“Delicious?”
“And bad for me. Really bad. God, what if this gets out? What if people—?” Oh wait, forget about her reputation. “What about you? Are you guys in trouble with Court of Rock?”
“Nah. The cops weren’t called. No one was arrested or hurt. Simon’s already talked to the show execs. We got a warning, which doesn’t mean shit.”
Her eyes widened. “Can you work with Jagged Sin for the remainder of the tour? I’m sorry, I got drunk and obviously out of control.” Her stomach twisted. “I’m turning into my mom.”
Justice wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “What did you do that was so bad? Tell me. Get tipsy? Sing a karaoke song? Defend your friend?”
She pressed her forehead to the soft cotton T-shirt stretched over his hard chest. Justice’s body heat spread over her skin, and his scent filled her lungs. What had she done that was so bad? Nothing. It was her birthday, she was with her friends, and it was Ace who opened his big mouth.
Don’t talk about it, Liza. You’re making it worse. People are judging you. Us. Just keep your head down and stay quiet. Her aunt had told her that over and over. She’d wanted Liza to become invisible and stop being an embarrassment. But Justice wasn’t upset at all.
She lifted her gaze. “I didn’t stay quiet.”
His mouth curved. “How’d it feel?”
A little scary. Her anger had shot right past her control and shoved her into an impulsive reaction. She’d been pissed that Ace had pushed Nikki again. He’d done it before when Nikki worked as his student publicist. When he’d said to Liza, What you gonna do, suck my dick and cry rape? something had snapped inside her. All those years she’d had to listen to ugly things being said about her while being told she couldn’t fight back, couldn’t defend herself, to just stay quiet.
“I lost my temper.” Something she’d never done before Justice. She’d resorted to cutting alone in a bathroom rather than letting her feelings out, or jamming broken glass into her wrist to escape the emotional barrage and pain.
“And?”
She shifted her attention back to him. A slow smile tugged at her mouth despite her headache. “It felt pretty damned good.” There it was, her truth. Losing control like that, defending her friend and herself, had felt awesome.
“That’s my girl.” His eyes darkened. “But when I’m not there, you don’t go near Ace or any threat. I can’t take you getting hurt again.” His jaw bunched. “I’d have gotten to him first if I hadn’t caught Nikki before she fell.”
She didn’t doubt it for a second. “I know. I think that’s why I lost my temper. You were there, you had my back, so I wasn’t scared.” And that was an amazing feeling.
“Always,” Justice said.
Happiness chased out the remainder of her headache. Just under two months ago, everything was a disaster. Justice losing Court of Rock, Liza stabbed, no internship.
Now she had Justice, friends, her internship. And soon she’d start her last quarter of college.
The only cloud on the horizon?
Gene Hayes.
Chapter 6
TWO MONTHS LATER, OCTOBER
Six years.
The text from Beth throbbed in his head as he fought the freaking traffic to get home to her. He’d called when his plane landed, but she hadn’t answered. Right after that, his phone showed him an update on an entertainment site:
Justice Cade absent from the sentencing of his girlfriend’s attacker.
Fucking perfect. It made him look like an asshole, or worse, like he didn’t care enough to be there. He’d tried, damn it. Fury and frustration made him want to ram the cars in front of him. Oh wait, let’s not forget guilt too. He’d missed his flight from San Francisco this morning, which meant he didn’t get back in time.
He really was an asshole. Beth had been under tremendous stress for the last month with school, work and the plea bargain that happened suddenly with Hans. The media got wind of it, and they’d started harassing her. Some claimed that the D.A. didn’t want to put Liza on the stand because she was too tainted by her past with Gene Hayes and all the things said about her in the media.
Others claimed she was afraid of Hayes. They weren’t wrong. Her nightmares had escalated in the last month. But she’d have done it—gotten on the stand and testified against Hans. It amazed him that she’d been so willing, even knowing the defense attorneys would bring up Gene Hayes, since he was connected to Hans’s motive, and drag her through the mud.
Beth wasn’t the problem. Nope, it was his dad.
More guilt dumped in his gut. His father wasn’t a reliable witness. And how could the court summon a man who didn’t want to be found? Justice hadn’t seen or heard a word from him since the night his father had gotten out of jail. It was his dad’s pictures that proved Hans had been following Beth. But to get those introduced into evidence, they’d have to bring his dad in. So the D.A. pled it down from attempted murder to attempted voluntary manslaughter.
Six years. That bastard who stabbed and damn near killed Beth would be out in a measly three years with good behavior.
After finally pulling into his driveway, he barely turned the car off before rushing into the house, only pausing to key in the code on the security system.
No Beth. Where was she? Was she so pissed at him for missing the flight she hadn’t come home?
Wait, he heard the shower running. Justice hustled down the hall, into their bedroom. A cold pit opened in his stomach. How upset was she? Oh Christ, she wouldn’t… Could she be cutting?
Justice stared at the closed bathroom door, hating the barrier between them. But if he barged in now, he’d scare the hell out of her. Think, man.
“Beth.” He knocked on the door. “I’m home.”
“Okay.”
That was it. Flat, emotionless. Cold fear pushed at him. Shoving open the door, he strode in. “Beth, tell me you’re not—”
She snapped the shower curtain back, her eyebrows raised. “Not what?”
His brain stuttered. Beth stood there wet and naked, her long hair slicked back, eyes huge, and rivers of water streaming over her breasts, her soft belly to that sweet spot between her legs. The steamy bathroom closed in on him.
“Uh…” Four months he’d lived with her, but his desire had grown bigger. Hotter.
“Cutting?”
That word iced a fraction of his lust. She might be pissed at him, but Justice didn’t lie to her. He looked her dead in the eye. “Yes, cutting. You’ve been under too much pressure.” Her occasional struggle with cutting wasn’t something he’d let fester as a shameful secret between them. He kept it in the sunlight, where he could help her. What he didn’t tell her was the fear that one day he wouldn’t be here if she needed him, that he’d fail her and lose her.
Her defiance softened. “Cutting crossed my mind a time or seventeen in the last few weeks. But not enough to do it. I’m okay, especially now that it’s over. Hans is sentenced, and I just want to move on to concentrate on work and school. I got behind in one of my classes.”
As long as she was telling him her struggles, she was okay. It was when she couldn’t talk, couldn’t find a way to verbalize her terrors, that drove her to cut for relief.
After stripping off his clothes, he got in the warm shower, taking her face in his hands. “I’m so damn sorry I missed my flight.” He’d been there with her when she talked to the D.A. and for the interview with the presentencing probation officer. But this time…he’d screwed up.
“When you missed your flight home this morning, I was upset.”
Guilt squeezed his chest. “I know. We had a chance to meet with a music streaming service. It’s a vital contact. We need them to play our music when we release our album. But I thought I’d make it to the airport in time to catch my flight.” Shut up. That sounded defensive instead of contrite.
Beth tilted her head back, her naked gaze on him. “It’s already starting, isn’t it?”
Justice
laid his hands on her cheeks, staring down at her. “What?”
“You being forced to choose between something important for your career or me.”
The water streamed around them, and he had Beth here wearing only her skin sluiced with water and soap. “I don’t give a fuck about my career right now.” It came out a growl of possession.
“But you do care about me. You sent Drake to be with me.”
“Yes.” Drake Vaughn had helped Justice when he was released from juvie, stepping into a mentor-who-will-kick-his-ass role. Beth knew Drake, and liked him. And Drake, as a former MMA fighter, was strong, fast and deadly enough to keep Beth safe.
“Do you know what that felt like? I was in my office, scared to leave and go to the sentencing. I didn’t have to be there, and I was half talking myself out of going.”
“But you wanted to be there.”
“I wanted Hans to see me there, and if he’s watching from whatever rathole he’s in, Gene Hayes too. I wanted to face Hans and send a message to Hayes. I’m not letting him win.”
“There’s my badass.” The one who survived and persevered.
“Drake walked into my office and announced that you sent him to go with me to court and that he was bringing me home too.” She smiled. “It was like having my very own hero.”
That sliced him, and Justice brushed her hair back from her face. “I want to be your hero.”
“I know. But if you couldn’t be there, Drake was the perfect choice. He made me feel safe…and that gave me an idea, one that Drake and I talked about.”
Excitement glittered in her eyes. She clearly wanted to tell him. “Spill it, Glasner. What are you plotting now?”
“We can give victims who are afraid of testifying their very own hero to be there for them in court.”
Oh he got it. “Like Drake was for you today.” And no one really had been when she’d faced Gene Hayes as a young teenager. Her aunt spent too much time blaming Liza to be supportive.
“Exactly like that.” She bounced, her wet hair swinging and luscious boobs jiggling.
Justice swallowed, trying to keep his mind on Beth’s words. This was important to her, and if it mattered to her, it mattered to him.
“The fighters who work for SLAM are perfect. They’re all big and tough, and if the person testifying knows that the fighter is there specifically for them, to make them feel safe, it’ll make testifying a little bit easier for them. I even have a name for the program, SLAM Heroes. Drake said he’d help me develop a pitch, but it’ll take a few months.”
“It’s a great idea,” Justice said. “And exactly the kind of thing you wanted to do with your degree—help other victims feel safe and heard.”
“You think I can do it?”
Easy answer. “I know you can.” He leaned closer. “And you will.”
Joy filled her face. She rose on her toes and kissed him.
Justice locked an arm around her, taking her mouth. Thank fuck he’d had the foresight to send Drake to go with her to court. Not only had she felt safe, but she’d come with an idea she was passionate about. But right now, all he cared about was the sensual feel of wet, naked Beth in his arms.
She wrapped her legs around him, finding his hard cock and rubbing her pussy along his shaft.
He snapped his head back at the feel of her. Gripping her hip, he pressed her against the fiberglass shower wall and eased his cock inside. “I planned to take you to dinner or pick something up, then fuck you.”
Her smile widened. “Plot twist.” She tightened her vaginal walls, ripping a groan of pleasure from him. “I’m going to ravish you, then you can take me to dinner.”
He grinned. Beth looked a little tired, but he could almost feel the pressure of the last few weeks falling off her shoulders, freeing this wild streak he loved so damned much. “I fucking love your plot twists. And you.”
Chapter 7
SIX WEEKS LATER, DECEMBER
The final notes of the deep cut for “Expired Hero” died away. The extra-long bonus version of the song would go to rock media sites like Indie Rock Broadcast, or be given away in contests on their social media sites.
Justice slid off his earphones and looked around the L.A. recording studio they’d rented time in through Christine’s connections. She’d kept up her part of the deal, making things happen for them. The last months had been grueling, but their album was in the can, CDs were being manufactured, the music video was in editing, and they had a three-month tour booked. Their release show was at Club Nosh on January 15th, the night their single would drop. Presales on iTunes had just been released, and people were buying. Finally things were on track.
Doug, their sound engineer, stood up from his board. “That’s all the tweaks for today. The final deep-cut track will be ready to upload soon.”
The lights caught the multiple piercings in his eyebrow and lip, and his hair was short and spiky. On the small side in stature, the guy made up for it with incredible talent. He knew his stuff. They’d all come to trust him.
“What do you think?” Justice asked.
“Almost there. It’ll be in the can a week ahead of schedule.”
Lynx leaned a shoulder against the soundproof glass surrounding the recording booth. “You think ‘Expired Hero’ is a breakout song? Not this version, but the shorter, more commercial radio cut. Can it break out?”
Doug shrugged into his jacket. “With the tweaks River did on the bass, it’s your best bet out of the lineup.”
But was best bet good enough? A familiar burn of worry washed over Justice. They’d invested everything in this album and the record label they’d formed. They’d had meetings with all the players like iTunes, Spotify, radio producers and others to get exposure. Justice had taken a loan on his house, and the other guys had pitched in to get the funding. Sloane had invested heavily in their record company too. That weighed on all of them. It wasn’t just their money they were risking.
“Stop second-guessing,” River said. “It’s a done deal.”
The man was right. There wasn’t time for changes.
“I still can’t believe Jagged Sin is beating us to release,” River added. “They waited until we announced our schedule then announced theirs to get a jump on us.”
“It gets worse.” Simon voice was cold and pissed. “They released it for presale at midnight last night.”
Shit, Justice had missed that. “Are they climbing?”
“Oh we’re still ahead.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Lynx asked.
Simon stared at his phone. “You know how we wondered where they were getting the money to make their album and go on tour?”
A frisson of unease went down Justice’s back. “Yeah?”
“The album is produced by G. Hayes.”
“Fuck.” He couldn’t believe this. “They really are in bed with Gene Hayes.” Pacing back and forth, he thought of Beth. Hell. He didn’t want to tell her.
“What difference does it really make?” Gray asked. “It just shows the world what scum Jagged Sin is, right? Hayes is a felon. He can’t step foot in the U.S. or any country we have extradition with.”
He had a point, but still. “It’s the principle.” Like that mattered when it came to money?
“Don’t be naïve. There’s always a way to get around laws and ethics,” Simon said. “We aren’t letting them defeat us. Hear me? We’re going to come out strong and stomp their asses on our way to the top of the charts. Success is the best revenge for all of us.”
Justice nodded, one hundred fucking percent in agreement. “We beat them once, we’ll beat them again.” He glanced at the digital clock on the wall and grimaced. “Gotta bounce.” The trek between L.A. and San Diego ate hours of his day. But tonight was special. Beth had finished her last class and was officially done with college. He was damn proud of her and started for the door.
“Hey, Justice.”
He spun around, tensing for another of Simon’s unsubtle
reminders about being committed to the band, yada, yada, yada.
“Tell Liza congratulations.”
Oh. Right. “Thanks, man, I’ll tell her.” He strode out and got on the road.
Anxiety hitched a ride with him.
Jagged Sin and Gene Hayes—that was a match made in hell.
* * *
Liza should be thrilled. She’d taken her last final and was officially done with her B.A. She’d worked for three and a half years, going through the accelerated program to get to this point. She had a right to be happy and proud.
But she was worried as hell. She was two days late for her period. Her breasts hurt, she was bloated and feeling a tad off.
This couldn’t be happening. She was on birth control.
You were five weeks late for your last shot.
Dang it, she’d gotten the reminder-to-schedule-an-appointment text smack in the middle of the meeting with the D.A. about Hans’s plea deal and totally forgot. It hadn’t been until she’d gotten a phone message indicating the doctor’s office records showed she was overdue for her shot that she’d remembered.
But she should still have been safe. The whole reason she and Justice chose this method was that it usually took months after stopping the shot to get pregnant. Even her doctor had thought she was protected. They’d run a pregnancy test as a precaution, and it came back negative.
“Liza?”
Tess’s voice snapped Liza out of her fog. Sheesh, she was standing in the lobby of the executive floor, staring off into space. She’d walked into work on autopilot, barely aware of getting into the elevator.
“Hey, Tess, sorry, I was thinking about something.”
“How’d your final go?”
“Great. All done. Pretty sure I passed.”
Tess tilted her head. “Have you ever failed a class?”
“Yep,” she admitted. “But that was a long time ago.” She and her mom had moved around, followed bands, and Liza hadn’t always stayed on track in school. It wasn’t until she went to live with her aunt and uncle that she’d taken school seriously.
Savaged Vows: Savaged Illusions Trilogy Book 2 Page 8
