CHAPTER 30
“Morning, sleepyhead or should I say afternoon, but it’s more like evening now?” A shirtless Jay stood over the kitchen counter, tossing something in the skillet that smelled incredible.
It was around three in the afternoon.
The muscles and the bones in my body were well spent.
And I sported a limp, both from my fucked-up knee and the soreness between my thighs.
Because goddamn did he keep his promise last night.
I think I bit off more than I could chew, asking him to fuck me all night.
He delivered right till the morning when we made love as the sun rose before my body gave up.
And I loved every second of it. I had to suppress the smile waiting to spill out of my lips as I tried so hard to appear nonchalant.
“Afternoon,” I mumbled, darting straight to the coffee machine.
A tinge of shyness lingered there. I couldn’t believe we did all that. And I wasn’t even drunk to blame it on something.
His eyes followed me, darkening as they took me in. “I like you wearing my hoodie.”
The flush painting my cheeks deepened. “I was wearing it last night,” I said, quietly as I returned my attention to the coffee filling up my cup.
“Someone is shy this morning. Like you wouldn’t believe after all the things that came out of her mouth last night.”
I slapped my hand over his grinning mouth. “Shut up,” I hissed.
He shrugged. “It’s the truth,” he mumbled against my palm.
I rolled my eyes as I pulled off. I needed coffee. I was sure I was addicted to caffeine at this point.
“What are you making and isn’t Helen in yet?” I questioned, leaning against the counter.
“I’m making lunch, just some pasta I put together. And as for Helen, she doesn’t come in on the weekends. I’ve asked her to only come in three days a week since there isn’t much to do anyway.”
“The fuck,” I squealed, narrowing my eyes. “You made me come every single day, and you didn’t even need me.”
He smirked. “I might’ve liked watching you move your ass around in my kitchen like you owned it.”
My eyes widened as I fell short of words. “You’re cruel and so is Aimee. I thought you were an overbearing ass at one point.”
“I try to eat healthy to prep a month ahead for the tour.”
I nodded. “Helen did tell me that.”
He switched off the stove and closed the lid on the pasta. “Lunch?”
“Yes please.” I jumped into his arms which he held open for me.
“How sore are you?” he asked, planting a kiss on my cheek.
“Very,” I whined. “Very, very sore. I don’t think I’ll be able to fuck for another week.”
He groaned, burying his face in my neck. “Well, I waited for six years. I think I can wait six more days.”
A laugh rumbled out of me as I held him tight.
The lightness elated my heart.
Peace.
I finally felt at peace.
JAY
“Is it done?” Mikey snapped his attention from tuning his bass guitar from the floor of our den/studio space that we’ve set for ourselves a floor down from my penthouse.
It was all dark leather, red interiors, and low lighting.
A man cave, Lily called it.
“Yeah.” I released a sigh. “All done. Now we wait and watch.”
“Damn.” He grinned. “I’m excited to watch that bitch go down.”
I nodded. “As of tomorrow, they’ll have nothing to their names.”
Though Pacific White was already on the IRS’s shit list, I made Silas dig deeper out of suspicion a year ago when the rumors started to float around in the inner circles.
And damn, was I right, several flags were raised of numerous fraudulent behaviors. I’d been gathering dossiers worth of evidence for a year now. I was never going to let it see the light of day, but after what she did to my girl, I pulled some strings and gave an anonymous tip to the IRS.
And it worked out just fine.
I wanted her down.
Powerless.
Down to nothing.
So she wouldn’t dream of fucking with me again.
This was going to cause a huge dent in the company, and they would have no choice but to file for bankruptcy.
Though they won’t lose much of their wealth.
They would lose the thing that was most important to them.
Most important to her.
Status and power.
And she won’t have any of it when she came out the other side.
“Do you think it will affect us?” Mikey lifted a brow.
“Nah, our papers are all clean. They might pull us in for a few questions, but that’s not likely. John promised it wouldn’t come down to that.” John was the head of our legal team, and he was a tenacious motherfucker who was the best in the country.
“Fuck,” Matt cursed, tossing his laptop to the side.
“No luck?” Mikey scoffed.
Matt shook his head. “I can’t seem to find anything.”
“You know Katy will have your ass if you don’t decide on something. The event is only two weeks away.” Mikey gave him a pointed look.
“I know,” Matt groaned. “I asked her to do it, but she said quote ‘It’s your vision, your dream so you have to name it.’”
Mikey broke out in a chuckle. “She’s right.”
“Yeah, she is,” I added.
“Well, you fuckers won’t help me either.”
“It’s your label, asshole, you have to name it.” Mikey rolled his eyes.
“How have the shelter visits been going?” I asked.
The annoyance in his eyes was replaced by softness. “Good. Man, there were a lot of excited kids wanting to learn music. Found this one kid, though. He’s got raw talent. Plays the guitar like a pro, reminds me of Emmie as a kid.”
This was his real passion. Yes, we still loved creating music, but making a business out of it was never really Matty’s dream. His huge-ass heart wanted to help everyone.
“Whoa, that good, huh?” Mikey asked.
“Yeah,” Matt grumbled. “He’s rough, though, too arrogant, not focused, and needs a lot of work. But I have this feeling he’ll make it big one day.”
“Good luck with that.” Mikey set aside his bass and rose to his feet as he walked over to the bar. “Have you all heard from that fucker, Lan?”
“Nope, the asshole’s been MIA.” I leaned over the couch.
“Yeah, I haven’t spoken to him either. Katy hardly mentions him but then she’s knee-deep with everything that went down. It’s been stressing her out.” Lines wrinkled the corner of Matt’s eyes. He was concerned about her. To be honest, we all were. I’d never seen Katy this sad.
“Do you have any idea what’s wrong with him?” Mikey questioned, pouring himself two shots of frozen vodka.
“No clue. But I swear I’ll kick that motherfucker’s ass soon if he continues this act.” Matt’s jaw clenched tight and I could feel the anger simmering inside him.
“I just wish they moved here too. I’m not sure why they’re hanging on to LA like a sorry-ass losers,” Matt mumbled as he grabbed his laptop again. He was pulling on his hair, cursing as he searched for a name.
I was pretty sure it was going to be a never-ending task for him. He’d been at it for months and hadn’t even narrowed down a few prospects. Katy had been on his ass because the sooner they registered and got the name out, the sooner the label would be brought to life.
“So has E taken your sorry ass back?” Mikey chirped, downing his drink and slamming it down the island.
“Yeah.” I grinned as my mind flashed to my girl. I just saw her this morning, woke up to her hair all over my face and the smell of citrus and vanilla seeping straight to my cock.
Damn, she was beautiful.
And she was all mine.
“Fuck, there goes my chance with E,” Mikey stated, clearly a joke from the look on his face because if it wasn’t, he knew I would’ve rearranged it.
I sighed as I thought about her again.
God, I missed her already. It’d been a week since our date on the rooftop. And ever since then, we’d been inseparable, almost like old times.
She was the missing part of my soul, and I was hers.
I couldn’t believe I spent six years without her by my side.
“I’m leaving.” I grabbed my car keys.
“She’s going to be mad if you ruin her coffee date,” Mikey called out, but I flipped him as I rushed out. The girls and Gabe were having brunch, and hence I was stuck here with these assholes. They’d been at it for well over two hours now so it was the perfect time to pick my girl up.
EVY
A series of beeps sounded off Katy’s phone, interrupting our conversation about whether NYC-style pizza or Chicago deep dish was the best. It was mostly a debate between Katy and Gabe while Lily and I added neutral statements because if we picked a side, we knew that it would be the end of us.
“A minute.” Katy held up a finger, frowning as she fiddled through her phone which still didn’t stop going off.
A tinge of worry started to swirl through my stomach. “Is everything okay?” I watched Katy bite her unpainted lips; her brows furrowed with deep concentration as she read whatever was displayed on her phone.
I sighed. Katy looked worse with each passing day. Never in all my time with her had I seen her out in a restaurant in her sweats, sporting a messy ponytail.
She always looked perfect, so this was so unlike her. It worried me and Lily.
“Pacific White has filed for bankruptcy. There are several claims of tax fraud among a few other things,” Katy mumbled, stunned.
“What?” Lily shrieked. “Show me.” She grabbed the phone away from Katy.
“Wait.” Gabe waved a hand. “Isn’t that the label the bitch owns?”
“Whoa.” Lily’s violet eyes widened. “It says, ‘Pacific White, a label that’s been in the game for the past fifteen years having signed some of the big names like Four Foxes, have been accused of serious tax infringement among other claims. One serious claim is that they have abused their smaller artists with illegal contracts and failed to pay their royalties. The label seems guilty as it has just announced it is filing for bankruptcy and will no longer hold the rights or the reputation in the music industry. We also have news that the Four Foxes have terminated their contract with the label and cut all ties with them months ago, but the band is yet to make a statement on this matter.’”
“What does that mean?” Though I understood to some extent, all this legal jargon was lost on me.
“It means the label is done, for good. It means that she’s done.” A real smile spread across Katy’s lips, one that I haven’t seen in a while.
“Does that mean we get to celebrate?” Gabe clapped excitedly while Lily rolled her eyes.
“Yes,” Katy chirped, smacking her fists on the table.
I smiled as I watched those two.
I didn’t know how to feel about all this. The fact that White has gone down for good. Although it was something I’d dreamed of these past six years, I realized that wishing for someone’s demise ate me away.
I didn’t feel a thing because it didn’t matter.
They say when you planned for revenge, you needed to dig a grave for yourself. I believed the same could be said for holding on to the hatred and waiting for them to hit the ground.
What really needed to be understood was that bad people would always go down in the end. It wasn’t my job to sit and dwell on it.
What I should’ve done was focused on myself. Instead of wishing for the version of the girl I used to be, I should’ve grown into the version I could be.
The epiphany was rooted deep in my bones.
In the end, the only thing that mattered was me.
And that was the lesson I needed to learn.
Though, my ego would admit that it felt so fucking good to punch her fake nose off her face.
My phone vibrated on the table.
Jay–Let’s go, I’m outside.
My eyes dragged to the full-blown window, and a familiar obsidian sports car was parked outside.
Evy–You can’t just make demands. I’m out with my friends.
Jay–Would you come out if I said please?
I had to suppress the smile starting to curve up my lips.
Lily slid a knowing glance my way, gesturing to the car. “Is that my brother?”
“Yes,” I mumbled, putting my phone away. “I’m trying to be stronger when it comes to him. If he wants to see me, he’ll have to wait.”
Lily scoffed. “I bet you’re going to be running out of here in like five minutes.”
“No, I’m not,” I said, shrugging out a breath. “Am I?”
Lily nodded. “You so are.”
Loud, boisterous laughter came in from beside us. Lily and I both sighed as we watched Katy and Gabe forget all about their earlier heated debate over pizzas to plan an elaborate celebratory party with pi?atas shaped like White that they could hit over and over again.
My attention snapped back to the table as my phone pinged with an incoming text once again.
Jay–If you don’t come out in five minutes, I’ll personally come inside and escort you out.
Panic filled my blood. I didn’t want him to come in here, at all.
Evy–No, don’t. I don’t want to be seen with you.
Jay–You do realize everyone wants to be seen with me, right?
Evy–That’s everyone, not me.
Jay–Four minutes and ticking, sweetheart.
Fuck. I planned to be strong another day as I shot off the chair.
“I told you so.” Lily smiled, shaking her head.
“Yeah, your brother’s being an ass. I have to go, guys.” I hugged Gabe quickly while I kissed the girls goodbye. I crouched down to gather my purse, which was wide open for some reason.
Frowning, I closed the zipper. I was pretty sure it was closed when I dropped it on the floor.
But I didn’t have time to dwell on it as I dashed out.
“Go get some dick, Evy. You deserve it,” Gabe hollered followed by giggles from the girls.
Absolute mortification filled my blood. I was sure everyone in the vicinity heard him.
I was so going to punch him in the face the next time I saw him.
I ran out of the restaurant like my ass was on fire and slid inside the car.
My ragged breath got robbed by a pair of soft lips that kissed me silly. I was almost all out of oxygen in my lungs when he finally pulled away.
It took me a moment to place my thoughts. The car reverbed under me as we sped out.
I turned to peer at him. His wrist was slung casually on the steering wheel while his eyes were shaded by a pair of gold-trimmed Ray-Bans.
“Why does he have to look so hot?” I muttered to myself.
He grinned, molding his eyes over my pink sundress. The heat from his gaze sent tingles of electricity down my body. I squirmed, averting my gaze. “Any reason you kidnapped me when I was actually having a good time with my friends?”
His warmth engulfed my hand, lacing his fingers as he pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. “Is ‘I miss you’ a good enough reason?”
I released a heavy exhale. “You just saw me like two hours ago, Jay. Don’t you think it’s a bit too excessive?”
“I don’t care.” He lifted a shoulder. “I lost you for almost six years. I don’t want to waste a single second with you.”
I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the plush bucket seat. “You’re going to get bored of me soon.”
“Never.” His eyes never strayed from the road ahead.
“What if I get bored?”
He curved his brow. “Then I’ll unbore you.”
“That’s not even a word.” I scoffed. “Did you hear the news about White and the label?”
The playful expression disappeared from his face. “Yes,” he replied, stiffly.
The pump of the blood in my heart spiked up a notch. Was he bothered by that? “Did you not like how it all went down?”
Wrinkles shaped in the middle of his brows. “What do you mean?”
I tilted my head, shrugging. “Are you upset by the news?”
“Why the fuck would I be upset? She got what she deserved. The entire label did.”
“Well, you had a weird look on your face. You still do. Wait, it doesn’t look like you’re affected by it more like elated from the news.” My eyes turned to slits. “What did you do?”
A visible sigh left his lips. “I might’ve had something to do with adding to their charges.”
Stunned silence sat between us. “Why would you do that?”
“Did you think I was going to let her go that easy after what she did to you, to us?”
“Does she know?”
He raised a shoulder, squeezing my hand. “I don’t know. They might have some suspicion, but they can never confirm it.”
“What does that mean for them?”
“Not much, they’ll be out of business. No one’s going to trust them anymore, all their status and power gone.”
“Isn’t it scary? How everything just vanishes overnight,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, but they had it coming. It wasn’t like they built it all with good intentions. Even if I hadn’t interfered, they were going down anyway. I just sped up the inevitable.”
“I thought you were a fucking rock star, but you’re acting like some Mafia lord.”
A chuckle spilled out of his lips. “Money brings in a lot of power and power brings in a lot of connections. I’ve made use of my position. I’m grateful to be at this place in my life.”
We pulled up at Blueline’s private parking down the basement. “Why the hell have you brought me here?”
“Anywhere else you want to be?”
“You can’t assume that I always want to end up at your place,” I said as he pulled me out of the car. “I’ve only been dating you for a week now.”
He brought me to his side as we entered the elevator. “A week or a year, you are my girl, and I want you with me all the time.”
I tsked, folding my arms. “We are just dating, Jay, and just for a week no less. You’re still not my boyfriend.”
He crowded me, smacking my back against the mirror. “You didn’t complain when you were begging for my cock last night.”
Fuck. I licked my lips as my heart started to thud an erratic beat.
My purse dropped on the floor as he crashed his lips with mine. I groaned into his mouth that was clamped over mine, his tongue dancing with mine. Heavy. Hard. And deep.
His fingers twirled through my hair, almost pulling it off the roots as he held me captive in his carnal kiss.
“Well, don’t stop on my account.”
My heart thundered, burning cheeks as I pushed away from Jay.
“What the fuck are you doing on the elevator that is going up to my house?”
Mikey shrugged, wearing a pair of old sweats and flip-flops. “I’m bored, Matt’s an eyesore, I swear I can’t see him anymore, and Katy’s out, so I thought I’d go look at something pretty.”
Jay raised a brow as we entered the apartment.
“Obviously not you. I’m talking about E.” Mikey slid his arm over my shoulders and dragged me down the TV room past a raging Jay fuming with anger.
I laughed as I went along with it. “I was just telling him how he wasn’t my boyfriend.”
“Yes, fuck.” Mikey high-fived me. “Atta girl, E.”
“I’m one second away from throwing your uninvited ass out,” Jay steeled as he followed us.
“Mikey, don’t mind him. I didn’t want to be invited, but he dragged me here anyway.”
Mikey fake gasped, slapping a palm over his mouth. “The best advice I could give you, E, is to leave him. Trust me, that motherfucker doesn’t deserve you.”
“I know that very well.” Jay clasped his hand around my wrist and wrenched me into his arms. My head landed on a soft thud on his chest as he eased us onto the couch.
“So when will you be leaving?” Jay asked, the exasperation evident in his tone.
Mikey gave an innocent wide-eyed look. “I just got here. You can’t just throw your guest out. That’s rude.”
“You’re getting on my last fucking nerve, asshole.”
“That’s exactly what I was expecting,” Mikey countered.
Jay heaved a breath, locking his arms around me. I maneuvered myself higher up and stretched out my knee, which was killing me.
And Jay as always noticed the slight grimace. His strong hand circled my knee, pressing smooth strokes.
“Is your knee bothering you again?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips as he pressed on. God, that felt so good. “I just need to ice and rest it. I’ll be fine.”
His hand lifted. “I’ll go get the ice.”
“You stay,” Mikey insisted. “You guys seemed settled in. I’ll go get it.”
Jay nodded, continuing to knead my knee.
I sighed, happily sinking into him.
“Good?” he mumbled, planting a soft kiss on the pulse thumping on my neck.
“Hmm,” I whispered, running my hand along his arm.
“Here you go,” Mikey walked in, handing me an ice bag and some ibuprofen.
“Thank you.”
“What happened to your knee?” Mikey questioned, a cornered frown marring his face.
“She broke it six years ago.” Jay sighed heavily, pressing the ice bag slowly. “She came up to visit me in LA but got robbed by some fucker.”
“I wasn’t robbed,” I muttered. “They only said it was a robbery, but I had everything on me. Though they still ruled it out as robbery.”
“Wait a damn minute.” Mikey held up his hand. “In LA? Six years ago? Wait, you actually came that night.”
Jay’s hand froze on the ice pack. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I nodded, a sad smile spreading across my lips. “Yeah, it was right after Auntie died. I tried calling all of you, but for some reason, I couldn’t get through to any of you except for Mikey’s. Even then it would only ring, and he never picked up. But after her funeral, I didn’t care about White’s threats anymore and just wanted to see you. I found out you guys were playing at the Bluebird, but the security guard wouldn’t let me in. But thankfully, Mikey’s call wired through, and he asked me to wait by the back door. My hope was only short-lived, the second I saw him peek outside the door, two men were dragging me down the alley. They didn’t say a thing as they smacked me around. It only lasted for like a minute before they ran away. The pain was unbearable, and the last thing I remembered was sending a voicemail to Jay, I was sure he would come as I lost consciousness. But I only woke up in a hospital room with a kind nurse staring at me and two policemen accusing me of not admitting to the robbery.”
Tense silence crisped the room. The anger radiating from those two was palpable.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Jay bit out.
Mikey shook his head, the usual mirth in his eyes was replaced by a deadly look that almost sent shivers down my body. “I did tell you, fucker. The first person I told was you but you were as high as a kite, laughing it off. I was knee-deep looking after your sorry ass that I almost missed the call, but I didn’t see her that day, and her phone kept going straight to voicemail. So the incident outside of Bluebird was you? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why?” Jay asked.
“I remember that day; the whole thing outside the venue caused a huge ruckus, and we even had to delay the show. There wasn’t much news except that a fan got robbed outside. But I couldn’t brush off the fear that it could somehow be E, so I checked the records and contacted the authorities. I only calmed down when they confirmed that it wasn’t you. I even went to LA General, and they told me they didn’t have any patient called Evelyn.”
“What?” I muttered in disbelief. “That’s impossible. I was there. I spent about two months in that hospital.”
“The fuck is going on here?” Mikey cursed under his breath.
“I always thought White had something to do with it. She had a lot of connections in LA.”
“Maybe.” Mikey scrubbed a hand over his face. “But I recall that day very well, and she wasn’t there.”
“Still doesn’t mean she never found out about it.”
“Man.” Mikey leaned back, tilting his eyes to the ceiling. “That’s fucked up. I wonder what more that bitch is capable of.”
“Yeah, it’s a weird turn of events.”
Jay pulled me tighter into his arms. “I even asked Silas to look into this, but he couldn’t find a thing. But I’ll ask him to dig deeper. I want to know who the fuck did this to you.”
“Who’s Silas?”
“He’s my friend. He runs the best cyber tech and security firm in the country.”
“Oh,” I mumbled. “Like important people from the Alacteon Club?”
“Yes, sweetheart like important people from the Alacteon Club.” He kissed the side of my head, though his tone sounded mocking.
“You took E to the club?” Mikey snickered, the mischievousness back in his eyes again.
“Yes, asshole, but it’s time for you to leave, or I’ll have the immense pleasure of handing your ass to you.”
“What!? Am I not staying for dinner.” Mikey frowned.
“Get the fuck out now.”
“Fine, but don’t come crying back that you miss me,” he joked, laughing as he walked out. “You kids practice safe sex; I don’t want to be an uncle this soon.”
Heat blazed the tip of my nose.
Jay threw a pillow down his disappearing back while the asshole laughed louder.
“So what do you say?” Jay caught my earlobe between his lips.
“About what?” I mumbled, the electricity from his touch swimming straight between my thighs.
“Shall we practice some safe sex?”
“Jay, we can’t keep having sex all the time,” I protested weakly. I didn’t even know why I did it because I fucking wanted him now.
“We have six years to make up for.”
I swallowed. “Fine,” I said, tuning my voice as strong as I could. “But you’re still not my boyfriend.”
“How about I show you how much of a boyfriend material I can be?”
“Yes,” I agreed, anticipation and need crowding my blood.
And he did just that.
All night long.