by L. P. Maxa
HELLA GOOD
Drug addiction, secret liaisons, twins swapping places, and a clandestine marijuana empire are among the many transgressions the children of the Devil's Share have committed over the years. But not Emmie James. A ballerina since the age of seven, she's been accepted into a prestigious ballet company, is getting her college degree on-line, and is the apple of her parents' eye. No one would suspect that at eighteen years old, Emmie would become the most scandalous of the Devil's Spawn. Insult to injury? Her fall from grace was made possible by super hot Mr. One-Night-Stand, Kasen Cadence, and if she has to go to hell to get to heaven, there's no one Emmie wants by her side but Kase.
ALSO BY L.P. MAXA
RiffRaff Records
Royalty
Legacy
Infamy
Loyalty
Sanctuary
Piracy
Certainty
The Devil’s Share
Play Nice
Play Dirty
Play Fair
Play Softly
Play Hard
Play For Keeps
St. Leasing
Mouth Watering
Breath Taking
Jaw Dropping
Heart Stopping
Other Novels
Happy Place
Stumbled into Love
Rescued
INEVITABLY
RiffRaff Records – Book Eight
L.P. Maxa
www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.
INEVITABLY
Copyright © 2019 L.P. Maxa
All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.
ISBN: 978-1-951055-31-8
E-book formatting by Maureen Cutajar
www.gopublished.com
For everyone who believes in meant to be
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always and forever, thank you to my husband and my daughter. You two are incredibly understanding and supportive, and I'd be lost without you. Thank you to all my wonderful readers who have followed along this amazing Devil's Share and RiffRaff Records journey with me so far. I can't believe we're almost at the end. To my mom, thank you for helping me get this story out. My spectacular Smitten Kittens, you guys are the BEST. I truly appreciate you.
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Epilogue
Play List
About the Author
INEVITABLY
“You can’t be wise and in love at the same time.”
—Bob Dylan
Chapter One
Kasen
My parents had been married for a thousand years. At least, it felt that way. It seemed they’d been in love since the beginning of time, and I understood how rare that was. The type of love they had was admirable…to people like my sister. Katie had always aspired to find a love like our folks, Mason and Payton Cadence. Katie wanted a partner in life, someone to hold her hand through the ups and downs. And she’d found it. She’d found her soul mate. Her better half, the one for whom her heart beats.
She was marrying the poor asshole this weekend.
Marriage wasn’t for me. Happily ever after wasn’t really my cup of tea. I fucking adored my parents, and I felt lucky to have been raised in a happy, cohesive home. But that shit was for the birds. I was taking a page out of my Uncle Pax’s book. I was going to see the world and live every moment. I was going to take chances and stay up to see the sunrise. I wanted to have fun, nonstop, up until the day I died.
What was that famous quote? I hope to arrive to my death late, in love, and a little drunk. Well, mine would go like this: I hope to arrive at my death late, a little drunk, and on top of some banging hot chick in the middle of a Balinese jungle.
And speaking of the Balinese jungle, that was where I was headed on assignment as soon as this three-day wedding extravaganza was over. Yeah, you heard correctly, three days. I was expected to attend the welcome lunch, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding day brunch, the groom’s pre-game, the wedding, the reception, and the morning-after breakfast. I put my Tom Ford boot down at the morning-after breakfast.
I was not about to sit across from my sister and the dude who’d had sex with her all night. I had to draw the line somewhere, and awkward jokes about consummating a marriage was where I did it. Plus I had a flight to Bali to catch. It was work. There was nothing I could do to get out of it. Insert conspiratorial wink.
“Sir, we’re here.”
I picked my head up off the back of the seat at my driver’s announcement. I’d been dozing on and off since I was picked up from the Austin airport. I’d flown in from South America and jet lag was going to be a bit of a bitch.
“Thank you.” I opened my own door. I wasn’t that spoiled. I also got my own bags out of the trunk because my driver was pushing eighty and it seemed rude to have him take them up to my sister-in-law’s front door. I shook his hand, slipping a fifty in there for karma.
He drove away and I climbed the low-profile concrete steps, sighing. Katie insisted that I stay at Luke and Harlow’s
house, her soon to be mother- and father-in-law. I was a groomsman and all of us were staying here tonight. My parents and uncles got to stay in what was reported to be a lavish pool house.
I hadn’t seen my family in months and I’d much rather be spending the extra time with them. But this was important to Katie, and Katie was important to me. So, here I was, staying with her soon-to-be husband’s ’rents. I was a damn good brother.
Katie had met Cash Matthews a few summers ago when she’d been banished to the Devil’s Share compound for safekeeping after our dad lost his shit because he caught a guy almost kissing her. Our dad had just started a new tour—yeah, rock star parent—and he couldn’t handle the thought of what might happen to his eighteen-year-old baby if she stayed on the road with him.
Ultimately, that’d been a parental fail on my dad’s part. While she was here, she lost her virginity to another rock star’s kid. But they were in love—insert eye roll and singsong voice—and they were going to ride off into the sunset tomorrow night.
“Kasen. Hey, man, glad you made it.” Cash opened the front door before I could knock, a big smile on his face. Cash and his twin looked like Thor from those old Avenger movies. No surprise the guy ended up getting into my sister’s pants. “Come on in.”
He grabbed one of my bags, holding the door open. “Thanks.” I stepped past him, peering through the house into the backyard through the large floor-to-ceiling windows. “The gang’s all here?”
Crue, Beau, Jett, Brody, and Talon were all in the backyard, standing around a smoking barbeque pit.
“Yeah, we’re cooking all the meat for lunch.” He set my bag down in the entryway. “Come on, let’s get you a beer and I’ll show you to your room later.”
I dropped my second bag before following him out onto the patio. I’d met all these guys before. Katie and Cash had been dating for a while now. We’d had some family holidays together, and Jett came to Cali to visit his older brothers while they’d been living with my sister.
But still, the last thing I wanted was to spend the whole day with a group of men so disgustingly in love I’d get a fucking toothache.
Love wasn’t for me. No thanks.
I had better things to do with my time, and my dick.
Chapter Two
Kasen
I was standing off to the side with my Uncle Pax, sipping a beer and wishing this welcome lunch would end so I could get the guys’ night over with. I stood around the backyard in the Texas sun while Cash and his friend Benson had smoked enough meat to feed an army. You’d think that would count as enough time with “the guys,” but alas.
If I was being completely honest, all this togetherness was starting to grate on my nerves. I lived on my own, traveling the world, and answering to no one in particular. So to be constantly surrounded by people and on a tight schedule was sort of killing me.
“You look miserable.” That was Uncle Pax. He could read me like a book ’cause the man was me, only older.
I cracked my neck, then shook out my shoulders. “I’m feeling twitchy, man. I’ve got to get out of here.” And this was only day freaking one, how was I going to feel by the time the actual wedding rolled around?
“Where you headed after all this lovey-dovey crap is over?” He lifted his glass to his mouth, sipping on his scotch as he watched the party around us. Uncle Pax was like me, not too keen with the happily-ever-after tract.
“Bali.” I loved Indonesia, the culture, the vibes, it was one of my favorite places to work. And I’d purposefully scheduled this trip for the week after my sister’s wedding. I knew I’d need a little peace and quiet after being with the Devil’s Spawn for three days straight.
“Nice.”
I turned to him, jumping on the chance to have some fun with my favorite uncle. “You want to come with?”
Uncle Pax liked to travel as much as I did, and more often than not he’d meet me if I was somewhere cool. We both had the same outlook on life, and he never bothered to stop my good time. To sum it up, he was the coolest uncle a boy could ever have.
“Maybe. It’s been a while since I’ve done a travel piece.” Pax was a writer. He had a blog that had turned into a three-book deal. They’d all hit the NYT Best Seller list, because it turned out people enjoyed reading about an aging playboy’s sexcapades.
I took another sip of my beer, deciding to give this lunch five more minutes before bailing. I didn’t see anyone here but Devil’s Share peeps and my own family. Not sure who the hell they were welcoming. Most of these people either lived on this damn compound or across the street. I’d sneak over to the pool house, maybe go for a swim. If I was lucky, I’d have a few hours to myself before I needed to head back to Cash’s for guys’ night.
Looking around the large field, I took inventory of all the famous rock stars and the kids they’d produced. There was a stocked tank to one side and several long farm tables elegantly set with vintage glassware. Fancy barbeque.
Cash had his arm around my sister, his mouth near her ear, she was smiling at whatever he was saying, no doubt something incredibly sweet. He was a good guy, and I approved. She could have done worse, that was for sure. Like Crue, Cash’s twin. That dude was a broody asshole from what I’d seen. He reminded me of a depressed caveman, barely talking, walking around with all his muscles. More brawn than brains.
Their youngest brother Jett was pretty cool: cocky, but cool nonetheless. He was with a cute chick in glasses, making her laugh out loud every few seconds. Talon and Marley were seated across from them, she was balancing a glass of water on her pregnant belly. Those two seemed like an odd match, but so did Landry and Brody for that matter. And that couple? They had a gaggle of little boys constantly running circles around them like mini tornados. Wyatt, Weston, and Walker? I could never remember the youngest one’s name. This family was growing by the damn second. I swear, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another baby born before the wedding.
Kids weren’t really my thing.
It’s not like I hated them or anything. They simply weren’t for me. I liked my life the way it was, and I didn’t plan to give it up any time soon. Or, like, ever.
Nicky, Evie’s husband, was talking to my dad across the tank. He’d worked his magic, inking spectacular tats on almost every member of this massive family. The massive family I was now part of, I guessed.
I polished off my beer, choking on the last sip when a beautiful girl stepped out of the tall grass and onto the bank of the pond. I didn’t remember ever seeing her before, and no lie, holy shit, I would have remembered her. She lifted her long flowing dress, holding it in place as it blew in the summer breeze. Lexi and Dash greeted her, giving her a hug and smiling like they were happy to see her. One of Landry’s little boys ran to her, and she scooped him up, making him giggle like a madman.
“Who’s that chick?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her, drinking in everything about her, cataloging it in my head: her long blonde hair, her even longer, slender, shapely legs. Her elegant jaw line and her pouty pink lips.
“That chick is Smith James’s youngest daughter Emmie, so stop looking at her like that.” Uncle Pax stepped into my line of sight, shaking his head in warning.
I leaned to the side, looking past him. “She’s fucking gorgeous.”
He moved to block my view of her again. “I don’t think she’s even eighteen yet.”
“Her legs, that blonde hair. Is she a dancer?” I put my hand on his head, pushing it out of my way. I couldn’t get enough. The way she floated across the field, the way she smiled at everyone.
“Ballet.” Uncle Pax sighed. “But if you don’t put your eyeballs back into your head, Smith is going to come over here and remove them with a rusty spoon.”
“She looks like a sexy angel.” Maybe I could use my contacts to get her some white wings. She could wear them, and nothing else. Fuck, what I wouldn’t do to that sweet little ass.
“Goddammit, Kase.”
Uncle Pax could
protest all he wanted, but my mind was made up. And my weekend got a hell of a lot more interesting. “I’m going to go introduce myself.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t.”
I patted him on the shoulder as I stepped away. “I know, man. I know.”
Chapter Three
Emmie
Katie and Cash were getting married. Another member of the Devil’s Spawn paired up and headed for marital bliss. And babies. All my cousins seemed to be keen on having a lot of babies. Landry and Brody had three. Beau and Halen already had one, and Marley, of all people, was pregnant. I knew that my older sister Evie and her husband, Nick, had plans to try for a baby at some point soon.
Jett was coupled up with Devin, and that looked solid as in forever and ever. Avory was dating some tech genius she’d met at UT. She didn’t bring him around to large family events. And that’s what told me she was actually into this one, which was a surprise. If she didn’t care for the guy she was dating, she let Crue or the rest of our family scare him off so she didn’t have to end it.
Yeah. Everyone was in love, except for me. Emmie James, the youngest, purest, shyest, most obedient of the Devil’s Share offspring. My life wasn’t empty though, not at all. I had ballet, and for as long as I could remember dance had taken up every single moment of spare time I had. It’d paid off. I’d been accepted into the Austin Ballet after graduation.
“Em, can we go on an adventure walk? Pretty please?” Wyatt, Landry and Brody’s oldest son, was clinging to my leg, pleading up at me with his gorgeous blue eyes.
I tickled his ribs, making him giggle and let go. “After we eat, okay? We don’t want to miss lunch.”
“Come here, you little hooligan.” My uncle Jacks scooped his grandson off the ground and tossed him up into the air. “Em just got done with rehearsal, crazy kid. Let’s let her sit down for a minute.”
“I don’t mind taking him, I’ll eat real quick.” I loved kids, which was good since I was surrounded by them constantly. “Give me a few minutes, Wyatt.” He nodded, grinning wildly as Uncle Jacks carried him to a nearby table to sit with his brothers.
