She lowers her lids. “You still want me?”
Walking to a table, I pick up the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. Once I’ve lit another one, I shake my head and sigh. “No. I don’t like you. I don’t respect you. I feel absolutely nothing.”
“One thing’s for certain, you can never accuse him of lying to you,” Kiln remarks dryly.
Cassandra and I face off. “You want her?”
“I want to protect her, since no one else seems inclined to.”
“That’s not all you want from her,” she accuses. “If it wasn’t for her, you’d still be fucking me.”
She’s probably right, so I can’t deny it, despite how much I want to. Her statement says a lot about me. Although I’ve never been bothered by my actions before, I am now. I’m afraid of Georgie finding out.
“If she was eighteen, I’d pursue her,” I admit. Hurt creeps into her eyes. Her expression couldn’t be more horrified had I delivered the same kind of hit to her that she gave to Georgie. “And I’d win her.”
She licks her lips, blinks away tears, then screws her features into her evil bitch look. “Stay the hell away from my daughter, Sloane. If you don’t, I’ll make you sorry.”
Without awaiting my response, she spins on her heels and stalks away.
Once again, a recording session is blown to fucking hell.
Georgie
I’ve exhausted my tears, but my confusion remains and so does the sting in my cheek from Mom’s slap. So many conflicting feelings inside of me, and I’m so suspicious of my mother’s sudden appearance. She’s never hunted me down before, so it doesn’t have anything to do with me.
Does it? I want to believe her so bad, even if it means Sloane was doing nothing more than a favor to my parents by spending time with me.
A dry sob escapes me. I wrap my arms tighter around my knees, pressing my cheek against my leather pants.
A horn blows and I lift my head. Crowell is at the curb. He’s made me wait at this park for almost two hours, but I don’t care. He’s going to help me to forget and piece together how broken I feel inside.
The one thing I had, the one person who seemed truly concerned about me, has been taken away. Sloane is leaving in a few days, but I’d still decided to bask in his attention and affection while I could.
Now, he’s gone and I’m feeling scared and lost all over again.
“Get in the car, George.”
Dusting the back of Sloane’s shirt off, since it is covering my pants, after I hop to my feet, I do as I’m told, not understanding why I’m not happier to see Crowell. He’s always been the one I leaned on and I was always grateful for him.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Once I sit in the passenger seat, I throw my bag in the back seat and close the door. As the window glides up from where Crowell controls it on the driver’s door, he speeds off.
“You’re lucky I came for you,” he says coldly.
I hiccup. “Thank you,” I tell him in a small voice.
He sidles a glare at me. I have to rectify my treatment of him. Since I haven’t fastened my seat belt yet, it’s relatively easy to lay my body across the center console and bury my head against his crotch.
My fingers shake as I free him and take him into my mouth. I don’t want to do this with him. Not only because of Sloane, but because Crowell has been a complete fucking jerk to me.
I have no wants in this, though. I have needs and Crowell is the only one who is completely dependable to fulfill them.
Chapter Eleven
Sloane
It’s been four fucking days of hell, but we’ve cut the album. It’s done. Our first new material in three fucking years and it’s some of our best work. I’m fucking happy even though I’m fucking miserable.
Kiln hasn’t allowed me a moment’s peace about Georgie or the fact that he can’t wait to fuck me over, so I’ve been relying on Abby for information. Parnell is back and he’s invited Abby to his and Cassandra’s bed again. I live for the day Cassandra McCall discovers her husband’s transgressions. The revelation will define Karma. She hasn’t tried to contact me. I think if she does, I will kill her.
According to Abby, no one gave a shit about Georgie’s absence, who returned home yesterday, higher than fuck, her clothes and skin stained with cum. Abby happened upon her by accident, much like I did, leaving her parents’ fuck chamber and getting the fuck away from that zoo.
The information gave me little comfort, but I need to focus on the concert tonight. We go on stage in less than an hour and if thoughts of Georgie aren’t bad enough, Jaeger is with me.
He’s the oddity amongst us, a crew cut ginger with blue eyes, who prefers suits and ties to leather and denim. He’s less of an asshole than Kiln, so I’m happy for small favors. My brain shuts down before my thoughts stray further to either of them.