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“You don’t like it when I lie, baby,” I told her with a shrug.
Her nostrils flared, and she jumped to her feet. She was seconds away from getting in my face, and I was itching to argue with her—no, that was a lie. I was itching to have her get in my face so I had a reason to kiss her quiet. I flexed my fingers, ready to grab her ass and pull her in as close as I could physically get her.
Yellow shirt douchebag put out his hand, catching her around the waist effortlessly before she could take more than a step toward me. “Easy, sweetheart. We came to have a drink and unwind. Not get tossed out before the first beer.”
“Tiny won’t toss me out,” Kin assured him, but she was already calming down, and that only made me want to punch Derrick that much more.
“Who’s thirsty?” Zander asked, finally putting down his own ice chest and grabbing two beers. Uncapping one, he thrust it into Kin’s hand and passed the other to the guy with his arm still around my girl, before holding out his hand to introduce himself. “Zander Brockman, brother. How you doing?”
A bemused expression crossed Derrick’s face, but he shifted his hold on Kin so he was holding her and the beer and shook the rocker’s hand. “Derrick Stewart. Kin’s soon-to-be uncle.”
“No shit?” Zander laughed. “I thought everyone wanted to be called ‘daddy’ these days, not ‘uncle,’ but whatever gets your rocks off, man.”
“Z!” Annabelle snapped at the same time a growl left me. “Tact, baby. Please, use it.”
Kin’s face looked like it was on fire with embarrassment, and she quickly tipped up her beer, draining most of it in one long swallow.
“No,” Derrick said with a smirk. “I’m actually going to be her uncle. My sister is marrying Kin’s old man.”
“Oh,” Annabelle murmured, then her eyes widened. “Oh! Shannon Stewart is your sister?”
“One of them.”
“While I would love to stand here and discuss my new family tree with you all,” Kin gritted out, “I think we’re going to go.”
“I haven’t drunk my beer yet, sweetheart,” Derrick told her calmly before casually tipping the beer to his lips and taking a lazy swallow. “Relax, we’re all friends here.” His gaze locked on mine, hardening. “Right?”
“Right,” Kassa said with a forced laugh. She moved onto Gray’s lap, making room for someone else to sit. “Jace, come on.”
“I’m good here,” I told her without looking at her, staring down the man who was touching what was mine.
“Derrick?” she asked hopefully.
“I’ve been sitting behind a desk all day, so I need to stretch for a little while,” he evaded, his gaze locked on mine as we continued to glare at each other.
“Fuck it, I’ll sit there,” Zander said as he dropped down between Gray and Kale on the couch, a beer in his hand. “I’m lazy. I like propping my feet up.”
Annabelle tugged on Kin’s arm, urging her to sit back down beside her. After a small hesitation where I felt her eyes drilling into my head, she did. “Emmie reminded me earlier to make sure you think over what you two discussed earlier.”
“What did you and Emmie discuss earlier?” Amara spoke up for the first time. “Is she forgetting I work for her again? Does she never actually relax?”
/>
“I don’t think she meant to leave you out,” Annabelle assured the pregnant chick. “This was just a little tricky because Kin has been a bit…reluctant.”
Kin sighed, propping her chin on her hand on the chair’s arm. “I got a record label offer, and they need a decision by Monday.”
That was huge enough news that it pulled me from the stare down I was having with Derrick to look at Kin. But she looked anything but happy, while all I wanted to do was celebrate her accomplishment. It took years for some music artists to be offered a record deal. For others, even though they had the talent, it never happened. “Baby, that’s great news. What label?”
She glared at me for another few seconds before giving in and telling me, “Petrova.”
Now I knew why she hadn’t already given Emmie her answer. I didn’t understand why, but Kin hated Petrova personally. She’d never explained it to me, but I knew she felt uncomfortable around the guy when I introduced her to him. Maybe she saw something in him no one else could, not even Emmie, who could see through anyone a mile away.
“So what’s the problem?” Aubree demanded. She was sitting all alone in the chair she’d been sharing with London earlier, and I just then realized the other Blonde was suddenly absent. “I’m not gonna lie, I screamed and jumped around like a Barbie girl on speed when we got the call that Petrova Records wanted to sign us.”
“Ugh! I don’t know what my problem is,” Kin told her, frustration lacing her voice. “Just thinking of that old man makes me irrationally angry, and all I want to do is junk-punch him.”
Annabelle wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Okay, don’t worry. How about me, you, Amara, and Emmie have lunch tomorrow, and we can discuss everything? I would include Natalie, but she was saying she wanted to be at the house tomorrow when Lucy and the baby get home.”
