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Nate winked. “Again, babe. Back at ya.” He tapped me on the nose with a long finger and then headed off to fill more orders.
I stood there, drinking my ginger ale until it was nearly half gone, continuing to ignore the two creeps I was standing between. I wasn’t interested, not even a little. I was off guys forever.
Nate refilled my glass before I returned to Lucy. Instead of sitting between her and Jace, I asked Marcus to pull a chair over for me and I ignored Jace for the rest of the night. By the time we left, I was exhausted from working so hard to ignore him, but Lucy was smiling so the night wasn’t a complete loss.
By the time I got back to my father’s house it was after midnight, but I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there. The house was dark as I made my way upstairs and pulled off my clothes before climbing under the covers. I should wash my face and brush my teeth, but I just wanted to stay under the blankets and hide.
My phone chimed with an incoming text and I reluctantly reached for it. The message was still lighting up the screen when I looked down at it.
Miss you!
I felt tears burn my eyes as I opened up the messenger and sent back a quick reply. Miss you too, Ang. Love you.
I started to put the phone on my nightstand when it chimed again. Dashing my tears away with my fingertips, I glanced at it again.
I’m sorry.
More tears blurred my vision as I turned the phone off and put it into the top drawer of the nightstand without replying to Jace’s message. He was sorry. I got that. He’d told me plenty of times in his many messages and texts.
It didn’t make my hurt and the lingering pain any better. Why couldn’t he realize that?
Chapter 10
Jace
Kassa didn’t come out for Thanksgiving. It was something that had both me and Gray in a piss-poor mood. I’d been looking forward to seeing my little sister, but she had a bad stomach virus and couldn’t make the trip. Gray, who I was sure was looking forward to having my sister around just as much as I was—if not more—had gotten quiet during the week of Thanksgiving and hadn’t been himself during that entire time.
Between that and the scene I’d had with Lucy Thornton the week before at First Bass, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. Didn’t want to see them. Didn’t want to so much as hear them fucking breathe.
Lucy hadn’t been happy with me when I’d started chatting up one of the loyal Tainted Knight groupies that we’d gotten from the first week we’d worked at First Bass. Honestly, I hadn’t been too happy with me either. Fucking hell, I’d just wanted a sign from Kin that she wasn’t turning into some damn ro
bot.
Something I’d gotten, but it had been at the expense of not only Kin’s feelings but nearly my life after what had followed.
The show had left me more pumped up than usual. Adrenaline was rushing through my blood making me high from the way the entire club had been chanting the band’s name. Maybe it was because Kin had been standing front and center with Lucy and I’d felt her eyes on me during the entire show. Maybe it was because I was so excited for Kassa to get to town and spend some time with her after not seeing her for so many months.
Either way, I was hyped up more than usual after the show. Gray, Kale, Sin, and Cash bailed not long after the last song. I figured they were going to go hang at my apartment with Gray or find a hookup for the night. What I was feeling had been contagious for the other four Tainted Knight guys and they had been practically humming with the energy pouring off of them.
I’d found Kin and Lucy already up on the VIP floor, already laughing with Harris who was sitting so close to Lucy she might was well have been on his lap. As soon as I sat down on the arm of the leather couch beside Kin, however, she lost her grin and her laughter had faded into a cool glare.
She was still pissed at me. I wasn’t blind to the fact that she was holding on to her anger at me like a shield. I had no clue what was going on in her life outside of what I saw when she came to First Bass, but from the emptiness in her big blue eyes I could guess things weren’t good at home for her. I wanted to pull her into my arms, hold her close like I used to do when life seemed to be throwing curve balls at her.
Knowing that doing that would probably get me a knee to the balls, or one of her deadly right hooks to the jaw, I didn’t reach for her. I was trying to be patient, but, fuck, a guy could only take so much before the coldness thrown his way started causing frostbite. So, instead of sending the groupie who had approached me not even five minutes after I’d sat down on her way, I wrapped an arm around her waist and waited to see if Kin still cared even a fraction of the way she once had.
As soon as the groupie had leaned in to whisper in my ear—what, I couldn’t say because I wasn’t even paying attention to the chick—I’d felt Kin tense beside me. I’d shot her a quick glance over my shoulder to see the expression on her face, but she wasn’t even looking at me right then.
Clenching my jaw, I’d turned back to the chick in my arms and let my lips skim over hers. The kiss had been short, but the chick had been instantly affected. I’d heard her indrawn breath, felt the way she’d pressed her chest harder against my own. Her manicured nails had thrust into my hair, holding me against her longer than I had originally planned. I hadn’t stopped her, though. I’d let her lead the kiss, giving her everything she was silently pleading for, but my mind wasn’t on the kiss.
It was on Kin. I hoped her heart was stinging right then. I hoped she got so jealous she ripped the chick’s hair out as she pulled her away from me. Fuck, I hoped she punched me in the face and told me to go to hell. I wanted all of those reaction and more. If she did that then I knew she wasn’t immune to me like she continued to tell me she was.
None of those things happened.
An ice cold drink was poured over my head, at least half of it hitting the chick I was kissing. Jerking up, I took in what was happening within a few seconds. Lucy had emptied her glass of ginger ale over me and the chick…
And Kin was gone.
Harris groaned loudly and snatched the cup from Lucy’s hands as she glared down at me like she was about to rip me a new one. That Kin was gone cut like a knife and I wanted to scream in frustration. Had she bailed? Was she bored with what I was doing…
