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Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but the drummer chose that moment to come out onto the stage and took his place. My eyes zeroed in on Kale Conway. He was a nice guy, always fun to be around and rarely took things seriously. I remembered him making me laugh the first night I’d met him. I loved to laugh and if Jace hadn’t already knocked me off my feet that first night, I would have been drawn to him first.
With Kale in place, Cash was next to take the stage, followed just as quickly by Tate Sinclair. I didn’t know what his story was because he was the most elusive of the five members of Tainted Knights. He went by Sin rather than Tate, and the guy was one cocky sonofabitch. He had a huge chip on his shoulder and was the biggest bastard I’d ever met.
While the other three settled into their places, Grayson Knight came out and every chick around me screamed like their lives depended on it. I put a finger in my left ear when the girl behind me screamed so loud that my eardrum vibrated. I couldn’t say I blamed the chick, or anyone else for that matter. Gray was…
Well, Gray was the thing that all wet rock star dreams were made of. With his dark hair long on top and shaved on the sides, his dark complexion and those sinfully delicious sand-colored eyes, he screamed sex and rock and brought to life every woman’s most intimate fantasy.
He was also a douchebag and only fucked the chicks who knew the score. One hour—one night if they were lucky—with him was all they got. He didn’t offer his heart to anyone and some thought he didn’t have one to offer. I knew that wasn’t true though. All anyone would have to do was see the way Gray’s eyes changed when he looked at Kassa St. Charles to know that he did have a heart and it belonged to her.
Thinking of Kassa had me lowering my eyes to study my hands. In the months Jace and I had been together, I’d come to think of Kassa as a friend and just as much like a sister as Angie was to me. She was a sweet chick, with a heart of gold, but she could be tough as nails too. That sweetness hid a fiery side that many ran like hell from when they came face to face with it. She’d tried to call me once after Jace had left me, but I had Angie get rid of her. I didn’t want her kindness when I’d been falling apart with grief and the kind of heartache that left a person numb.
On stage, Kale was beating out a countdown to the beginning of the first song, but it wasn’t until I heard Jace’s voice from the side of the stage that I was forced to look up. Slowly, as if he knew all eyes would follow him even if he decided to jump into a pit that dropped straight into hell, he walked on stage, singing one of the few slower songs that had been a favorite of all the fans back in Bristol.
How dare he sing that song tonight?
I clenched my fists tighter, my nails biting into the palms of my hands as I glared up at him. He’d won my heart with that song. Had seduced me with it. Had won every inch of my soul with that one fucking song.
He knew it, how could he not? He’d sung the damn song to me the night he’d made love to me the first time. He’d sung it again just moments before he told me he loved me. He’d…
I was going to jump up there and take Kale’s drumsticks and beat the hell out of Jace St. Charles, that dirty bastard. He wasn’t playing fair. My heart was aching, my soul feeling like it was being shredded with each word that left his lips. I wanted to block it all out, wanted to destroy my left eardrum so that I would never have to hear another chord, beat, word—anything representing that song ever again.
The song kept going on and on. Jace’s voice dropping lower than normal, he sung the words he knew had chained me to him for life that first night. Blue eyes caught mine, refusing to release me as he put his hand over his heart and dropped to his knees right there in front of me on that damn stage—singing for me and only me in a building full to capacity.
Without thinking, I took a step closer, my eyes still trapped in his. The song was slowly coming to its end and my heart was in my throat as I took one tiny step at a time until we were right there in front of each other, mere inches separating us. The last guitar chord was slowly echoing into nothingness and the entire club was suddenly silent as if everyone were holding their breath while Jace continued to hold my gaze hostage.
“Kin,” he began, his voice rough and full of emotions I didn’t want to know about.
Lifting my hand, I slapped him across the face as hard as I could. His head snapped back and my hand fell to my side, stinging like I’d just thrust it into a flaming pit, but I relished the physical pain. A red outline of my handprint blazed on his cheek,
and the crowd around us was so stunned no one dared speak. Angry tears started to fill my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
“Fuck you, Jace.”
Soft hands wrapped around my waist and I turned with just the smallest of urgings from Lucy. “Let’s go sit upstairs, babe,” I heard her murmur.
“Ice,” I thought I heard Harris say to another waitress as they both led me upstairs.
My hand felt like it was blistering, it was still stinging so bad, but I relished that pain as Lucy pushed me down onto a leather couch in a back corner of the VIP floor. Feeling pain meant I was alive. The pain that had weighed down my heart for so long now hadn’t won and I actually felt like I could take a deep breath for the first time since I had stepped foot in California.
It was with that thought that a grin teased at my lips and an actual laugh escaped me as Lucy pressed an ice pack to my red palm. “Can I do that again?” I murmured as I glanced over at her.
Harris dropped down onto the couch beside her, his aquamarine eyes dancing with humor. “Maybe next time. He’s got a job to do tonight, and I have a packed club who will riot if he doesn’t finish up the show.”
“Next time,” Lucy agreed with a wicked grin as she scooted back against Harris so she was facing me more. “Feeling better?”
I shrugged. “Better than I have in a long time, babe. It was kind of cathartic.”
“Good,” she laughed. “Now let’s have a good time.” Her gaze went to the man standing in the corner and she waved Marcus over. “I think we will be here for the rest of the night. You can relax and get yourself a drink.”
Marcus glanced from Harris and then back to Lucy before nodding his head once and heading over to the VIP bar to get himself a glass of soda. Moments later he settled into an empty chair not far from our couch. It was positioned so he could keep his eyes firmly on Lucy, but offered her some space and privacy so she could be herself.
Harris draped an arm along the back of the couch and lifted his beer to his lips. “This is nice. I’m glad you came, Lu.”
“Yeah,” she murmured as she glanced up at him. “Me too. Other than Kin nearly breaking her hand, it’s been a great night. Tainted Knights have some killer potential.”
“Emmie thanks so. As soon as their contract is up with me, she has big plans for them.” He took another swallow of beer before turning those awesome eyes on me. “Speaking of future plans… I had two people call me this morning about you. One wants to talk to your agent about the song you performed last night. The other wants to know if you have any more they could hear.”
All thoughts of Jace, the bullshit I had to face at home, and the pain in my hand disappeared. “Are you serious?” I meant to ask it in a calm voice, but it came out nearly hysterical. No way. There was no way he was telling the truth. No one would want to talk about my song.
