Harley (West Coast Rock Star #1)

by Michelle Jo Quinn

Fiona tried to smile, but it didn’t work. She sputtered, “He didn’t mean it. It was an accident.”

  “Was this the first time?” When Fiona evaded his gaze, he received his answer. “How long has this been going on?”

  Fiona burst into tears, sobbing into her palms. “I made such a huge mistake, Jax.” She held onto his arms, her face pressing against his chest. Jax led her into the living room and sat her on the sofa. “I thought it was just a little play, you know. A little kink, but…it escalated. He never hit me on the face before.”

  “When did it start?”

  Many would think that Jax shouldn’t have been concerned, but Fiona was still Harley’s mother. Somehow, he needed to know the truth and try to protect Harley. This could be devastating to his little girl. Through role reversal, Harley had been the one to take care of Fiona, even when she was much younger. Furthermore, if Fiona’s husband was vile enough to beat his wife, how would he treat Harley if she was ever around the man?

  “About a week after we got married,” Fiona replied, wiping tears off her cheeks.

  “You have to report this, Fi.” He held onto her hand and tried to get her to look into his eyes. She had to realize the horrible effect this could have on all of them, especially Harley, if it didn’t stop.

  Fiona shook her head. “No. I’m divorcing him. It’s just been so bad, Jax.”

  “When did that happen?” He pointed at her eye.

  As though she had already forgotten the existence of the bruise, Fiona raised her hand and touched the tender area. “He’s been complaining with all that’s been going on with the press. He doesn’t like that I’m talking to the reporters. Antonio thinks I still want to be with you and that’s why I’m telling them my side. But you know how it is, Jax.” She shrugged.

  Yes, he knew how it was, and he knew how she could be. If there was a chance she could be a star again, to get another piece of those fifteen minutes of fame, she’d grab it.

  “Oh my god,” Fiona blurted out, then yanked Jax’s arm. “You had her name tattooed on your arm?” Her voice echoed through the room. “What’s the deal with this, Jax?”

  Jax pulled back. There was no need to sugar coat this. “I’m in love with her, Fi. I want to be with her.”

  Her jaw dropped. She was speechless for a minute, but Jax could almost hear the gears grinding in her head. “I thought you were just having fun.”

  “No, Fi.” Jax sighed. “I’m going to marry her. I want a real family.”

  “We can be a family!”

  Jax couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. “That’s ridiculous, and you know it. You’re not the mothering type and I simply don’t want to be with you.”

  Fiona slapped a hand over her chest. “That hurts!”

  “Come on, Fi. Don’t do this. You know there’s no chance in—”

  His words were cut off by the loud bang of the door hitting the wall. Before he could react, Antonio launched himself at him, crashing onto the oval coffee table, and then dragging him down to the marble floor. The first blow smacked him right on the face and Jax saw stars. A piercing sound rang through one ear.

  “I knew you were shagging him!” Antonio said between punches. Jax instinctively blocked them with his arm and hands.

  Antonio was a large man, built like a brick house. He had made his money peddling his workout videos to the rich and famous, but everyone knew that he’d also supplied his clients with illegal substances. He’d been arrested several times but not once had he stayed for more than two days in a real jail cell. Part of his success lay in his connections.

  Adrenaline kicked in, and as soon as Jax saw his chance, he brought his fist up and smashed it against the man’s head. It connected and threw Antonio off him. Fiona stood screaming at the two of them, as Antonio charged back while Jax scrambled to stand. The larger man’s shoulder made contact with Jax’s gut. Even though Jax had his head in a lock, Jax felt the impact of Antonio’s punches through his ribs, driving the air out of his lungs.

  “Tony, stop!” Fiona begged “You’re going to kill him!”

  Jax countered with a hard jab on the man’s side, then on his back. But Antonio was relentless and fought back, driving a fist onto Jax’s solar plexus. It caused Jax to double over as the wind got knocked out of him. Antonio cursed him as Jax sputtered blood onto the white floors.

  This man could end him right there and then. Jax didn’t feel fear. What filtered into his head were Cade and Harley’s faces. When was the last time he told Harley he loved her? Why hadn’t he admitted his feelings to Cade?

  Staggering backwards, Jax reached a hand up when, through one open eye, he saw Antonio raise his knee for a kick. But the blow didn’t come. Instead, there was an explosion that burst in the room. Red liquid poured out and spread onto Antonio’s shirt. When he fell forwards, Jax caught him with his arms, and stared shocked at Fiona standing with a crazed look on her face. Her hands trembled as she held onto the gun.

  Zee appeared through the door, immediately disarming Fiona. Jax stared down at the bleeding man on the floor. How had his life come to this?

  ***

  Cade’s hand lay on his naked chest. She’d slept soundly only the past two hours. Jax knew this as she’d constantly woken up through the night to make sure he was okay. He dreaded to guess how she’d react to the news. But he couldn’t let her find out from other people. If he wanted Cade to trust him, he had to be completely honest.

  Jax lifted her hand to his lips, brushing them over her soft skin. She stirred, then slowly opened her eyes.

  “Hey.” Her voice was husky, and the warmth reached his heart.

  “Good morning.”

  Cade raised her head to plant a kiss on Jax. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m in a bit of pain.” He ran a hand through her long hair and rubbed her back. “It’s time I was honest with you, Cade. Tell you what happened.” And he did.

  Throughout the retelling of the whole ordeal, he watched Cade’s reaction; nothing but concern appeared on her face. She didn’t interrupt him. She didn’t ask questions. She just listened.

  “The cops and ambulance came right away. Antonio is in the hospital. He’s lost quite a bit of blood but he’ll survive. Fiona claimed self-defence. Both of our lawyers are working the case. She’s being looked after.”

  “Why are you here? You should be there too.”

  “I told you, Cade, I’ve been checked. I’ll admit, I was a bit shaky when I returned but Zee has been guarding me since, hasn’t really left my side until I asked him to meet you guys downstairs. It’s been hard on him because he felt that he let me down. It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone to see Fiona alone,” Jax admitted.

  Cade sat up and helped Jax to do the same. They leaned against the headboard, his head on her shoulder. Cade threaded her fingers through his. “I understand why you did, although I’d have to say that it was really dumb of you to go without Zee. And it was stupid of him to let you go alone. He won’t be making that mistake again.”

  “Neither will I.”

  “So what’s going to happen to Fiona?”

  “My lawyers said that they’d stick to the self-defence claim. It might take a while before any kind of trial starts, depending on what happens to Antonio. Get this…apparently, LA police have been trying to connect him to a shootout at a club a few months ago, but they have no solid proof. Guillaume, one of my attorneys, said that the gun Fiona used might be the evidence they needed, if they could match the bullets and if they could prove it was Antonio’s,” Jax explained.

  Cade tensed at this development. “What if they can’t? Will they try and pin it on Fiona?”

  “No,” Jax replied right away. “Fiona was out of the country when the shooting happened. I don’t doubt that her lawyers will be able to prove it. No one wants this to get out in the press. Fiona’s lawyers made a deal with the cops to keep our names from going public in relation to the shooting and what happened yesterday.”

 
; Cade shifted on the bed. “What do we do now?”

  This was why Jax needed her most. “There isn’t much we can do. I’ll still do the concert and finish the tour. And before you say anything, I’ve checked with the doctors. They said I should be fine to keep going. But…I don’t know what to say to Harley. She’ll know about this and it will hurt her. I need your help, Cade.”

  Cade leaned over and skimmed her hand over Jax’s right jaw. “Of course. Let’s have breakfast then we’ll talk to her about it.” She pressed her soft lips tenderly and carefully on his.

  “I love you, Cade,” he whispered into her kiss.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Are you in a lot of pain?” Harley asked, scrunching her forehead. She lifted a hand to touch the side of her father’s face but retracted it.

  Jax tried for a smile and it came out lop-sided. The joke “you should see the other guy” played in his head, but he couldn’t say that to his daughter. He and Cade had agreed they were only going to tell Harley that he’d gotten into a scuffle. It wouldn’t be wise to admit that Fiona was involved in it as well, and the extent of her involvement.

  “The doctor prescribed me meds for the pain. It looks worse than it feels,” Jax said. He worked a hand over his jaw and winced when he touched a tender area. Harley jumped on her seat. “Oh sorry, Har. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Cade reached out for Harley’s hand. “It will be okay, Har. Your father will rest for most of the day. He still has the concert tonight.”

  Harley’s eyes widened into huge saucers. She shot Cade a shocked look then back to her father. “You’re going to do the concert? Are you insane?”

  Any other day, he’d think Harley was incapable of calling her own father insane, but today it was almost justifiable. Cade had reacted the same way. “I have to, sweetheart. The doctors checked my larynx and didn’t find any damage or bruising.” In his mind, he knew how lucky he’d been. If the man he’d fought with had gone for his throat, his career would have been over. He silently thanked whoever was responsible for the little miracles of life.

  Before Harley could formulate a response, a shrill “Oh my god!” interrupted their conversation. The three of them looked back to see Tina standing by the door with a hand covering her mouth. She walked over to take a closer look.

  Jax brushed his hair back and sighed hard before addressing his assistant, “Hey, Tin. I’m okay. I’m still on tonight.”

  Tina braced her hands on her hips. “I don’t care about tonight. Your fans won’t be able to see much in the dark.”

  Cade didn’t like the tone of her voice. She straightened beside Jax, which Tina noticed. Before she could get in trouble with her boss’ girlfriend, she changed her tone and her stance, flinging her hair over her shoulder and brushing invisible lint off her suit jacket lapels.

  “You obviously forgot about your shoot with Rolling Stone tomorrow,” Tina said. “It’s for a cover, Jax. We’ve been…you’ve been waiting for that opportunity for years. And now, look at you.” Tina waved a hand at him.

  Jax sat back on the couch. “I forgot about that. Shit, Tin. You’ll have to reschedule.” He took hold of one of Cade’s hands and pulled her to him.

  “You don’t just reschedule Rolling Stone, Jax. Who knows when they’ll be able to do it again!”

  “Just do it.” Everyone turned to Harley, who half-shrugged at them.

  “Not when he looks like that!” Tina said.

  Harley smiled at Tina, and then she made eye contact with Cade. Their bond was stronger than ever, and even without saying a word, Cade understood.

  “Yeah, just do it, Jax,” Cade repeated Harley’s statement. “Think about it. You’re a rock star.”

  “Rock stars are supposed to have this bad boy persona,” Harley added.

  “What’s more bad boy than getting into a fight? I’m sure they can use a bit of makeup to cover most of the bruising, and you still look pretty hot.” Cade tenderly rubbed her thumb over his lips.

  Jax caught her hand and kissed it. “You think I’m hot?” Playfulness swam in his eyes.

  “A-hem, other people in the room,” Tina interrupted while Harley giggled.

  Jax rolled his eyes at Tina. “Can we do it? I think it could work.”

  Tina contemplated for a second, tapping a finger on her chin. “Yeah, I think so. I’d have to get them to sign a non-disclosure. We don’t want them spilling the truth about the fight.”

  “Thanks, Tin.”

  Without another word, Tina turned on her heel and left the three of them. Harley jumped out of her seat and flung herself over to the couch to join Cade and Jax. She was overjoyed that it felt like she had a real family for once. Despite the constant distance between her father and Cade, they were clearly in love.

  There had been a few times when she’d seen Cade looking into the far-off distance, and Harley would wonder if Cade was thinking of her own future with Jax. Was marriage on the horizon? God, she hoped so. Then she can start pestering them for a little sister.

  ***

  It was nearly four in the morning when they returned from the stadium. Cade carried Harley into her room and laid her on the bed. For a moment, she stood back and watched how peaceful Harley slept. Jax stepped behind her, with one of his hands going over her belly, forcing her body to press against his.

  “You’re so good to her,” he said in the dark. He brushed her long hair off one shoulder and kissed the angle where her neck and shoulder met. He heard her sigh of contentment.

  “She’s an awesome girl.” Cade led him out of Harley’s bedroom and into their own. She faced him, cupped his chin in her hand. Under the light, she assessed the state of his wounds. “The swelling has gone down. They did a good job covering up most of the bruises. You could hardly tell it from the screen.”

  “What did you think? Are you a fan now? Are you Jax Clark’s fan?” He tilted a corner of his lips, looking at her through his lashes. Jax ran his hands over her arms, past her fingers and all the way down to her hips, before splaying his fingers on her buttocks. He pressed his groin to her, let her feel how affected he was just by being in her presence.

  Cade played with the tips of his hair and gently massaged his crown. “I think you can count me in your club. I might have to overthrow the president though, whoever she is, because I don’t think anyone else loves you more now than I do.”

  Jax sighed and touched his nose with hers before kissing her. He grew harder under his jeans. He ground his hips into Cade’s and she responded with a mewl. He groaned when she paused.

  “You have to get some sleep, Jax. You have that shoot tomorrow morning…um, in a few hours.”

  Jax replied with another kiss, and a little whine, “I don’t need sleep. I need you.”

  “You need a bath and a change of clothes.”

  Jax took that as his cue, and in a matter of seconds, he stood before her, naked and proudly displaying a hard-on. Cade licked her lips at the sight before her. It wasn’t just that Jax was extremely sexy… Throughout the night, during the concert, she had experienced the power of his voice, enough to bring a whole stadium full of fans screaming his name. It was an aphrodisiac.

  Cade had sat in a private balcony with the best views of the stage. Every time Jax jutted his hips forward, she had to cross her legs, and she’d been afraid the heat between them would melt her panties right off. There had been a moment, during one of the ballads, when Jax had closed his eyes at the bridge, and when he’d opened them, there was a surge of electricity that bolted from her extremities right into her lower abdomen. Cade gripped the edge of her seat and dug her fingernails right into the cushion. If it wouldn’t have made their lives harder, Cade would have loved to meet him on the stage and kiss him senseless right in front of thousands of people by the end of that song.

  Jax cocked his head to one side and spread a lopsided grin on his face. Could he tell what she was thinking?

  Cade ignored his lascivious stare and walked
into the bathroom, where she started his bath. Bent over the bathtub, Cade could feel him watching her every move. She waited until the tub was full before turning around, and when she did, Jax was mere inches away from her. Everything he could have said was present in his eyes. He wanted her. She wanted him. Why fight fate?

  Jax thumbed the stretchy fabric of her body-con dress, which she had picked specially for the night. She was a rock star’s girlfriend. She could try and look the part, to a certain extent. His fingers walked along the curves of her waist, and up to the side of her breasts. He skimmed over her collarbones, and followed his touch with nips on her skin. Fire burned within her. She tilted her head back and welcomed more of his kisses along the length of her neck and under the sensitive skin of her jaw.

  His hands made their way to the back of her dress, and ever so painstakingly slowly, he unzipped and peeled the black dress off her. The callus on his fingers caused her stomach muscles to tremble. Jax knelt before her, pulling her dress down over her thighs. He looked up to her with embers of desire burning in his eyes before he drew an invisible line from under her rib cage, circled around her navel and all the way down the edge of her lace panties with his lips. He kissed the arc of her waist and hip while he tugged at the delicate lace and ripped it off her body.

  Cade threaded her fingers through his thick hair and tugged. And when he lifted one leg over his shoulder so his mouth could gain better access to her most sensitive parts, she held onto his shoulders for balance. Her fingers dug into his skin while his tongue pierced into her. Stars exploded in the darkness of her shuttered eyes as she came apart. Cade panted and trembled.

  Before he stood again, Jax took off her shoes and set them aside. He guided her into the tub, waiting for her protests, which did not come. The water sloshed over the lip of the tub when he joined her. Cade didn’t wait for him to reach out to her. She came to him, hovered first over him, and then brought herself down and let him fill her.

  This time she kept her eyes open, watching the intensity on his face when she moved her hips, pulling back and pushing forward. Jax covered her splayed hands over his chest. When he felt her pulsate around him, his lips found hers, and he didn’t stop kissing Cade until he too couldn’t resist letting go.