Chapter 4
Derek
Dark brown strands lace through my fingertips and I give a tug. The woman’s mouth slides off my cock and I sigh. This isn’t going to fucking work. As much as I want this chick to suck me off and obliterate my thoughts, they keep circling back to Allegra.
“I gotta take a beat, babe,” I tell her, pulling her up. I grab the back of her head and kiss her hard on the mouth, just to placate her. “See you around.”
“I, uh…” Her gaze is wide, her mouth still open like a fish’s. “Yeah. Okay. Call me?”
“Bet,” I agree, knowing I’ll never dial her digits. Hell, I don’t even think I got her number.
Leaving her alone in the bathroom stall, I head back into the bar. My eyes zero in on the booth and I swear when I see it’s empty, save for half a pitcher of beer and some sweet potato fries.
I swing around, my eyes searching for Allegra. I clock Levi on a barstool, some girl caged between his knees, her mouth on his neck. And Mav is laid out on the bar, a woman taking a shot of vodka off his stomach.
Panic begins to crawl up my throat. Where the hell is she? Did she meet someone else? Go home with that blond douchebag?
As my thoughts spiral, erratic and concerned, I grasp the back of my neck. I scan slower this time but don’t see Allegra. Her purse is gone from the booth.
I pull out my phone and wince when I realize I don’t have her number.
Is this how the whole summer is going to go? Me half-crazed with worry and her purposely pushing my damn buttons?
Stepping to Levi, I pull him away from the girl marking the shit out of his neck. “Where’s your sister?”
“Huh?” He swings cloudy eyes in my direction.
I repeat my question and he jolts, squinting at the empty booth.
Losing my patience, I release him and stalk to the entrance of the pub. Ignoring the whispers that kick up as I pass, I push open the double doors and leave through the main entrance, anger and adrenaline pumping in my veins.
Our security, led by a former Army Ranger named Drew, and our driver, Alfred, will be pissed but right now, I don’t consider their reactions.
All thoughts of the brunette have also evaporated. Now, my thoughts are singularly focused on Allegra. And how I’m going to teach her a lesson when I see her. Like, what the fuck happened to the buddy system? And tell someone when you’re leaving a damn bar.
I snort humorlessly, pinching the bridge of my nose. It’s bullshit because me, Mav, Levi, and Jameson haven’t done that shit since we were sixteen-year-old punks, green.
I never worried about them; never gave their nightly whereabouts a second thought. But with Stellina, I want to know everything.
Except she’s not my Stellina. She’s Levi’s little sister and right now, we don’t know what the hell made her come to Boston. Why does she want to stay here for the summer when it’s the last chill summer before her senior year?
What is Allegra Rousell up to?
I arrive at the brownstone and dash up the porch steps, ready to burst inside and holler her name.
But when I get inside, I freeze. I listen. I take a beat to calm the adrenaline coursing through my body. Taking the stairs quietly, as if I’m going to catch Allegra breaking the first rule, I stop outside her bedroom door.
The lights are on but it’s quiet inside. Too quiet.
I push the door open gently and peer inside.
Something inside of me softens when I see her, curled up on her side. Her hands are folded beneath her chin, her long eyelashes casting shadows on the curve of her cheek. She looks sweet and innocent in sleep, more like the seventeen-year-old girl I kissed.
I stand in the doorframe, studying her. Then I realize how fucking creepy that is. She’s still a kid, only twenty-one years old. Blowing out a deep breath, I flip off her light and close her bedroom door.
Then, I fling myself into a cold shower.
I need to pull my shit together and stop thinking about Allegra.
The following morning, Allegra sips coffee at the butcher block kitchen island looking fresh-faced and wide awake, especially compared to hungover-as-fuck Levi and Mav. Since I cut out early, I’m feeling pretty good myself.
“You need to call Mom and Dad,” Levi lectures when I enter the kitchen.
Allegra blows on her coffee, staring at the ripples in her mug, instead of replying.
Levi sighs. “I’m serious, A. You need a plan.”
She looks up. “I need a job.”
Levi closes his eyes and drags his fingers through his hair, looking exhausted, irritated, and overwhelmed.
I fight back a grin.
“What kind of job?” Mav asks, biting into a doughnut one of his secret admirers delivered this morning.
Allegra sighs, her expression wistful.
I drop onto a barstool, wanting to hear her response. What does she want out of life? What does she care about?
“Something that helps people,” she replies. “I spoke with one of the partners of the Harrison Foundation last night. I’m going to swing by Maybelle’s House this week.” She references a woman’s shelter and my stomach twists.
I remember Maybelle’s House from back in the day. When I was a hungry, snot-nosed, little kid hugging my mother’s legs and begging her to never leave me behind.
She didn’t that time. It wasn’t until years later that she slipped away, tying off our relationship and discarding me as quickly as a used condom.
I shake my head. Of course, Allegra wants to help others. That would be her first thought.
I knew she was special the night I met her. Even though she’s matured, grown up, during the last four years, I like that she still holds that flicker of innocence, that purity. My little star.
I clear my throat to tamp down the unexpected emotion that bubbles up. What the hell is wrong with me?
Allegra, with her tempting curves and soulful eyes, is a distraction. The band is supposed to hit the recording studio hard this summer before we leave for our European tour. I don’t have time to daydream about a sweetheart with big brown eyes. My name’s not Jameson.
“Good start,” Mav replies enthusiastically.
Is he into her? I narrow my eyes at Mav, but his gaze is focused on Allegra.
“I volunteered while at UCLA. Tutoring refugees and recently arrived immigrants in English, making lunches at a soup kitchen, I even hung out with some retired priests.” She laughs and ducks her head. “I just want to do something that matters, you know?”
“What about women’s rights?” Mav asks. “Or the foster system?”
I stifle an internal groan. I know where this is going, and I don’t like it.
“What about it?” Levi asks curiously.
“I’d love to work on social issues,” Allegra says, grinning at Mav like he fucking solved the issue of homelessness in American cities.
Mav looks at me. “You should introduce her to Dre.”
“Who’s Dre?” Allegra asks.
“He’s Reign’s fos—” Mav begins to spill pieces of my past I don’t share.
“He’s a guy I know,” I interject, scowling at Mav.
An apologetic look crosses his face, and he holds up his hands.
Fuck. I sigh, scrubbing a hand over my face. “I don’t know, man.”
Mav gives Allegra another damn smile. “I’ll introduce you to Dre. Let me hit him up. He runs a group home for kids. A lot of them are transitioning in and out of foster care as well. He does an awesome job and runs some cool sports programs for the kids too.”
“Really?” Allegra leans over the island, her interest piqued. “That’s incredible. I’d love to be part of an initiative like that. Thank you, Mav.”
Anger burns through me, and I try to squash is. Am I really going to be pissed at Mav for helping Allegra out? I could introduce her to Dre, but hold back because…
Because I don’t fucking want her to know those pieces of my past. My time in foster care, while not a secret, isn’t something I advertise.
Everything prior to my fame has mostly been buried and I don’t talk about that shit.
I don’t talk about the trouble Dre and I kicked up, or how it went sideways real fucking fast.
I don’t want anyone, especially Allegra, to know that while I catapulted into stardom, Dre, my foster brother, shivered on fucking street corners.
Mav taps on his phone screen, oblivious to the emotional turmoil twisting my mind down back alleys I hate to venture down.
“That would be so cool, Mav. I really want to do something I care about, to be part of something bigger than myself,” Allegra continues, letting on just how na?ve she is.
Her pure, idealistic outlook angers me. Hasn’t she learned anything at college? Living away from her family? Hasn’t any experience hardened her enough to offer the protection of basic street smarts?
“I thought about law school,” she adds, talking about the Law School Admissions Test. “I think my roommate, Mckenna, is going to go.”
Levi tunes in, clearly surprised by Allegra’s plans.
And I fucking war with myself. Caught between wanting to harden her up so life doesn’t spit her out and keep her safe so her compassionate worldview doesn’t implode.
It makes no damn sense. None of my feelings are normal. In fact, I feel emotionally distraught, something I’ve worked hard to tamp down over the years.
“He can meet with you today!” Mav fist pumps the air, his eyes glued to his phone.
Allegra smiles and my heart nearly stops. God, she’s fucking breathtaking. “Thank you!” Her hands clamp to the sides of her head. “I need to fix my hair.”
Levi rolls his eyes and Mav laughs. “I can walk you over to—”
“I’ll take you,” I cut in.
Mav gives me a look I ignore.
“I haven’t seen Dre in a minute. Where’s she meeting him?” I direct this to Mav.
He sighs. “Java House. At two.”
I smirk at Allegra. “Be ready to go around 1:30 p.m.”
“Absolutely, I will be.” Another fucking smile for Mav. “I appreciate it, Mav.”
“Anytime, A,” he says, using her brother’s nickname for her.
Her smile widens.
Levi points at her. “If this works out, you call Mom and Dad. You tell them you have a plan—a responsible one that aligns with your school shit.”
Allegra chuckles. “Promise.” She makes an X over her heart like a schoolgirl.
I scoff but my chest twists at her cuteness. “Be ready on time.”
“I will,” she promises.
Annoyed and unsure what to do about it, I grab one of Mav’s doughnuts and exit the kitchen.