A Wicked Song - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,81
it as truth. As for Kayden, his wife, Ella, is my best friend. They saved our lives and honestly, she saved me from being raped. They’re badasses, honorable, and dangerous to the wrong people, which means the bad guys.”
“Raped?”
“Yes, well, that was me trusting you. That’s between us. It’s a long story that I’ll tell you sometime over chocolate, but the bottom line is that Ella is always being hunted. As her only family, and we are sisters in our hearts, I am family, and I am always a potential target.”
“How do you live like that?”
“You’re asking me that?”
“I did it alone. You have Chris. You’re always in the open and high profile.”
“And guarded. We keep security. Chris worries. I choose not to. I don’t function well that way and neither does he. He just needs that control. And just for the record, Crystal and Mark have been through some similar stuff, too. They’re in your city. I swear to you that you can trust them.”
“I feel that. I like Crystal.”
“And Mark?” she asks.
“He’s,” I hesitate, and settle on, “hard.”
“He is,” she agrees, “but Mark’s guarded because of his past. He takes time to get to know and appreciate. Oh and I hear you’re living with Kace.”
I smile. “Yes. I am. It’s pretty wonderful.”
“I’d have known if Kace hadn’t told Chris. I could see the love blossoming between you.”
My brows shoot up. “He told Chris?”
“Yes. They talk. Before Kace, Chris only talked to me. Now they talk. I’m thankful they found each other.”
“I’m actually really not surprised,” I say, this knowledge giving new depth to Kace’s reference to them being a part of our circle. “They have a lot of weird coincidences in their pasts,” I add.
“They do and for that reason, I’m going to give you some last words of advice because we might not see each other until Paris. Because of Chris and Kace talking, I know you know a lot about Kace and I know you know there are things you don’t yet know.”
“He’s afraid to tell me.”
“But he’s told you that, and that matters. Because, like Chris, some things in their background make them hate themselves. You have to love him when he can’t love himself.”
“I haven’t told him I love him. We haven’t said those words. Almost, I think.”
“You will,” she says confidently. “You absolutely will, but no matter how much you love each other when his past comes out, and it will, expect him to push you away. That’s survival. That’s fear of rejection. You have to pull him back. You have to fight for him. At some point, this conversation is going to feel like foreshadowing. Fate has brought you to us. You are where you belong. Don’t let him forget that.”
Kace steps behind me, his body warm, his hands possessively on my waist, his lips to my ear. “See?” he murmurs softly. “Everyone knows you’re where you belong.”
I reach back and touch his face, and while I agree that I’m where I belong, fate isn’t all that’s at play. Kace doesn’t believe that any more than I do and right now, I really wish we could make all the other stuff just go away. Sara and I share a look of friendship and then I twist around in Kace’s arms to face him. “Mark and Crystal want us in the back in fifteen minutes,” he says, his hand laying on my lower back, a warm, even possessive, touch. “Let’s work the crowd on our way there” he adds, lowering his voice. “How did that go with Sara?”
“I kind of love her already. I told her, Kace.”
Surprise flits across his face. “And?”
“And a lot of things we can talk about later, but she’s friends with Kayden and his wife, Ella. I do think they can help.”
“Sounds like I owe Sara a thank you. You seem more relaxed.”
“I am,” I say, only now realizing that it’s true. I flatten my hand on his chest. “And you, sir, have a show to perform and crowd to work.” I slide my arm around his and we begin the mingling and Kace is an easy, sought after target but it’s all pretty wonderful. We slip into a good time chatting with people and I don’t miss how Kace introduces me to everyone and is always touching me. He has a way of making me feel like that princess for sure, even with a few gorgeous movie stars that have me just a tiny bit starstruck.
We’re almost to