Chapter 25
Harris
Between Nate and Barb, the work I had to catch up on was minimal. That was a relief because I wasn’t sure I had it in me to give an avalanche of work piled on my desk the attention it needed. Every two seconds my thoughts went from work to Lucy and all I wanted was to be with her.
Fuck, I missed her.
I’d seen her just the day before, and I knew I would see her before the end of the night, but I missed her regardless. Spending the daytime hours with her wasn’t enough. I couldn’t sleep without her so I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep lately. All I wanted was to spend every free second with her—loving her—and that wasn’t possible.
Grimacing, I tossed my pen on the desk and reached for my phone. She should have been at the club over an hour ago, but she’d texted me to let me know she was running late. I was twitchy like an addict needing his next fix just for the sight of her—the sound of her voice in my ear.
The sound of my elevator had my head snapping up. I watched hopefully as the doors opened, aching for it to be Lucy.
Jace stepped out with a smirk on his face. “Yo, man. Let’s get going. The girls are upstairs waiting.”
“Lucy?”
He nodded and I blew out a relieved breath. “She should have texted me when she got here.”
“She was on the phone when we got upstairs,” he assured me. “You done for the night?”
“Mostly. Everything else can wait, though. I’ll get it handled tomorrow or let Barb finish on Monday night.” I pushed back from my desk and grabbed my keys. As I stepped into the elevator, my phone went off and I bit back a curse when I saw who it was.
Jesse Thornton. Damn it. I hadn’t even seen his daughter yet and he was probably calling to ask what time I would get her home. Knowing I couldn’t ignore him, I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Harris, you got a minute?” His voice sounded choked but cool and I punched the second-floor button, figuring I wasn’t going to like this conversation even a little bit.
“Yes, sir. I always have time for you, sir.” Whether I wanted to talk to him or not, I would make time for him when he needed to talk to me. He was going to be a huge part of my future, after all.
“I just spoke to Lucy, but I wanted to speak to you about this personally as well.” My gut clenched because he sounded…strange.
“Is Lucy okay?” Please, God, let her be okay. Jace had said she was upstairs, but that didn’t mean shit. She could be having a bad day, but I didn’t know it. Fuck, why hadn’t I called her?
“She’s fine, boy.” He blew out a ragged breath. “Mostly fine, I think.”
“What does that mean?” My tone was sharper than I intended but, fuck, I was going to lose my shit if I didn’t know she was all right or not.
“She hasn’t been sleeping at night. Not since we got home. She’s up walking the halls or who knows what else at night. I’m worried about her.” His voice was strained. “She needs you, Harris. I love her enough to admit that she needs you more than she needs me.”
“What can I do to help?” I’d stop time to help her if that was what she needed. Anything, as long as she was safe and happy.
“I think it would help her if she moved in with you.”
The elevator stopped but I pushed the closed button so the doors wouldn’t open. Jace shot me a curious look, but I couldn’t have spoken to him if my life depended on it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wanted it so much that I was pretty sure I was having a mental break and was hearing things. No way had Jesse Thornton just told me he wanted his daughter to live with me. I would have done a damn backflip off the top of my club if I thought he was for real right then.
“Can you say that again, sir?”
“She sleeps easier with you around, Harris.” The strain in his voice had doubled now. “She’s happier when she’s with you. Her happiness is all I could ever ask for and that means letting her go so she can live with you.”
“I…” I swallowed hard, and tried again. “I… Thank you, sir. I promise you I’ll take perfect care of her.”
“I know that, boy. If I didn’t I would never let her go.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll let you go now.”
“Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir.” The phone went dead on his end and I dropped my hand, trying to wrap my mind around the reality of what just happened.
Jace nudged my shoulder. “You okay, man?”
“Yeah,” I muttered as a grin lifted my lips. “Yeah, I’m great, man.”
“Good, then maybe you can let us out of this sardine can and we can go see our girls? I’m getting claustrophobic in here with your ass.”
Chuckling, I released the button and the doors opened. Jace stepped off first and my eyes went around the room in search of Lucy. I felt like celebrating after the conversation with her father. This was just one more step in the right direction for us and the future I wanted with her. I’d never imagined it would come together so quickly, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to be sorry it was.
“That Peyton chick’s been looking for you, dude.”
My head snapped to my left when I heard Gray’s voice. He’d obviously been waiting so he could tell me that little bit of news. “Peyton’s in my fucking club?”
I was going to have that bitch arrested. She was becoming too much to deal with. She’d done nothing but call me ever since I’d fired her and the Blonde Bombshells had kicked her out of the band. I’d blocked her number, but she’d only gotten another phone and started harassing me with texts and twice as many calls. I hadn’t been concerned about it, though, not really. She was annoying but hadn’t overstepped any lines.
Until that afternoon when she’d gotten into my apartment by telling the super that she thought I was sick and couldn’t get inside to check on me. The idiot man had let her in and she’d spent God knew how long in my place while I was sleeping. I’d woken up to her climbing into bed beside me. In nothing but her bra and panties.
I’d threatened to call the cops and she’d gotten out quick, but I should have known that little bitch wasn’t done trying to drive me crazy with her bullshit. She was seriously unhinged if she thought I wanted her, yet that was exactly what she seemed to think.
“She just went over to talk to the girls,” Gray informed me now. “She’s got serious issues, though, man. She wanted to know all about Lucy.”
Fucking hell.
I hadn’t told Lucy about what was going on because I didn’t want to upset her, but I knew I’d have to explain all the shit Peyton had been doing over the last few weeks. Especially now that Lucy was going to be living with me.
“Where are they?” I bit out, and Gray led the way to the bar.
I saw Kin’s red hair first, then Peyton’s blond head. She was standing right in front of the girls now and I only wanted to snatch Lucy up and get her as far away from Peyton as I humanly could. What if that bitch tried to sabotage things with Lucy and me? What if she filled Lucy’s head with all kinds of trash and lies and Lucy believed her? I wasn’t about to lose the best thing in my world to some vindictive little bitch. I’d kill Peyton with my bare hands before that happened.
As I neared the group of girls, I saw Lucy’s face and knew she wasn’t happy. Her dark eyes were focused solely on the blonde in front of her, her lips turned down in dislike. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and kiss the breath out of her.
“Harris and I have been together for months now and I’m not going to let you ruin that,” I heard Peyton saying. “He loves me.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah?”
I stopped, unable to move another inch for fear of what was about to happen. She couldn’t believe Peyton’s lies. She couldn’t. If she did, and left me, it would destroy me. Lucy was the reason I got out of bed every morning. If I lost her now, that would be the end of me.
“I was in his bed this afternoon and he was complaining about how he couldn’t get rid of you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at Lucy. “I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from Harris. He’s mine.”
Around them, the other girls burst out laughing. If I’d been thinking clearly, I might have laughed too. Beside me, Jace even released a chuckle. This chick was seriously batshit crazy and she couldn’t have spewed a more obvious lie if she’d been trying to. No one who knew me—who knew what Lucy and I had overcome—would ever believe what she’d just said.
Lucy took a step toward Peyton, but it was the grin on her face that had all the air leaving my lungs. “That’s a cute story you got going on in your head, sweetie. But you should probably get your facts straight before you start spewing that kind of crazy.” She leaned in closer as if she was going to tell the other girl a secret. “I don’t know what happened today, but I do know Harris Cutter. He probably loves me more than any other person on the planet, including himself. He would never cheat on me.”
Relief was like a tidal wave washing through me, and I was able to draw a deep breath. It snapped me out of my daze and I moved the last few feet forward. When Peyton saw me, her face paled. She wasn’t what was important right then, though. I wrapped a hand around Lucy’s waist. The feel of her against me made everything in the world right again. I pressed a kiss to Lucy’s temple, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and thanking God she was mine.
Lucy lifted her head and that grin was still on her beautiful face. “Hi,” she practically purred.
“I love you so fucking much,” I told her. Peyton made a distressed sound, but my focus was solely on the only person who would ever matter. “You look really beautiful tonight, sweetness.”
“Thanks, babe.” Her head tilted to the side, her eyes dancing with amusement. “Why don’t you get rid of tall, blonde and crazy over there and we can have a good time with our friends. She’s kind of boring me.”
I lowered my head and pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips. Pulling back, I saw the need in her eyes that matched my own. “On it, Lu.” Stealing another kiss, I reluctantly let her go and finally looked at Peyton. “How did you get in? I have strict orders not to let you inside.”
She glared from me to Lucy and back again, the hate in her eyes like flames. “One of the new waitresses let me in when I told her I was your girlfriend.”
“Right. She’s fired.” I shot a glance over my shoulder and met Nate’s eyes. He set down someone’s drink and came over to join us. When he spotted Peyton, his eyes narrowed with hostility. “Show Peyton the door and then fire the idiot who let her in. While you’re at it, remind everyone about our newest rule. Be sure and let them know that the only girlfriend I have and will ever have is Lucy Thornton.”
“Thornton?” Peyton cried. “I didn’t know you were Lucy Thornton.”
“Would that have stopped you?” Lucy laughed again. “Knowing my daddy could ruin your chances at ever making it in the rock world would have stopped you trying to break me and Harris up?” She moved closer to the other girl again. “It’s not my daddy you have to worry about though, Peyton. May I call you Peyton?” She winked, and I wanted to grab her and hide us both in my office for a few hours. Screw hanging out with our friends. “Daddy couldn’t care less about you and your short-lived rocker dreams with the Blonde Bombshells. Very short lived, because no one will touch you once Aunt Emmie makes sure your name is blacklisted.”
“Au-aunt Emmie?” Peyton was as white as a ghost now.
“My aunt, Emmie Armstrong. She loves me, too. Maybe not as much as Harris does, but not many people could ever love me that much. One little whisper in her ear and it will be like you never existed.” She stepped back. “It was nice meeting you, Peyton.”
Nate grasped the girl’s arm and led her away. I didn’t watch them go; instead, I grabbed Lucy around the waist and tossed her over my shoulder. Fuck the club and everything else. I needed her alone. Now. “I’m not promising we’ll be back,” I told our group of friends, who watched me with laughing eyes. “Or that we’ll be around tomorrow.” I could feel Lucy laughing and my dick thickened even more. Soon I wouldn’t be able to stand upright. Rubbing a hand over her perfect ass, I headed for the elevator.
“Night, Lucy.”
“Night, Kin,” she called back, still laughing.
The elevator doors barely closed behind us before I was lowering her and pressing her back against the wall. The amusement left her eyes to be replaced with a burning need that only stroked the fires of my own. “I missed you today,” she murmured.
“Fuck, Lu. I missed you, too.” I lowered my head, skimming my nose down her neck.
“I’m not a fan of your friend,” she said with a smirk. “What’s up with her, anyway?”
“That bitch is crazy, Lu.” I pulled back enough to look down at her. “You know I fired her and that the Bombshells kicked her out. She’s been calling me, but I didn’t take her crap seriously until today. She got my idiot super to unlock my apartment door and let her in while I was sleeping. She tried to climb into bed with me.”
Her entire body went stiff and I grimaced at the murderous look in her dark eyes. “Now you tell me? I could’ve scratched up her pretty face.”
“Next time, sweetness,” I promised and kissed the tip of her nose.
“Was she naked?” I could see the jealousy plain as day in her eyes.
“She had her underwear on.” I wasn’t about to lie about it. I would never keep something like that from her.
“What color were they?”
“I don’t fucking know, Lu. I wasn’t looking.” Her smile returned. “What?” I didn’t understand that look in her eyes.
She just shook her head. “I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetness. More than anything.” The elevator stopped, but neither of us moved as the doors opened behind me.
“I know and I’ll never doubt that again.” She cupped my face in both her hands. “I thought for sure I would lose you when you found out about the cutting.”
“That’s never going to happen. You’re stuck with me for life, Lu.” I pressed a kiss into her right palm. “Are you prepared for that?”
“More than ready. Especially now that I’m going to be your roommate.” Her eyes brightened and I felt a grin split my face. “So, Daddy called me and—”
I cut her off with a quick, hard kiss. “He called me, too,” I assured her when I lifted my head again. “I’m sorry, Lu, but your dad is my new favorite person in the world. He gave me the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?” she teased, but I was completely serious.
“You, Lu. You.”