Forever Lucy (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series Book 5) by Terri Anne Browning
Even after a year and half of the girl band playing in my club, I still didn’t know the chicks all that well. But what I did know was that the Roanna who went on stage was like a witch who put every single person who heard her voice under her spell. She was sultry and hypnotic when she sang, and every word that came out of her mouth when she was playing up the crowd only spiked heart rates skyward. She was a confident little badass who knew her power over the human population. But offstage, she was a little mouse who seemed scared of her own shadow on the best of days. I didn’t know how she turned into the bold rock machine she became every Thursday when she stepped onto the stage. Maybe she really was a witch.
Honestly, I didn’t give a fuck how she did it. All I cared about was that she had made my club an even bigger success than it was before. And I wasn’t about to let a little shit like this idiot mistreat her or anyone else. Every employee I had was under my personal protection the moment they walked through the doors of First Bass for their shift. And I would protect each and every one of them—even from my other employees.
“Easy there, man. I meant no offense.”
“You just asked her to suck your dick after we were done,” Aubree yelled at him, getting in his face. “And when she ignored you, you offered her twenty bucks. How the fuck is that not offensive, motherfucker?”
I sighed and lifted the little blond off her feet and calmly deposited her beside me. Of the four Blondes, Aubree was the feistiest. Lucy loved them all, but Aubree cracked her up every time the band hung out with us. I couldn’t have my girl killing me for letting her favorite Blonde get arrested for assault.
“Say that shit to me,” London bit out, using my distraction with Aubree to get in Todd’s face next. “Go ahead. I dare you. Then we’ll see how far I can kick your balls up into your ass.”
Todd laughed condescendingly, not taking the taller blond seriously. “You’re all talk, bitch.”
“Shit,” I groaned and reached for her just as she kicked her left leg out and connected with Todd’s balls.
“Ugh,” he groaned and fell to his knees, coughing and wheezing in pain. Her pointy-tipped boots might have even ruptured one of his boys by the prissy, high-pitched scream that left him. He pulled one hand back as if he expected it to be covered with blood. It wasn’t, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
Genesis, never one to let London have all the glory, snuck up around me and kicked the guy in the face while he was still on his knees. Her wedge-heeled boots connected with his mouth, and he fell onto his side.
Aubree crouched down beside him and smacked him across the face hard enough to leave a welt in the shape of her handprint before grabbing a handful of his hair and lifting his head up so she could spit in his face. “If I had a dick, this is where I would tell you to suck it,” she sneered. “If I ever see your face again, I’ll stab you in that little dick of yours. Stay the fuck away from my friend.”
She dropped his head back hard, and the loser curled up into a ball, blood dripping from his split lip, and cupping his groin. He made a little whimpering sound, and I heard half a dozen chuckles coming from every direction of the club.
“Ladies, we’ve talked about this shit,” I said with a resigned exhale. This wasn’t the first time they had personally taken care of someone who had pissed them off. If they would give me five minutes, I could clean up their shit without having to risk them going to jail for assault or any of the half-dozen other felonies I was pretty sure they had committed in the time they had been working for me.
It was for that reason that Emmie Armstrong hadn’t offered them a contract. If she didn’t think she could assert even a little control over the clients she managed, she didn’t think they were worth her time. But Nat wasn’t so sure they weren’t fixable, and their talent alone was more than worth the hassle they tended to cause. Otherwise, I wouldn’t ever have extended their contract for a second year. Now my stepmom was chomping at the bit to get them signed, but it was going to come down to Annabelle Brockman, Nat and Emmie’s third partner, on whether or not the Blondes got the contract or not.
“Nobody talks to Ro like that,” Aubree growled as she spat on Todd.
Turning, I found the other two huddled around the singer, and Aubree quickly joined them. It was only then I noticed how pale Roanna had become. How fragile she really seemed. She was shaking, her entire body trembling, and silent tears rolled down her cheeks. This wasn’t the fearless little firecracker who took charge of my entire club every Thursday night. This little scrap of a girl was lost and broken. There was something in her eyes that reminded me of Lucy, and that made me a bit insane.
“Should I call an ambulance for that one?”
I shot a glance up at the VIP floor where Nate had been watching the whole scene. “No. Get Tiny and his men to drag his ass out back. Tell them not to be gentle about it either. And if he ever steps foot in this club again, call the cops.”
Nate nodded solemnly. “You got it, boss man.”
As he turned away to follow through, I focused on the broken rocker who still had yet to make a single sound since the whole thing had begun.
“It’s okay, Ro,” Aubree murmured softly, holding on to the distressed girl’s elbows. “Everything’s okay. He’s gone now.”
“He isn’t gonna bother you again, honey,” London reassured her, stroking the girl’s hair like she was a small child.
“Hello? Anyone home?” Jace walked in through the back entrance, already being a smartass. “What the fuck’s going on? You kill this mofo?” he asked me as he stepped over Todd’s body.
I glared down at my ex-bartender disgustedly. The pussy was crying now, his running nose and tears mixing with the blood that was still flowing from the cut on his mouth. “I didn’t get a chance to touch him. The Blondes took him out before I could finish tearing into him about sexual harassment in the workplace.”
“Ah.” Jace’s gaze fell on Roanna. “I’m not even gonna ask what happened. I can see which one he was harassing. She going to be good to go on tonight?”
Good question. “Ladies?” I called over to them. Genesis was the only one to lift her head. “Will she be ready to go on? If not, that’s cool. I’ll understand. You can have the night off if you want.”
“N-no,” Roanna cried. “I want to work tonight.”
“Yeah, boss. We’ll be working,” Genesis muttered. “You heard the girl. She’s good to go.”
I gazed at them for a long moment, trying to figure out if they were serious or not. Roanna seemed almost hysterical at the idea of not performing later. Finally, with a shrug, I nodded. “Okay, then. Don’t worry about rehearsal. Go get yourselves a drink and hang out in the green room until you go on tonight. Order some dinner. Charge it to the card I have on file at the deli down the block.”
Nodding, Genesis urged Roanna toward the back of the club, and the other two followed after them just as Tiny appeared with two of his security team and lifted Todd from the fetal position. He moaned, and Tiny dropped his head. I ignored the sound of the guy’s head bouncing off the floor and pretended like it had been an accident on Tiny’s part. With a wicked grin, he picked up the fucker’s head again. My chief of security had a soft spot for the Blondes, Roanna especially. If he’d been present when Todd had been talking to her the way he had, I was pretty sure the bastard would have been toothless by now.
“So, what’s the game plan for this weekend, man?” Jace asked as he went behind the bar and pulled out a beer from one of the refrigerators beneath. “You going to the bridal shower thing Kin keeps nagging me about?”
“Dad and Jesse are getting a group of us together, and we’re playing golf at the country club.” I smirked at what I just said. “Hell,” I laughed. “I never thought I would ever say those words in my life. Two of the scariest rockers in the universe are taking me to play golf. Shit, before those fuckers got married and settled down, I don’t think they even understood what golf was.”
&nbs
“You’re my best man, so that means you have to come too,” I told him, and he looked almost sick with relief. I burst out laughing at him. “Was she going to make you go to the shower if I didn’t invite you?”
“Fuck yeah,” he grumbled and took another swallow from his bottle. “Gray is going with Kassa, and Kin expects me to go with her. Unless you had something else planned for me to use my best man duties for.”
I leaned against the bar, watching my friend closely. “Your sister doing better?” She’d had a pretty hard time of it since Tainted Knights had returned from their summer tour. Not a day after getting back, she’d had a miscarriage, and from what Lucy had told me, Kassa’d been pretty emotional ever since. I hadn’t seen her except in passing, but Lucy went over to check on her regularly.
Jace rubbed a hand over his face and shrugged. “Fuck if I know, man. She’s not crying as much lately, so I guess she’s doing better. She doesn’t talk to me about it, though. But Gray said she’s getting there. Slowly but surely.”
“So you’re really okay with the whole Gray and Kassa being together thing?”
He clenched his jaw, his eyes filling with storm clouds for a moment before he blew out a breath and shrugged. “If there was anything Gray ever did right, it was take care of my sister. I trust him to keep her happy. But if he hurts her, I’m gonna need to hide a body really quick. You gonna help me with that shit?”
“Any time, any place, my brother.”
“And that’s why you’re my best friend,” he laughed. “You hungry? Kin’s supposed to meet me here later after the girls get done with whatever the hell they’re still doing for this wedding of yours, but she said she was eating with them.”
“I could eat,” I said with a shrug. “You want to order in and eat in my office, or go down the street?”
“Whatever, man, I’m not picky.”
Since I had some paperwork, I led him into my office and tossed him a few menus to choose from while I worked.
After making the call for our dinner, he sat back in the chair in front of my desk, playing with his phone. “If you ask me, I can’t figure out how come they still have more stuff to sort out for this wedding. It’s been seven months of nonstop planning. Kin even stayed behind during my tour to help Lucy with it. What else do they gotta do?”
“We still have to get our tuxes sorted, and Lucy said there were a lot of little things that still have to be decided on.” I grimaced. “She doesn’t really include me in most of it. And when we’re alone, we don’t even talk about it much. She said when she’s home, she doesn’t want to think about planning the wedding. And I’ve respected that.” I just wished she would talk to me more. I could feel how tense she was even when she wasn’t discussing the wedding, and it worried me day and night that she refused to tell me what was bothering her.
My friend frowned. “So you don’t know what’s going on with your own wedding?”
“I know the important things. The place, the time, and that I’ll have the most beautiful bride in the fucking world walking down the aisle to me. I told her and Nat that I didn’t give two shits about the rest of the stuff.”
His dark blond brows lifted toward the ceiling. “But you do, though, don’t you?”
“Not enough to ruin this for Lucy,” I told him honestly. “She and the moms have been having fun planning everything, from what I’ve seen. They’re bonding, and they’re all happy. That’s all that matters to me.”
Jace was quiet for a long while, seeming to think that over for a few minutes while I took care of the paperwork. Then he shrugged it off and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, now that things have calmed down with Kassa, and I’ve recovered from the summer tour, let’s talk about the most important part of all. Your bachelor party.”
I groaned in annoyance, but we both knew I was just as excited as he was for whatever he was planning for the party. “All right, get it over with. Let’s hear it, then.”
“I can sum it up in five words. Me, you, the boys, Vegas.”
I scratched my chin. “You’ve caught my attention.”
“A full weekend of drinking, gambling, having fun. And no girls. No Lucy. No Kin…or Kassa or fucking Angie.”
“Speaking of the girls, what does Kin have planned for Lucy’s bachelorette?” As excited as I was for my own party, I’d have been lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about what Kin was going to do for Lucy’s.
“She hasn’t said a single word to me about it. I’ve asked, and she said it was a surprise. Said I would blab to you, and Lucy would end up finding out. And I quote, ‘you’re a fucking gossip queen when you get with Harris Cutter. I’m not telling you shit.’ End quote.” He slouched down in his chair and glared up at the ceiling distractedly. “Redheads are the fucking devil, man.”
I watched him for a moment, seeing the tension in his face, the darkness in his blue eyes. Jace and I hadn’t been hanging out nearly as much as we used to before his summer tour with Tainted Knights, so I didn’t know when or even why there was this new desolate tension in my friend.
“Everything okay with you and Kin?” I asked, shooting in the dark since I had no clue what was going on with him lately.
He tossed his phone in the air and caught it. “Kin’s great.”
My brows lifted, and I dropped my pen on the desk. “But you aren’t?”
The phone was tossed in the air again and caught over and over again, but the expression on his face never changed. “I’ve been better.”
“Want to talk?”
He caught the phone one more time before dropping his hand into his lap and shaking his head. “Nah, man.”
I shrugged. “Okay, but you know I’m here if you ever want to unload, man.”
“Ah, thanks. I really need a big, strong shoulder to cry on right now.” Jace snorted out a laugh, and I flipped him off. “I know, Harris. I know. Thanks anyway. But this is shit I gotta take care of on my own. I made this mess, and I’ll clean it up.”
That only had my eyes narrowing. “What kind of mess?”
“One I’ll deal with.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Emmie know about this mess?”
“Nope. And I’m not telling her either. I said this is my mess. Topic closed, dickhead. Change it.”
“Fine. Please tell me my dad and Lucy’s aren’t invited to the bachelor party. If my dad is there, I won’t be able to relax and enjoy it. If Lu’s is there, I’ll probably end up dead by the end of the night if we do all the shit you want to do.”
“I look that stupid to you?” Jace smirked. “Stop pissing your pants, man. Pretty sure this golf thing is their idea of a bachelor party that includes them. You think Nat was actually going to let your dad see a bunch of strippers in Vegas with us anyway?”
“Nat’s not that controlling of Dad. And Layla used to be a stripper before she got custody of Lucy and her sister back in the day. She would have been cool with that. Shane and Drake, though? Nik? Those three would have been the ones pissing themselves, scared shitless their wives would find out where they were.”
“Yeah, well, if Kin finds out were gonna do the stripper thing, I’ll be pissing myself too. And Gray, he already said he wasn’t going with us if we do a strip club crawl.”
“Dude, I don’t care about strippers. I don’t really want to do that anyway.” In college, going to strip clubs every other weekend had been a thing I did with my friends. Fuck, I’d even gone to a few with Jenna a time or two. Now, that shit just didn’t hold any appeal for me. “Booze and gambling are all I need.”
“I’m gonna throw in a few other things, but I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the strippers.” He started tossing his phone like a baseball again. “You know where you’re going on your honeymoon yet?”
“If I tell you, you gonna tell Kin?” I didn’t want Lucy to know where I was taking her until after our reception. While she was planning our
My friend and best man glared at me as he caught his phone midair. “You too? Fuck you, man.”
I snorted. “Dude, you gossip to me like a drunk sorority girl. You couldn’t keep a secret to save your own life.”
“Trust me, man. I’ve been keeping plenty from my girl lately.”
“Fine, but if Lucy finds out, I’ll know who to kill.” I closed the inventory file that was on my computer and shut it down. “I’m taking her to Saint Lucia. I went to college with a guy whose father is a silent partner in one of the resorts there. He hooked me up with a villa, and once the honeymoon is over, they ship the bed we slept in home to us. It’s one of those handcrafted beds we can carve our names into.”
“Whoa,” he said with eyes as wide as saucers. “That’s romantic as fuck, man. Lucy’s gonna love that.”
“You think? I’m hoping she can unwind there for the two weeks I have planned. She deserves to be pampered after the circus the moms are turning the wedding into. Has Kin mentioned the cake to you?”
“The cake?” He frowned. “Why would the cake cause drama?”
“It’s in the shape of a castle.”
“And?”
“It’s taller than me.” I hadn’t seen the cake Nat and Layla had picked out without telling Lucy. I’d gotten a text with a picture of a demo of it the week before from Lu, with her standing beside the thing. At five feet six inches, she had looked miniature beside the monstrosity.