Un-Shattering Lucy (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series) (Volume 4) (23 page)

“Yeah,” I murmured and gave her a small smile to show her I was fine. “Yeah. Just my dad.”

“Good. Come on, let’s get a drink.” She took my hand and tugged me toward the bar. “Jace went downstairs to get Harris so let’s find a place to sit before they get back.”

The bar was crowded and we couldn’t even squeeze in to order. Grimacing, I moved to the end and stood on tiptoes to see over the heads of the VIPs in front of me. I saw Nate putting a few beers on the bar top. “Nate!” I called out to him and waved my hand.

“You two, move it,” Nate ordered and like magic there was suddenly a clear spot at the bar. His unusual eyes brightened when he saw me and I stepped forward to hug him across the bar. “Hey there, beautiful. How’ve you been?”

I hugged him tight, then stepped back. “I’ve been good. Really, really good.” I grinned up at him. “Heard you got a promotion. Congrats. You deserve it.”

“Thanks, Lucy.” His eyes went behind me to the other girls I’d brought, lingered on Kassa, and then moved back to me. “The usual?”

“Five ginger ales, please.”

Setting the glasses on the bar top, he shot me a wink. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“I think I can make that promise.” He grinned and I waited until he went to the other end of the bar before handing out the drinks.

“So that’s why Gray gets testy when you come here without him,” Kin murmured with a grin in Kassa’s direction.

“Nate is just a friend,” Kassa assured her, but I could see the slight blush that filled her cheeks. “Just don’t say anything to him about Nate, okay?”

“My lips are sealed, babe.”

“Where is Gray anyway?” Angie glanced around the room. “I thought he was right behind us?”

“There he is.” Jenna pointed him out and we all looked across the room to find him talking to a blonde with legs that went on for miles. He was leaning against the wall, but his eyes were predatory as he kept them on the chick in front of him.

“On second thought, mention Nate as much as you fucking want.” Kassa took a long swallow of her ginger ale and set the glass back on the bar top. “I think I’ll hang out over here for a little while. Y’all go have fun.”

“We’ll stay with you. There’s nowhere to sit anyway.” All the couches were taken and there wasn’t a free chair in the place. It was the typical Friday night crowd and I was so proud of Harris for all his success with First Bass.

“She looks familiar.” Kin took a longer look but shook her head. “I can’t make out her face from here, but I swear I’ve seen her before.”

“Of course you have,” Kassa muttered. “She’s one of those standard, run-of-the-mill, skanky-ass groupies. They’re a dime a dozen around our place.”

“Gray’s a douche. Ignore him.”

I couldn’t disagree with Angie’s observation. I thought Gray was a douchebag from the first time I’d met him. But I’d seen the way he was with Kassa earlier and even when he’d been pissed, he’d still looked at her like she was precious. I wasn’t about to say that to her right then, though. Kassa looked green with a jealousy I knew all too well. I’d experienced it a million different times over the years before Harris had become mine.

“Wait, I don’t think he’s trying to get in her pants,” Jenna observed as she continued to watch Gray.

We turned our attention back to the couple across the room. Jenna was right. The look on Gray’s face wasn’t that of a guy trying to seduce his way between a chick’s legs. At second glance, he looked bored and more than a little irritated. I saw him lift his head in our direction. The blonde glanced toward us and Kassa quickly turned away, but I couldn’t look away for some reason. Like Kin said, the chick looked familiar to me.

“Is that the chick from earlier?” Jenna asked as she took a step closer to me.

It clicked in my head then. “Yeah, I think that is her.” The same mile-long legs, the same long ponytail minus the ball cap. She was wearing a different outfit, but it was no less expensive or trashy. She looked like a chick on the prowl for a man, but as I watched Gray continue to talk to her, I came to the conclusion that he wasn’t the man she was prowling for.

“Great, here she comes.” Angie sighed. “What the fuck? Why is she smiling like that?”

My earlier distaste for the chick only grew as she walked toward us. The smile that was on her face gave her a mean-girl look that set my teeth on edge. I clenched my jaw, trying to fight the desire to punch the bitch in the face. Who the hell was she and what the fuck did she want?

She stopped right beside us. “So you’re the one?” Her tone was cool and had a sharp edge to it.

It took us all a second to realize who she was talking to, but her gaze was right on me. “The one what?” My tone was just as cold, with more of a bite. I hated her and I didn’t even know her name.

“The one who thinks she can take Harris away from me.”

Awesome. She was not only a bitch, but a total nutcase. I wondered if I would have to serve time if I tore up a mentally ill chick’s pretty face.

Chapter 25

Harris

Between Nate and Barb, the work I had to catch up on was minimal. That was a relief because I wasn’t sure I had it in me to give an avalanche of work piled on my desk the attention it needed. Every two seconds my thoughts went from work to Lucy and all I wanted was to be with her.

Fuck, I missed her.

I’d seen her just the day before, and I knew I would see her before the end of the night, but I missed her regardless. Spending the daytime hours with her wasn’t enough. I couldn’t sleep without her so I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep lately. All I wanted was to spend every free second with her—loving her—and that wasn’t possible.

Grimacing, I tossed my pen on the desk and reached for my phone. She should have been at the club over an hour ago, but she’d texted me to let me know she was running late. I was twitchy like an addict needing his next fix just for the sight of her—the sound of her voice in my ear.

The sound of my elevator had my head snapping up. I watched hopefully as the doors opened, aching for it to be Lucy.

Jace stepped out with a smirk on his face. “Yo, man. Let’s get going. The girls are upstairs waiting.”

“Lucy?”

He nodded and I blew out a relieved breath. “She should have texted me when she got here.”

“She was on the phone when we got upstairs,” he assured me. “You done for the night?”

“Mostly. Everything else can wait, though. I’ll get it handled tomorrow or let Barb finish on Monday night.” I pushed back from my desk and grabbed my keys. As I stepped into the elevator, my phone went off and I bit back a curse when I saw who it was.

Jesse Thornton. Damn it. I hadn’t even seen his daughter yet and he was probably calling to ask what time I would get her home. Knowing I couldn’t ignore him, I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Harris, you got a minute?” His voice sounded choked but cool and I punched the second-floor button, figuring I wasn’t going to like this conversation even a little bit.

“Yes, sir. I always have time for you, sir.” Whether I wanted to talk to him or not, I would make time for him when he needed to talk to me. He was going to be a huge part of my future, after all.

“I just spoke to Lucy, but I wanted to speak to you about this personally as well.” My gut clenched because he sounded…strange.

“Is Lucy okay?”
Please, God, let her be okay.
Jace had said she was upstairs, but that didn’t mean shit. She could be having a bad day, but I didn’t know it. Fuck, why hadn’t I called her?

“She’s fine, boy.” He blew out a ragged breath. “Mostly fine, I think.”

“What does that mean?” My tone was sharper than I intended but, fuck, I was going to lose my shit if I didn’t know she was all right or not.

“She hasn’t been sleeping at night. Not since we got home. She’s up walking the halls or who knows what else at night. I’m worried about her.” His voice was strained. “She needs you, Harris. I love her enough to admit that she needs you more than she needs me.”

“What can I do to help?” I’d stop time to help her if that was what she needed. Anything, as long as she was safe and happy.

“I think it would help her if she moved in with you.”

The elevator stopped but I pushed the
closed
button so the doors wouldn’t open. Jace shot me a curious look, but I couldn’t have spoken to him if my life depended on it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wanted it so much that I was pretty sure I was having a mental break and was hearing things. No way had Jesse Thornton just told me he wanted his daughter to live with me. I would have done a damn backflip off the top of my club if I thought he was for real right then.

“Can you say that again, sir?”

“She sleeps easier with you around, Harris.” The strain in his voice had doubled now. “She’s happier when she’s with you. Her happiness is all I could ever ask for and that means letting her go so she can live with you.”

“I…” I swallowed hard, and tried again. “I… Thank you, sir. I promise you I’ll take perfect care of her.”

“I know that, boy. If I didn’t I would never let her go.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll let you go now.”

“Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir.” The phone went dead on his end and I dropped my hand, trying to wrap my mind around the reality of what just happened.

Jace nudged my shoulder. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah,” I muttered as a grin lifted my lips. “Yeah, I’m great, man.”

“Good, then maybe you can let us out of this sardine can and we can go see our girls? I’m getting claustrophobic in here with your ass.”

Chuckling, I released the button and the doors opened. Jace stepped off first and my eyes went around the room in search of Lucy. I felt like celebrating after the conversation with her father. This was just one more step in the right direction for us and the future I wanted with her. I’d never imagined it would come together so quickly, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to be sorry it was.

“That Peyton chick’s been looking for you, dude.”

My head snapped to my left when I heard Gray’s voice. He’d obviously been waiting so he could tell me that little bit of news. “Peyton’s in my fucking club?”

I was going to have that bitch arrested. She was becoming too much to deal with. She’d done nothing but call me ever since I’d fired her and the Blonde Bombshells had kicked her out of the band. I’d blocked her number, but she’d only gotten another phone and started harassing me with texts and twice as many calls. I hadn’t been concerned about it, though, not really. She was annoying but hadn’t overstepped any lines.

Until that afternoon when she’d gotten into my apartment by telling the super that she thought I was sick and couldn’t get inside to check on me. The idiot man had let her in and she’d spent God knew how long in my place while I was sleeping. I’d woken up to her climbing into bed beside me. In nothing but her bra and panties.

I’d threatened to call the cops and she’d gotten out quick, but I should have known that little bitch wasn’t done trying to drive me crazy with her bullshit. She was seriously unhinged if she thought I wanted her, yet that was exactly what she seemed to think.

“She just went over to talk to the girls,” Gray informed me now. “She’s got serious issues, though, man. She wanted to know all about Lucy.”

Fucking hell.

I hadn’t told Lucy about what was going on because I didn’t want to upset her, but I knew I’d have to explain all the shit Peyton had been doing over the last few weeks. Especially now that Lucy was going to be living with me.

“Where are they?” I bit out, and Gray led the way to the bar.

I saw Kin’s red hair first, then Peyton’s blond head. She was standing right in front of the girls now and I only wanted to snatch Lucy up and get her as far away from Peyton as I humanly could. What if that bitch tried to sabotage things with Lucy and me? What if she filled Lucy’s head with all kinds of trash and lies and Lucy believed her? I wasn’t about to lose the best thing in my world to some vindictive little bitch. I’d kill Peyton with my bare hands before that happened.

As I neared the group of girls, I saw Lucy’s face and knew she wasn’t happy. Her dark eyes were focused solely on the blonde in front of her, her lips turned down in dislike. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and kiss the breath out of her.

“Harris and I have been together for months now and I’m not going to let you ruin that,” I heard Peyton saying. “He loves me.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah?”

I stopped, unable to move another inch for fear of what was about to happen. She couldn’t believe Peyton’s lies. She couldn’t. If she did, and left me, it would destroy me. Lucy was the reason I got out of bed every morning. If I lost her now, that would be the end of me.

“I was in his bed this afternoon and he was complaining about how he couldn’t get rid of you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at Lucy. “I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from Harris. He’s mine.”

Around them, the other girls burst out laughing. If I’d been thinking clearly, I might have laughed too. Beside me, Jace even released a chuckle. This chick was seriously batshit crazy and she couldn’t have spewed a more obvious lie if she’d been trying to. No one who knew me—who knew what Lucy and I had overcome—would ever believe what she’d just said.

Lucy took a step toward Peyton, but it was the grin on her face that had all the air leaving my lungs. “That’s a cute story you got going on in your head, sweetie. But you should probably get your facts straight before you start spewing that kind of crazy.” She leaned in closer as if she was going to tell the other girl a secret. “I don’t know what happened today, but I do know Harris Cutter. He probably loves me more than any other person on the planet, including himself. He would never cheat on me.”

Relief was like a tidal wave washing through me, and I was able to draw a deep breath. It snapped me out of my daze and I moved the last few feet forward. When Peyton saw me, her face paled. She wasn’t what was important right then, though. I wrapped a hand around Lucy’s waist. The feel of her against me made everything in the world right again. I pressed a kiss to Lucy’s temple, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and thanking God she was mine.