Fighting Ever After (Ever After #3) (5 page)

“No. I’m
not,” she answered. “Thank you for helping me tonight, but it’s really none of
your concern.” She had said exactly what I’d thought
myself,
that
I didn’t need to worry about her shit, but it pissed me off when
she said it.

 “If
someone is trying to hurt you Princess, I’m sure as fuck going to be
concerned,” I told her angrily. I may not be the kind of guy who treasured and
adored females, considering I didn’t trust them or have much faith in their
ability not to try and fuck me over, but only a coward puts his hands on a
woman with the intent to inflict harm.

“He’s right,
beautiful,” Ace said a little more gently, making me regret how rough I was
being with her. “I already told you, you’re family just as much as Chris and
Bas, and we take care of family. So if there’s something you want to say, you
can trust us.”

“Thank you,
really, but there’s nothing to say other than that guy is a creep and I didn’t
want him touching me. It’s over though. He’s gone.” Chris snorted like he was
calling bullshit, and she shot him a warning look. It was obvious that he
didn’t think it was over and she didn’t want the rest of us to know shit.

“I think
there’s a lot more to it than that,” I said, not letting her off the hook so
easily, but she looked at Chris desperately and he must have decided we didn’t
need to know shit either, because he jumped in.

“Hey guys
let’s give her some space. We need to pack up our equipment anyway.”

Ace and
Danny listened to him, although somewhat reluctantly, and Spade followed after
them, but not before telling Jax that if she needed anything, she better ask.
She nodded and then he couldn’t help but be himself. “And if you need something
to take your mind off of this, I would be happy to provide distraction.” We all
knew what kind of distraction he was referring to. Jax shook her head at him,
slightly amused and Chris gave him a shove in the direction of the stage.

“I don’t think
that’s going to be necessary. Come on Romeo.” Then he told Jax to wait for him,
leaving me alone with the two girls, but I wasn’t so ready to let this go.

“Well, I’m
gonna grab you a water, you look thirsty,”
Vi
announced and then slipped away leaving me alone with Princess, who looked like
she wanted to murder Vi for abandoning her with me.

 “Shouldn’t
you be helping them load up equipment?” She asked me hopefully.

I ignored
her. Now that it was just the two of us, I needed to see something. I couldn’t
get the image of that asshole’s hands on her out of my head. “Take off your
jacket.” I tried to soften my voice so it wouldn’t come across so demanding,
but I’m not sure if I succeeded.

“Excuse me?”

“Take it off
Princess.” Patience wasn’t my strong suit, and thankfully she didn’t protest
and slipped the jacket off somewhat irritated.

“Happy?” She
asked. No I wasn’t. Not at all, but I didn’t tell her that. Instead I reached
forward and gently lifted her hands so I could inspect her wrists. I could
already see ugly bruises forming where he’d grabbed her.

“Does it
hurt?” I asked. It was a stupid question. Of course it hurt. Instead of waiting
for her to say anything, which she didn’t seem to be able to, I dropped her
hands, and immediately missed the feel of her skin under my fingers. I lightly
brushed them up her right arm and swept her hair off her shoulder, and just
like I’d expected, I found more marks on her pale skin from that bastards
hands. I wished I could erase them and take away her pain. Her skin was so soft
and smooth beneath my touch. It was meant for caressing and kissing, not for
violence. I gently brushed my fingers over the marks to see how tender they
were, and when she flinched slightly I was filled with anger all over again.

 “I
should have smashed his face in for putting his hands on you like that. I could
kill him for this Princess.” I wasn’t usually known for cooling my rage. I was
pretty much a loose cannon at the best of times,
but I was
trying hard to hold it back so I wouldn’t scare her. She’d been through enough.
I knew it could have been much worse and that in reality she was okay, but I
couldn’t deny the urge I had to keep this girl safe. Something about her, maybe
her small size or those big soulful
eyes,
called to me
and brought out the protective instincts I didn’t even know I had.

“I don’t
want you to smash anyone’s face in for me. I don’t want anything from you. Why
do you even care? You hardly know me.” She was right, but her words bothered
me. I barely knew her, and yet the idea of any harm coming to her made panic
and worry claw at my insides. Why was that? She was making it clear that she
didn’t want anything to do with me, so why couldn’t I accept that?

“It doesn’t matter. No man should ever put
his hands on a woman like that. If he touches you again, I don’t care what you
want, I will make it so he can never do it again,
”
 
I
told her and then didn’t give her a
chance to respond. I left her standing there and went to help the guys finish
packing up our equipment. We started hauling equipment to our old VW Minibus
out back. Thanks to Spade and Ace, not only did it look and run better than it
ever had, even new, it was outfitted to conveniently haul all of our gear and
seat the entire band on long distance trips. We could even squeeze Danny in
without it becoming too crowded when he wanted to tag along.

While we
were loading, Ace tried to get Chris to spill more details. “So who was that
guy?” He asked, probably hoping now that Jaxyn wasn’t around he’d fill us in,
but Chris remained tight lipped.

“Bad news.
He has history with Jax,”
Well no shit,
I wanted to
say. “It’s not good.”

“Is he her
ex-boyfriend? Did they have an ugly breakup?” Spade asked.

“No, he’s just
a prick who doesn’t like to hear no.” That was all he would tell us, so
eventually the other three gave up and headed home in Spade’s car, leaving
Chris to drive the van back since I’d brought my bike tonight. While Chris was
finishing getting his drum kit situated, I headed back inside. Jax was still on
my mind and I couldn’t stop myself from going back over to where she stood with
Violette. They were talking about the asshole. They didn’t see me approach so I
just stopped to listen. From the sounds of it,
Vi
was
feeling guilty for letting Jaxyn go off on her own.

“I don’t
even want to consider what would have happened if he had gotten you outside
before anyone noticed.”

“Me
neither.” Jaxyn shuddered, still gripped by her fear. Just how bad was the history
between those two? Had he hurt her before? Where
was she
the last couple years that Chris said she’d been gone? Was that guy the reason?
So many questions and she had no reason to trust me with the answers. It was
probably better for her that she didn’t trust me. I didn’t deserve or want her
trust. Okay, half of that was true.

“I wouldn’t
have let that happen, Princess,” I said, announcing my presence.

She turned
around to face me “What do you mean?”

“I was
watching you,” I hadn’t been able to tear my gaze away from her from the moment
our eyes met when she first showed up. I was pretty sure that was what had sent
her running in the first place. She didn’t want to want me, but I had no
problem letting her know I wanted her.

“I saw him
put his hands on you, but I didn’t realize it was unwanted, until you turned
around and I saw the look on your face. Then you tried to knee him and I was
already moving. I just couldn’t get to you before he slammed you into that
wall.”
Fuck.
It never should have happened, but I had to quit going
there or I would leave here and go looking for a fight. I was itching to hurt
someone, unleash this anger I felt still bubbling inside of me, but I shoved it
back down and tried to hide it from the knowing silver eyes that were searching
mine. I felt like every time she got a look at me, she saw so much more than I
wanted her to. I didn’t know what she was looking for, but she was going to be
disappointed if she was hoping to find a good guy under the surface. He wasn’t
there.

“You got him
off of me. Thank you for that. I should’ve said it earlier,” her voice was soft
and full of gratitude, a stark contrast to the cool indifference she’d
displayed just a short while ago. Her sweetness was harder for me to deal with.
I didn’t want her to be so sweet. It would only make it harder to do what I
wanted with her and then walk away.

“Don’t thank
me Princess. I’m not your hero.” She frowned, and then Chris was there asking
her what she planned to do now.

 “I
just want to go home and sleep off this crazy night,” she muttered.

“Well I can’t let you go home by
yourself.”

Vi
offered to stay with her so she wouldn’t be by herself,
but two girls alone in a house didn’t make me feel much better and Chris
agreed.

“I’m not sure if I like the idea of it being just the two of you
there,” he told them.

“It will be
fine Chris. We’ll lock up and your Dad is right next door.” I remembered from
the stories we’d all heard, that she had grown up next door to Chris and Bas.
If she was back in her childhood house, I wondered where her parents were.

Chris
stepped away to call his dad and make sure he would be home to check in on the
girls. They were standing close, leaning on one another. Even though Chris was
making sure his dad would be close by, I still needed more reassurance that
Jaxyn would be okay. I could see the tip of her cell phone peeking out of her
jacket pocket, so I sidled up next to her and reached my hand inside for it.
She started to jerk away from me, but I slipped it out.

She didn’t
say anything as I opened up her contacts and entered my number. Chances are she
wouldn’t call me, but for some reason it made me feel better that she had the
option. I sent off a quick text to my phone so I would have her number as well
and then deleted it on her phone before sliding it right back in her pocket.
“You’ve got my number now. Use it if you need to,” I told her, and then, unable
to help myself, I reached forward to brush a lock of hair out of her face. Two
days ago, I would have said my idea of a perfect woman was tan, with blue eyes,
long legs, big tits and a tight ass. Now I was thinking perfection was eyes
like liquid mercury, ivory skin dusted with freckles, sassy and small enough to
tuck under my chin. “Be safe,” I said and then I had to walk away before I did
something crazy like kiss her for no other reason than her lips begged me to.
That wasn’t right though. If my lips were on a girl’s it was because we were
working up to more fun stuff.

I’d had no
intention of taking a girl home tonight, but when a sexy little thing that was
much closer to my previous ideal, sauntered up to me, making promises with the
look in her eyes, I didn’t even take the time to find out her name.

“You want to
get out of here?” I asked. Her name was irrelevant. I didn’t care who she was.
I just cared who she wasn’t, and she wasn’t someone who was going to fuck with
my head and make me start wanting things I’d never wanted before. She grinned
at me and wrapped her arm around my waist and I led her right out the back door
to my bike.

“Time for you to go.”
I told the girl as soon as we were finished. I
dug through my wallet and pulled out a couple of bills. “Here, you can call a
cab.”

“What the
hell? Seriously, you’re kicking me out?” I was tired of this same old
conversation. What did she really expect when we hadn’t even spoken three words
since she hopped on the back of my bike? We both got what we wanted. In fact,
she got more than one – I wasn’t selfish, but now she needed to go.

“Do I look
like I’m kidding?” She glared at me. “Sorry babe, but I wasn’t really looking
to have a slumber party tonight. I’m not into pillow fights and painting each
other’s nails, so you’re going to have to look for that elsewhere.”

“You’re such
an asshole,” she said as she pulled the skirt of her dress down and searched
for her panties.

“Well maybe
you should have taken the time to figure that out before you let me shove my
dick in you.” It wasn’t the first time I’d been cussed out for this very same
reason, but they were the ones who let me get away with it. She had her chance
to ask me what my intentions were. If she had, I would have told her it wasn’t
to cuddle her all night and then send her flowers and call her the next day,
but she didn’t ask, because she knew. They always knew
,
they just didn’t like to hear it. If they admitted that they knew this was
going to happen and they came home with me anyway, it would make them sluts.
This way they could make me out to be the bad guy, the asshole, and whatever, I
was those things, but that didn’t change the fact that they were still the
other thing. At least I could admit it. I would have more respect for them if
they could too. There was nothing wrong with a girl just wanting to have some
fun for a night, but I was tired of having them put it all on me.

She finally
found her underwear and dragged them up her legs and then stomped up the
stairs. I followed her to the door and then waited around to make sure she got
a cab safely. Afterward I went to my room, passing Chris and Spade’s rooms on
the way, theirs were the only other ones downstairs. Marcus, Ace and Danny were
all upstairs. I could hear that Spade had an overnight guest in his room. I had
no doubt he’d be having a similar conversation with her when the sun came up.
At least I got my bed to myself.

The next
morning I was awoken to the sound of what I guessed to be a high heeled shoe
slamming into the wall in Spade’s room. That was usually what they threw.
Sometimes he had even less tact than I did. By the time Spade had her out of
the house, I was wide awake. I went in search of some breakfast. When I opened
the fridge, I saw beer, eggs and some cheese that thankfully wasn’t fuzzy yet.
Omelet it was then. I expected Spade was going to be hungry as well, so I mixed
up enough for him too.

The rest of
my day was spent out on the back deck, enjoying the summer sun and getting some
writing done. We were trying to get something in the works to hit the road with
Kaylie’s band and tour some of the east coast in August. If we made that
happen, we wanted at least two more original songs so we could book some studio
time and then put out an album. I was feeling pretty good about what I had by
the end of the day.
Nothing solid yet, but I’d take them to
the guys and we’d work out the kinks.

We didn’t
find much time to play during the week. We all had to get back to our grown up
jobs. We were doing pretty well with the band, but until it was more stable,
Ace and Spade worked on cars at a garage here in the city and Chris stuck it to
his mom and stepdad by working construction instead of making use of the fancy
business degree they’d paid for. He did it for the same reason I gave private
guitar and piano lessons. Neither one of us had wanted to go to college, but
we’d both been pressured to. I’d dropped out my sophomore year and started
hitting the bars with just my guitar, and actually did alright, but it hadn’t
been enough. I refused to go to my parents for any help, which is why the first
time a guy asked me if I’d teach him to play, I’d Googled rates for lessons and
then that just sort of took off. Now I had a pretty consistent flow of clients
and even had a waiting list. I worked with a couple each day throughout the
week, teaching guitar and piano. Most of them were young guys, high school and
junior high, but I was also teaching a retired cop to play the song he and his
wife danced to at their wedding, so he could play it for her on their fiftieth
anniversary. Fifty years, that was some crazy shit, and he seemed happy too.

One time he
asked me if I had a special lady I’d be taking down the aisle. I had to just
laugh and tell him I didn’t think marriage was for me. I couldn’t ever see
myself settling down like that. My parents were always trying to set me up with
some stuck up, debutante, brat daughter of one of their friends. No way was I
spending the rest of my life with someone like
that,
or any girl for that matter. I’d seen enough of my parents’ indifference toward
one another to know that I didn’t want that. They were more like business
partners than lovers.
Til
death do
us part was a long fucking time. Too damn long.

Jim, my
client, had just laughed when I said that. He said with the right woman, it
wasn’t nearly long enough.
The right woman?
What the
fuck does that even mean? They’re all pretty much the same. They’re all looking
for something, hoping you can give it to them, whether it’s a good fuck, a
relationship so they don’t have to question why the hell they’re still
single,
or a ring so they can feel secure in knowing half of
your shit is now theirs and they don’t have to do this whole life thing all
alone. Then
come
the babies, so they can feel like
they succeeded at life and did everything they should. Real love might as well
be a myth for as rare as it is, and I wasn’t under the delusion that I needed
to go looking for it. I’d fallen for that once before. Jim was a nice guy, and
good for him for making it fifty years without telling his wife to take a hike,
but that would never be me. We finished up his lesson, and I figured in another
two weeks he would have it down and know the basics so he could go further with
it if he wanted.

I take on
just about any client who asks: old, young, beginner, intermediate. I only have
one rule. No girls. That’s just asking for trouble. Spending time together in a
one on one setting, playing music, which can sometimes feel pretty intimate,
just sets things up to go bad. My Friday afternoon client is the only exception
to that rule. Jessica is a twelve year old girl with autism. Her older brother
was one of my clients, and when their mom came to me and told me about Jessica
and how bad she wanted to learn to play piano so she could perform in her
school talent show, I’d agreed to teach her.

At first, I
didn’t know how to work with her. The day of her first lesson, I was nervous
and regretting my decision to work with her. Her mom brought her over and then
sat on the couch in the music room the whole hour. In that hour I pretty much
failed miserably at teaching Jessica anything.

When it was
over, her mom paid me and then told me that all Jessica wanted was to be
normal, and do the things that other kids did. After that I stopped trying to
teach an autistic girl to play piano, and just started teaching someone who was
passionate and eager to learn. She was probably my best student now. She was
determined, sweet and funny as hell too. It took me a while to get used to her
sense of humor, but now I could see past the autism and she was really a great
kid. She was honest and genuine too. She didn’t have ulterior motives. She said
what she wanted, even if it was to tell me that the Mohawk I’d rocked a few
months back was stupid. She also always hugged me goodbye at the end of our
sessions. She was the only one who could get away with that.

 Fridays
were always good days. Working with Jessica always left me in a good mood, and
then when she was gone, it was the weekend. That usually meant the band had
gigs and I was going to get laid. The band wasn’t playing anywhere tonight
though, because Ace had a family wedding in Connecticut that he, Danny and
Marcus had to be at. Spade had been close with Ace’s family since they both got
out of the Marines, and had tagged along. Still, I was smiling after Jessica
and her mom left. If I was very lucky I might get laid anyway, but even if I
didn’t, I still had something to look forward to. I was babysitting tonight,
and it was going to be fun.

Lissa was
throwing a birthday party for her sister that Bas had to be at, Chris had a
date, since he actually did that whole dating thing and seeing a girl more than
once. I don’t remember what
Vi’s
plans were, and I
didn’t really care, but it meant that Princess was all mine. Bas and Chris were
still convinced that she shouldn’t be alone. They made it sound like that dude
was stalking her or something. Tonight would give me a chance to pry more out
of her.

I must’ve
been grinning when I walked into the kitchen because Chris was immediately on
me about it. “Could you not look so pleased, it makes me regret asking you to
stay with her tonight.”

“I’m not
allowed to be in a good mood?”

“No, you’re
fucking not. You’re only in a good mood when you’re playing music or getting
laid, and you’re not doing either tonight,” he was saying it like a warning.

“Relax man,”
I told him.

“I’ll relax
when you promise me that you didn’t agree to do this just so you could try to
sleep with her.” That wasn’t the only reason, which is why I didn’t feel bad when
I promised him. He still didn’t completely trust me though. “I’m serious. She
and my brother aren’t going to be happy to see you tonight, so please just
don’t give either one of them a reason to kill us for this.”

“Yeah, yeah.
I won’t be a dick to her and piss your brother
off. How did you get them to agree to this anyway?” I asked. I’ll admit I was a
little surprised when he’d asked me.

“They
haven’t actually agreed to it yet. They think Ace is going to hang out with her
tonight. I didn’t mention that he was in Connecticut too.” I ignored the way it
irritated me that they trusted Ace with her and not me. I knew they had good
reason, but I wasn’t sure that Ace didn’t have a crush. It killed me to know
that he would be better for her than me, and if he really wanted some kind of
relationship with her, I’d have to sit back and watch it happen, because I
wasn’t willing to give her that.

“Any suggestions on how to get her to not slam the door in my face
then?”

“Yeah, get
out your phone and I’ll give you a shopping list.”