Finding Ever After Read online

  “Hey, where’d you go? What’s going on in that colorful head of yours Jazz?” I hadn’t even noticed that it was now just the two of us standing here.

  “Trust me, you don’t want to be in my head right now.” I was saved from further explanation when his phone went off.

  “Sorry gotta answer this, it’s Liss.” He stepped out of the kitchen to find a quieter spot.

  “Hey, did you know that Einstein wasn’t just brilliant but also quite the ladies man and a sexual deviant?” Turns out that after a few beers Marcus isn’t so different from the rest of them after all. He walked up and put his arm around my shoulder.

  “No I didn‘t know that.” I tried so hard not to laugh, but even drunk and pervy he was sweet.

  “It’s believed he had an IQ of around 160. Mine is 172, would you like to come upstairs and I can show you just how knowledgeable-”

  “Not her killer, I’m sure there’s some ladies in the living room that would be very interested in the size of your IQ.” Danny steered Marcus out of the kitchen, barely containing his own laughter.

  “Sorry about that, we’re just trying to loosen my brother up and expand his horizons by broadening his social circle.” Ace grinned apologetically.

  “You mean you got him wasted so you could try to get him laid.”

  “Yeah, pretty much. I’m afraid I’m gonna come home one day and find him building a robot girlfriend. Sometimes he’s too smart for his own good, most girls find it intimidating.”

  “He’s sweet, when he isn’t trying to sleep with me.” Ace snorted out a laugh.

  “Sweetheart, when is a guy ever not trying to sleep with you?” I felt my skin heat with embarrassment and I looked down to hide my flushed face. He let out a soft chuckle, obviously amused at my awkwardness. Even though my best friend was a guy, I was uncomfortable around assertive males, and I was in a house full of them. Thankfully he sensed my discomfort and didn’t push it.

  “Don’t worry I’m not hitting on you. Chris and Sebastian are like family, and you’re Bas’ family. We might be a bunch of assholes but there are some lines even we won’t cross.” I could tell he was being genuine, and I felt a little more at ease.

  “Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Bas asked returning to his seat on my other side.

  “I was just asking Jaxyn how you convinced her to be your friend, she’s much to nice to hang with a jackass like you.” Ace responded. He was growing on me. I knew he was just giving Bas a hard time and beneath all the taunting and jeering these guys did, they were a tight bunch.

  “Very funny dick. But if you must know, she simply couldn’t resist my charm.” He smirked playfully. He enjoyed telling this story, or at least his version of it. “She moved in next door to my dad’s house when we were five. A couple days after they moved in, she was riding her bike up and down the block and her pink princess bike got a flat tire. Being the chivalrous kindergartener that I was, I kindly offered to pump it back up for her. She was practically begging me to be her best friend after that.”

  “What he left out is that earlier in the day he slipped into my driveway and loosened the valve cap so that my tire would go flat and then he sat out on their porch swing waiting for his chance to swoop in and save the day. The whole thing was a set up so that he could talk to me.” Ace was cracking up as I related the duplicitous acts Bas had omitted from his telling of the story. “Of course I didn’t find that part out until years later when he finally confessed to sabotaging my beloved pink bike. So I spent all that time thinking he was my hero, and by the time I found out otherwise I was stuck with him.”

  “Don’t even act like you weren’t riding back and forth past my house hoping I would talk to you. Besides I had to do something, you were the only kid my age to move within three blocks of our house. I was desperate and tired of being ganged up on by Chris and the jerks he ran around with.” It was true that Christian and his big bad third grade friends loved picking on us, but we always had each other’s back after that day, and we got them back good plenty of times.

  “You needed a girl to protect you from your big brother?” Danny had joined us and was enjoying ribbing Bas as well.

  “Laugh all you want but teaming up with this girl was the best decision I ever made. My brother learned real fast not to underestimate her and you’d be smart not to either. You can just ask Chris about some of the times she got him. She’s an evil genius, and there’s a million stories I’m sure Chris would love to tell you.” Those were the good days, even though we almost always ended up in trouble, it was worth it. We were a team.

  “I knew you had fire, but I didn’t realize you were so devious Princess.” Kyden’s husky voice rolled over me, prickling my senses causing a familiar shudder to course through me. How does he have this effect on me? And damn it, that knowing smirk said he was aware of exactly what he was doing. I steeled myself and met his penetrating gaze, returning it with one I hoped showed indifference.

  “You don’t know me so you can save the Casanova routine. I’m not one of your weak-kneed admirers.”

  “Give up man, it’s obvious she wants me.” Spade threw his arm around my shoulder and planted a kiss on my cheek. “It’s okay Rainbow, I’ve seen you checking me out all night. I know I’m irresistible.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn’t you so much as it was your ink that I was checking out. That’s some impressive work you’ve got on your body. Not the typical generic stuff you see a lot of either.” A genuine smile spread across his face, instead of the smug grin he usually wore. I was willing to bet each piece had significant meaning. Maybe Spade wasn’t quite the shallow blockhead I thought.

  “Thanks beautiful.” He still had his arm wrapped around me and he brought the other up to ruffle my hair affectionately. “I’d be happy to let you familiarize yourself with each and every detail in private.“ And he was back.

  “I think I’ll pass.”

  “You change your mind, just let me know.” That wasn’t going to happen. “You got any tats Rainbow?” They all looked at me curiously, even Bas waited for an answer. He knew I was ink free when I left.

  “What do you think?” I deflected back on him.

  “I’d bet that you don’t. You’ve got the rebel girl hair going, but you’re peaches and cream, so sweet. You practically sparkle with innocence.” I think that was a compliment, at least I was choosing to take it as one.

  “Nah, she’s not a virgin.” My jaw dropped at Kyden’s blatant declaration.

  “Excuse me?” He just smirked

  “Tattoo virgin, Princess.” He clarified.

  Ugh! I wanted to knock that salacious grin off his face.

  “She’s got ink. I’d bet Red on it.”

  “Red?”

  “It’s a guitar Princess, belonged to Stevie Ray Vaughan.” Wow, he was pretty sure of himself. How could he be so presumptuous?

  “Please tell me he’s wrong Rainbow, I want that guitar. It’s like a crown jewel of guitars.” I looked from him to Kyden, and back to meet his hopeful face.

  “Jazz?” Even Sebastian was anxious to know.

  “Sorry Spade, he gets to keep the guitar.”

  “Damn it man. How did you know?”

  “Lucky guess.” I was skeptical about that. He had been too confident for it to have been just luck.

  “So Rainbow, where is it?”

  “What makes you think there’s only one?”

  “Shit, girls with tattoos are so damn sexy. How many you got?”

  “More than one.”

  “Oh come, on! Where are they?”

  “Nowhere you’re going to see.”

  “Aw, you’re killing me Rainbow. Help me out Ky.” Kyden looked me dead in the eye, with that unmistakable confidence.

  “Nope. I’ll see them eventually.” His dead serious tone and wicked smile sent a jolt of longing straight to my core, and I had to fight not to betray my calm façade.

  “In your dreams.” Quite possi
bly in mine as well. Crap. I really needed to get control of myself. I was not this girl.

  “You don’t want to know what’s in my dreams Princess. It’d make your cheeks turn that adorable bright red and then I’d be tempted to show you just what that does to me, and that would be very bad in a room full of people” I felt the blush rise up my neck and spread onto my face. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth to keep myself from gasping.

  “Hey Ky, where’s Kaylie?” Bas barked out. Always my protector. I didn’t want this though, they were friends. I couldn’t let Kyden’s lascivious behavior get to me. If I could remain indifferent then he’d get bored and move on. I had to make it clear nothing was going to happen between us.

  Kyden fixed a pointed look on Bas who just ignored it and stood up to get in his face. “Don’t give me that Ky. I already told you to keep your shit away from her, so back the fuck off and go find Kaylie.” The hostility was rolling off Bas in waves. Everyone in our circle was focused on Kyden to see how he would react. He was a mass of tightly wound anger, but he didn’t so much as blink. His eyes just bore into Bas’s, a silent conversation taking place between the two.

  I wasn’t going to wait for one of them to snap or say something they’d regret. “Relax Bas, Kyden’s just screwing around and I can take care of myself. Both of you need to just drop it. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to happen.” Still neither one spoke or moved. I didn’t know what else to do. This is not how I imagined my first night back going.

  Finally Chris, who must have walked into the kitchen sometime during the heated exchange stepped forward and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder to try and calm him down. At the same time a shrill voice broke the tense silence.

  “What the hell is going on?” It was too much to hope that she had just disappeared. I should’ve known Kaylie wouldn’t be far from Kyden for long. Just what I needed to make this worse.

  Bas shrugged off Chris and turned to storm out of the room, Chris tailed behind him. I wanted to follow, but I was froze in place with Kyden’s stare now fixed on me, his expression unreadable. I was sure everyone was watching this moment pass between us, but I couldn’t look away. I didn’t even know if I wanted to. Thankfully I was released from his captivation when once again Kaylie demanded to know what was gong on, this time stepping between the two of us. He continued to ignore her and I hurriedly moved to go after Bas. As I stepped out of the kitchen Danny started in on Kyden.

  “That was a stupid fucking move man. You can’t blame him for being pissed at you, she’s pretty much his sister.”

  “I don’t give a fuck.” Just great, two pissed off alpha males.

  I made my way through the house, pausing at the partially opened front door, I could hear Chris’ voice outside. I softly pushed the door open, and discreetly stepped out onto the front steps. I wanted to hear what was being said without disrupting them. It was more than likely about me. They were standing on the walkway below, Chris was trying to reason with Bas.

  “I know you just got her back and you feel like it’s your job to look after her, but she’s a big girl now and can take care of herself. She’s obviously been doing it for the last three years. You’ve gotta let her make her own decisions. You can’t tell her what to do or what not to do. You, more than anyone, know how well that works, and by trying to order him to stay away from her you’re just making it a challenge for him.”

  “She’s too good for him. She doesn’t know his game. Come on you live with him. We’ve all watched the never ending parade of girls. He gets what he wants then discards them to move on to the next.”

  “She’s not like the rest of them. She’s far from his usual skanks.”

  “Exactly. He won’t just disappoint her or hurt her, if she actually lets him in, he’ll destroy her. He’ll use her up and toss her out and I’ll be the one left to pick her up just like before.” It would not be like before, I needed to speak up.

  “No you won’t, because it’s not gonna happen.” They both looked up, neither seemed surprised at my eavesdropping. Bas let out a deep sigh and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

  “You say that now, but I’ve watched him seduce countless girls. I saw the way you were looking at him in there, hell everyone saw it.”

  “I’m gonna let you guys work this out.” Chris brushed past me, gently squeezing my arm and giving me a sympathetic smile. I descended the steps until I was standing on the last one, putting me at eye level with Bas.

  “So what?” I was more irritated with him than anything. I knew his intentions were good, but he had to know it wouldn’t be like that. “I can’t help it that I’m attracted to him, I sincerely doubt that any straight female wouldn’t be, but that’s all it is. Do you really think I’d let myself fall for his game after everything I’ve been through with my father and Connor? Do you really think I’m so blind and naïve not to see through that, or did you just forget that he’s not the first jerk to try and use me for what he wants?”

  “No, it’s not like that. You’ve been through too much and I want to protect you from the Connor’s out there.”

  “And you think Kyden is the same?” I was a pretty good judge of character, I had to be. I was definitely picking up arrogant jerk from Kyden but that was a long way from what Connor was.

  “He’s not as sick as that bastard, but he’s a man whore and he’ll break your heart if you let him.”

  “I appreciate you looking out for me, but it’s really not necessary. I’m not going to let him.”

  “Promise me, Jazz. Promise me you won’t fall for him.”

  “Okay, I promise.” He was really worried about this, the least I could do was reassure him that he didn’t need to be. “You happy now?”

  “Yeah. I am.” He snorted. “He might be a dick to the girls he screws, but he really is a good friend and I’d hate to have to beat his ass.”

  “Well don’t worry, I’m sure after tonight this will all blow over and my novelty will wear off.”

  “I hope so. He’s not always like this.” I cocked an eyebrow. “Okay, so he’s usually like this, but it’s different when it’s you he’s trying to mess with. He’s my friend but tonight he pissed me off. It’s one thing when the girls know what they’re getting themselves into, but-”

  “No buts, I’ve officially been warned and I know what I would be getting into, which is why it won’t happen. So relax.”

  “Okay, I believe you. I’m sorry if I freaked over nothing. I just don’t want anything to happen that will take you away again.”

  “I’m not going anywhere except back to my house and my bed. It’s been a long day and I don’t feel like going back in there. Too much of this emotional stuff. I’m about ready to pass out from the exhaustion of it all.”

  “Yeah, I should probably head out too, I told Lissa I wouldn’t be out to late. She was just getting off work when she called so I want to get home before she goes to bed. I’ll just run in and tell Chris I’m taking off.”

  I grabbed his cell phone and saved my new number for him. He told me he hadn’t changed his just in case I’d ever needed him. He pulled me into one last hug before we said goodnight.

  When I got home I climbed into a hot shower and stood under the hot spray, letting it wash away the stress of the evening. I felt all of the tension leave my body as my muscles relaxed beneath the scalding flow of water. The water had started to turn cold by the time I forced myself out and toweled off. I was too exhausted to bother unpacking, I just dug in one of my bags for an extra large t shirt and curled up on my mother’s bed.

  Chapter 4

  I woke up with the strange feeling I was being watched. I opened my eyes to see a pair of bright blue ones hovering above me. I startled and almost screamed before I recognized the bright smile and wild blonde curls.

  “Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty.” It was way too early for Violette’s bubbly personality. How did she even know I was back already and how did she get in here?

/>   “What are you doing here Vi? You almost gave me a damn heart attack.”

  “You just returned home after a three year vanishing act. What do you think I’m doing here?”

  “I meant what are you doing here, in my bedroom, at the crack of dawn?”

  “Eight o’clock is hardly the crack of dawn.”

  “It is when I didn’t get to bed until after three in the morning.”

  “Well who’s fault is it really? If you had just called me when you got to town last night, I would have been partying with you into the wee hours of the morning and then we would both still be sleeping. But you didn’t, so here I am, and we are going to breakfast. Get your ass out of bed sunshine.” She yanked the covers back and I groaned.

  “I know, I’m sorry I didn’t call you but I had to go see Bas and I didn’t think I could handle the two of you ganging up on me. How did you find out I was home anyway?”

  “Lissa texted me last night. Hell of a way to find out you were back by the way skank, but she was worried about how Bas would handle it and wanted to know if I thought she should show up at the party. I told her it would be fine, just give you two space to work it out. I knew you two needed that, which is why I didn’t hunt your ass down the second I found out you were back. I gave you your time with Bas but now it’s my turn and I’m not leaving til I get my Jaxy time. I’ve got three years to make up for so get up before I drag you out of here in nothing but that t-shirt.”

  I knew resistance would be futile, it was better to just give in to her. She was as tenacious as they come. A lot of people were fooled by the blonde hair and sorority girl image, but she was seriously smart, pre law at Boston U. She was also very out-spoken and could get fired up about the things she was passionate about. She was like a bulldozer when she set her mind on something, it was best not to get in her way. There was no winning an argument with her.