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

16. Hayat

Chapter Sixteen

Hayat

After helping Elias get Sammy into the back of the blackout SUV—that I highly suspected was bullet- and bomb-proofed—I gave my new friend a tight hug and stepped back.

“Love you, Hellion!” Sammy called when the window lowered and she stuck her head out.

“Love you back, Sammy!” Elias must have tugged on her, because her head was pulled back into the vehicle. Once the taillights blended in with other traffic, I turned to reenter First Bass.

As expected, Mom, Gammy, and Emmie were standing there waiting for me. I gave them tight smiles, unable to pretend nearly as easily with them as I had with Sammy that I was okay.

Mom curved her arm around my lower back as she guided me inside with the other two. Instead of going back upstairs to the VIP, Emmie’s two armed personal guards cleared the way back to the green room.

Halfway down the corridor to our destination, Pop-Pop nearly ran into us. His face was pale, eyes wild and filled with tears that had already begun to overflow and stream down his cheeks.

Marcus, one of Emmie’s guards, stepped in front of him, steadying him while at the same time blocking him from the rest of us.

Angrily, Pop-Pop shrugged off Marcus’s hold on his shoulder, his damp eyes zeroing in on me. “I won’t ever understand what you are thinking by being with those three boys. It’s not right, Hayat. And no matter what your dad says, I won’t force myself to respect whatever this fucked-up relationship is between the four of you.”

“Oh, please,” Gammy snarled at him. “Your problem with Hayat being with them isn’t about there being four people in their relationship. It’s because you and Nat both hoped that Ky and Maddie would eventually move from being friends to something a hell of a lot more. Trinity and Jarrett thought so too. At this point, I’m wondering if Banks had his money on Ky hooking up with his sister.”

I flinched, having had that same thought in the past. When we had originally gone to ASM for a meeting with Maddie to discuss her plan as our social media content creator, I’d wondered, if Maddie had hooked up with Ky instead of Holden, perhaps things wouldn’t have become so chaotic afterward.

It hurt to think of Ky with anyone else, but especially him being with Maddie.

“He’s a good man,” Pop-Pop defended, even as a few more tears dripped down his face. “Maddie deserves to have a guy in her life like him.”

“No one said she doesn’t.” Mom scowled at him. “But any notion of her being with Ky needs to be wiped from everyone’s minds. Because he is with Hayat. How about you being happy for Hayat finding her life partners who would burn the world down for her? Instead of hyperfixating on the disappointment that Ky will only ever see Maddie as a friend. He loves Hayat.”

“It’s just not right,” he muttered. “Seems greedy to me. That you would want them all for yourself, Hayat. When Maddie has been half in love with Ky for years.”

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I shrank in on myself, attempting to make my body as small as I could. My curls fell forward, shielding my face from everyone.

“For fuck’s sake, Devlin!” Emmie exploded, going into fire-breather mode. “This is not two toddlers playing with dolls. Just because someone has more than what you think they should be allowed to have doesn’t mean you can swoop in, demand they share, and then break one girl’s heart by demanding she give away something—fucking some one —she loves.”

“How can she love three of them?” he exclaimed, his tears rapidly drying, to be replaced by repulsion and anger. “That’s not true love. That’s lust. All she’s doing is jumping from one dick to the next.”

I felt physically sick. My stomach began to roil, bile rising into the back of my throat. Swallowing convulsively, I tried to hold it back. But while I was so focused on not puking all over the place, I wasn’t able to lock the valves to the dam of my tears. Choking back a sob and the remnants of my dinner, I turned away from the sight of my grandfather.

Mom pulled my head to her chest, gently rubbing my back, whispering words that were supposed to be soothing and reassuring, but I heard none of them.

“Is that how both you and Nat feel, Devlin?” Emmie asked, her voice deceptively soft.

Goose bumps popped up along my entire body. I would much rather her be in fire-breather mode than that unpredictable, calm one. The similarities between her and Sammy when it came to their anger might have been funny if it weren’t so fucking terrifying.

“It’s the truth, though, isn’t it?” he yelled. “She’s just greedy for—”

His words were abruptly cut off. Scared of what was going on, I turned around to find Poppy had come up behind Pop-Pop. Poppy had the other drummer by the back of the head, his fingers tangled in those precious, insured locks. I turned just in time to watch Poppy slam Pop-Pop’s face into the wall on the right side of the hall.

His voice was the most lethal sound I’d ever heard in my life when he spoke. “I tried to be diplomatic in this situation. Told myself repeatedly that this was between you and Hayat, that you and Nat would eventually figure it out. I watched as she took one hit after another from you, giving you time to come to terms with her new relationship. But you only hit her harder and harder with each new insult and sneer.”

Poppy slammed Pop-Pop’s face into the wall one more time before releasing him. Startled, I watched as Pop-Pop dropped facedown on the floor. He didn’t move, not even a twitch. Unconscious.

Spitting on the other rocker’s back, Poppy stepped over his body and came straight for me. Mom released me so her father could gather me into a surprisingly gentle hug, given the violence he’d doled out only seconds ago.

All my emotions that had felt like they were being held back with twigs broke free, and a wounded sound I’d never released before filled the air around us. Locked in Poppy’s arms, knowing there was nowhere in the universe safer, I cried and cried and then cried some more.

Vaguely, certain voices made semi-sense to me. Emmie ordering Marcus to help Rodger drag Pop-Pop out the back door with the assistance of a few of the First Bass security team guarding that exit. Her on the phone. From what few words I could comprehend, she was speaking to Nana and maybe Annabelle as well. Talks of a group partner virtual meeting between the three of them that would take place the following morning from each woman’s own home— just to be safe .

Just to be safe…from what?

But then my mind caught up, and I cringed.

To keep Nana safe from Emmie .

With that realization, my sobs turned into something that felt like it was cracking every rib in my chest. I felt a pain so deep in my soul, it was as if someone had died. And perhaps that was exactly what had happened.

Not that some one had died, but there was a death, nonetheless. The death of all the adoration, affection, sheer love I felt for Pop-Pop. My trust in him to never betray me. To only ever want my happiness.

In their place was a new version of the feelings I’d always held for my paternal grandfather. Distrust that if my views on how I wanted my relationship to be didn’t coincide with his, he would slut-shame me. Disgust that he would think such thoughts about me. The sheer rage that came from his assumption that I should simply hand Ky over to Maddie because I had plenty of boyfriends, so why was I being so greedy by not allowing Maddie to play with Ky?

I was hurt and angry and a plethora of so many emotions that I didn’t know which way was up. Didn’t know if the noises that left me were sobs or maniacal laughter. My heart was in shreds, and I honestly didn’t know if anyone could stitch it back together again. It was too much, too deep.

Why couldn’t people just let me be happy? I stayed in my lane when I was supposed to—except when someone else was causing harm to those I loved. I didn’t judge people for who they were friends with or had a relationship with. I tried to be happy for everyone, because everyone deserved to be happy.

But not everyone thought the way I did.

I’d always known that. There were no rose-colored glasses for me. I’d seen the beauty and the ugly side by side my entire life.

The hardest lesson to learn, however, was that sometimes it was the people you placed your full trust in, gave a key to your heart, the code to get in and touch a part of your soul so few people truly got to experience. It was those people who destroyed you the easiest. Without effort. Without a second thought.

“What the fuck is going on?” Dad’s bellow caused me to jump then bury my face deeper in Poppy’s chest.

“Layla? Emmie?” No one was answering him, and he made a frustrated noise. “Sweetness?”

Mom released a shuddering exhale. “Let’s get Hayat home with her boys. Then we can all talk.”