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My decision was made for me then and there. In that moment it didn’t matter that I was probably going to break my heart on this guy. All I wanted was this feeling, this happy carefree feeling, to stay a little longer. Pulling my phone out of his hands, I snuggled back against his chest and lifted my hand, ready to snap at least a dozen pictures.
Two strong arms wrapped around my middle and he turned his head. Warm lips skimmed over my cheek once more and I held down the button on the camera, letting it take picture after picture instantly in a burst.
“So when does this open mike thing start?” Kin asked and I dropped my hand. On the outside she didn’t look affected in any way except for a slight tremble in her fingers as she lifted her glass of ginger ale. “I’d like to get this over with.”
Harris glanced down at the watch on his left wrist and cursed. “Fuck. It should have started five minutes ago.” He pressed another kiss to my cheek and lifted me off his lap like I didn’t weigh anything at all. “Give me ten and I’ll get everything settled,” he told her, then turned those beautiful eyes back to me, flashing those sinful dimples. “Don’t go anywhere.”
I wasn’t going anywhere.
Stupid girl.
Chapter 6
Harris
I had paperwork to handle, emails to return, liquor orders to make, and employees to manage. First Bass wasn’t going to run itself, no matter how competent my staff might have been. I had an assistant manager that I trusted to run the place once a week so that I could actually have a few hours of peace during the week, but she wasn’t working tonight.
I was half tempted to call her in and deal with everything for me so that I could spend the night hanging out with Lucy and her friend.
I dropped down into the chair behind my desk that was already starting to get littered with the things that needed my attention tonight. I needed to make a few calls before I could get out there and start open mike night. If Kin hadn’t said something I would have still been out there, taking selfies with Lucy.
Shit.
I rushed through the two calls that needed my attention, both to confirm that independent record label reps would be in the audience a little later that night. I’d made some big connections while growing up in the rock world. If I didn’t already know people personally, I only had to make one or two phone calls before I did. Most of them indulged me when I called them up, asking them to stop by on a Wednesday night. Others took a little more convincing, but when that happened I just called my stepmother who worked for one of the biggest managers in the business, Emmie Armstrong.
Or, as Lucy called her, Aunt Emmie.
Neither of the record label executives had given me any trouble when I’d talked to them earlier in the day, but I wanted to confirm that their rep was going to be in the crowd. Once that was taken care of I made a quick call to check on Jenna.
I’d put her on a plane to Arizona on Monday morning. Thankfully, I was able to get her into one of the leading rehabilitation clinics in the country at a moment’s notice. She hadn’t been happy about having to leave so soon, and I hadn’t been happy that she’d wanted her girlfriend to stay in our apartment while she was gone. Jenna hadn’t been able to say no because I’d told her I would go straight to her sister if she didn’t go, and I hadn’t been able to say no to Tessa staying because the apartment was half Jenna’s. She could let anyone she wanted stay there and I had no say in it whatsoever.
Looked like we were both in for a few long, frustrating weeks.
Seeing Lucy tonight had made the shitty week I was having bearable. I couldn’t believe that Layla had given me a wrong number and I’d been stupidly sending texts to some random number. Some of the messages I’d sent had been long rants about how I couldn’t believe that she would just throw everything we’d once meant to each other away. Sappy shit that would have made Jace laugh his ass off and call me a pussy if he had seen them.
Lucy, however, would have never thought that. With her I could get sappy and she wouldn’t think anything of it. Back when we were best friends she had seen me at my worst and still loved me. With her I didn’t have to be the alpha rock star’s son. I could just be plain and simple Harris Cutter, a man who very few people truly saw. That didn’t make me a pussy, just human. Something that Jace understands but still laughs his fucking ass off at.
Knowing that Jenna was resting peacefully after the last few days of detoxing gave me a little more hope that she was going to get through this. I left my office and went out to start the open mike event. By the time I could get back to Lucy’s table it was just her and Jace sitting there.
Kin was up next so I dropped down into the chair I’d left nearly an hour ago. I wanted to see what kind of talent Lucy’s friend had. “Can she sing?” I asked Lucy as the guy on the stage finished his song and the crowd cheered him. He’d been decent, but too emo for my taste.
Lucy shrugged. “I haven’t heard her yet, but she can play that guitar like a goddess.”
“Caleb taught her,” Jace grumbled from the other side of Lucy, his blue eyes intent on the small stage that we set up every Wednesday night.
“Caleb?” I had no idea who that was.
“Kin’s stepbrother,” Lucy clarified for me. “They’re pretty close. Kin’s been pretty bummed about being away from him, his twin sister, and her stepdad.” She blew out an angry sigh. “Her dad isn’t ever home and her stepmom and her evil step bitches are making her life miserable. Before she died, Kin’s mom made her promise to spend this year getting to know her dad and his family. Pretty hard to do that when her dad is more interested in that piece of shit movie he’s directing and his family would rather she disappear.”
Jace’s jaw clenched and he lifted his beer to his lips. I had only been able to get a little bit out of my friend about him and Kin. I knew that they had dated for a little while before he’d come to California, that he’d been the one to break it off, and that was it. I wasn’t blind, though. I could see that he regretted ending things with the smoking-hot redhead.
Just as I’d seen that she had been sending him the stare of death all evening. Poor bastard.
On stage, Kin sat on the edge of the stool that was in front of the microphone. She licked her lips nervously and gave a small laugh. “Hi. I’m Kin and this…” She blew out a shaky breath causing a few strands of long burnished red hair to fly out of her face and blinked rapidly a few times, as if she were forcing back tears. “This song is for my mom.”
Because she was nervous and obviously a little emotional, she started off a little weak, but less than a minute into the song and Kin Montez had my entire club watching every move of her lips. Her fingers strummed over the strings of her guitar so easily it was like the instrument was a physical extension of her hands. Her voice wasn’t anything remarkable, but it didn’t matter. It was the words that came from that mouth of hers that had everyone entranced, myself included. In the span of one song I felt like I knew her, as if I could actually see how much Kin had loved her mother. The song was powerful, emotional.
From beside me I heard a soft sob escape Lucy, but when I turned my head her eyes were dry. That didn’t mean anything to me. I knew that it took a lot for her to cry. That didn’t mean she wasn’t affected by Kin’s song. Lucy Thornton was the strongest person I knew. There had been so much pain in her life, yet she was the fiercest and most loving person I knew.
