Rocking Kin (Lucy & Harris, #3) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,16

her. I would kick anyone’s ass who hurt my new best friend. Lucy was the only saving grace I had right then. Without her friendship and her family taking me under their wing, I was sure I would have lost my mind living with my father by now.

“What’s wrong?” All it would take was one word from her and I would make sure the guy she had just smacked would taste his balls for a week.

Lucy sucked in a deep breath and shook her head as she pulled back. “I just want to go. Do you mind?” Her voice was stronger now and I could actually see walls going up around her heart.

“No,” I assured her. “Of course not, babe.” I took her hand, giving it a supportive squeeze before I started to walk away with her, not even bothering to look at the guy who Lucy had been arguing with.

“Kin?”

Everything inside of me stilled at the sound of my name coming from a voice that was so achingly familiar. My heart stopped and I closed my eyes as I tried to tell myself that I was just hearing things. There was no way it was really him. No. Way.

Jace St. Charles had left me when I’d needed him the most. Not two days after I’d cried myself to sleep on his shoulder because I was scared of the thought of losing my mother, Jace had broken up with me. He was taking off with his band, Tainted Knights, and didn’t want to be tied down. He’d broken my heart, and I hadn’t tried to put it back together. There was no use when I knew it didn’t matter.

He’d been my world for a few short months and I’d fallen hard for him almost overnight. Maybe it was because Jace had been my first—in everything—or maybe it was just because I had been going through so much at the time, but I’d thought for sure that Jace was going to be part of my future.

Wrong.

Slowly, because I was sure that I was losing my mind, I turned to look at the guy who had said my name. When my gaze landed on the one face I had once memorized every inch of, I felt my throat tighten with emotions. I wanted to rage at him for breaking my heart when it had already been bruised and cracking from the thought of having to say goodbye to my mom. I wanted to cry and throw the biggest fit any ex had ever thrown.

Instead I clenched my jaw and met his blue eyes head on. “Jace.” My voice was so cold it could have caused frostbite right then.

For the first time since I’d met Jace St. Charles, he seemed to be at a loss for what to do. The guy I knew was always self confident enough that he could handle anything life threw at him. Was he that surprised to see me?

“What are you doing here?”

That had to be the million-dollar question. What the hell was I doing there? I should have just stayed home and locked myself in my room to avoid Jillian and the step-bitches. I could have put on my Beats and listened to music to drown out their nagging. Fuck that. I should have been back in Virginia with Carter and the twins. I wanted to be back there so damn much in that moment that it almost hurt to breathe.

“Lucy invited me.”

Lucy shifted beside me. I could feel her eyes on my face but didn’t look at her. I didn’t think I had the strength right then to keep my emotions in check if I did.

Jace shook his dirty blond head while his eyes skimmed over my entire body. That I felt his eyes like a physical touch only pissed me off that much more. Damn it. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, not after how he’d shattered my heart into a million pieces. “No. I mean…what are you doing here…in California?”

That he didn’t seem to remember what I’d been going through with my mother at the time he’d broken up with me was like a slap to the face. I lowered my eyes so he couldn’t see the pain his question had caused me. I’d cried on his shoulder, told him how much I didn’t want to move in with my father when my mom died. “I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to my life story since I last