24. Ky
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ky
Hayat’s fingers were covered in syrup when her phone’s screen lit up. Seeing her brother’s name, she groaned, sucking her thumb into her mouth. Sparks grabbed her other hand, licking away the maple goodness from each finger. Her eyes blazed at him, but she giggled, using her now-clean thumb to answer the call. Jamie picked up the device, placing it to her ear.
And I had to sit there, at the end of our round booth, watching them flirt and tease her. Those aquamarine eyes that fucking owned me barely glancing my way all during brunch in our quiet, hidden booth so we didn’t have to deal with speculating eyes.
“What’s up, brat?” she answered, picking up another piece of bacon with her free hand since Jamie was still holding her phone in place. “You’re home? Where are Bentley and Sixx?” She rolled her eyes. “Did they at least drop you off at home? Good. I don’t want you alone with Ali at the moment… Because Sixx is a psychotic idiot. I don’t want him doing to you the same thing he did to the creeper Friday night… Ugh! This is not up for debate. I will personally take out one of your kneecaps if you don’t listen to me, Evan!”
She chomped angrily on another slice of crispy bacon. “No, I’m not coming home tonight. I’m staying with friends.” Sparks, Jamie, and I all grumbled our displeasure. Friends? We were a hell of a lot more than that. But I got it. She wanted to wait for the right time to disclose to those who mattered most to her that we were in a relationship. “I have a meeting with Uncle Shane in the morning, so I’m staying close to the office. That way, I don’t have to rush in the morning. We’re discussing business stuff for Autumn’s Slumber. Yeah, yeah. Just tell Mom what I told you. It’s not rocket science, Evan.”
I cut a piece of waffle from my own plate, making sure it had whipped cream and berries in it. She’d devoured her own earlier before starting on the scrambled eggs and bacon. Leaning across Jamie, I lifted it to her mouth. She hesitated before accepting the bite. While she chewed, she grunted. “I don’t ask you about the girls you dick around and drop as soon as they start clinging, Evan. It’s none of your business which of my friends I’m spending the night with… Abi is fine. She has Ali there, and their parents will be home soon. Did you call to interrogate me?” Her eyes narrowed on the table, as if she were picturing her baby brother’s face and slamming a drumstick on top of his head. “I’m going to pretend like you’re not a total idiot, baby bro. Because if I let myself remember how smart you are, I’m likely to smash your face in with a basketball the next time I see you. Bye, asshole. Love you.”
Leaning her head away, she let Jamie know she was done with the conversation. He hung up and dropped the phone on the table facedown.
“Brothers are annoying,” she complained, using her napkin to wipe her mouth.
Our waiter dropped off our bill. I placed my black AMEX card on top before he could ask if there was anything else we needed, his gaze glued to how Sparks was still sucking on Hayat’s fingers. Slapping my hand on the table caused the guy to jump back a step.
“That will be all,” I groused, cutting another bite of my waffles to feed to my girl.
But when I lifted my fork to her lips, she shied away. “I’m stuffed. If I eat anything else, my stomach is going to pop.”
“Finish your juice, goddess,” Sparks urged. “Then we want to show you where we practice.”
Her eyes danced with excitement. “Why am I just hearing about this now? That is definitely something you should have led with.” Her brow puckered. “Ugh, the drums were Hamel’s, weren’t they? I’m going to have to get mine moved in.”
“We can get that taken care of this week,” I assured her.
“Pop-Pop and Poppy will help me. I don’t trust just anyone with my babies.” She gulped down her juice, placing the glass on the table just as the waiter returned with my card and the receipt.
I scribbled a gratuity and my signature before standing. Jamie slid out, and we both held our hands out to Hayat as she followed. Her soft fingers slid into Jamie’s first, then more hesitantly into mine. A knot formed in my stomach, but I knew I’d fucked up. It was going to take a while before she trusted me with her heart again.
But I wasn’t going to give up. What I’d said to her had been harsh, but hopefully not unforgivable.
Sparks stood behind her, stroking his hand down her spine. Glancing at him over her shoulder, she gave him a smile that made my breath catch. I’d give anything to have her look at me like that.
Back at Carver Towers, we stopped the elevator on the floor directly below the penthouse. We’d turned the entire level into a soundproof practice room. Sometimes we shot videos for our social accounts in there, but mostly, it was where we practiced the cover songs we played for gigs and worked on the songs Sparks and I wrote. Sometimes Jamie collaborated with us, but words weren’t his thing. He was amazing on the bass, but he preferred not to be a part of the creative process, unless it was to suggest where a bass solo would be good.
Holding Jamie’s hand, she walked around, examining the guitars and the microphones we had set up, along with the amps and the computers we used to adjust anything we recorded. After a few minutes, she finally walked over to where the drums Hamel used were set up. Her nose wrinkled as she touched the snare, her feet shifting away from the pedals on the floor with disgust when she sat on the throne.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she glowered at Jamie, then over to Sparks. Briefly, her pretty eyes flickered over me before going back to Sparks. “How many of your groupies have been in here?”
He moved behind her, his hands gripping the back of her neck to tip her head back, a grin on his face. “No groupies, goddess.”
“Fuck buddies, then,” she grumbled.
“Zero,” Jamie answered. “This is a band-member-only area. Until you, it was a boys-only club. You’re the first girl.”
“And last,” I vowed, joining them.
She rolled her eyes at that before checking out different angles. “I could mount a camera there,” she pointed. “And there. I try to record new Havoc material every day if possible. With a few extra cameras in strategic places, we could get enough content for Maddie to use. It will help her out since she’s going to be handling Autumn’s Slumber’s social media. With the right placement, it will just record us from the chest down, so we don’t have to worry about masks and makeup every time we practice.”
“Whatever you think is best, goddess,” Sparks said, kissing the top of her head. “When do you want to get your drum set in here? Give me a day and time, and we can rent a moving truck to get it here safely.”
Hayat shrugged. “Let’s get through tomorrow, and then I’ll talk to my grandfathers. I would like their help packing everything up. Some of my set is really expensive, but there are a few pieces that are sentimental. Having their help would make me feel more comfortable.” Picking up a drumstick, she twirled it between her fingers. “And while we’re at it, I’ll introduce you three to them.”
Sparks and Jamie looked straight at me. All three of us had huge eyes. “You want to introduce us to Jesse Thornton?” Jamie clarified.
She nodded, lightly tapping the drumstick to a rhythm that was familiar but I couldn’t name because a whirlwind was swirling around in my brain. Her hands moved like magic, creating sounds that should have no rhyme or reason, but opened the creative part of my mind, made me want to put words to paper. For her. With her. Because of her.
“As your band members?” Sparks asked quietly.
“Poppy already knows I’m a member of Autumn’s Slumber,” she said, still lightly beating out the song.
“As friends?” I asked. “That’s what you told your brother earlier. That you were staying with ‘friends.’”
She huffed, her eyes rolling hard, the sarcasm thick in her voice. “Yeah, because the first person I want to tell about my relationship with you three is my baby brother. Evan may look like our dad, but he’s a lot more like our godfather, Jace. Neither of them can keep a secret to save their lives. No, the first person I would normally tell something this fundamental about my life would be Abi. Then Poppy.” She smiled to herself, tucking a few ringlets behind her ears. “But Abi is going through a lot right now. She’s only just starting to cope with the new changes in her life. So, that leaves Poppy.”
Sucking her bottom lip between her lips, she kept tapping with her drumsticks, as if the song she was playing soothed her. “I mean… Well, if you guys are ready. Maybe I’m wrong. We can wait, if that’s what you want. I’m okay with that, if you’re not comfortable going public. Not that telling my family means we have to go public. They’re really supportive. Normally. No one will go around selling gossip about us to anyone waving a handful of cash around.”
Realizing she was rambling, I caught one of her drumsticks in my hand. “Tell who you want, when you want, Hayat. We’re ready to show the world that you are ours. No shame. No dirty secrets. Just us. The four of us, ready to be a unit.”
One side of her mouth tipped up, and she looked at Jamie. “We’re a unit.”
He grinned. “For eternity, Hellion.”
Sparks hugged his arms around her chest from behind, holding her arms at her sides. She laid her head on his shoulder, giving him perfect access to touch his lips to her ear. “Whenever you’re ready to share what we are to one another with the people who mean the most to you, we will be right there with you, goddess.”