“Dance with me,” he whispered so close to my ear I could hear him above the clamor.
And it was so sweet, the constant contradiction to all his hard and brash and scarred. This beautiful, torrid man proceeded to secure me in the strength of his arms. His heart beat hard, a boom, boom, boom supplied by his own unrest.
Completely enfolded in him, I pressed my face into his collarbone. Breathed him in. Desperately, my fingers fisted in his shirt. “Tell me what’s happening.”
The resigned breath he released filtered across the top of my head, stirring my hair. He drew me closer. “They want us back in California on Thursday.”
Sorrow flamed from the pit of my stomach, licking up to touch me everywhere.
I clung to him tighter, my arms bound between us, fists in his shirt, powerful arms hugging and hugging and hugging.
I couldn’t breathe.
Sebastian spoke at the top of my head, the words vibrating my bones, unheard yet understood. “Kenny pled down the assault charges.”
Relief blasted through every cell of my body.
“No jail time,” Sebastian explained. “Community service and a fucking fortune in fines, but that’s it. I have to appear in front of a judge to finalize it all, but the criminal shit is done. Martin can still come after me with the civil suit, but he’s not taking me from you.”
Then why did it still feel like he was?
The overpowering relief I felt in his freedom was a strange sensation. Yes, Martin may still try to exert control over me, but he no longer held that control over Sebastian—the threat of jail time for standing up for his brother. For protecting and preserving. It clashed with the realization that the call on Sebastian’s life was finally calling him away.
Even though I knew it would come to this, it didn’t make Sebastian leaving me any less difficult.
Strobes flashed from above the stage, and a chaotic ring of bodies circled us while Sebastian slowly swayed, moving us at half the pace of the strident beat.
Clearing his throat, he continued, “With the news, our label wants us back on the road immediately after my court appearance. They’re putting together a short tour, mostly western states, getting us out to a few cities to build a buzz, before we’re back in the studio to record the new album. Guys are fuckin’ relieved, baby. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
He pulled back, hands framing my face. Sadness crawled across his defined features. His jaw clenched as he dealt with the jumble of emotions. Thumbs stroked beneath my eyes, fingers firm as they dug into the back of my neck. “Fuck…just looking at you breaks my goddamned heart. Everything I’m feeling right now is written all over your face.”
He squeezed in emphasis, searching me, slipping inside, under, and all around. Stealing more.
“Is…is moving there…permanent?” I stammered over the question, because this…this is what we’d avoided. We’d evaded talk of the inevitable and instead jumped right on that speeding train.
He gave a quick, uncertain shake of his head. A steely frown tipped down the crooked side of his mouth. “I don’t know.”
Taking my hand trapped between us, he wove our fingers together. He lifted them and gently brushed his lips across my knuckles. The promise was muttered on fierce words. “All I know is that this…this is what is permanent. The rest of my life…I don’t know. What the hell I’m gonna do with my baby brother…the guys…how long I can keep living this kind of life. The only thing I’m certain about is you. But I also know for now I can’t change this, Shea.”
“I told you I would never ask you to give it up. It’s a part of who you are. What makes you wonderful and a piece of what truly makes you happy.”
He dropped his face into the side of my head and nodded, because he knew it, too.
An impossible silence enveloped us in a cocoon of unknowns and apprehension and insecurities.
“What does it mean for us?” I finally managed to ask. His heart pounded beneath the thin fabric of his shirt.
Pulling back, he pinned me with an unflinching stare. “When we finish up touring the west coast, I want you to come to California.”
My spirit danced with the idea, before reality came crashing down. Because just like Sebastian, I had my own responsibilities. “I can’t just leave here, Sebastian. Uproot Kallie. This is our home.”
“I’m not asking you to pack up all your stuff and move right now. I’m asking you to come out for a while. Check out L.A. See where I live and what I do. We’ll figure out the rest of it from there. One day at time, as long as each of those days lead to you always being at my side.”
Still clutching him, I almost laughed. “I hate L.A., remember?”
Face turned toward the ceiling, he chuckled, before he leveled me with the most brilliant kind of smile. “Not a big city kind of girl, huh?”
This time my soggy laughter bled free as we both went back to that first night when he’d coaxed me onto the back of his bike, when he’d teased and played and taunted me against the outside wall of my house, tempting me in all the ways a man had never had the power to do before.
When I’d fought, refusing to give in, a fool to think this was escapable.
“Savannah is just fine.” With lightness woven into my tone, I parroted the answer I’d given him then. My voice went quiet with sincerity. “But only when you’re in it.”
Now…now I wasn’t so sure I could ever see this place the same after he was gone.
Because I wasn’t the same.
And when you change, it’s impossible to stay in the same place.
I SHIFTED UNCOMFORTABLY AGAINST the hard, wooden chair, my nerves frayed and frenzied. Just because Kenny had this all wrapped up, the plea accepted by both parties, didn’t mean I was sitting easy. Furthest from it.
Being in the same room with Martin Jennings was punishment in itself.
My knee bounced a million miles a minute, and Kenny cut me a glance. Calm down.
I couldn’t.
An itch slithered along my skin. Did it make me sick I wanted nothing more than to stand up in the middle of court and take out Jennings?
He sat across the room, also facing the judge. That didn’t mean his arrogance wasn’t filling the room. Polluting the air. Felt like I was suffocating in it.
I tugged at my too-tight collar, fiddled with my tie.
“Mr. Stone,” the judge asked, the old man crotchety and bald, “you’re in agreement with the plea accepted by the state prosecutors?”
“Yes, sir,” I said, throat raw.
He nodded and peered at the papers through wire-rimmed reading glasses. He didn’t look up at me as he read the terms, the fine, and the probation.
I knew I should thank my lucky stars I wasn’t going to find my ass behind bars again, but hell, this shit stung. Jennings sitting over there cool as a cat, the prick kicked back like he was squeaky clean and not the bottom feeder he was.
Somewhere along the way, these bogus assault charges had taken the backburner to whatever corrupt intentions he had with Shea and Kallie. Yeah, I wanted out of this legal mess. Mostly because it meant I’d be free, better equipped to take care of my girls.
The judge kept reading, “The defendant may not come within one hundred yards of victim…”
Right.
They were telling me to stay away from Jennings. If only that would keep him away from Shea and Kallie.
The judge finished and we stood as he did, the man quick to exit to his chambers. The moment he did, Kenny turned to me and clapped me on the back. “Congratulations, Sebastian.” He narrowed his eyes in warning. “Let’s stay out of court, shall we?”
I shook his hand. “I’ll do my best.”
Dry laughter rolled from him. “I think you might want to dig deep to find that best.”
He knew me well.
I followed Kenny through the short gate where Anthony waited, doing my best not to look in Jennings’s direction. I probably deserved a pat on the back considering I
could feel his pretentious glare burning into the back of my head.
Anthony shook my hand. A satisfied smile held his face. “I told you we wouldn’t allow you to go to jail for this. This is good, Baz. Really good.”
“You never let me down.”
His smile warmed.
Kenny led the way out of the courtroom, down the hall, and onto the courthouse steps.
A barrage of flashes went off.
No surprise.
The paparazzi descended the second I stepped out the door.
“Mr. Stone, can you tell us the outcome of the assault charges?”
“You made a public statement confirming your relationship with Delaney Rhoads…or Shea Bentley, yet you’re back in L.A. while Ms. Bentley remains in Savannah. Has that relationship ended?”
I knew it was a bad idea to engage them, but that one? Couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
“Ms. Bentley and I are still very much together.”
Anthony grabbed my upper arm, the same way he always did when he went into business mode. “Mr. Stone won’t be answering any further questions this afternoon. You can direct inquiries to my office.”
We crossed the street and headed for my truck parked in the adjoining lot.
I’d left both my car and the Suburban back in Savannah with Shea. Couldn’t help it, wanting to leave something with her, like a promise this time apart wasn’t really a separation, that I’d be coming back to her and Kallie as soon as I could.
Only five days had passed and I was already missing the hell out of them. Missing the laughter and joy. The ease of their house that felt like a home.
Anthony and I said our goodbyes at the curb as he climbed into the back of the town car he had waiting. I clicked the fob and opened the door of my truck.
An ominous presence crawled over me like a disease.
Fuck.
I raked a hand over the top of my head, hesitant to turn around, knowing who I would find. Did it anyway, because what the hell was I supposed to do?
Martin Jennings stood about one hundred fifty feet away. A whole ton closer than the hundred yards the judge had just ordered, the bastard taunting me. Attempting to incite the rage I was doing my best to control.
What was the protocol here? Questions raced. It wasn’t like I’d tracked him down, but I really didn’t have the first clue what the court order entailed. Seemed I should figure that shit out.
Stat.
I released a bitter chuckle as I completely turned around, standing at the open door of my truck. “And to what do I owe the displeasure?”
“You think you got away with this?”
“I got away with this?” My words were teeming with implication. With all the shit I knew about him. So maybe some of it wasn’t first-hand, but God knew my baby brother had witnessed plenty.
Austin had admitted enough for me to know it was Martin’s guys who had supplied both him and Mark. Didn’t give a fuck if it made me a snitch. If it kept Kallie and Shea out of his grips? I’d give myself the damned title.
Go down in flames.
As long as it meant I could protect my family. Every last one of them were tied to this piece of shit.
“I warned you you’d regret fucking with me, and I always make good on my promises.”
My fists clenched. “You like fucking with little girl’s heads? Keeping them scared and wondering what the hell is going on with their lives? Kallie spending two days in your presence was payment enough. One second was too much.”
Cruel and unjust punishment.
Torture.
For all of us.
He scoffed. “That was a mere warning.”
“What do you want?”
“What Shea owes me.” Dark eyes gleamed conceit and contempt. “Everything.”
He set his shoulders back, lifted his scarred chin that I’d really like to scar up some more. “Like I told her, taking you down with her is just a bonus.”
He stared me down like the world owed him something and he was out to take it back.
Scratch that.
Like he owned the world.
Untouchable.
My insides nearly cracked, a knot of aggression throbbing to be unleashed. “Shea owes you nothing,” I growled.
“I think you’ll find that’s not true. Her money-hungry mother assured me in the contracts she was so eager for Shea to sign. Shea breaching them solidified it, and that kid guaranteed it.”
Kallie.
Kallie.
Kallie.
My chest heaved at his disregard because that kid had become my kid.
“Stay away from them. Stay away from my family. Stay away from me.” The words sounded like gravel as I forced them out, holding onto the last threads of my unraveling control.
Last thing I needed was to give into his baiting. I knew this asshole wanted me in jail. Out of his way.
Was that what this was about?
Gettin’ rid of me?
A shot of air escaped his nose.
Incredulous.
Scornful.
“Shea had obligations. She reneged on them. That doesn’t mean I don’t expect restitution. Just like Mark.” He said the last like a threat.
Mark.
I gripped my head.
Pain.
Dread.
Questions.
Too much.
I tried to stand beneath the blow, because it felt like I was under an all-out attack.
Shea.
Kallie.
Mark.
Austin.
How can one man be linked to all the people in my life?
Fuck.
My hand clamped down on the inner door handle of my truck. God knew I was about to come loose.
“You won’t touch her,” I warned. “Even think about it and you can consider the little party we had the last time I showed up at your house a prelude to what’s coming for you.”
Punks kids like your brother aren’t ever going to make it, anyway.
I’d never forget what he’d said.
Like Austin hadn’t mattered. His life worthless. I’d lost all sanity, all restraint, just like he seemed to be begging me to do now.
Jennings laughed, twisted mirth in his eyes. “Did you forget who I am, Sebastian Stone?”
Money.
Power.
Greed.
Pretension.
He busied himself by adjusting the cuffs on his suit jacket, head tipped down to watch the action while he slanted an eye up at me like the cocky bitch he was.
“I will take whatever I want. Shea is mine…she was the second her mother came groveling at my feet, willing to sell her soul and her daughter’s for a little taste of stardom.”
Shea was right. He was a sociopath. A psychopath. He got off on power. Off on exerting whatever morbid control he held over the people around him.
I felt sick—mad with the need to show him who I was.
“You’re wrong. She’s mine.”
Never had I spoken anything truer in my life.
“We’ll see about that.”
I held my ground, throwing daggers I wished were real at the fucker as he gave me one last glance over his shoulder before disappearing around a big SUV.
I climbed into my truck, both hands shaking as I clung to the steering wheel and tried to steady my breaths. They came hard and fast, fueled by pure, unmitigated hate. Asshole knew my hands were tied, bound up by all this court bullshit. Both of us knew if I gave into the urge to wipe him out, my ass would be back behind bars faster than I could kiss Shea goodbye one last time.
My gut told me that’s exactly what he wanted.
I turned over the ignition. The engine rumbled deep, almost as deep as the questions and anger that rattled me to the core.
Twilight was already taking hold of the smoggy Los Angeles sky as I pulled onto the congested street. What seemed like an unending train of cars fought to make their way home, me right in the middle of it, wondering just
where home was.
By the time I was driving up the road to the place I shared with the guys, the sun was dipping below the horizon. The massive house in the Hills was tucked and hidden away behind tall, dense trees and lush vegetation, Hollywood stretched out below. Cars lined the street and filled up our drive.
Shit.
Last thing I needed was a houseful of people I didn’t want to see. All I wanted was to talk to my baby brother then crawl through a phone to get to Shea.
But today was our last day in L.A. before we hit the road tomorrow, the guys taking one last day to relax and unwind, one last day of freedom before it was constant road, city, and stage for the next four weeks.
None of my crew had gone to my court hearing because it was supposed to be routine. But nothin’ about what transpired this afternoon felt routine. I felt agitated and disturbed.
Hatin’ Jennings.
Hatin’ the fact he was again spouting shit about Mark and Austin.
Hatin’ that my girls were alone in Savannah and vulnerable.
I squeezed my truck into the drive and parked where I could, killed the engine, hurried up the walk. I threw open the double-doors.
Inside, the house was jammed full of people. A lot of the faces I knew. Others were strangers, no doubt a slew of friends of friends of friends. Ash and Lyrik always took it upon themselves to welcome in every dirt bag in the city.
They loved this shit—people packed wall to wall—the two of them always out looking for a good time, the faked-out chicks all too eager to give it to them.
Did it make me a prick that not so long ago I loved this shit, too, and now I wanted to throw everyone’s asses to the curb?
No question, I loved all the guys. They were my brothers. There for me through everything. I mean, with all the shit with Kallie going down, that bogus trial they had to sit in on—I couldn’t thank any of them enough.
They’d rallied.
Supported me when I needed them most.
Stepped up and acted like men when they preferred to stay firmly in the realm of juvenile delinquent. Not that I had the right to say much about that. God knew my ass was just as guilty, every chance I got dipping my toes in a murky vat of sin.
But I couldn’t escape the feeling I was outgrowing this.
Images of Shea and Kallie swirled through my mind.
Drowning to Breathe Page 14
