Page 37 of Pretty Little Rocker

Once my waffles were done, I offered Maddie some, but she only wrinkled her cute nose at all the food. Shrugging, I made myself a plate, smothering the waffles in syrup, fresh berries, and whipped cream.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Maddie exclaimed, which was my first clue that Abi must have joined us. She gaped at the redhead as she entered the kitchen. “What happened to your face?”

“Caught an elbow,” Abi said with a shrug. Her face did look like she’d been someone’s punching bag. We’d have to make sure the parents didn’t think Sixx was the reason for her swollen lip and the bruise that went all the way up to her eye. An idiot Sixx might be, but a woman beater he was not. He could even be gentle at times. With Ali definitely, but he had a soft spot for Abi as well.

“Whose elbow, the Incredible Hulk’s?” Maddie snarked, her eyes filled with horror.

It hurt to look at the damage to Abi’s face. “Sammy told me that some guy saw her trying to get to the mat and coldcocked her. The asshole was apparently laughing about it too. Sammy said she made sure he regretted it, though.”

Abi quickly turned away from us, crossing to the fridge and opening the freezer. “Did she say how she made him regret it?”

Her back was to me, but I could hear the unease in her voice. She’d been up close and personal to whatever Sammy had done to make the guy regret touching her. I could only guess what had happened. From the set of Abi’s shoulders as she waited for my answer, I figured that Sammy had done a little pop-pop with a pew-pew and the bastard was now sleeping with the fishes.

Wasn’t that what mafia people did with their enemies? Threw them into a body of water and let them become fish food?

“She didn’t elaborate, but I bet that guy is feeling it this morning,” I told Abi instead of voicing my assumptions, and I noticed her shoulders relaxed a little.

“Where is Sammy anyway?” Abi asked as she took an ice pack from the freezer.

“Dunno. She said she had something to do and left about an hour ago. Maddie got here right after.”

Maddie took another sip of her coffee, her second or maybe her third cup. Soon, she was going to be bouncing off the walls with suppressed energy, and I was too exhausted to keep up with her. “You guys had an adventure. I’m not sad I missed it. Although, one of you should have called me. I could have sent security to help you.”

“We didn’t think about that at the time,” Abi murmured.

“How would you have explained that to Jarrett without it sending up red flags and getting my brother murdered by our parents?” I asked, taking another bite of my food. Whether it was any good or not, I had no clue. My senses were starting to shut down from lack of sleep, and I couldn’t taste anything.

“Easy. I wouldn’t have gone through my dad. Bosco owes me a few favors.”

Bosco, her dad’s second-in-command and closest friend, handled another branch of the security company. I didn’t miss the pretty pink color her cheeks turned when she said his name. She called him Bosco to fuck with him, because I knew his name was Briscoe. But she’d been calling him Bosco for so long, Abi and I had both started referring to him as Bosco too. Now I was wondering when her teasing him had turned into more.

Maybe he was exactly what Maddie needed.

“Bosco, huh?” I playfully taunted. “Your dad’s second-in-command happens to owe you a favor or two? And what exactly did you do to earn these…favors?”

“Things,” she mumbled into her mug.

I’d never considered it before, but Bosco was actually kind of hot. In an older-guy, military-commanding kind of way. There was something in his eyes that suggested he’d seen some crazy shit in his lifetime.

Abi’s brows went just as high as my own at that confession. “Sexual things?”

If that was the case, then good for my friend. After the diabolical mess of Holden Renchford, Maddie had become somewhat repressed. Her first time had not been as good as my own with my rockers. She’d been left feeling disappointed, wondering if that was how sex was every time. If she was using Bosco to explore her sexuality, then I was happy for her.

“We’re not talking about me today. I came to ask a few questions of my own.” Setting down her mug, she turned to Abi. “Like, how did Abi get married and not invite us to the wedding?”

While she interrogated Abi, I mostly stayed quiet, eating the food but not tasting it. Nausea was roiling in my stomach, and my gaze kept going to my phone that was still charging on the counter across the kitchen. I’d flipped it to silent when Maddie first arrived, but the screen lit up every few minutes, and I could see Jamie’s name popping up every time.

But only Jamie’s.

Why hadn’t Ky or Sparks tried to call?

Chapter Twenty-One

Jamie

Slamming my foot on the brakes outside of the St. Charles’s house, I put the car in park and stabbed my fingers through my hair. I needed to calm the fuck down, but that wasn’t going to happen until I had my hands on Hayat.

A few other vehicles were already in the driveway, but I was on the street. I jogged up to the front porch and pressed down on the doorbell. A dog barked from the backyard of the house next door, sounding big and pissed off. I was still pressing the bell when the door swung open a few minutes later, and some guy in nothing but Superman boxers and socks stood there, squinting at me.

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