17. Hayat
Chapter Seventeen
Hayat
Abi bit her thumbnail as she paced in front of me, her eyes stuck to mine, but all I could do was attempt to process everything she’d just confessed. It sounded like some crazy action movie that would have a kick-ass opening weekend at the box office, but it had been my friend’s reality.
“While you were stalking Professor Hotpants, he was stalking you too,” I repeated. She nodded. “Like, he had cameras in your dorm room and was pretending to be a professor, when in reality, he’s, what, some mafia prince?”
“Yup,” she muttered, tears filling her eyes. Her red hair was in limp tangles around her shoulders. She’d showered throughout the past week, but it just looked dry and brittle for some reason. Her skin was looking off too. I’d put it down to her exhaustion and whatever trauma she’d experienced, but it was taking me a minute to fully understand what she’d told me.
“That new friend you recently made, Sammy, who knows Uncle Lyric, is his sister? And she’s a mafia princess with Daddy Warbucks money who lives in what would be considered America’s idea of a palace, complete with secret service and safe rooms?” Abi kept pacing and nodding. “And all that hot dream-sex you’ve been having has actually been ‘Professor’ Vaughn sneaking into your room.”
Tears spilled down her face when I said his name. “It was really good sex. I never imagined sex was that much fun.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, ducking my head. My own first experience had been wild and crazy fun. My vajayjay was still feeling the pounding that Ky had given me after Jamie had stretched me out for him. But damn if I wasn’t excited for the next time I got to have a little fun with my guys. I kept thinking about Sparks and his fascination with my ass, and the random texts he kept sending me. Pictures of the plugs he promised he was going to put in my remaining virgin hole while he fucked my pussy.
Clearing my throat, I mentally shoved those naughty thoughts into a box to play with later. Right now, Abi needed my full attention.
“And that sex was completely consensual, right?”
“Yes! Absolutely.” Abi was vehement in her answer, making me hold up my hands in surrender.
“Okay, okay. I just need to be clear on that part, babe. You were having your sleep-drunk episodes, and some people might consider that…” I trailed off with a shrug, letting her fill in the blank. “But as long as you were on board with all that, then no judgment.”
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispered, finally stopping in front of her dad’s favorite chair and sinking down. A sob choked out of her, cutting me in two. “And now Aunt Emmie is telling me that we’re married? How?”
“Yeah, that’s crazy. Whoever filed that bogus marriage certificate would have had to bypass Mieke’s cyber security, not to mention forge your signature.” I sat down on the coffee table in front of her, taking her hands in mine. “What are you going to tell your parents?”
Scrubbing at the wetness on her face, she shook her head. “I have no idea. It’s going to be hard to drop something like that on them. ‘Hey, Mom, so I fell in love with my history professor this semester. But he wasn’t really a professor. He was this really hot, much older than me, Russian-Italian mafia prince. Was being the operative word since he’s dead now. It’s okay, though, because somehow, I’m now his wife. Yeah, I’m kind of Mrs. Christian Victor Vaughn. Well, great talk. Hope you have a fun time in Australia.’”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, so I’m not going to be telling them any of that. At least not yet. Maybe I can wait until they get back from tour.”
“As long as Mieke can keep the media from getting wind of the marriage, then you could potentially take that little secret to the grave,” I offered in an attempt to soothe her anxiety.
Biting her lip, she nodded, staring down at her hands for a long moment. In my gut, I knew she was still keeping something back, but at a glance, I could tell she was barely holding on to her sanity with her fingernails. Understandable, considering that the man she was in love with had died the same day he’d told her he loved her. Abi didn’t know the full details of how he’d been killed since she’d been locked in a safe room with Vaughn’s dad, but she’d been told it was Sammy who had killed him.
On the list of reasons for ending a friendship, having a friend kill your boyfriend kind of topped them all.
Which made me think that having a relationship with Kyrie Renchford shouldn’t even bother Maddie by comparison.
I could hope, at least.
Pulling my sleep shirt over my head, leaving me in my sports bra, I used it to clean up all the tears and the tiny bit of snot on Abi’s beautiful face. “I know this has been hard on you. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that on your own. Fuck, babe, I’m sorry you had to deal with it at all.”
“I-I feel a little better, finally telling you.” She flopped back against the plush cushions of the chair. “I guess I was still in shock over losing him. Sorry I didn’t tell you about any of this sooner.”
“You have nothing to apologize to me for.” More tears spilled, but I only wiped them with my shirt. “I will never judge you, Abi. It’s your life. I’m just happy to be part of it.”
“Hayat, you’re my person. There’s no one who can replace you.” She threw her arms around my neck, another sob tearing out of her throat. “I love you so much.”
Emotion stinging my eyes, I hugged her back. “Love you too, babe.”
I thought she would be too drained after the insanity of the morning, but she insisted we still go to First Bass that night. After texting my guys in our group chat to let them know I would be at the club, I put my phone in my pocket and drove into the city. Abi appeared to have a little more color to her cheeks than she’d had all week, so I was hopeful that introducing her to my three rockers would go well.
Instead of parking in the employee area, I turned my car over to the valet, ignoring the flashing of cameras and the calls of the paparazzi who were always camping across the street from the entrance to my dad’s club. They called out to Abi, then to me.
“Hayat!” Some of them yelled, while others tried to force a reaction by shouting at me, “Havoc! Over here! Hey, Havoc, give us a smile.”
I wanted to give them the finger, but I’d spent my entire life learning to center myself and blocking out the demands of the vultures who lived off getting a few random pictures of celebrities and making up stories to go with them. I took Abi’s hand, and we linked fingers as we bypassed the long line waiting to get inside.
“Hayat.” Tiny, who was working the front door, gave us a nod, stepping aside so we could enter. His name was definitely ironic, given his height. He’d worked as the head of security for First Bass since the club opened. Even as a kid, I’d been in awe of his size, but then my baby brother had come along, and now Evan was even taller than Tiny. Evan just didn’t have the muscle mass the security expert used to intimidate and keep patrons in line. “Abi.”
“Hi, Tiny,” Abi greeted with a small smile.
“We’ve missed you around here, little one.”
“Ah, you’re so sweet. I missed you too.” She blew him a kiss, but I pulled her through the door and toward the VIP.
Friday nights were always busy. Nate usually worked the bar up there on his own. When he wasn’t, it took at least three other staff members to fill in for him. I spotted him behind the bar and caught his gaze as we worked our way through the crowd of VIPs. To get on this floor, there was a price to pay. If you weren’t close to my family, then you had a required membership fee to get upstairs at First Bass.
Nate smirked at me, turning to hit the blender on the virgin strawberry daiquiris that Abi and I always ordered.
“He saw us coming,” I told Abi, glancing around in hopes of seeing any of my guys. I wanted to check my phone to see if they had replied, but I didn’t want to be too obvious to my bestie yet.
“No, he saw you coming,” Abi corrected. “Did your hair get even curlier while I was at school?” She twirled one of my ringlets around her fingers as we walked, something she’d always done. Maybe it was a security blanket kind of thing, something she’d done without realizing it to calm herself when she was feeling overwhelmed. Or maybe she just couldn’t bear not to touch me. Either way, I loved when she did it.
I’d noticed my guys doing it a few times.
By the time we reached Nate, he was pouring the drink into two glasses already on the bar top before adding whipped cream and sliced fresh berries on top for garnish. He grinned at Abi. “It’s good to have you back. This one gets into way too much trouble when you’re not around.”
Abi laughed weakly, but it was a hell of a lot better than the sobbing she’d been doing earlier in the day. Thankful for the small sign that her grieving heart was hopefully mending, I turned to the bartender/assistant manager. “The amount of trouble I get into doesn’t go up or down according to whether or not my bestie is in town.” I tapped him playfully on the nose.
He was a good-looking man, around my dad’s age, and covered in ink. His wife, Riley, was a big part of the Tainted Knights side of my family since her best friend was married to one of the bass players of the band, Cash. Nate and Riley didn’t have kids, but they were Cash and Amara’s two kids’ godparents, which they said was all the parental responsibility they wanted.
“Strongly disagree,” Nate argued. “I don’t have nearly as much paperwork to deal with when Abi is here. She’s been home for what, five days? And I haven’t had to kick a single person out of here since she’s been back. That’s a new record, cupcake.”
It had been longer than five days since he’d had to throw anyone out because of me. The last time was Hamel when I interrupted Autumn’s Slumber’s audition, and that was only after Dad and Jace had kinda sorta beat the shit out of the asshole. Which had been at least three weeks ago.
“Why do I put up with you?” I grumbled, taking a sip of my drink.
“Because this place would go to hell in two point three seconds without me,” he reminded me with another smirk.
A group beside us caught his attention, and he started pouring drinks for them. “You two be good,” he warned as he got back to work.
“I can’t make any promises,” I called after him, watching Abi pop a slice of strawberry into her mouth. It was probably the first thing she’d eaten all day, despite me cooking meals for her earlier.