“You need to yank your head out of your ass.”

Trey MacAllister gave me a dark look on his way off the stage.

I would have shouted an apology at his back, but he was already gone and it wouldn’t have done any good anyway. He had every right to be pissed too. I’d stepped on his cues, messed up my own and in general, done a worse than half-ass performance.

“Your head isn’t here tonight, is it, honey?” Sarah Gimble, the manager of the club we were using for the time being, eyed me up and down, then shook her head. “You don’t look like you slept any more than a minute. Them pretty girls you chasing finally give you a tongue-lashing for dangling all three of them?”

She winked as she said it, proving she didn’t mean any of it, but I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her to fuck off. Somehow, I didn’t think that would impress my manager if I pissed off the woman they planned to partner with.

She must have read something on my face, and it just amused her because she threw her head back and laughed. “Son, you’ve got girl trouble if ever I’ve seen it,” she said, her drawl so thick and heavy, it could only be real. “You go on. Sit out the next set. Have a drink if it’ll loosen you up.”

“I don’t drink.”

“Then find something else that will help you remove the stick from your ass.” She pursed ruby red lips and shook her head. “Because you are a mess. A pure mess.”

I ended up at the bar, alright, and for the first time in a long, long time, I almost gave in.

Was this what Camry had felt last night?

What had pushed her over?

I didn’t know, and I needed to quit thinking about her, or I’d end up falling off the wagon too. That was the reason—or one of them—I’d left the hospital without seeing her again, because I needed to stay steady for myself if nothing else.

But I didn’t feel steady.

I felt completely off-balance, and it pissed me off.

I hadn’t felt like this since my mother had died, and I sure as hell didn’t want to feel like it again.

Sipping at the club soda, I was so preoccupied with being pissed off, I didn’t even notice the slim woman approaching until she slid into place next to me, looking battered, bruised…and beautiful.

“Hi,” Camry said, her voice raised to be heard over the music.

I looked down at her, hating the sight of the bruises, telling myself I even hated the sight of her. But I didn’t. I was gorging on it, and some part of me felt better than I had since I’d walked away from the hospital earlier that morning.

She could easily become my next addiction, and that wouldn’t be healthy for either of us. I needed to end this.

I gave her a short nod, then tapped my glass for a refill. Once I had it, I gestured to the door that led to the back of the club. I didn’t want to have this discussion here. My dressing room would have to do.

Camry turned toward me the minute I closed the door, reaching for me. I sidestepped and her face fell, but I steeled myself to ignore it.

“What are you doing out of the hospital?”

“How…” She wet her lips.

I could see her face in the mirror, and the sight of her tongue dragging over the soft curve of her bottom lip was only made slightly less torturous when she shifted her gaze and I saw the bruising that spread down one cheek. I hadn’t noticed it was that bad this morning, but I’d been so worried about the blood and everything else, maybe I just hadn’t been looking.

“How did you know I was in the hospital?”

Slowly, I turned and looked at her. “How did I know?” I echoed, parroting the question back at her.

She blinked, looking confused, and that was it.

“Because you passed out next to my fucking car about two o’clock this morning, that’s why!”

She flinched, but I was too worried, too hurt, too…raw to do anything about it but keep raging.

“I walked out of the fucking club and you were there, looking half-dead, and I had to take you the emergency room because you wouldn’t wake up! And they wouldn’t tell me shit with me being ‘just a friend’, so I ended up lying and telling them I was your husband. You have a concussion and they said you’d be there a day or two at least.”

“I…” Looking dazed, she blinked, then shook her head. “I…Jacen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I have no idea how I ended up here. I was…”

She started to talk, but I didn’t want to hear it, so I blocked her out, turning back to the mirror. I could see her lips moving, and some part of me remembered how they’d felt the first time I’d kissed her. The way it had felt hot and right.

I heard Daytin’s name, and for a minute, anger stirred, but I shoved it down. It wasn’t Daytin’s fault Camry had ended up in this mess. She’d made her own choices. Hell, a twenty-two-year-old who had a support system, a family, and a job, blaming an eighteen-year-old who didn’t have anyone...

“And that’s…that’s it,” she said.

That’s it, she says, finishing up some bullshit about how she’d found Daytin, taken on some guy who’d been all but raping the kid, and he’d knocked her around, then stabbed her in the chest with a heroin needle.

“Okay,” I said even though I didn’t believe a single word of it.

One thing I knew, addicts lied. I’d done it. She was doing it. Arguing with her wouldn’t do anything but draw this out.

Her face relaxed a little, which meant she didn’t quite get that this wasn’t going the way she apparently thought it was, but before I could figure out how to tell her, she added, “I tried to tell Kaleb. He wouldn’t listen to me. Wouldn’t let me explain. He just told me to stay away from ‘his family.’”

“Can you blame him?”

“What?” She froze as I turned to face her and I had to keep my arms folded tightly across my chest to keep from reaching for her the way I wanted to. The way I needed to.

Why was I learning how I felt now? Why couldn’t I have waited? Or why couldn’t she have pulled this shit a few days ago? Given me time to protect myself and pull back?

It didn’t matter since there was no undoing it now. All I could do was start pulling back and work on self-protection as best as possible from here on out. And she’d just given me the perfect excuse for an outlet for all the negative emotions building up inside me.

“What do you expect, Camry? If it’s not one thing with you, it’s another. It’s exhausting, and he’s got a wife and baby to think about now. It’s not all about you.”

Shrugging, I grabbed a shirt from the hanger and pulled it on. I wasn’t finishing the night. There was no way I’d be able to concentrate after this. Sarah had commented about woman troubles? Hell, yeah. I had them, in spades. Almost five feet of them, and those troubles were now staring at me with big, hurt eyes.

“I didn’t…Jacen, I know he’s got a lot going on in his life. I just…I wish he would’ve believed me. And he told me he didn’t want me near—”

Tears welled up in her eyes and panic clawed at me. I had to get this done, or I was going to end up caving, and I’d meant it when I’d told Kaleb I didn’t want the drama. I didn’t want the drama or the pain, and I could already see myself losing Camry. She wouldn’t get clean, and addicts only ever ended up one of three ways. Clean, in jail, or dead.

And she’d already shown that the first wasn’t something she was willing to do.

As she struggled to control the tears, I struggled to find my voice. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” I managed to say.

She whipped her head up, staring at me.

Moving to the chair where I’d draped my jeans earlier, I grabbed them. Without bothering to go behind the changing screen, I turned my back, dropping the pants that made up the costume I wore, then pulled on my jeans.

“It’s just not working out, Camry. I’m settling my life down, trying to keep it nice and calm, and there’s nothing nice or calm about the life you’re leading. You don’t even know what it is you want, but one thing is certain—it’s a far cry from the kind of life I’m leading.”

“I…Jacen, what are you saying?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“I think you heard me.” I looked around the dressing room as if there was something else I needed. Something that wasn’t the fragile young woman behind me. “Besides, I’m not sure LA is working out for me. I can’t find much of anything to like about this place other than the ocean, and they’ve got one of those back in Australia. I’m thinking I might move back there. Who knows, maybe I’ll open up my own place like Kaleb did. But I’ll focus on stripping instead of surfing.”

It was one thing I knew after all.

Grabbing my keys from the dressing table, I gestured to the door. “I need to go. I’m meeting somebody.”

“I…” That dazed expression returned to her face and she shook her head, then winced. “Jacen, what’s this all about?”

She was going to make me say it, wasn’t she?

Fine.

Meeting her eyes, I inclined my head. “I’m not interested in dating a heroin addict, Camry.”

Then I cut around her and held open the door.

For the longest time, she didn’t move. When she finally did, it was with slow, almost brittle motions, her body lacking her normal grace. I could have written it off as only being her injuries, which was shitty enough of me, but then she looked up at me, her eyes wounded, and that pissed me off even more.

As she moved past me, I caught her chin, turning her toward me. She jerked away, but I didn’t let go. Forcing her head back, I kissed her, deep and hard, with all the rage I felt inside. With everything.

And she just stood there.

When I lifted my head, she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “If that was a proposition, sorry, I’m out of the business. And I never fucked for free anyway.”

Then she stepped outside and walked away.

It took me a minute to register what she’d said, and by the time I did, she was already lost in the crowd.

Had that been her way of saying she didn’t think much of what we’d had? I wanted to go after her, demand answers. But then, I made myself stop. What did it matter anyway?

We were done.

That had been our last kiss.