Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (16 page)

It was an odd thought, considering
leaving
home had always been my Achilles heel, but Ken had left on an overnight trip not long after I’d returned with his bag, which meant Mom was safe at home on her own.

Taking my place at the end of the queue, I tried to blend in as much as I could. More people stepped in behind me, then even more. I discre
etly watched them interacting with each other. They were high on anticipation.

“I’m so excited
,” a girl just in front of me said.

“
I know! Me too,” said another. “Dean is so hot. I hope we can get up the front. I want to tell him how much I want him.”

“Oh god! I want Jace. Did you see those pics on Rock Tonight? His body is to die for! I want to lick it all over.”

“No way. Aiden is the hottest. He has the best fuck me eyes I’ve ever seen. Mark my words. I’m going home with him tonight.”

My mouth popped open a fraction as I listened to the girls continue to tell each other exactly what they wanted to do to my friends.

A tiny girl with short, spikey blonde hair shook her head with bored eyes. “While I agree with Luce about Aiden’s fuck me eyes, Matt is definitely the hottest. You girls just don’t bother looking past the eye candy gyrating on the front of the stage to appreciate what a fine specimen the drummer is. I mean, he trumps all those guys’ six packs with a very panty wetting eight pack.”

They all nodded the
ir agreement. I blinked, feeling the irritation starting to rise up in me on my best friend’s behalf. I mean, these girls were talking about trying to score with not only her boyfriend, but her brother too!

I was just thinking about telling them they were all cheap, slutty groupies, when I heard someone say my name. I looked up to see Amber walking towards me.

“What are you doing waiting in line?” she asked, a little incredulous.

I frowned, not quite understanding what she meant. A couple of the girls I’d been listening to looked up at the small commotion.

Amber tugged on my hand. “Have you got the ticket Aiden gave you?”

That did it. The two girls elbowed their friends and they all turned to watch. I made sure not to make eye contact and held the ticket out as discre
etly as I could to show her I did, indeed, have the ticket. “Yes.”

“Well come on
, silly. They’re all access passes. You don’t have to wait with everyone else. Didn’t Aiden tell you that?”

I let her pull me along, mostly because I didn’t want to stand next to those girls anymore. The security guy gave us both a hostile look when we approached, but when Amber flashed the tickets, his expression turned to more of a bored scowl before he unhooked the rope and let us through.

The guys were already on stage. Dean was talking to the crowd, thanking everyone for coming, so I assumed they’d only just got on. The horde of screaming fans was mind blowing.

“
Everyone’s on the other side of dance floor,” Amber said into my ear. She had to yell for me to hear her over the noise. “Jace managed to get the club to section off an area for the band.”

She smiled knowingly and I nodded. We both knew the section wasn’t for the band. It was for Mia.
He didn’t want to risk another anxiety attack.

We
stood there for a while, looking up at our boys on the stage. “I’m glad I didn’t miss the start,” Amber said. “I had a shoe emergency and had to run home.”

I looked down at her glittery high heels
and smiled. Amber was like no one else I’d ever met. She was like a chameleon. She could go from a high fashion diva one minute, looking every bit the upper class socialite she was born to be, to a sweat wearing, adrenalin junkie, bungee jumper the next.

To someone who didn’t know her, it would seem like she had schizophrenia or something, but everyone in our close circle of friends knew the real reason she lived life to its fullest
was because she’d already faced death. Twice. The first time when she was barely a teenager, when she had pneumonia, and then a couple of years later when she was in a horrific car crash. Amber had joked once that she must’ve been too much of a handful for the afterlife.

She gra
bbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. Mia was the first to see me, and squealed before enveloping me in a massive bear hug. Just that one small act had me relaxing instantaneously.

“I was worried you weren’t coming,” Mia shouted over the
music.

I grinned and glanced up at the stage where Fighting Fate were pumping out one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Their rise in popularity was amazing. I mean, just listening to those girls out the front told me exactly how popular they were getting. I had no doubt they were going to be big. They already had people travelling hours to come see them play, as well as people rushing to buy tickets to The Dark Hybrid’s concerts, purely to see them. To say I was proud was a massive understatement.

“They sound great,” I yelled to Mia.

Mia grinned widely, her gaze finding its way to Jace as he ripped it up on his guitar. “Yeah, they do.”

I laughed.
She was so head over heels, but then again, so was Jace. He’d really been a dark horse, that one. We all thought Dean was the soft one, but after watching Jace with Mia, and the way Aiden had been looking after me, I was beginning to think they all had a soft side. Well, maybe not Matt. He was definitely a wild one.

A drink appeared in front of my face and I glanced up to see Corey smiling at me. Worry spiked before I noted the relaxed set of his face, and I quickly saw the
action for what it really was. A peace offering.

Returning his smile, I accepted it without fuss. “Thanks.”

He nodded and stepped back, allowing me to look around the small sectioned off area. I laughed when I noticed Corey was the only guy in there - with Amber, Jess, Amy, Mia, Lila, her friend, Carli, and the new girl, Sarah, for company. If the guys on the other side of the ropes weren’t jealous, my name wasn’t Kaeli Williams.

“You’ve got quite the harem going on here. Where are all the guys?”

Corey laughed. “Ryan and Cain are backstage, helping out.”

The guys started their next song and Amber, Jess,
Amy and Sarah jumped up to dance. With a quick grin in Mia’s direction, we put our drinks down and joined their huddle, the five of us laughing and moving our hips to the music.

Aiden smirked down at us with a slight shake of his head. It was obvious he found us incredibly amusing. Well, they we
re entertaining the whole club, so we might as well entertain them.

We didn’t stop dancing the entire time the guys were playing. We were breathless and sweaty, and probably looked a little disheveled, but we were having a blast. Every now and again, the memory of being in Pock’s grasp would appear, causing the panic to rise up again, but then I
thought of how Mitch saved me and the closeness I’d felt with him in his room, and calm returned.

The
cell he gave me was tucked safely in the back pocket of my jeans. It was my safety blanket. It wasn’t quite as good as having him there beside me, but it was the next best thing.

When the guy
s’ set was finally over, the house music came on and we all took a few minutes to hydrate ourselves. About twenty minutes later, I saw the guys pushing their way through the crowd. It was amusing to watch. For every two steps they took, they were approached by a different group of girls. Occasionally a guy would sweep in, asking for an autograph, but it was mostly girls.

“God, how do you stand that?” I asked Mia quietly.

She sighed. “It’s hard sometimes, but I know he’s not interested in any of them.”

Just then Jace looked up and met Mia’s gaze. He gave her a grin and winked, making Mia giggle a little. “Yeah, I’m positive you’re the only girl he’s interested in too.”

The guys finally made it into our little area, and I was surprised when each of them greeted me with a little hug. Even Matt. Aiden hugged me last then tucked me under his arm like he used to do with Mia before Jace came along. That act in itself reassured me his actions were purely platonic.

I squeezed him back and smiled before looking out across the crowd. The group of girls I’d overheard while I was waiting in line were looking at me, their expressions ranging from hatred to sadness. I flinched a little, quite taken aback by the hostility I saw.
I didn’t care what they thought about me because I knew they had it wrong. What I was worried about was Mia facing this shit every time she was out with Jace. She didn’t deserve that kind of crap.

My gaze slid past the girls in an attempt to ignore them, and I froze.

Standing on the other side of the dance floor, looking directly at me, was Mitch.

Chapter 32

Noah

Seeing Kaeli at The Crypt was the last thing I’d expected when Davo and I arrived to do some digging around.

She hadn’t been hard to spot. That little VIP area was like a second stage when you put eight hot chicks in there with one guy. Especially the way they were all swaying their hips to the beat of the music. It had taken me a second to realize Leah was in there with them. She looked completely different to how she normally looked. Younger.

I hadn’t heard whether they’d put
detail on Kaeli yet so, even though I was confused as to why Kaeli would be at the club, I was relieved to see Leah had her back.

It wasn’t until I saw the band go in there
after their set, and each of them give her a hug that the relief turned to something else entirely. I wanted to know why the hell they were hugging her. Did she know them, or was she a groupie?

The idea of her being a groupie didn’t sit well with me. I wasn’t sure if it was because I couldn’t see her gushing over a guy just because he could play an instrument, or if I just didn’t like the idea of her giving
herself to anyone but me. I knew I shouldn’t think like that, but it was the truth. I wanted her, and I wanted her to want me.

I watched the bass player tuck her under his arm
as they all laughed and joked, and I felt my jaw tighten. I had no idea why I’d feel so suddenly violent. She wasn’t mine and I had no right to her, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to march right over there and rip his arms off.

Kaeli glanced out across the club, a tiny crease forming between her eyes as her gaze stopped on someone on the dance floor, but then, just as quickly, she glanced away.

I didn’t know how it was possible for her to find me in the darkness of the club, but when her gaze came to rest on me, I froze. A surge of triumph rose up in me, and I instantly knew I wasn’t leaving until I’d touched her in some way. Yep. I was a prick.

Holding her gaze for a little while longer, I finished my beer and placed the empty bott
le on the table beside me. Turning away, I strode towards the back of the club, glancing back once to make sure she got the message that I wanted her to follow me.

Finding a hidden place in the shadows near the bathrooms, I leant against the wall and waited.

Less than five minutes later I saw her step through the crowd near the hall. Her gaze flittered from place to place, searching, as she slowly moved forward. When she got closer, I grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the shadows.

Thankfully she
didn’t resist. As much as I hated to admit it, irritation was flowing through me, and I knew it had everything to do with those guys having their arms around her. I knew I had no right to be pissed, but I was. I didn’t want anyone else touching her.

Fuck me.
Possessive much?

When I had her
pinned up against the wall, I gave her a sardonic grin. I needed to find out what those guys were to her. “You were getting quite the attention in that little VIP section of yours,” I said teasingly.

Her eyes flashed with irritation. “Yeah, I know. Those girls are seriously crazy. It really makes me worry about Mia. I hate to think what they could do to her…”

She’d lost me. I had no idea what she was talking about. “I’m not following…Are you talking about those girls you were dancing with?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, no sorry.
I was talking about some of the girls on the dance floor who were giving me dirty looks. Mia’s my best friend. She’s going out with Jace, the lead guitarist. Aiden, the bass player, is her twin brother. We grew up together.”

Ah, that explained the
familiarity. It didn’t discount her going out with any of them though. “So…any of them your boyfriend?”

She looked taken aback for a second.
“God, no. They’re all just really good friends.”

I held back a sigh of relief. Fucking stupid, I know, because by no means was her being available good news for the
assignment. “How much do they know?”

She frowned at me, that adorable little crease forming between her eyebrows, then her eyes rounded out with understanding. She sighed. “Nothing. I haven’t told anyone. That doesn’t mean they’re not suspicious though. They keep watching me like I’m about to fall apart or something.
” She frowned again, like something irritated her.