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.
While I helped Kale and Cash do the sound check, I couldn’t help but glance Kin’s way. The first time I’d looked for her she’d still been by the bar talking to Lucy, but now they were front and center. Harris wasn’t with them, but I wasn’t worried because Marcus was standing right there with them, keeping at least a foot between the two girls and the rest of the fans.
I knew how I wanted to start the show tonight. It was going to be a little different, but we hadn’t done a cover song in a few weeks. One of the things I loved so much about Kin was that music and, more specifically, the lyrics to the songs always spoke to her. It was the easiest way to communicate with her.
It had been how I’d first told her I loved her.
So while Cash finished doing what he had to do, I told Kale what was going to happen, and then once Grayson and Sin took the stage I told them too. When I told Cash, he lifted a brow at me, but he was grinning as he nodded his understanding.
Suddenly I felt nervous as hell, something that I hadn’t felt before a show since my very first one at the age of seventeen. Wiping my damp palms on my jeans, I turned to the crowd and took the microphone. The roar of the crowd instantly quietened when I lifted a hand and grinned at everyone.
“Fuck, guys, it’s good to see you all here tonight,” I greeted them. Most of them were our new fan following, but there were always newcomers who had been lucky enough to get in. Thursday nights were great for First Bass’s bank account, but Harris had to be extra careful not to overfill the place or be faced with fines from the fire marshal if he showed up. “Are you ready to rock with us tonight?”
The crowd went wild, but even over the roar I could still hear the “Hell, yeah,” that came from the front row.
I glanced down at Kin and Lucy, both of them grinning and throwing up horns for us. I caught Kin’s gaze and gave her a wicked wink. Her grin turned a little sultry and I knew she was biting into the inside of her bottom lip. Damn, I wanted to kiss her so fucking back.
Shaking