that part of him, I was quick to affirm. “Yes, I did. Though I’d miss you more if you had a jacket to share with me.”
He gave me a meaningful look.
“How about we keep each other warm?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“A mutual shared plan,” he said, getting in a dig while throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Probably oughta get you somewhere warmer. Too bad it’s such a long walk to your uncle’s place from here.”
“Not far to my old apartment building. We could stop on the way.” I could see the outline of it just on the other side of the railway tracks, about halfway to my uncle’s. “We could duck inside the stairwell to get warmed up. Most people use the elevator, and the stairwell is easy to access from outside.” Dizzy and I had often hidden from our mother there whenever her clients or pimps were inside our apartment.
“Sure.” He gave me a long look. “Aren’t you worried that you’ll run into your old lady?”
“I don’t even think she knows the stairwell exists.” Or that I did. I hadn’t had contact with her in years.
“Okay. Let’s get going. You’re shivering,” he said, and we began walking.
The night darkened as we walked away from the hospital. Stray dogs wandered around overfilled trash dumpsters behind it, and some scary men loitered around the train stop. It looked like they were panhandling for money or drugs, but they didn’t approach us.
Seeming to note them too, War tightened his arm around my shoulders, and I tucked myself closer into his side. His hip bumped mine as we crossed over the tracks. It was a little awkward, walking so close together, but I was grateful for his warmth, grateful to have him back in my life.
War was thoughtful in his own way. Not nice, maybe, like Chad, or thoughtful and gentle like Bryan, but he was protective and loyal. Maybe I was being too prideful about my own stuff.
“We have a gig tomorrow night,” War said, breaking into my thoughts again.
“Where?” I asked.
“The Troubadour.”
“Downtown?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. They must really have liked the acoustic set you and Bry did for the tryout.”
His eyes narrowed. “Stripped down, a lot of things become clear.”
“I’m not getting naked with you tonight, War.”
“Can’t blame me for trying, Lacey.”
No, I couldn’t. What if War decided I wasn’t worth the wait or trouble? He wasn’t bragging when he said he could have any woman he wanted. He’d had his pick before the band started up. He had even more lined up for him now.
“Did—” I swallowed and tried again. “Did you sleep with anyone else while we were apart?” I hated how weak I sounded asking, but I had to know.
“No,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t want to fuck anyone else. How about you?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t with anyone.”
“Good. Here.” We’d reached the gate outside my old apartment building, and he opened it for me. “Hurry inside.” He glanced at the street behind me. “Some rough-looking dudes have been following us since the train station. We might need to stay inside for a little longer. Just until they move away.”
“Okay.” I hurried across the trash-strewn lawn, straight to the graffiti-painted stairwell door, and opened it.
War was right behind me. Closing it, he turned and peered through the tiny inset of shatterproof glass. “They’re still there, but they’re staying outside the gate.”
Moving close to him, I glanced through the window over his wide shoulder. “They’re looking back the way we came. Maybe they’re waiting for someone.”
“Maybe,” War said low. “Your tits are pressing into my back.” He turned around, his eyes dark.
“Sorry.”
“Didn’t mention it for you to apologize.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and slid them down my arms. Chill bumps erupted on my skin that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with him. Grabbing my hands, he brought them to his chest. “Told you because you feel good.”
“Ah,” I said.
“Touch me, babe.”
He groaned when I did. I spread my fingers wide. He was solid muscle and smooth skin. A warm shiver rolled through me when his gaze dipped to my lips.
“I gotta kiss you,” he murmured as he walked me backward.
My back hit the wall. He lowered his head, and when I went up on my toes, his mouth slammed down on mine. His wet tongue speared between my lips.
His hands were active while we kissed. Shaping my breasts, his thumbs flicked my nipples. They were easy to find. I was wearing so little on top, and they were tight and already aching. War knew how to kiss. We’d been together a year. He knew exactly how to touch me to get a response.
I had a stray thought that I’d dressed like this for Bryan, but reminded myself he wasn’t here. He didn’t want to be here.
My thoughts were consumed by fire as War’s hands flowed over my body, a conduit for his desire. He was an insistent lover. Tracing my ass, he grabbed a globe in each hand and squeezed hard. My pussy spasmed. Gripping my upper thigh, he lifted it.
“Put your leg around me, babe.”
I did, and he opened me wider, rocking his hardness against my needy, throbbing core. I moaned into his mouth.
“That’s it, babe.” His other hand in my hair, he yanked, forcing my head back. Breaking the connection of our mouths, he rained fiery kisses down the exposed column of my neck.
“War, oh, War,” I murmured. “Yes.”
I was about to come just from that, but froze when I heard voices. The door to the stairwell banged open, and War moved me behind him.
“Fuck,” a guy bigger than War said. “Didn’t know anyone was in here.”
“Oh, you’re a cute one,” a woman said, and more ice drenched
me.
I knew that voice. I peeked around War, and my eyes widened and my stomach flooded with dread. It was my mother.
“He’s not interested,” I said.
“Sorry, honey,” she slurred. Her eyes, gold like mine but dulled by dope, narrowed on me. “Are you the new girl?”
“No. God, no.” I swallowed down bile as I realized my own mother didn’t even recognize me. “I’m not a prostitute.”
“Honest work is honest work, honey.” Her nose twitched with indignation. “Don’t be judgmental.”
“Nothing honest about selling your body for drugs.” I stepped out from behind War.
He was watching me closely, putting things together quickly for sure. Blond, with golden eyes and a wide mouth, my mother looked like me, though a me that was twenty years older, drugged out, and malnourished.
“My business, honey.”
“Is it just your business to pimp out your own kids for your next fix?” I asked.
“Whoa,” the big guy said. “I’m out of here.” Scurrying backward, he ducked out the door.
A blast of cold air came in, but I barely noted it. My focus was her.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” She swayed and started scratching her arms. Her thin skin was covered in tracks and began to bleed.
“Don’t you recognize me?” I asked.
She stared at me a long beat. “No.” Then her eyes brightened. “But for a twenty, I’ll suck your guy off and you can watch.”
“You disgust me.” I turned my back on her, curling my fingers into my palms. “Let’s go, War.” My grip was so tight, my nails cut my skin.
“You think you’re so much better than me?” she said, and I froze. “You’re just younger. Wait until you’re all alone and not so pretty anymore, and that big handsome guy leaves you. Remember what I said then, when you’re desperate and your babies are hungry.”
“Here, take this and buy yourself some food.” War shoved a twenty in her hands.
Cackling, she took it and tucked it into her cleavage. She lunged for the door, knocking me out of the way. Outside, she shuffled across the lawn. The group of guys we’d been worried about were still out there. They welcomed her, lewdly grabbing her as they passed her back and forth.
Sick to my stomach, I whispered, “Get me out of here, War.”
“Gladly,” he said, and he did, coming to my rescue twice in one night.
The rest of the walk to my uncle’s house was a blur, both of us processing what we’d seen. War was as shocked as I was. He’d shown me his mother way back when, and now he’d seen mine. Our backgrounds were more alike than unlike, the rejection and neglect by our mothers similar.
He told me to get some rest and kissed the top of my head before he left. But I didn’t sleep afterward. Like a bad movie, the horrible scene with my mother kept replaying in my mind, seeming inescapable.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
War
“Lace has been acting weird since we ran into her old lady,” I told Bryan, noting that the designated smoker’s area behind the Troubadour had a lot less graffiti than the one at Footit’s.
“That was a month ago.” He took a puff of his cigarette and turned his head to exhale away from me. “Not that she shared anything with me,” he mumbled, sounding put out. “I just remember because you told me.”
“Yeah, I guess it was that long ago.”
We’d been cold and in jackets then. Now, it was spring and nearly a comfortable temperature outside. Time flew with the band kicking ass, and me having the best kickass chick back beside me.
“She really not share anything with you to explain her mood?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. I had the feeling Bryan had been avoiding her, and she seemed to be doing the same since the night of her birthday.
Which was good, of course.
Though she denied anything happening with him, thinking about the two of them alone together without me as a deterrent still made me uneasy.
“No, man. She’s probably just stressed. With her best friend in a downward spiral, she doesn’t have anyone to hang out with.”
“She has me,” I said.
“Not during her classes. Not at lunch.”
“Doesn’t she sit with King at lunch?” I asked.
“Sometimes.”
I cocked my head, concerned that Bryan remained aware of what she did when, and with whom.
“She has the SAT retest soon,” he said. “Maybe it’s not running into her old lady that threw her for a loop. Maybe it’s just that.”
I wasn’t aware of the date. Lace and I didn’t really do a lot of talking anymore when we were alone. Thank fuck.
I narrowed my eyes. “How’d you know when her exam is?”
“It was on the materials for the prep course,” he said with a shrug.
“Yeah?” I asked, pressing a bit just to be a dick. When he nodded, I frowned. “I’ll be glad when that’s finally done.”
The five-day-a-week course he’d signed her up for had seriously eaten into my quality alone time with Lace. Between her studying for school and for that fucking pointless SAT, I still hadn’t gotten across the finish line with her.
The door to the alley creaked open. Since I was facing that direction, I saw Lace the moment she stepped outside. She was so beautiful, just looking at her made it difficult to breathe. She was wearing one of those crisscrossed lingerie-type tops with a lot of skin showing in the mesh, and a full skirt. Her blond hair was loose around her bare shoulders and curled up at the ends. I loved feeling the silky softness of it around my cock when she went down on me.
Bryan shifted to look at her too. His back to me, I couldn’t see his expression, but hers softened as she looked at him.
“You look pretty tonight, Lace,” he told her, and she smiled.
“Thanks, Bry.”
I wanted to gag at their exchange. But got over it when she stepped past him, coming straight to me.
“Those music reps are back again,” she said as she ran her hands over my chest.
“Which ones?” I asked.
“Black Cat. Zenith. Um, RDA.”
“RCA,” I said, correcting her.
“Sorry.” She pointed at her head. “If it’s not a math equation lately, it slips my mind. But I remembered you telling me you wanted to have a word with them if they showed up again.”
“Right. Thanks, babe.” I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. Just a brief touch, but even so, my cock got hard. “I’ll go talk to them.”
I glanced at Bryan. He was watching us, and for a moment his gaze flickered with something dark. “Can you keep an eye on Lace until I get back?”
“Sure, man,” he said.
Lace frowned. “I don’t need babysitting, War.”
“I know that. But Vance is lurking around.” Now that the fucker’s band opened for Tempest, I loved rubbing it in his face. The guy and I were sworn enemies. He should never have touched Lace.
She nodded. “Okay.”
I headed inside, my steps purposeful and my expression determined. I kept turning down those same three reps, but they kept coming back, wanting to sign us. I pitted them against one another, and their offers kept rising.
The only problem?
So far, they were all holding firm at excluding Lace from their offers.
• • •
Lace
I stood beside Bryan, picking at my skirt and feeling awkward. We hadn’t been alone since Chad had been injured. I didn’t know what to say. A month later, but it still hurt to know I never had and never would rank with Bryan the way I wanted to.
“Are you okay?” His gray-green eyes glittered above the red tip of his cigarette, and when he exhaled, smoke billowed around him.
“I’m fine,” I said tersely. “Why do you ask?”
“You seem jumpy. You’re that way around me a lot. Around War too. He mentioned it, so I just wondered.”
“I have the SAT tomorrow,” I blurted, always a
sucker for sharing with Bryan.
“Figured that had something to do with it.” He gave me a long look, taking a drag and exhaling, making me shivery all over just looking at his mouth. “Is there something else bothering you?”
You. You’re bothering me.
Too handsome with his tousled brown hair and his striking eyes. Too hard to put my attraction for him behind me. I kept wondering what if we’d gone to the beach together the night of my birthday.
“Chad’s hurting and so withdrawn.” I gave Bryan a worry I could share. “And every time I try to talk to him, he gets angry.”
“He’s your friend, Lace. He’ll be your friend again on the other side of this. Just give him some time to process.”
“Yeah, I know that in my head, but it hurts in my heart that he’s avoiding me.” I gave Bryan a long look. He was avoiding me too. I didn’t know how I knew it was purposeful, but I did. I could feel the strain of tension between us.
“He has his reasons, I’m sure. Reasons that you might not understand, but that are best for you.” He studied me a long beat, seeming to try to import some truth to me telepathically. “Is there anything else going on with you?”
Because he looked so interested and asked so gently, and just because he was Bryan, I told him. “I’m worried what will happen if I don’t do better on the SAT this time.”
“You’ll do better,” he said confidently. “You’ve been studying so hard.”
“Maybe.” I bit my lip.
“Definitely.”
“But what if I don’t score high enough to get the scholarship? All the studying, all the effort to try and make something of myself, none of it’ll mean shit if I end up falling short. I’ll end up just like my mom if the band doesn’t go anywhere.”
“Not likely.” Dropping his cigarette to the ground, Bryan closed the distance between us. His hands closed around my upper arms, branding my skin with heat.
“How can you be so sure?” Nerve endings all over my body short-circuiting from his touch, I met his eyes.
The Complete Tempest World Box Set Page 21