Consume

by Jessica Prince

  “You need to answer that?” he asked.

  When I turned in his direction, his attention was on the road. His tone came off light and casual, but the muscles in his jaw and neck were locked tight.

  “No, it’s fine. It can wait.”

  A few tense seconds passed before he spoke again. “What, don’t want your boyfriend to know who you’re with?” he snarked. “Pretty sure he’ll find out when we get to the plane, so why bother hiding it?”

  Dropping my head back, and clenching my fists, I worked on my deep breathing. “Do you think there’ll ever be a time when we can have a conversation without fighting?” I asked seriously. “I’m really not in the mood for one this morning.”

  “I’m not fighting,” he returned. “I’m just stating a fact. I mean, what do you even know about this guy, Gina? He could be a serial killer for all you know. Or a raging asshole. You really think it’s smart to start somethin’ with a dude you know nothin’ about?”

  “Oh my God,” I chortled. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said. Let’s start with the most obvious, shall we?” I turned in my seat to face him, ticking the list off on my fingers. “First of all, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say he’s not a serial killer. I trust that Ian has a very thorough vetting process for the guys he hires. And Marco’s been working with you guys for years.”

  “Doesn’t mean anything. All those murder shows have people talkin’ about how they never knew.”

  “Second,” I carried on, ignoring his insanity, “I went home with you after Gwen and Garrett’s wedding, and I hardly knew you. I still hardly know you.”

  “You’d been in our circle for months. I was hardly a fuckin’ stranger, sweetness.”

  “And third… are you seriously gonna sit here and warn me about someone being an asshole? Really?”

  He glanced from the road to me, his eyes glinting angrily. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

  My lips pinched to the side. “You know exactly what it means,” I chastised. “You might be attracted to me, Killian, but you’ve made it abundantly clear time and time again that you don’t want to be. And the truth is you’re all kinds of bad for me. Together, we’re toxic, so why the hell do you keep doing this? Are you that big a sadist?”

  Those muscles got tight again, and his jaw started ticking like crazy. I could tell he wanted to rebut, but he didn’t have a valid argument. He knew as well as I did that everything I said was the God’s honest truth. There was no denying we were drawn to each other, but that draw tended to feel twisted and wrong more times than not. I’d gone down that path before. I’d picked the bad boy thinking I could change him and create some epic kind of love story the likes of Romeo and Juliet.

  There was no such thing. There was no epic love. Romances like that only existed in books, not real life. And there was no changing a man. Bad boys were just that: bad.

  “Maybe I am,” he mumbled, and I got the distinct impression that he was speaking more to himself than to me.

  Fortunately, I was saved from having to continue the painful conversation when he turned into the parking lot. I jumped out as soon as the truck came to a complete stop, rushing around to the back; however, I wasn’t tall enough to reach in and get my own luggage, so I had to wait for him.

  Neither of us said a word as we got our bags and started toward the private jet. Once we reached everyone else, our luggage was taken and loaded onto the plane. I spotted the girls gathered around and headed for them when Marco suddenly appeared in front of me.

  “Hey, sweetheart.”

  I pulled off the sunglasses I’d put on in Killian’s truck and smiled up at him, immediately realizing my mistake when his expression went hard as stone.

  “Oh my God,” Tate gasped.

  “What the hell happened to your face?” Gwen snapped.

  “I swear to God, I’ll cut a bitch,” Corrine hissed.

  Meanwhile, Marco was silently vibrating with rage… until he wasn’t.

  “Motherfucker,” he snarled like a ravenous lion, glaring over my shoulder. “You put your hands on her?”

  I spun around to see it was Killian Marco was glaring at. “What? No! He didn’t—”

  “Man, you better watch who the fuck you’re talkin’ to,” Kill warned instead of correcting the misconception.

  “The hell is goin’ on here?” Declan asked as he and the rest of the guys rushed to us. He came to a sudden stop when he caught a glimpse at my face. “Holy shit,” he hissed.

  “What the fuck happened?” Garrett demanded.

  “That’s what I’d like to fuckin’ know,” Marco snarled menacingly.

  The air around the guys went electric with an intense fury. “Really, you’ve got the wrong idea,” I kept trying to reason.

  Killian stepped up to Marco, the two of them going toe-to-toe. “You want to know somethin’, I suggest you ask instead of jumping to fuckin’ conclusions, asshole.”

  “Marco, stand down,” Ian ordered in a terrifying tone that nearly made me pee my pants.

  “Kill, brother, just back off,” Mace tried. “Let’s talk calmly and get to the bottom of this.”

  Neither of them budged an inch, and I was afraid they’d come to blows at any moment.

  “Marco!” Ian barked. The crowd around us was growing thicker with security guys. “I said stand the fuck down!” A fight between those two would undoubtedly lead to an even bigger brawl between Ian’s team and the guys in the band. No way in hell I could allow that to happen.

  “Enough!” I cried, pushing my way between the two alpha jackasses. “Jeez, you guys are ridiculous!” I turned to Marco. “Marco, Killian didn’t do this. He’d never hit me.” Then I spun around on Kill. “And you’re not making the situation better by goading him!”

  “Bomboncita,” Marco said quietly, drawing my focus to him. His eyes went soft as he reached up to cup my cheek. “What happened, sweetheart?”

  “How about you get your goddamn hands off her?” Killian gritted in a threatening tone. “You don’t need to fuckin’ touch her to get answers.”

  “Stop,” I commanded before turning back to Marco. “It was my mom,” I whispered. I hadn’t given him the entire story on the plane ride back from LA, only a little less than what I’d given Killian the day before. But it was enough for him to understand.

  “Christ,” he grunted, understanding clouding those intense hazel eyes. “You okay?”

  “She’s fine,” Killian broke in.

  I shot him a look over my shoulder that said to shut the hell up. “He’s right, I’m fine.” I looked to all my friends gathered around and spoke to them as a whole. “I promise I’ll explain everything, but right now we need to get going.” I stepped from between Kill and Marco and started for the staircase leading into the plane. “Things are gonna start getting really ugly if I don’t get some coffee. So are we done now?”

  Gwen stared at me with narrowed, skeptical eyes. “For now,” she replied. “But you’re talking before we get to Tokyo. Got me?”

  I offered a relieved smile and hooked my arm through hers as we ascended the stairs to the plane. “Got you.”

  “Good. Now let’s get you some caffeine before your head explodes.”

  Thank god for good friends.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Gina

  Tokyo

  We got into Tokyo the day before, but I hadn’t been able to enjoy any of it thanks to the killer jetlag. I was so new at this whole traveling thing that it was probably going to take me until the end of the tour to get accustomed to all the time differences.

  Fortunately, I’d woken up feeling more refreshed that morning and decided to see the sights while the guys did a sound check. I visited some of the most beautiful shrines and temples, walked through the Tsukiji Market and Tokyo National Museum, but my favorite place was the Imperial Palace East Gardens. The tranquility I felt there washed away all the turmoil and chaos that had been building inside me. If I could’v
e, I would’ve stayed there forever. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.

  I had my date with Marco later that evening, then Civil Corruption performed the next night. Then it was on to a new city. Wash, rinse, repeat for the next three months.

  As I made my way back to the hotel, I stopped in front of a tiny shop when something in the window caught my eye. There was a snow globe displayed on one of the shelves with a beautiful cherry blossom tree inside that instantly made me thing of the gardens. My mom would have loved it, and it would look so pretty sitting on the ledge by her window at Whispering Pines. I could picture in my head how the sunlight peeking through her blinds would light up the gorgeous pinks and golds. I hoped it would give her the same peace I felt sitting amongst all that beauty.

  When I made it back to the hotel, I texted Corrine to ask if she had a dress I could borrow for my date. I’d planned on buying one while I was out but had gotten sidetracked being a tourist in a new city.

  She showed up at my door right after I’d stepped out of the shower with an ungodly number of dresses slung over her arm.

  “Girl, I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were going on a date!” she scolded as she shoved past me into my room. She tossed the dresses onto the bed unceremoniously, then turned back to me with her hands on her hips. “What happened to girl talk and the bonds of sisterhood, huh?”

  Cinching the towel wrapped around me tighter, I rolled my eyes to the heavens. “What are you talking about? This is me telling you right now.”

  “You can’t tell me now!” she cried, throwing her arms wide. “You’re supposed to give your girlfriends advance notice so we can go out for drinks and dissect every single thing about the dude. That way you know whether you should put out or not!”

  I burst into a fit of laughter at Corrine’s typical dramatics. “There was no time. I only said yes a couple days ago. And I was kind of busy spilling some pretty heavy shit on the plane ride here.”

  The righteous indignation melted from her features, and her body physically deflated at the reminder. It hadn’t been fun, opening up to everyone about my mother. I wasn’t used to having other people care. It had been just the two of us for so long, and then when I had to take care of her, the few friends I’d had slowly faded away because I wasn’t as much fun anymore. There were tears and sadness as I explained my life to my new circle of friends, but in the end they’d given me their support, and multiple shoulders to lean on.

  “Yeah,” she murmured. “I guess you couldn’t really segue from that to your dating life organically, huh?”

  “No,” I sighed, beginning to thumb through the clothes. “You really can’t.”

  Sensing that my mood was steadily declining, Corrine quickly changed the subject. Plopping onto the bed and stretching out on her side, she made herself at home as she spoke. “So, where’s Kill taking you tonight? Somewhere super fancy, I hope. If you don’t order the most expensive thing on the menu, I swear to god, I’ll murder you. The guy’s got more than enough money to spare.”

  I turned from the pretty dresses, my eyes going wide. “I’m not going out with Killian, Cor. What gave you that idea?”

  She sat up, surprise evident on her face. “What do you mean what gave me that idea? You two are always going at it like you either want to rip each other’s faces off or find the closest flat surface and screw it out of your systems. When you showed up at the airport together yesterday, I just assumed you guys were a thing.”

  Oh sweet Christ.

  “We aren’t a thing,” I insisted. “We’re most definitely not a thing. We’ll never be a thing.”

  “Whoa. Okay. Easy there, killer.” At my forceful tone, she held up her hands in surrender. “You and Kill aren’t a thing. Got it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Then who are you going out with tonight?”

  I fidgeted with the coral-colored frock in my hands, suddenly nervous about the evening to come. “Uh, that security guy Marco.”

  “Ooh, nice! A little Latin lovin’. Good for you. That dude’s fine as hell. And how he went head-to-head with Kill to defend your honor?” She fanned her face. “Hot damn, girly.” My cheeks blushed like crazy, but she was on a roll and didn’t seem to notice. “Definitely go with the coral,” she said, pointing to the dress I was already favoring. “It’ll look fabulous on you. I could never pull it off, it washed me out, but you’ve got the perfect coloring for it.”

  “You think?”

  “Absolutely! And I’m holding firm on what I said earlier. Order the most expensive thing. I know what Ian pays those boys. He can afford it.”

  She stuck around long enough to help me with my hair and makeup, working mad skill with the concealer to cover up my bruises. It was nice having girl time like that with a great woman who was quickly becoming an equally great friend. I hadn’t had that in years, and I didn’t realized how much I’d missed it until I got it back. Once she was gone, I was convinced Marco would like the outcome of all her work. My stomach fluttered with butterflies as I thought about the night to come. I was nervous as all get out, but there was an underlying excitement I couldn’t ignore, and I was glad to know my friend approved. However, I couldn’t get what Corrine had said about Killian and me out of my head.

  “Knock it off,” I chastised, pointing the wand of my lip gloss at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Marco is a good guy. One of the best you’ve ever had the privilege of meeting. He’s sweet and gorgeous and he makes you laugh.”

  I screwed the top of my lipsglass back on and closed my eyes, pulling in a deep, calming breath. Marco the safe choice. The right choice. And hopefully if I repeated that enough, I’d finally start to believe it.

  Killian

  “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” I grumbled, pacing the length of my hotel suite.

  “Wish I was,” Ian answered in his typical monotone voice. “Word is, Cara’s been reaching out to every contact she has to get any info she can on the tour schedule. Everything from the hotels we’re staying in to when you arrive at the stadiums. Don’t have a clue what she plans on doing with it, but she’s got it.”

  “Jesus Christ, that woman’s a goddamn leech.”

  There had been a time years ago when I wanted to spend every waking moment with her. She’d been my everything back then, and I was convinced we were going to spend our lives together.

  But apparently Cara had other ideas. Even after I put my goddamn ring on her finger, she’d been scouting for better prospects.

  At a party thrown by our label, she’d caught the eye of an up-and-coming R&B singer. His name was being flashed all over the place back then, and he’d been described as the next big thing. Cara—being the gold digger I hadn’t known she was—decided to hitch her wagon to that asshole’s star while still riding my coattails. She was content to let it play out, keeping both of us on her string until it became clear which of us would be the bigger celebrity. What she hadn’t counted on was me coming home early from the studio one day and walking in on her with that motherfucker buried balls deep inside her.

  I took back the cool thirty grand I’d put on her finger, gathered up her shit, and tossed it out on the lawn while the sprinklers were going. Then her golden boy had proved to be just another flash in the pan. His second single barely stayed on the charts for a week, album sales tanked, and our record label dropped him.

  And I got to sit back and watch as the world Cara had grown accustomed to crumbled beneath her feet. Word had spread through the grapevine a couple years ago that she’d landed herself a wrinkly old plastic surgeon to the stars, but the dude kicked the bucket earlier last year without ever taking that walk down the aisle. Rumor was he’d left everything to charity, leaving her high and dry again, without a penny to her name.

  The only thing I could think was that she was sniffing around, trying to set herself up by getting her claws in me a second time.

  Never gonna fuckin’ happen.

  “You want
me to pass her picture around? Get word to the guys to boot her if she’s spotted?”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “That’d be good. Don’t need her fuckin’ shit up.” Gina jumped to the forefront of my mind right after I said that. I stopped mid-pace to face Ian. “What do you know about Marco Castillo?”

  At my question, the big man stopped scanning over the blueprints of the stadium for the next concert and looked up at me. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him look confused. Hell, now that I was thinking about it, I wasn’t sure I’d seen him anything but stoic. He might have shown pensiveness once or twice, but that was it.

  “How do you mean?”

  “You know,” I continued, waving my hand in a circle as I grew increasingly uncomfortable. “Is he a good guy? No skeletons in his closet, shit like that.”

  Ian dropped the papers on the coffee table and gave me his full attention. “Well, nothin’ came up on the criminal background check.”

  I let out a pained groan. “Christ, man, you know what I’m talkin’ about. I trust you. What’s your gut tell you about the guy?”

  He let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch, making himself comfortable. “Look, man. I know why you’re askin’ me this, but I’m not sure you’re gonna like my answer.”

  My forehead wrinkled and the skin around my eyes got tight. “What do you mean?”

  “I might be quiet, but I’m not blind, Kill. You guys pay me to pay attention, and that’s exactly what I do. I know you’re pinin’ over Gina something fierce. When it comes to Marco, let’s just say you’ve got yourself some competition. On paper, the dude’s clean. But on a personal level, he’s one of the best men I know, and I respect the hell out of him. Honest, reliable, he’d take a bullet for anyone he cares about… and he has. He sets his sights on that tiny barista, that’s a bet I wouldn’t be willing to put money on.”

  Fuck me and my fucked-up, shitty life.

  “You’re a real peach,” I said with a glower. “Anyone ever tell you that?”