“I thought you weren’t coming,” I say.
He shakes his head. “You’ve been staying with McCrae so much I thought you were there.” He shrugs his broad shoulders. “Obviously you weren’t.”
I cringe. Ever since Wyatt and I made amends with each other—which were the hair-pulling, lust-fueled type of amends that have yet to die down—I’ve been spending more and more of my free time at his house on the other side of town than at my own apartment. “Sorry about that, I should have mentioned that he’s out of town with Brenna and I’ve been staying here.”
Lucas smirks. “Which would explain why you went to the next person on the list: Me,” he says, sounding every bit like an asshole.
Glaring at him, I step backward into my tiny little foyer and motion him inside. “I didn’t even think to ask him. Trust me, you being there is going to mean so much to Sin.” I jerk my head back once more for Lucas to come in, but just like he almost always does when he stops by my place, he shakes his head and chooses to wait at the door. Weirdo. “Suit yourself. Give me a couple of minutes to grab my things.”
“I’m giving you one. One fucking minute and them I’m going by myself,” he calls out after me as I round the corner to go into my tiny, cardboard box of a den. I flip him the bird over my shoulder, which I sincerely doubt he sees or cares about.
It only takes me thirty seconds to gather my belongings—an oversized bag that was a birthday gift from my parents last October and a mustache hoodie—from the spot where I left them on the loveseat. Lucas is scowling when I meet him in my foyer, but I face him with a wide grin on my face. Smiling is the only thing I can do not to kick him in the shin. “Your pessimism is a little gag-worthy today.” I check the time on my phone, ignoring his groan. “We should probably go.” I’m excited to see Sinjin, and despite his grumpy ass attitude and I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude, I know there’s a part of Lucas that’s just as anxious.
Lucas drove his Jeep. After he helps me in, muttering the entire time how he needs to get an Escalade like the rental I chauffeured him around Nashville in, I punch the address to the rehab facility Sin’s been staying at into the GPS. My brother is quiet as we take off, and of course I’m the one to break the awkward silence. “Are you sure the song is ready?”
“Yeah, it is.” It’s not often that Lucas sounds nervous, but I don’t miss how his voice shakes a little when he says this. I nod slowly in understanding.
“Any idea when you’re going to release it.”
“It’ll be the first single sometime in July. Music video. The works.”
Since it’s April, that’s a pretty impressive timeline, but of course everyone at his record company will jump to make it work for Lucas. I’ve seen firsthand how they treat him, and I’ve got to admit it’s a tad overwhelming at times because all it does is make his head bigger. My phone vibrates between my knees, and I lift it up to find a new Facebook alert.
From Sienna Jensen.
Biting the inside of my lip, I consider telling my brother that I’ve been in contact with her for the last two weeks, but then I think better of it. Not today when there’s another broken relationship that Lucas needs to fix. I’ll save talking about Sienna for another day because I’m sure he’ll want to know every detail.
I stare down at my phone and quickly scan over her message: So I think I’m going to vomit, I put in the notice to my boss. Looks like I’m moving back to Nashville in a couple weeks!
“Good for you,” I mouth.
To her I write: Then I can crash at your place the next time I’m there and make you cook for me?
She answers just as Lucas pulls his Jeep into the parking lot of the rehab facility, which is this giant, luxurious place with manicured grounds that I read some actress once called the Hilton for addicts. I’m a terrible cook, Kylie. But I can order you cheesecake. Or, I don’t know, take you to fondue.
After the disaster of a dinner she and I had back in February that Lucas crashed, she knows how much I loathe fondue, so I’m holding back a smile when my brother comes around to my side of the Jeep to help me down. “You look like you’re going to cry or laugh. Or vomit,” Lucas points out as he locks up the car. “You’re not pregnant are you?” The tone he’s using is one I’d expect from my father, and I don’t have to read between each word to know what his reaction would be to a Kylie/Wyatt baby.
“If I vomit, I’ll make sure to get your feet.” When he turns to face me, I give him a hard look. “And no, I’m not knocked up.”
“Come on,” he growls, splaying his hand out on the center of my back to urge me toward the entrance to the rehab center.
After we go through security, which in my opinion is more stringent than TSA at the LAX, we’re led to a waiting room while Sinjin is being checked out. Lucas sits across from me with his forearms on his knees, wringing his fingers together. My phone buzzes again, this time from inside of my pocket, and I drag my gaze away from my brother to look at my messages.
Sienna Jensen: Uh oh, you’re quiet. I’m guessing you don’t like Cheesecake Factory either? What the heck do you even eat?
I’m a few letters into letting her know that I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like cheesecake, when I hear a familiar voice drawl my name. “Kylie-Fucking Wolfe.” My gaze pops up to Sin who’s leaned against the door of the waiting room, scratching his head, tousling his light brown hair in the process. His lips pull up into a smirk. “What the fuck did you do to your hair?”
Instinctively, I lift my hand to my shock of red and blond hair, even as I jump to my feet and throw myself into Sin’s arms. He’s visibly gained weight since I last saw him, but it’s the most obvious when he hugs me tightly, knocking the wind out of my lungs. “I dyed it just for you,” I say when he loosens his grip.
Grasping me by the shoulders, he leans back to stare down at me, his gray eyes full of emotions that I haven’t seen from him in a long time. He drops his gaze to the tips of my hair and twists a few strands between his fingertips. “Then dye that shit back,” he teases. “I already miss the blue.”
I’m not even aware that Lucas has gotten up to stand beside me until Sin directs his stare over my shoulder. The look that he gives my brother rips at my chest. It’s apologetic and sincere—and I hope like hell that it’s these emotions that will keep him the hell out of places like this. “You let her go out like this, mother fucker?”
Lucas’s laugh starts out forced, but by the time I glance back at him to offer him a pleading look, it’s genuine. “I can’t tell Kylie shit.”
I turn back to Sinjin. “I’ve got to use the bathroom, but it’ll only take a minute, okay?”
He nods, and as I head toward the restroom on the other side of the waiting room, I hear Sinjin speak to my brother in a hushed voice. “I’ve got to know if she left you because of me. Because of the shit I said.”
I’m all the way to the restroom door by the time Lucas responds, but I hear it loud and clear. “Not because of you. Because of me. But I’m going to get her back.”
And for the second time today, I find myself whispering, "Good for you."
Chapter Eleven
Lucas Wolfe