THE NEXT MORNING, I wake to a text from Chelsea. Where did you go last night?
As happy as I was to see Chelsea last night, I hadn’t forgotten about her running her mouth to Reagan. I still plan to confront her about it, but not today. And until we have that conversation, I’m not telling her about Jay.
Home.
What are you doing today? Maybe I can come by later.
Sorry. I have plans all day. Maybe tomorrow.
Ok. Sounds good. TTYL
Well, that was easy.
Too easy.
THE GATES AT the front of Jay’s driveway are open, so I continue up the driveway and roll to a stop in front of the house. Wow. I hadn’t taken in the size of her house last night because it was dark and I was solely focused on Jay, but I remember she called it her modern-day castle. And now I see why.
Jay’s bodyguard, Bass, greets me at the door. “Hey, man, good to see you again,” I hold out my hand and he shakes it with a firm grip before taking a step back and gesturing for me to come in.
“Princess said to tell you she’ll be down in five minutes,” he informs me as I step into the foyer.
“And to not embarrass her,” a female voice adds just before the infamous Emerson Mackenzie appears.
They say that if you want to know what your girl will look like in twenty years, all you have to do is look at her mother.
I’d say the future is looking pretty damn good.
Emerson Mackenzie King is a beautiful woman. Her black hair is in one of those messy buns and a pair of reading glasses are perched on top of her head, away from her vibrant green eyes.
She smiles and opens her arms. “Zach, it’s so great to finally meet you.” She pulls me in for a hug and I bend at the waist to meet her halfway. Pulling back, she looks up at me with another smile, slowly shaking her head. “I can’t get over how much you look like your dad. I swear it was like déjà vu watching you out on the field last night. You played a good game.”
“Thanks. I didn’t know you were there,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck.
“We were all there,” Emerson says, smiling up at Bass before she turns her emerald gaze on me once more. “Back in the day, the Mackenzies never missed a football game.”
Bass moves to stand beside Emerson with his arms crossed, pinning me with an intimidating stare. Emerson scoffs, backhanding him across the stomach. “Would you cut it out? You knew this day was coming.” She turns to me and rolls her eyes. “Ignore him. He doesn’t play well with others.”
Bass lets out a deep chuckle. “I play just fine.” He grins, raising a brow. “Just like a cat plays with a mouse before he devours it.”
Emerson laughs.
“I heard that, B,” Jay says as she skips down the stairs wearing a pair of cutoff jean shorts that show off her long legs, a white T-shirt that says “I have nothing to wear,” and sandals. Her black hair is braided and draped over one shoulder. She playfully smacks Bass on the arm as she makes her way over to me and wraps her arms around my waist, stretching up on her toes and pecking me on the lips. “Hi, Z.”
Bass pretends to clear his throat to hide the growl as Emerson giggles beside him.
“Hi.” I smile. “I like your shirt.”
“Thanks.” She smiles and turns to Bass. “You told me last night that you approved, so be nice.” She looks up at me and winks.
“Fine.” Bass playfully rolls his eyes, throwing his arms out to his sides. The two of them exchange a look as if they’re having a private conversation and I fight back a smile. Looks like Jay has the big guy wrapped around her finger.
“Grace, come meet Zach!” Jay calls out and an older Spanish woman comes walking in from the back of the house. “Zach, this our amazing Grace.” She laughs. “Grace, this is my guy.”
That statement sends my heart soaring.
Grace gives me a warm smile as she reaches up and hugs me.
Emerson laughs. “Sorry, Zach, we’re a bunch of huggers. There’s no such thing as personal space in this house.”
“Speak for yourself, woman,” Bass bristles.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” Grace says to me before turning to Jay. “He’s so handsome.”
“I told you.” Jay smiles. “Let’s go, Z.”
“SO, WHERE ARE you taking me?” Jay asks, fastening her seat belt as I pull out of her driveway and head over to Cam’s.
He lives two streets over from Jay, on the beach side. His house is big but not even half the size of Jay’s. “Cam’s out of town this weekend,” I tell her. “So, I figured we could go to his place and hang out on the beach.”
“Awesome. I haven’t been over to see his house yet.”
“It’s a typical bachelor pad.” Cam bought the house in January when he left the Heat to play for the Tornadoes. He has all the basics to get by. There’s a couch, a flat-screen, barstools, a pool table, and the bedrooms are furnished. The walls are bare, but the refrigerator always has beer, Gatorade and water. And the liquor cabinet is now locked and off-limits since the Chelsea incident.
Jay laughs, knowingly. “Oh, believe me, I’ve seen Cam’s and Liam’s bachelor pads.” She tells me about the house Cam and Liam shared in Malibu just down the beach from hers.
I roll to a stop at the gate and punch in the code. The gate opens and I pull up the driveway, pressing the remote for the garage door as I put the Jeep in Park.
We enter the house through the door from the garage and Buddy, my six-year-old Lab, greets us, wagging his tail. I dropped him off before I went over to pick up Jay. It’s too hot outside to leave him in the car and I wasn’t sure how long her mom and bodyguard were going to grill me before letting her leave with me.
“Aww, aren’t you cute?” Jay squats down to give Buddy some attention, which he happily accepts. “I’ve never had a pet. Well, that’s not exactly true. I had one of those beta fish once. But there wasn’t time for a dog or a cat.”
“Cats are pretty self-sufficient.”
“I think my mom’s allergic to cats. Or she just said that so she didn’t have to get me one.” She laughs. “What’s his name?”
“Buddy.” He was supposed to be Logan’s dog, but he’s the family dog and since Logan is away at college and I’m busy with school and football, he’s become my dad’s baby. Since my parents had errands to run today, I figured I’d bring him over to Cam’s for some exercise on the beach.
Jay scrunches her nose. “Buddy? Really?”
I wrinkle my brows. “What’s wrong with Buddy?”
“It’s a lazy name.” She rises from the floor and puts her hands on her hips. “Like you couldn’t take the time to give him a cool name, so you just went with Buddy.” She shakes her head, feigning disappointment. “That’s just wrong.”
“Logan named him,” I inform her through a chuckle. “What would you name him?”
We both look down at Buddy, who is blissfully licking his nonexistent doggy balls.
Jay lifts her head and grins at me. “Sir Licks-his-dick-a-lot?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Gangster. I like it.” Grabbing her hand, I lead her through the back door and down to the beach, snagging a couple of beach towels on the way as Buddy follows.
ZACH TOSSES A tennis ball into the water before turning to wrap his arms around my waist. My arms instinctively circle his neck. “Tell me about this.” He brushes his thumb over my tattoo and I flinch because it tickles.
“It was one of the last things my dad said to me before he died.”
He nods and lifts my arm to rub his fingers over the “Conquer” tattoo on my inner bicep.
“And this one?”
“I’m a King.” I flex my bicep. “King’s don’t cower. They conquer.”
Zach’s gaze moves from my tattoo back to my face. His blue eyes flicker as he stares into mine, and he exhales forcefully. “I’m sorry.”
I frown. “For what?”
“For everything. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry you lost your dad. I’m sorry your whole life has changed. But I’m not sorry you’re here. I tried to let you go and move on, but I couldn’t. I was miserable. And now I’m so fucking happy, it doesn’t seem real.”
“I know. Me, too. But we’re still us, Z. We might not know everything about each other, but we’re still the same two kids who grew up together over summer vacations. We’re still Zachy and Sparkles.” I burst out laughing and Zach shakes his head.
“Logan and his stupid nicknames.” We sit down side by side on the shoreline, Zach continuing to toss the ball into the ocean so Buddy chases after it.
“How is Logan? I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Still the same annoying ass he always was, but he’s doing well. We don’t hear from him too much because he’s busy with law school. He hasn’t been home in nearly a year, but my dad went up there a few months ago to see him and to make sure he was doing okay.”
“He’s at Columbia?”
He pulls his legs up and drapes his arms over his bent knees. “Yeah.”
“And what about you? Where are you going to college?”
“I’m still undecided.”
“Cole has his heart set on South Carolina.”
“I know. He’s been talking about it since we were little. What about you? You’re going on tour with Royal Mayhem?”
I nod. “Yeah. I think this tour will give me the closure I need to move on with my life.” Wow. This is the first time I’ve ever admitted that out loud.
“What do you mean?”
I shrug. “Jaybird started as a side project; something fun for my dad and me. It wasn’t supposed to turn into an album, much less a tour. But after we found out he was sick and wasn’t going to get better, he wanted to make it a farewell album.”
“That’s sad, Jay.”
“Now he’s gone, and I feel like the pressure is on me now. I’m worried about how the fans will receive me. I’m not my dad. Royal Mayhem was his band. His baby. His life. Not mine.”
God, it feels so good to finally let it out.
“So, you don’t want to be a rock star?” he teases, bumping his shoulder against mine.
“I don’t know what I want, but whatever it is, I want the choice to be mine. I spent a lot of my childhood on a tour bus. I don’t think I want to spend my adult life living on one, too. The tour is something I need to do. I owe it to my dad, to the band, and I owe it to the fans. Maybe even myself, too. I worked hard on that album. But after the tour, I’m not sure what I want to do. I really like being involved with the Project Mayhem class.” I shrug. “Maybe I’ll continue to do that. Be a mentor, kind of like my dad was on America’s Voice. Maybe I’ll go to college and get a teaching degree.”
I bump my arm against Zach’s and look over to see him watching me. “God, I’ve missed you, Jay. This has been the longest year of my life.”
“It’s been the worst year of mine.”
“I know.”
Our eyes lock for a split second before he reaches out, grabs the back of my neck, and slams his mouth down on mine. I let out a soft moan as his tongue pushes past my lips and slides against mine. Without breaking the kiss, I fall back into the sand with my hands buried in Zach’s hair as he moves over me. Sliding his hand up my thigh, he brings my leg up to wrap around his waist, rocking his hips, pressing his hardness against the spot that aches for him. I lift my hips to get more friction, earning a groan from Zach. He breaks away and I almost whimper in protest.
“Let’s go inside,” he murmurs.
“WHOSE ROOM IS this?” she asks.
“It’s mine,” I tell her. “No one uses this room but me.”
“Uses it?” She curls her lip in disgust and takes a step back.
Jesus, Zach, you’re an idiot. “I mean this is my room. I don’t bring girls here, Jay.” Only Chelsea’s ever been here, but never in my bed. That’s definitely a conversation I need to have with her. Sooner than later.
“Okay.” She nods, smiling as she reaches behind her back and tugs the strings on her bikini top. The strings fall to her sides but the small triangles remain in place, covering part of her breasts. I’m on her in a flash, my hands sliding down the back of her bikini bottoms to grip her perfect little ass, guiding her backwards toward the bed. I lift her up, toss her on the bed, and she bounces forcing her breasts pop to out of her top, prompting both of us to burst out laughing.
I crawl on the bed and lay beside her. “Jay, we don’t have to do this. It’s not why I brought you here.”
“I know, but I want to. Just….” Her chest is heaving and she looks unsure.
“What?”
“Please don’t hurt me again, Z,” she pleads softly.
“Never. I’ll never hurt you, Jay,” I promise, pressing a kiss to her nose before scrambling from the bed in search of a condom. “I’ll be right back.” I know Cam keeps them in his nightstand.
“Hey, where are you going? Bring that fine ass back here.”
ZACH PRESSES A kiss to my nose and chuckles.
“Did I fall asleep?” I ask, stretching.
“Yeah, but only for like ten minutes. You okay?”
“Yeah.” And my lady J is a very happy girl.
“Your what?”
Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud?
Zach throws his head back and laughs. “Yes, you did.”
I snort, feeling the embarrassed flush creep up from chest to my cheeks.
“Are you blushing?” he teases.
“Well, I can’t call it my Va-jay-jay because that’s what Weenie calls me.”
“Why do you call her Weenie?”
“Because I couldn’t pronounce Evangeline. She was a little bitch when we were kids and wouldn’t let me call her Eva, so now she’s stuck with Weenie.”
Zach shakes his head. “I can’t wait to meet her. Are you hungry?”
“Kind of. I should probably check in with my mom.”
“You do that and get dressed. We’ll drop off Sir Licks-his-dick-a-lot at my house and go get some lunch.” I smack his chest and burst out laughing.
“We can call him ‘Sir’ for short.” I laugh again as I return one of Mom’s three missed calls.
“What are you doing?” she asks in way of answering.
“We’re at Cam’s. Zach brought his dog over here and we were out on the beach.”
“Cam’s out of town.” I know where she’s going with this, so I steer the conversation another direction.
“I know, and you should see this house, Mom. It’s worse than their bachelor pad in Malibu. I think Cam needs an interior intervention. This house is too nice to be this pathetic.” She laughs and I know I’ve avoided an interrogation and a future uncomfortable conversation. “Anyway, we’re leaving now to drop off Buddy at Zach’s and then we’re going to get some lunch. What are you doing?”
“Actually, I’m going out tonight. Some old friends are throwing me a ‘welcome back’ dinner at Oceanside Grill in Pelican Cove. I heard it’s good.”
“You heard that from me, goofball. Cole and I ate there last weekend.”
“Oh.” She laughs. “That’s right. Anyway, Bass is going with me, so I’ll need to know your plans before we leave.”
“I should be back in plenty of time. We’re just going to get lunch.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit. Love you.”
“Love you. Mean it. Bye.”