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

9. Jamie

Chapter Nine

Jamie

Blurry-eyed, I walked into the kitchen, my nose leading me more than any of my other senses. I loved having Hayat home with us, where she belonged. Loved falling asleep with her cuddled beside me. Fucking loved it even more when I got to wake up beside her—and my freaking favorite was when I woke up inside her.

God, that girl killed me with how tight she was, even after all the times we’d tried our damnedest to stretch her out.

But it was more than the sex.

So much more.

Hayat soothed something inside me I didn’t know was even on edge until she’d bounced into my life. She calmed my storm. The mayhem that ran around in my mind rent-free from my crazy childhood with siblings who were so fucked up, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had their own mental illnesses named after them.

That she cooked the best food I’d ever eaten in my life was only one of a million minor pluses to living with the girl I loved more than…

I paused at the thought, blinking at my surroundings.

More than what ?

Clichéd though it was, I loved Hayat more than anything or anyone. Plain and simple, until her, I hadn’t known what love was. And now that I did, I’d fuck up the entire world just to keep her so I never again had to experience life without her love.

The kitchen smelled amazing. Bacon and fresh coffee and…sex.

Glancing around, I saw the baking pan with crispy bacon. The platter of waffles. A dish of fresh whipped cream. Fruit was already sliced and waiting to top the waffles. Hayat would live off nothing but waffles if she could. I’d always been a pancake person before, but now, I couldn’t imagine eating anything else for breakfast.

Moving to the coffeepot, I poured myself a mug, noticing a cup was already sitting on the counter that looked like it was the way Hayat did hers. She liked more milk than coffee, with a dash of sweetness.

“Hellion?” I called. If she’d gone down to the studio to practice, I was going to turn her ass cherry red. She shouldn’t have even been cooking after she’d hurt her hand the night before. “Babe?”

Frowning, I pulled my phone out of my sleep pants, half surprised I’d had the brain capacity to pick it up off the charger when I’d left the bedroom. Unlocking the screen, I grunted when I saw a few missed messages from people who didn’t matter—fucking assholes—and called Hayat’s cell.

When I heard it ring in the distance, I turned to find her walking out of Ky’s room dressed in one of my hoodies. Fuck, I loved it when she wore my clothes. Loved it even more when she was riding my dick while she had on one of my shirts.

Ky was right behind her, wearing only a pair of athletic shorts. They both looked like they’d gone at it hard, which left me smirking until I remembered her hand.

Seeing me standing in the kitchen, she skipped over to me, practically vibrating with energy to give me my morning kiss. Her lips were already swollen from whatever assault Ky had made on her, and I’d have been lying if I said my cock didn’t get hard at the thought of what the two of them had been doing while I was asleep.

Burying my hand in her hair, I kissed her lingeringly until she melted completely against me. Then I grabbed her wrist and studied her injured hand. Thankfully, it wasn’t swollen. She had a slight bruise, more on the middle knuckle than the others. Watching her face for signs of discomfort, I gently prodded the area, thoroughly inspecting to make sure she hadn’t broken or fractured anything when she’d knocked Blondie on her ass the night before.

“I’m fine, Jamie,” she said with that smile that made my knees go weak. Those fucking deep dimples were a man’s kryptonite. “Come and eat.”

“Do I get to have your cream on my waffles, Hellion?” I asked, kissing her again.

“If you ask nicely, I’ll consider letting you have my cream for lunch,” she husked, scratching her nails lightly down my bare chest to the top of my sleep pants. Biting her lip, she glanced down to where my hard cock was outlined. Snapping her gaze back to mine, she pouted. “Breakfast first, and then maybe we can take a bath together.”

“Deal.” Tapping her on the ass, I grabbed my mug and took a seat at the island.

Ky put a waffle on a plate and got artistic, placing the berries and fresh whipped cream on top before offering it to Hayat. The tension that had been between them the night before was gone. I didn’t know if Ky had fucked it out of her or if they had just had a long overdue talk, but either way, our girl was happy, and that was all that mattered to me.

While she cut into her food, I watched for signs she might still be in pain, but all I got were happy, hungry noises that did nothing to ease my already raging hard-on.

My focus was so consumed by Hayat, and how easily she could make eating erotic, I didn’t notice when Sparks joined us until he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. Sleepily, he rubbed against her.

“Morning, goddess.”

“Good morning,” she greeted softly, leaning back into him, turning her head so he could kiss her lips. Sparks took his time, being gentle. Tender.

He was a different man now from what he’d been before our hellion came along. Before, he was a moody asshole, his thoughts always consumed by the darkness that haunted his past. Ky and I both knew what Sparks was capable of.

How many times had we had to drag him back to my house and clean him up after he’d been forced to drain someone’s body of blood?

Once would have been enough to taint anyone’s soul. But I’d lost count of how many times I’d found him sitting in his car in my driveway, blood on his clothes, his face a blank mask while he’d silently relived the evil he’d been forced to perform.

I’d pushed him into my shower in my wing of the mansion and then burned his clothes. Ky would detail his car, making sure no trace of DNA was left behind of the poor fucker Sparks had ended in the name of the Guerrero family.

His trauma had flowed over into all parts of his life, making him question everything. Everyone. Except for Ky and me. Now he had Hayat too, and I could see the difference in him. The absence of the darkness that used to lurk right below the surface.

She was our miracle.

Lifting his head, he picked up her injured hand, giving it a thorough inspection, just as I had done. When he was satisfied that she had no lingering damage, he kissed her knuckles and stole a slice of crispy bacon from her plate.

We all ate, savoring the food and having our girl in our space. Our lives. She danced around us, her feet barely touching the ground as she put more food on each of our plates, her energy—her fucking existence—a balm for all three of us. Hayat had so many love languages. Making sure we were all fed was one of them, and she couldn’t be content until we were all groaning from being full.

No one had ever cared about how much I ate before. Never had anyone worry about me—except for Ky and Sparks, but that didn’t count. The three of us, that was on a different level from everything and everyone else. We made our own family, not caring about the fucked-up pasts that tried to follow us.

Hellion’s attention, her ability to shower us with love with just a look, was addictive and healing and so damn magical. I wanted every day to be like this. With her contagious happiness filling every inch of our home.

I was so distracted by her, I didn’t have time to remember that we were playing at First Bass later, the first Thursday show of fifty-two, the yearlong contract Autumn’s Slumber had signed with Harris Cutter. I didn’t get nervous about performing, but this was a huge deal, and we’d all been a little jittery about it. All the bands that had ever had this same contract were now living the rocker life, in style.

If it had been about money, I had more than enough. If it had been about the fame that was sure to follow, I didn’t need that shit either. I’d seen plenty of that grass from that side of the fence. It was why we used the masks and paint, to hold on to our anonymity as much as possible. No, it was about nothing but the music for me. It was magical when I was onstage with Ky and Sparks. It was going to be earthshaking now that we had Hayat as our drummer.

I couldn’t fucking wait.