Hell Bent (Rock Bottom #1) (28 page)

“No, Izzy, this is perfect. It’s exactly what I wanted.”

Ripping it in half, I hand her a piece because I doubt she ate enough when she was downstairs. She takes it, and when I reach for her other hand, pulling it into my lap, a bit of the tension gets erased from her face.

I finish my half and gently pull her into my lap, not caring that she is still picking away at her piece. Wrapping my arms around her hips, I rest my forehead against her shoulder, breathing a bit easier when she lays her cheek on top of my head. Stuffing the last part of the sandwich into her mouth, she dusts her fingers off on her thigh and bends her arm up so she can run her fingers through the hair behind my ear.

Home. I’m finally home.

“Everything is going to work out, right?” she whispers. “With us, I mean.”

“Is that what you want?”
God, please let that be what you want.

“More than anything. I don’t want to keep believing that everyone leaves.”

Pulling her face around, I meet her eyes. “Then as long as my heart beats, it’s yours.”

“
Please
,” Willow begs. “You haven’t left the same building as him in months, and I understand why, I totally do, but you have to do it sometime.”

“Willow,” Izzy mutters, shaking her head when she squeezes her hand.

I’m right there with Willow, but I also know where Izzy’s head is with this. She needs to get out for a few hours, but she still doesn’t feel safe walking away from Dalton. After all, the last time didn’t turn out very well.

Turning to me, Willow begs me with her eyes. “I can’t
make
her do anything, Willow.”

“Ganging up on me won’t do any good.”

“And locking yourself away with him forever won’t help, either,” she counters.

Izzy huffs and storms out of the room. She’s irritated, I get it, but I also want to take her out of the house alone for a bit. We haven’t had a minute alone since Dalton came home. I’m not complaining, I’m really not, but I need her alone for a bit too.

Things have been hard. They get better, but then sometimes they get worse. It’s really depending on the day, but they’re mostly good days so I don’t complain. I’ve gotten a lot of peanut butter sandwiches over the past few months, but I wouldn’t trade the bad times for good ones with anyone else.

I shake my head, shrugging when Willow looks back at me. She seems defeated when a few minutes ago she was more excited than I have ever seen her. Just when I’m about to follow out behind Izzy and attempt to talk her into going again, she walks back into the living room looking conflicted.

“I don’t
not
want to go, but I don’t want to leave Dalton so I can go out. But I
do
want to go out and see what you’re so excited about. That was like a riddle, but does that make sense?”

Pulling her into me, I brush her hair out of her face and try not to smile. “You want to go out, but you don’t want to leave Dalton. I get that—” she nods, confirming what I said “—but you do want to go out, so we’re going to go out because you need a break and I need some time with the woman I love. And Willow needs us to be there to support her.”

“I’m only going if we can find a babysitter that I trust, and it’s last minute so I doubt that will happen.”

Willow bounces behind her and speaks up. “Sophia said she would watch him, and everyone is going to be there.”

“Everyone?” Izzy asks hesitantly, turning to meet Willow’s eyes. 

“Abby and Jameson. Evan and Tuesday are bringing their kids. Jason and Vanessa are going to be there with theirs, and my mom and AJ will be there with Sage and Gabe.”

Holy shit, when she said everyone, she meant it.

“You already asked them?”

“Yes. That’s actually why they’re all going to be there. They knew you were going to hesitate, and they thought that if everyone was there watching him, it might make the night a little easier on you. They’re having a giant slumber party and Dalton is the guest of honor.”

Looking back and forth between the two of us, she finally realizes that she has no other excuse as to why she can’t come out with us tonight. Her shoulders slump in defeat and she stalks out of the room, telling us she’s going to get ready.

“Thank yoooou,” Willow bounces with excitement, not bothering to wait for any reply before rushing out the door.

“Get out of your head and have fun. He’s fine; I promise he’s fine. You know that Abby would call you at the first sign that anything was wrong.”

“I know,” she admits. “I’m trying.” I can barely hear her over the sound of the music blasting through the speakers. 

We’ve been here for forty-five minutes, surrounded by screaming teenagers while we wait for whatever it is that Willow asked us to come watch. Being here, surrounded by these girls, makes me realize just how mature Izzy is for her age. It makes me less nervous about making her my wife.

Pulling her back against me, I sway my hips to the beat, forcing her to grind against me. I slide my hand around her waist, holding her in place while I run my lips along the side of her throat. I know I need to be good because at any moment someone can realize who we are and start snapping photos. After the amount of paparazzi stalking us after we brought Dalton home, the last thing we need is to have them back on our asses.

Willow streaks by us, stopping only long enough to tell us to pay attention or get a room. Honestly, if she wasn’t so excited about whatever she brought us here for, I would probably toss Izzy over my shoulder and take her home. Not that I’m sure we would make it that far. Sometimes you have to get a little wild and crazy and act like a teenager in the backseat. Maybe it’s time I showed her that.

Gripping Bennett’s hand, I pull him closer to the stage. I have a feeling Willow is going to be playing tonight, and it’s the first time that I know of that she will play in public. I’m so fucking excited. Bennett holds me close with one hand and fiddles with my engagement ring with the other. It’s crazy to think about myself getting married—married to Bennett, at that. After everything that has happened, I can honestly say I’m surprised that he stuck it out with me and wants to continue to stick around.

Tipping my head back, I smile at him until he gets the hint and kisses me. Things have been hard over the past few months, harder than I ever could have imagined, but somehow, Bennett seems to ease the sting of everything that has happened. He doesn’t bring up the fact that I almost ruined what we worked so hard to create. He doesn’t throw it in my face or make me feel like a horrible person even though I know I can be sometimes. 

The familiar sound of drumsticks on a cymbal resonates around us and a knot of excitement twists my stomach. I bounce in Bennett’s arms and scream out Willow’s name when I see her. The paint covering her clothing confuses me because they weren’t like that a few minutes ago, but as soon as she begins to play I understand why they are. Neon-colored paint flies in every direction with each hit, splattering against her and everything around her. It’s the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Her eyes shift around the crowd as she drums, landing on us before drifting away for a second. The confident look she had falters briefly, but she is quick to mask whatever is going on in her head. I can usually read her with no problem, but it isn’t until I follow her gaze and find the person on the other end that I get an idea of what her issue is. Willow is usually the first person to steer clear of guys. The only one other than our family that I see her act comfortable around is Bennett, but based on the look in this man’s eyes and the way he’s making her nervous, she may need to confront her issues head-on because he doesn’t look like he’s one to give up easily.

Bennett lets go of my hand only long enough to cup his mouth and shout her name. I turn, peeking at him from under my lashes, once again wondering how I ended up with him. Not only did he accept Dalton as his own with no hesitation, but he loves Willow as well. Who the hell buys a house with a guest house solely for the purpose of letting your best friend live there?
Bennett, that’s who. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I got lucky with him, and I’m hell-bent on never letting him go.

Wendi- I know this book is already dedicated to you, but you deserve to be back here too. You’re a front and back type of bitch anyway, you know ;). Who knew that before my first book came out that we would be where we are now. I’m proud to be your assitabitch, and even prouder to be in business with you. Izzy is yours, because without you she never would’ve been written. I flove you. See you at 8am for our staff meeting.

Marge- my dear, sweet Marge(HA!). You rock. You take the stress away when I don’t see an end to it. Thank you for the crazy videos, random voice messages, and funny photos when I need them most. Also for taking on Hell Bent’s tour. You rock.

Shannon, Kaylee, Rene, Adrienne, Sam, David, and Jordan- Thank you for taking time out of your life to help me make this book what it is. For nitpicking, tearing apart, loving, hating, crying, and screaming at me as we got this book to be its best.

Thank you to anyone that has plotted with me, stayed up late to keep me awake, pushed me, yelled at me to write, dealt with my assholishness while under pressure, pushed me to reach my goals, or laughed at me while I wrote this book—mainly Alex’s videos. You all rock. I seriously wouldn’t know what to do without you.