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I loved spending time with Kin, but when she didn’t come with me on Thursday nights we were both in a better mood on Friday mornings. Jace really screwed with her mind when she had to see him with girls chasing him, constantly touching him, and the last time we’d gone in together had been the worst. After the show, Jace had been making out with some random chick upstairs on one of the couches. Kin had run out and caught a cab home. I’d been unable to just sit back and let him hurt my friend like that.
I’d seen the look in his eyes before he’d sat down with the chick. He’d done it just to hurt Kin. So I’d made damn sure that he got what he deserved…
It felt like steam was pouring out of my ears as I tipped the glass over Jace’s handsome head. Seeing the tears in Kin’s eyes had been like a stab in the heart and I wasn’t going to stand by peacefully and let this dickhead do that to her.
Behind me I heard Harris groan and felt him moving closer. One large hand tried to take the glass from me and I let him have it. After all, it was empty now. I didn’t need it anymore…unless I broke the thick glass over Jace’s hard head. Yeah, oh yeah. I liked that idea. Too late, though. Harris handed the glass to the security guy who’d stalked over from his hiding corner when blondie had shrieked at being bathed in soda.
“Fucking hell, Lucy,” Jace had roared as he’d jumped to his feet. Blue eyes had looked wild as he’d gotten in my face. “What is your problem?”
Before I could respond, Harris was standing between us. His body was so tense I was almost afraid to touch him. “You don’t talk to her like that. Ever,” he seethed. “And I will fuck you up fast if you touch her.” His hands were balled into fists and I was seriously worried he was about to hit his friend. I didn’t want them fighting over what I had done.
The wild look faded from Jace’s eyes. “Whoa, bro. I wasn’t going to touch her. I don’t hit chicks.”
I hadn’t been scared that Jace would hit me. In the months that I’d gotten to know Harris again, Jace had been around a lot. He wasn’t entirely bad, and if it hadn’t been for the whole breaking Kin’s heart thing I might have actually liked Jace St. Charles. “Harris, relax,” I murmured, trying to get him to calm down. I grabbed his hand and tried to get him to turn to face me.
For a long, intense moment Harris glared at his friend like he would have seriously killed him right then and there. From the corner of my eye I saw Marcus standing within range to get me out of the range of fire if needed but I shook my head at him. This was my fault; I wasn’t going to let it get out of hand. Shit, I’d only wanted to get back at Jace for what he’d done to Kin, not get the poor dude killed.
When Harris wouldn’t turn to face me I pushed myself between him and Jace. Jace wasn’t backing down, but he wasn’t about to throw a punch either. I wasn’t worried about him at the moment, though. I needed to cool Harris off before he did something stupid.
His jaw was clenched so hard I worried he was going to break off a tooth, and those beautiful eyes were as cold as an iceberg. I cupped his face in both of my hands and stood on tiptoe so that I was a little closer to his eye level. With him just over a foot taller than me, it was nearly impossible to do so.
“Hey, hey.”
I kept my voice calm, only talking loud enough as needed to be heard over the music. People were starting to look our way and I didn’t want to cause a scene that Harris would regret later. “Harris? Hey, come on. Look at me.” I’d never seen him so upset in all the years that I’d known him. It was a little scary… And yeah, okay, I’ll admit it, it was sexy as hell. He had gone beast-mode to protect me.
“Lucy, maybe you shouldn’t stand so close to him like this.” Jace touched my arm, his voice full of concern. He might have been pissed at me just a few minutes ago, but he never would have hurt me. “He’s shaking he’s so pissed.”
Harris moved so quickly I nearly yelped when he reached out and pushed Jace back with one arm while the other wrapped around my waist, holding me against him tightly. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Dude, what the fuck?” Jace growled, taking two steps back after righting himself. “I was trying to get her out of the way in case you turned all Incredible Hulk on her. Chill out.” He raked his hands through his hair. “Fuck this shit. I’m going home. Call me when your brain starts working again.”
I waited until Jace was out of sight before I started squirming against Harris’s tight hold. “Can’t breathe,” I croaked out teasingly. Honestly, he wasn’t holding me that tight, but with the scent of his delicious aftershave filling my nose I was starting to get a little lightheaded from something other than lack of oxygen.
Harris let go of me instantly and took a step back. His devastatingly handsome face was full of worry as he cupped my face, his eyes moving quickly over every inch of me to make sure I was okay. “Did he hurt you? Did I?”
I covered his hands, my thumbs caressing over them soothingly. “I’m fine. Not one inch has been harmed.” I grinned up at him. “You okay? Need a drink? You were pretty intense there for a second.”
He dropped his hands and took another step back. I tried not to notice how my cheeks tingled where he had touched me. In the last few months he’d touched me often, but always in an innocent you’re-my-best-friend-so-this-is-okay kind of way. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Lu. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t. It takes a lot more than my best friend standing up for me to scare me. You know that.” I reached for his left hand and entwined our fingers. “Let’s go to your office. Come on before Marcus calls my dad and makes me leave.”
For the rest of the night we sat on the little sofa in his office and just talked. I had wanted to follow after Kin but she’d texted me to let me know that she was home by the time I was confident that Harris was safe to be left alone without killing Jace. By the time I really did have to leave, he was laughing. Jace had texted him and I was sure they were still friends. Guys were weird like that.
That had been two weeks ago and Jace and Harris were back to being best buddies again. Last week had been Thanksgiving and Kin hadn’t come with me this week and I hadn’t figured she would tonight either, but when I’d told her that I was having a girls’ night out with my mom, Aunt Emmie and my sister Lana, she’d decided to come along. I was pretty sure it had been the lesser of two evils.
Her dad was home from shooting on location in Canada and her step-monster, as she called Jillian, wanted the whole family to go to some fundraising event where she was expected to kiss a lot of ass. Chancing seeing Jace was a hell of a better option in my opinion. With my family there we would make sure that Jace or anyone else didn’t get within shouting distance to her, let alone touching.
I sat at the bar on the second floor with Kin on my left, Lana to my right and Mom and Aunt Emmie right behind Kin. Because my sister was pregnant—again, seriously she seemed to stay pregnant—she wasn’t drinking, so neither was my mom and aunt. Nate had spent the first hour we’d been there flirting with me and making sure that our glasses of soda never got below half full.
If I were being honest I would have to say that I enjoyed Nate’s flirting. What girl doesn’t like having a hot guy hitting on them? I didn’t, however, like the way my family teased me about it. Lana was the worst, because as my biological sister and the person who had spent the first four years of my life changing my diaper and potty training me, she decided she had the right to make me blush now.
“I should tell Jesse. He needs to know that you have a twenty-something bartender trying to get into your pants,” Lana teased as she lifted her cellphone and pulled up my dad’s name. “Oh, wait. Maybe I should tell Drake first.”
“Mom!” I didn’t care that it came out sounding like a whine. I didn’t want my sister getting my dad all hyper and finding yet another reason to try and keep me from coming to First Bass so much.
Mom and Aunt Emmie reached around me for Lana’s phone. “No texting, especially my husband or yours,” Mom scolded. “You start talking to Drake and our whole night is ruined because he’s going to make you come home and try to knock you up again.”
“Yeah, Lana.” Aunt Emmie gave Lana’s rounded stomach a disgusted glare. “Keep your legs closed for a little while, will you? This is getting ridiculous.”
