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

20. Jamie

Chapter Twenty

Jamie

Liam Bryant was tuning my bass.

Liam fucking Bryant was tuning my motherfucking bass.

It was hard to wrap my mind around that fact. Just seeing the rock legend with his hands on my guitar was enough to make me want to squeal like a tween girl at a T. Swift concert. But even as that thrill ran through me—seeing one of my rock heroes in our studio, touching our gear—I kept watching the open doors of the studio, my ears straining for any hint of Hellion.

It had been hours since I’d last seen her. I was like an addict jonesing for another hit of my favorite drug, and its name was Hellion. Everything from the moment I’d opened my eyes earlier replayed in my mind, making my hands sweat, practically twitching to touch her again.

Hayat was sleeping soundly when Emmie came to wake us at what felt like the crack of dawn. In reality, it was closer to noon, but I wasn’t a morning person. Our girl had been cuddled up on top of Ky, the lucky bastard. But she’d had one hand stretched out, holding on to me with one of her feet locked over Sparks’s calf. Sparks was the first to jerk awake, reaching for something under his pillow at the sudden intrusion, only to realize he no longer slept with his gun close at hand.

At least, not when he slept in Hayat’s bed. He had a safe in his closet that was big enough to hold plenty of weapons and ammunition. He had another safe in his bedside drawer that he only had to press his thumb to, and it would open to give easy access to his Glock. When I had been designing our girl’s room, I’d told him I wasn’t comfortable having guns in her space, but I wasn’t sure if I was still feeling that same way.

Maybe we could put something small in her closet that one of us could get to if we needed it. We had first-class security at Carver Towers, but anything could happen. And I wanted us to be able to protect Hellion, no matter who it was from.

Sparks finally turned on the lamp but kept his finger to his lips when he scowled at Emmie, who stood at the foot of the bed. “She’s finally sleeping peacefully,” he told her. “Don’t wake her up.”

She lifted both hands in understanding. “She can sleep a little longer. It’s you three I need right now. Be in the kitchen in fifteen minutes. Showered and dressed. It’s going to be a busy day, and we are going to need all hands on deck to get everything switched around.”

Ky looked up at me with tormented eyes. He was in heaven, with her sleeping so lovingly, so fucking trustingly, on top of him. It was nice to see them moving in the right direction. Hayat hadn’t even hesitated when Ky and Sparks had come to bed. Just pulled Ky down and wrapped herself around him like he was a human pillow. As soon as Sparks joined us, tucking the sheet up over her back and rubbing little infinity designs on her shoulder, she’d released the heaviest breath and gone limp on top of Ky.

It wasn’t long before we followed her into dreamland. But it was hard to let go now that we had to face a brand-new day. “How can I get up without waking her?” Ky whispered.

Carefully, I put my arms under her and slowly turned her over so she was on her side, snuggled into me. She pressed her face into my chest, inhaling deeply before a ghost of a smile teased her lips and she mumbled my name.

Fuck, I loved that girl.

Ky rolled off the other side of the bed with Sparks, but I stayed a little longer. Kissing her wild curls, making sure she was still sleeping, and energizing myself with the scent of her along with the warmth of her long, beautiful body pressed into mine.

Sparks went to his room to shower, but Ky opted for one in Hayat’s bathroom. When he came out, I finally forced myself to untangle myself from her and rushed through a shower. I walked into the kitchen exactly fifteen minutes later, as Emmie requested—commanded—pulling my shirt on.

Nik Armstrong was working confidently in the kitchen, making breakfast just as smoothly as Hayat did. “Anyone want eggs?” he asked, setting down a plate in front of Layla filled with scrambled egg whites and sautéed peppers, with mushrooms on top. His food looked like something I would order in a five-star restaurant.

“Eat up, boys,” Emmie instructed, taking a place at the island beside Hayat’s Gammy. Nik immediately set a plate of bacon, toast with a single hard-boiled egg sliced on top, and fresh, chopped fruit in front of his wife.

Someone must have made a grocery delivery order, because I knew we didn’t have most of the ingredients in the apartment for the gourmet-style feast Nik was creating. Hayat had gone through most of the pantry staples the day before, cooking until we were all uncomfortably full. Cooking was one of her many love languages, so I wasn’t going to say no anytime she wanted to feed me.

“What time do we need to be at ASM?” Ky asked as he cut into his omelet.

Emmie ignored her food in favor of the mug of coffee Jesse set in front of her. “We won’t be going into the office today. Actually, we won’t be going in for a while. Probably a few weeks or even months.”

She took a careful drink of her coffee while we waited for her to explain. But she didn’t give us many details. Other than that someone had vandalized the ASM studio, as well as other key areas Emmie’s teams worked from.

“Despite the destruction done with such malicious intent, we’re not going to let this slow down our plans for Autumn’s Slumber.” Placing her mug back on the island, she made sure to make eye contact with all of us before she spoke again. “Last night, I promised not to invade your privacy, but I’ve found myself in a position where, in order to accomplish what I have planned for your amazing talents, I have to bring the teams to you rather than you to the teams. If you think that would be too overwhelming, I can make other arrangements. But I do ask that you let Shane bring in some equipment to get us started for an EP, if nothing else, at the moment.”

Sparks and Ky both looked at me at the same time. Whoever had vandalized ASM must have fucked the place up bad if she couldn’t even get her staff into the building.

“Would it be easier on Hayat to have everyone here, as opposed to us going to whatever location you find instead?” Sparks asked.

“That’s my hope,” she said with a small shrug. “After everything else, I didn’t know what she would prefer. What I can promise is that security will be prevalent, and my staff all have airtight NDAs, so no matter what they see or hear, they cannot speak about it. Not even to each other.”

“If they have a set time they come and go, so that Hayat can decompress in the evenings, then I’m okay with your staff being here,” Ky assured her. Sparks and I both nodded our agreement.

“Thank you,” she murmured quietly. “I promise we will get everything sorted out as quickly as possible. And if you three don’t mind helping out, we could really use the extra muscle getting the equipment into your private studio. Evan, Mason, Damien, and Bentley are all on their way over now, with Drake and Shane. Luca is going to help. And Liam and Ax are going to stop by as well. Zander is on his way out now with Annabelle, and Wroth is going to be joining them.”

Layla, who had been quiet through the entire exchange, put her hand on Emmie’s arm. “It’s going to be okay. The boys all know what is riding on this, Em. They aren’t any happier than you are, trust me. But we will all get her and them through this.”

Nik kissed the top of his wife’s head. “Don’t stress yourself out over what has to happen, baby girl. Dev made his choices, and now there have to be consequences. Annabelle can put a spin on everything else that has happened to help explain his exit.”

We all sat up straighter as the room seemed to become charged with emotional energy we didn’t understand. “What’s going on?” I demanded.

Emmie pressed her lips together, but that shit wasn’t going to stand with us. “If something is going to upset Hayat, we need to know so we can be ready to help her get through whatever is happening. She’s not a little girl who can’t take care of herself. She’s strong and independent. If anyone could handle anything, it’s her. But now, she also has us to make sure that nothing and no one fucks with her. Including family. So, explain to me who is exiting what, and why that will affect Hayat.”

Surprisingly, it was Jesse who answered my question. “OtherWorld is going to have a vote on whether they want Devlin to remain in the band. But we already know their decision. Dev will be out. Which means they will need to find a new drummer for the world tour.”

“Fuck,” Ky and Sparks muttered.

“This is going to break her,” I predicted.

“I know,” Emmie whispered.

“Who’s going to tell her?” Sparks asked, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

“No one wants to tell her. Fuck it all. Not one person wants to be the one to break her heart again. Not over that piece of shit. Dev and Nat… Man, they always have a way of fucking stuff up in a way that causes the most damage. Whether they intend to or not, they do it, regardless.” Jesse dropped into the chair beside Sparks and squeezed his shoulder affectionately. “But I think I should tell her. After the official vote goes through.”

“Annabelle said Z and the others want to tell her,” Emmie said quietly. “They feel like it’s their responsibility to tell her what made them reach this decision. Harris and Lucy both agreed with that before they left to meet Shane and Drake. Annabelle has a point, and in all honesty, I don’t want to be the one who continuously drops emotional bombs on Hayat. I already have to tell her about Maddie.”

Ky tensed on the other side of me. “What happened to Maddie?”

“Who the fuck cares what happened to Blondie?” I snapped, pissed at the trace of concern in his voice for the girl who kept causing Hellion pain. “Hayat is the one who keeps getting shit on by that girl.”

“Not arguing with you about that,” Jesse agreed. “But whatever our feelings are on her at the moment, Hayat and Maddie were close until recently. Even if Hayat tells herself she doesn’t care about Maddie, it will weigh heavy on her.”

“But what happened with Maddie?” Ky demanded, frustration replacing the concern. “Did she do something to hurt herself again?”

“She’s in a secure mental facility at the moment, awaiting a psychiatric evaluation after attempting to set ASM on fire. She was caught in the act, and if the sprinkler system hadn’t been up to code, the entire building could have potentially gone up in flames. She could be facing charges of attempted domestic terrorism on top of the arson and destruction of property, but Emmie is trying to help her as much as possible.”

I blinked and the studio came back into focus again, but I was still twitching to get my hands on Hellion. I needed to see her soon, or I was going to start bouncing off the walls. Our studio took up the entire floor beneath our apartment, but with all the people in the space, it felt tight and more than a little suffocating.

Ky hadn’t said anything since Jesse had told him what was going on with Blondie.

Shaking away the memory of how tense breakfast had gotten after Hayat’s grandfather had dropped that little information nuke on us, I tried to stay in the moment. Evening was approaching, the sun slowly lowering. Liam Bryant was laughing with Axton Cage about something while Liam played a few chords on my guitar.

I dragged my eyes away from the open studio doors to take in the quickly put together new equipment that Shane had been able to set up with help from his son and nephews. Luca was sitting off to the side, on a call with his brother and Jagger Armstrong while we waited for Hayat to join us. From snippets of conversation I caught from Luca’s side of the call, Jagger and Lyric were worried about Hellion, and Luca was sticking close to reassure them—and himself—that she was truly okay.

Wroth and Zander were both relaxed on the couch, their legs stretched out in front of them as they recovered from their unexpected flight from Tennessee to California. No one had mentioned Devlin’s exit since breakfast, but there had been pain in Zander’s eyes when he’d first arrived with his wife, Annabelle. And there was blood on Wroth’s knuckles that everyone glanced at but no one mentioned.

OtherWorld had already voted. Devlin Cutter was no longer the band’s drummer.

And now we waited for Hellion so the men she considered uncles could break her heart all over again.

Fuck.