Pretty Little Hellion (Rocker Universe: Pretty Little #3)

6. Hayat

Chapter Six

Hayat

With the music much more palatable, I got lost in the beat. Abi and Sammy were laughing as they tried to keep up, but my eyes were focused on my guys.

Sparks stayed at my back, one hand on my hip as he maintained the same sexy rhythm. Jamie and Ky never strayed far, sneaking kisses at every available opportunity. I felt carefree, almost weightless, for the first time in forever.

Taking my hand, Ky twirled me away from Sparks, reversing our positions so now he was at my back and Sparks was dancing in front of me. Turning my head, I met his lips for a lingering kiss, loving how it felt to be in his arms.

Spinning me around to face him, Ky skimmed his hands down my spine before grabbing my ass, squeezing as we swayed to the music at a more leisurely pace. Lost in the moment of having my guys surrounding me, enjoying a night out with friends, just getting to unwind and be myself, I didn’t give a single fuck that we were so publicly displaying our relationship.

These guys were mine. Let everyone gossip and put their own spin on what was going on with me and my men. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t anyway, and I wanted the world to know.

Why should I hide or be ashamed of what I felt for Ky, Sparks, and Jamie? We were happy and not hurting anyone, so anyone who had a problem with our situationship could fuck off.

Lifting his head, Ky gave me a drugged-looking smile, the kind that made my heart melt. Our relationship had been strained since we’d made up at Abi’s wedding. It was my fault, I wouldn’t deny that, but my heart was guarded with him, unlike how it was with Sparks and Jamie. Ky had hurt me so many times in the short while we’d known each other.

Every day, I woke up wondering what fresh pain he would inflict on me. Which was exhausting, constantly tensing up for whatever blow might or might not strike me. But each night, when we were all cuddled in my gigantic bed and we were all spent from the hours my three rockers had used to show me over and over how much they loved and worshiped me, a little more of my heart healed.

I yearned for the day I woke up and all the cracks Ky had caused were fully repaired. For the morning I opened my eyes and I was finally secure enough in his love for me that I didn’t rebuild a few walls to protect myself from him.

We slow-danced to two full songs before Jamie cut in. He licked his tongue over my bottom lip, but before I could get a real kiss, he twirled me around and we began to destroy some jive that didn’t even fit the music that was playing. All during our botched jitterbug—which I knew would have driven my cousin Mia crazy if she’d seen me participating in such an atrocious act—I didn’t stop laughing once.

With the changing of the songs, I was back in Sparks’s arms. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I tilted my head back just enough to meet those melted-chocolate eyes. He tucked a few of my curls back from my face with his pinkie, a hint of a smile teasing at his lips, his heart in his eyes. Butterflies fluttered in my belly.

“You ready to get out of here, goddess?” he murmured, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth.

Before I could answer, I was distracted by a flash of blond hair in my peripheral. Swiveling my head to the right, I watched as Maddie danced between Abi, Sammy, and Jamie. Abi’s eyes widened momentarily before narrowing to slits as Maddie moved in front of Ky without even stopping to speak to her.

Beaming up at him, Maddie went in for a hug. Suddenly, those butterflies in my stomach had iron wings, causing them to fall like lead balls. The impact of each one caused me physical pain.

Ky lifted his arms high, his gaze locking with mine as he tried to step back from her. His eyes were the size of saucers, begging me to understand he didn’t want to be a part of whatever Maddie was doing.

It was just a hug, I tried to tell myself. A simple, innocent hug between friends.

But my heart was pounding in my ears, my breaths coming faster and faster with each passing second.

Red rimmed my vision.

Innocent.

Just friends.

But if it were Abi hugging Ky or Sparks or Jamie, I wouldn’t have been feeling the boiling anger those iron-winged butterflies had brewing. If it were Sammy, I wouldn’t be ready to grab her by the back of her hair and drag her away from my man.

When Ky didn’t return her hug, Maddie lost that bright smile. She was slow to release him from her hug, her brows pulling together in confusion.

“What’s up with you?” she asked with a forced laugh. “You don’t want to hug me anymore?”

Gray eyes dropped to her, softening for a moment, before shooting back to mine. Ky took a step back from her, and only when he was out of her reach did he drop his hands. I forced myself to lean more into Sparks, to soak up his strength, to release some of my tension—the almost uncontainable, angry energy that was about to consume me. His touch to my hip reminded me to breathe. To not give anyone the power to control what I was feeling, especially in such a public forum.

“I’ve been calling and texting you all week. But you haven’t returned any of my messages. Avalyn was hoping to say bye to you before she left on tour with my parents.”

He grimaced, a guilty twist of his lips. But guilty of what? Not responding to her or not telling me about it? I fucking hated that I was wondering. That he had made me so insecure, I questioned every emotion that crossed his face while in Maddie’s presence. “Trinity FaceTimed me. I got to talk to Avalyn the night before they left.”

His FaceTime with my aunt, I had known about. I’d even gotten the chance to tell Trinity and Avalyn to have a safe tour and I loved them. But I hadn’t known that Maddie was texting and calling Ky. It didn’t matter that Maddie had said he hadn’t answered any of them.

What bothered me was that Ky hadn’t mentioned her attempts to contact him. He was aware she was a hard limit for me. My relationship with my cousin was contentious. That was the diplomatic version. Borderline hated with the heat of a thousand suns was the dramatic version, and it better fit how I felt about Maddie.

Plain and simple, she’d purposely hurt me. Destroyed my trust in her. She’d burned the bridge to our friendship, and I honestly didn’t know if I wanted to attempt to rebuild it anytime soon.

She was supposed to be going to therapy. Pop-Pop had explained that since Trinity and Jarrett were on tour, he and Nana were making sure Maddie went to her twice-weekly appointments, one or both of them driving her to and from each session. But so far, from what little the therapist could share with them, all Maddie did was sit on the couch and glare at the woman for the hour.

Maddie was struggling mentally, and I hated that. I didn’t want her to fall back into the dark abyss she’d been in before. But I couldn’t help her with whatever she was going through this time. No one could. Not until she was ready to accept help.

Stepping back into Ky’s personal space, she brushed off a piece of fuzz on his chest. That red ring of rage got thicker, bleeding into everything surrounding us. Watching her fingers brush over the material, I noticed her eyes linger on the exposed skin of his half-buttoned dress shirt.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed between the two of them, keeping my back to Maddie as I meticulously buttoned Ky’s shirt all the way up to his throat. When I would have dropped my hands from him, he caught hold of my fingers and brought them to his lips, kissing each one.

And because I wanted—fucking needed—to make a statement, I kissed him. Long and deep. Combing my fingers through his short, dark hair. My tongue teased his, satisfying my need to taste him. Staking my claim as a reminder to Ky. To show Maddie, and the fucking world if I needed to, that Ky Carver was mine.

Pulling back from the kiss several moments later, I turned to face my cousin, licking my kiss-swollen lips to drive the point home a little harder. “I don’t believe anyone extended an invitation for you to join us tonight, Maddie.”

Flames sparked in her hazel depths. “I’m here with a few other friends. I saw Ky and wanted to say hello.”

“Other friends,” I repeated softly, a mocking smile teasing at my lips. Did she forget that I knew her tells? When she lied, her eyes shifted to the right for a few seconds, and her voice changed ever so slightly. Both were minuscule actions that anyone could miss unless they were watching for them. “Who?”

She shrugged. “A few girls who live in my building.”

“Ky, give me your phone,” I commanded without taking my eyes off Maddie. Holding out my hand, I waited for him to place it in my open palm. There was a hesitation—a reluctance—I refused to think about yet, before he handed over the device.

Plenty of time to obsess over that later.

Typing in his security code, Avalyn’s birthday, I went to his settings and, as I suspected, his share location was on. To Maddie’s number.

“I’m going to ask once,” I said, not sure exactly who I was speaking to—Maddie or Ky. “Why is Ky’s location being shared with Maddie?”

“The fuck?” Ky snapped. “I didn’t share that with her. I swear, baby.”

My eyes never drifted from Maddie’s face, so I again caught her tell. The light pink that played across her cheeks and down her neck. But she didn’t break our stare-off.

“When did you share his location with yourself, Mads?” I asked quietly, but I was sure I already knew. “Was his phone on your table at the wedding reception and you just happened to know his security code? What went through your head when you thought it was okay to violate his privacy by spying on where he went?”

“Someone has to protect him,” she seethed, sounding self-righteous, ignoring all my questions. Like she was Ky’s motherfucking savior.

“Protect him from whom?” I asked with a snort.

“From you!” she snapped, taking a step closer to me, almost bumping her chest against me. “At the wedding reception, I encouraged him to apologize to you. I thought you were just playing around with these two other idiots to make him jealous. But if I’d known you were spreading your legs for all three of them, I never would have told him to try again with you.”

She waved a hand around at my guys, sneering at Sparks and Jamie. I sucked in a deep breath, but Jamie was there, at my side, his gentle touch, along with Sparks’s hand on my hip, grounding me. It was enough for me to remind myself there were too many witnesses to the violence that was burning through me. Too many phones that could be pointed in our direction.

Maddie seemed to take my lack of reaction to all the shit she was throwing at me as permission to continue to spew vitriol at me. “Look at you, dancing and making out with all three of them. Playing mind games with Ky and his friends, like the dirty slut you are. I can’t believe I never saw it before. But you’re just like Holden. He got off on making girls fall all over themselves for his attention then throwing them in the gutter when he was done with them. I’m not going to sit back and watch you tear Ky’s heart apart, destroy his career, his fucking life. He deserves better than that. Much better than a nasty whore like you.”

Every person in our group went still. Abi’s outraged gasp hit my ears in a way that made my mind buzz, while four growls echoed around me. Four? That couldn’t be a good thing. Not when one of them was an ex cartel assassin and another was sometimes a manic psychopath whose crazy had a hair trigger. But I couldn’t bring myself to worry about that right then. Anger rose around me, feeding off the pain suddenly engulfing me.

Each word was like a steel-tipped whip slashing me, ripping me apart, tearing my heart to shreds, annihilating another piece of my soul. Everything hurt. It was the kind of pain that destroyed a person, especially when the blows, even if they were just verbal, came from someone I loved. They hit their mark with masterful precision—my heart—and ricocheted around inside my body until not a single part of me was spared the agony.

In that moment, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Maddie needed more than just a few sessions with a psychiatrist each week to help her through whatever was going dark inside her. Because the girl I’d once known and loved would have never said such awful things to me. Not when she herself had been a victim of others destroying her psyche with such vile words.

I knew this wasn’t the same Maddie from before Holden Renchford. My friend. My family. One of my ride-or-dies. She, Abi, and I, we’d been the Terror Trio, as our family had so affectionately dubbed us. Mess with one of us, you got the horns from the others.

But there were moments when, even though you might know and understand that the person who did or said something to hurt you didn’t normally act that way, you still had no control over how you reacted to their behavior.

Which was why Maddie was standing in front of me one moment. Eyes wild. Chest rising and falling with her panting inhales. Hating me. Maybe even hating herself. But the next, she was on her ass, clutching both hands to her nose while I shook out the pain in my right hand.

And then pandemonium ensued.