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“Of course, Miss Montez.”
Wanting away from Georgia, I practically skipped into the downstairs part of First Bass and moved through the thick crowd to get to the bar. I wanted to talk to Jace. I needed a friend right then to unload on, needed someone to wrap their arms around me and tell me it was all going t
o be okay.
Marcus stuck close even with how fast I was moving and I heard Georgia complaining so I knew she was following me too.
“I thought we would be up in the VIP?” she whined as I neared the bar.
I ignored her as I glanced around for Jace. My eyes caught sight of him almost instantly. He was standing at the end with a beer in one hand and a glass of what looked like ginger ale in the other. He was leaning back against the wall, his eyes skimming over the crowd looking for someone.
Looking for me.
My heart skipped a beat and I paused long enough to make sure my hands weren’t trembling before I headed toward him. I knew the instant he spotted me. Even from the distance that still separated us I could tell his eyes had darkened to cobalt and a half grin lifted his lips. He nodded his head, beckoning me to hurry up since his hands were full.
Pushing through one last group, I reached him and he moved away from the wall to lower his head and kiss my cheek. I wasn’t expecting that, and my heart did a funny little twist in my chest that was both painful and exciting. Jace lingered for a moment longer, his nose sliding to my ear to inhale the scent of my hair.
“I don’t like your new shampoo,” he told me with a slight frown as he handed over the glass of ginger ale. “Your hair looks beautiful as always, babe, but it doesn’t smell like you.”
“It’s just the products Jillian left in my bathroom,” I told him as I took a sip of my drink. “It makes my hair feel really soft though.”
With his free hand he grasped a few strands and rubbed them between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, it’s silky. I like that, but I miss the smell.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I took another drink of the cold ginger ale.
“Jace!” We both turned to find Kale and Cash waiting at the stairs that led to the stage. “Come on,” Kale called and waved one of his drumsticks at me. “Hey, Kin.”
“Hey, Kin!” Cash called before he stepped on stage.
Cursing, Jace swallowed the rest of his beer in one gulp, then leaned down to brush his lips over my cheek again. “Wait for me after the show? I really want to talk, babe. Really talk. About us.”
I nearly dropped my glass. About us? No. No. No. I couldn’t talk to him about us. There was no us other than friendship. He’d said. He’d agreed, damn it. “Okay,” I found myself whispering, however. “I’ll wait.”
He brushed one more kiss over my cheek, skimmed his hand down my arm, which instantly produced gooseflesh, and then ran up on stage. Ah, damn. I wasn’t going to give in. I couldn’t give in. I had too much on my plate. Too much swirling around in my head making me lose my sanity a little more with each passing day.
I needed a friend. Not a boyfriend who had a history of breaking my heart.
There wasn’t much left of my heart to break this time around, but I wasn’t about to risk it again.
A soft, warm hand touched my arm and I was so surprised I nearly spilled my drink all over myself. Lifting my head, I found Lucy standing just a few inches away. Marcus was now her shadow, I realized, while Georgia looked like a little girl who was about to start chasing any hot guy who looked rich enough. It kind of reminded me of a little girl chasing butterflies in a field, only the little girl was dressed like a hooker and chasing possible celebrities instead of pretty butterflies.
Lucy’s brows were lifted as she took in my glowering expression. “Well, I see you couldn’t ditch step-bitch number one. How the hell did that happen?”
I shrugged and hid my still aching arm behind my back so she wouldn’t question the marks on my wrist. “It was a do or die kind of threat, Lu. Do it, or spend an indefinite amount of time trapped in Scott’s house—which is a punishment worse than death if you ask me.”
“Right,” Lucy said with a nod. On stage the band was doing a last sound check and Lucy turned to watch them. “Let’s go. I promised Harris we would be up front.”
I didn’t argue as I put my drink on the bar top and followed after her. Unfortunately, Georgia was hot on our heels as we reached the front of the crowd. With Marcus clearing the way we didn’t have any problems getting up close, but I wished he would have at least lost Georgia somewhere in the middle.
She bumped her shoulder into mine to force me to look at her. “Who’s the hot blond guy? I saw you talking to him.”
I didn’t dare look up on stage to see what Jace was doing. If Georgia saw the way that I couldn’t help but look at him she would know just what Jace meant to me and I wasn’t about to give her that kind of ammunition. “He’s a friend,” I finally told her. “His name’s Jace and we’re friends.”
Chapter 13
Jace
It took me for fucking ever to get my head on the job at hand rather than the smell of Kin’s hair. It hadn’t been a bad scent—in fact it had been delicious, but it wasn’t the one that told me exactly whose hair I was smelling. Her hair’s usual scent always had my body instantly going rock hard because it recognized the scent as simply Kin, just as my nerve endings always recognized her touch being her, without me having to open my eyes to confirm it.
