Page 30 of Pretty Little Rocker

“Vaughn!” she shouted when she reached the porch.

I was only a few steps behind her. “Abi, what are you doing?”

But she wasn’t paying attention to me as she jumped down the steps and twirled around in front of the house, looking around wildly. I followed her gaze, tensing in case something or someone was actually waiting to harm my friend.

“Vaughn!” she cried again, at the top of her voice.

“You’ve officially lost your mind,” I muttered, moving cautiously until I reached her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Gently, I urged her back to the porch, but she kept frantically looking around. “Come on. I’ll make you something to eat, and then you can explain to me what Aunt Emmie was all hyped up about.”

“Vaughn?” she whimpered.

“Sorry, babe,” I murmured, soothingly stroking her hair as we entered the house. “There’s no Vaughn here.”

Chapter Seventeen

Hayat

Abi bit her thumbnail as she paced in front of me, her eyes stuck to mine, but all I could do was attempt to process everything she’d just confessed. It sounded like some crazy action movie that would have a kick-ass opening weekend at the box office, but it had been my friend’s reality.

“While you were stalking Professor Hotpants, he was stalking you too,” I repeated. She nodded. “Like, he had cameras in your dorm room and was pretending to be a professor, when in reality, he’s, what, some mafia prince?”

“Yup,” she muttered, tears filling her eyes. Her red hair was in limp tangles around her shoulders. She’d showered throughout the past week, but it just looked dry and brittle for some reason. Her skin was looking off too. I’d put it down to her exhaustion and whatever trauma she’d experienced, but it was taking me a minute to fully understand what she’d told me.

“That new friend you recently made, Sammy, who knows Uncle Lyric, is his sister? And she’s a mafia princess with Daddy Warbucks money who lives in what would be considered America’s idea of a palace, complete with secret service and safe rooms?” Abi kept pacing and nodding. “And all that hot dream-sex you’ve been having has actually been ‘Professor’ Vaughn sneaking into your room.”

Tears spilled down her face when I said his name. “It was really good sex. I never imagined sex was that much fun.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, ducking my head. My own first experience had been wild and crazy fun. My vajayjay was still feeling the pounding that Ky had given me after Jamie had stretched me out for him. But damn if I wasn’t excited for the next time I got to have a little fun with my guys. I kept thinking about Sparks and his fascination with my ass, and the random texts he kept sending me. Pictures of the plugs he promised he was going to put in my remaining virgin hole while he fucked my pussy.

Clearing my throat, I mentally shoved those naughty thoughts into a box to play with later. Right now, Abi needed my full attention.

“And that sex was completely consensual, right?”

“Yes! Absolutely.” Abi was vehement in her answer, making me hold up my hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay. I just need to be clear on that part, babe. You were having your sleep-drunk episodes, and some people might consider that…” I trailed off with a shrug, letting her fill in the blank. “But as long as you were on board with all that, then no judgment.”

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispered, finally stopping in front of her dad’s favorite chair and sinking down. A sob choked out of her, cutting me in two. “And now Aunt Emmie is telling me that we’re married? How?”

“Yeah, that’s crazy. Whoever filed that bogus marriage certificate would have had to bypass Mieke’s cyber security, not to mention forge your signature.” I sat down on the coffee table in front of her, taking her hands in mine. “What are you going to tell your parents?”

Scrubbing at the wetness on her face, she shook her head. “I have no idea. It’s going to be hard to drop something like that on them. ‘Hey, Mom, so I fell in love with my history professor this semester. But he wasn’t really a professor. He was this really hot, much older than me, Russian-Italian mafia prince. Was being the operative word since he’s dead now. It’s okay, though, because somehow, I’m now his wife. Yeah, I’m kind of Mrs. Christian Victor Vaughn. Well, great talk. Hope you have a fun time in Australia.’”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, so I’m not going to be telling them any of that. At least not yet. Maybe I can wait until they get back from tour.”

“As long as Mieke can keep the media from getting wind of the marriage, then you could potentially take that little secret to the grave,” I offered in an attempt to soothe her anxiety.

Biting her lip, she nodded, staring down at her hands for a long moment. In my gut, I knew she was still keeping something back, but at a glance, I could tell she was barely holding on to her sanity with her fingernails. Understandable, considering that the man she was in love with had died the same day he’d told her he loved her. Abi didn’t know the full details of how he’d been killed since she’d been locked in a safe room with Vaughn’s dad, but she’d been told it was Sammy who had killed him.

On the list of reasons for ending a friendship, having a friend kill your boyfriend kind of topped them all.

Which made me think that having a relationship with Kyrie Renchford shouldn’t even bother Maddie by comparison.

I could hope, at least.

Pulling my sleep shirt over my head, leaving me in my sports bra, I used it to clean up all the tears and the tiny bit of snot on Abi’s beautiful face. “I know this has been hard on you. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that on your own. Fuck, babe, I’m sorry you had to deal with it at all.”

“I-I feel a little better, finally telling you.” She flopped back against the plush cushions of the chair. “I guess I was still in shock over losing him. Sorry I didn’t tell you about any of this sooner.”

---