Page 56 of Pretty Little Rocker

“We’re not losing her,” I gritted out, pissed that it was even a thought in his head. That because of Ky’s stupidity, it was a possibility.

“What if she doesn’t want Ky anymore? And what if by her not wanting him, she doesn’t want us?” His eyes were still clenched closed, his olive skin turning gray, but his cheeks were pink with the emotion he was desperately trying to hold back. “I love her, Jamie. And I never thought I would love anyone, not like this. She’s this sassy goddess with legs for days and hair that smells like heaven. When she smiles, everything shitty that I ever did doesn’t matter. My demons don’t terrorize me when she holds my hand. And that sassy mouth. Fuck! I want to hear her tear me or you or anyone else apart, while at the same time stuff my dick in her mouth to shut her up. Losing her means losing all the good parts that I’m only just now discovering about myself.”

Grasping his shoulder, I squeezed, hard. “You and I aren’t losing her. Ky has his own choices to make. Although, I’m not sure that’s going to matter to Hayat, but whatever. She’s got plenty of reasons to block him out. But that girl is ours, Sparks. We’re going to take care of her. Love her. Ensure every one of her needs is met. And if that means saying goodbye to Ky and Autumn’s Slumber, then that’s what we do.”

Breath rushing out of him, Sparks swallowed roughly and glared around the garage of our apartment building. An attendant sat in his little office, feet propped up, watching something on an old-school mini-television, maybe a baseball game. Sparks and Ky had been friends before I’d joined their little group, so I knew this was a hard decision for him.

Stabbing his fingers through his hair, he screamed from between clenched teeth before reaching for his door. I followed, the two of us walking to the elevator that would take us straight up to the penthouse.

Walking into the apartment, we took two steps inside, and Ky came out of the living room. His hair was sticking up in all directions, his gray eyes so wild, I expected lightning to flash across them from the storminess within. “Where is she?” he demanded, his eyes flickering around, as if we were hiding her behind us.

“Where is she?” Sparks repeated quietly, each word barely a whisper. Snorting a laugh that held no humor, he drew back and punched Ky straight in the face.

Staggering back, Ky held his jaw, now sporting a growing, matching bruise to the one on Sparks’s face that Miguel had given him days earlier. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“You!” Sparks yelled, his chest heaving as he flexed his fingers. His knuckles were split open again, blood slowly dripping down his fingers. “You’re the fucking problem, Ky. You let some chick come up to you and hug you, practically fucking kiss you on the lips, and you didn’t correct her. Didn’t put distance between you. Didn’t even tell her that you have a girlfriend who was standing right there watching you like her heart wasn’t breaking. Then that same girl attempted to alienate us, all of us, when this band is about unity. About family. You know, the one we created together. But you tell us to hear her out. To listen to this grand plan to promote us across social media. All of this after Hayat told you she didn’t think Maddie was the right fit, that the plan wasn’t how we wanted to present Autumn’s Slumber. But instead of correcting Maddie, again, you let her treat our girl like she was going to fuck everything up.”

Ky shook his head. “I was just trying to de-escalate the growing tension. We were there to discuss work, not for the girls to throw down in an all-out brawl.”

“Right,” Sparks said with a snort, but he was practically shaking with his anger. “Of course that was what you were doing. Fucking moron. You were still attempting to make up for whatever it is that you think you owe that girl. Some shit you weren’t a part of and didn’t even know about until after it all happened. You put her feelings first over Hayat’s, when she is the one who matters. Hayat comes first over anything and anyone.”

Shaking his head in exasperation, Sparks walked away from Ky, all the way to the other side of the living room, before turning on him again. “And then when Hayat asked our opinions? You just stood there…what? Tongue-tied because you weren’t sure how to ‘de-escalate the tension’? Or because you didn’t want to hurt poor, pitiful Maddie’s feelings?”

He rubbed at his throbbing jaw. “I…I don’t know why I hesitated.”

“Right,” I sneered. “You’re so full of shit, Ky. Seeing that Maddie girl got you all flustered.” I shook my head.

“Hayat thinks she’s going to fuck up the band,” I informed Ky, because he didn’t seem to be focused on that. “She let your little friend get in her head, because you allowed her to. Now, she’s telling Emmie Armstrong to get Atticus to take her place.”

All the color drained from Ky’s face. Taking a stumbling step back, he dropped down on the edge of the long end of the sectional. I glanced around the room, taking in the space that we’d created as a comfort for all three of us. Now, without Hayat there, it felt empty. Lifeless.

Fuck that.

“We’ll fix this,” Ky muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face and into his hair. “Once we talk to her, she’ll understand why I hesitated, and we can erase all that bullshit from her head.”

Sparks shot me another look, and we both rolled our eyes. “There is no we in this plan of yours, motherfucker. You’re the one who hurt her. You were the one who made her think that shit. You will be the one to convince her that Autumn’s Slumber is the band she was meant to be in. And if you don’t?” Sparks shrugged. “Well, then that’s a conversation for another day.”

Ky jerked as if Sparks had just punched him again. “What are you saying, man?”

“You know what he’s saying, Ky,” I answered. “There are plenty of things I can live without. But there is one that I can’t. And I’ll walk away from you and the band before I ever chance losing Hayat.”

Chapter Thirty

Hayat

I didn’t remember when Sparks and Jamie left, but when I woke up, I reached out blindly for either of them and was disappointed when I came up empty. Swallowing roughly around the dryness in my throat, I scrubbed a fist against a gritty eye before glancing at the digital clock on the bedside table.

9:45 a.m.

Blowing out a sigh, wondering how much trouble I was in and how many people I’d worried, I got out of bed and quickly hurried to the bathroom. My bladder was screaming after sleeping for so long. Once I was finished, I washed my hands, brushed my teeth, and took a long, hot shower.

Hair still damp, I walked into the kitchen at ten minutes to eleven to find my parents sitting at the kitchen island. Large cups of coffee sat in front of them, their faces grim as they watched me walk barefoot to the kitchen and pull out the container of orange juice. There wasn’t much left in it, so I unscrewed the cap and took a swig from the bottle.

Any other time, Mom would have chastised me for not using a glass, but her brown eyes only softened as she sat back in her chair and waited. When Evan and I got into trouble, sometimes our parents yelled, but sometimes they remained quiet.

I would have preferred the yelling.

Ducking my head, I crossed to the island, keeping to the side they weren’t seated on, needing my space. Needing… Fuck, I wasn’t sure what I needed. To erase everything that had happened the day before? To go back to right before Maddie hugged Ky—when she kissed him, almost on the lips, leaving a smear of her dark rose lipstick on his skin.

---