My arms encircle Cadey’s waist and I breathe in her scent.
I want the hug to last longer, but she pulls back and a conflicted look passes through her brown eyes. Then, as if she’s made up her mind about something, an uncomfortable grin touches her lips.
Her hair slaps me in the face when she whirls around and throws her arms around Finn next. My brother exhales in surprise, his eyes shooting to me.
Cadence releases him and goes to Zane. I scowl in my twin’s direction, watching carefully to make sure his hands don’t slide down any further than they have to.
The possessiveness takes me by surprise. So what if Zane hugs Cadence? It doesn’t matter to me. She doesn’t matter to me.
I rip my eyes off her although everything in me wants to keep looking. Kneeling next to my guitar, I turn down the volumes.
Normally, I’d wait for the event to be over before I start taking down instruments, but I jump straight to the mixer board, mute the other guitars and start unplugging wires.
Cadence hops off the stage and I pretend not to notice.
“Dutch, what are you doing?” Black and white sneakers fall into my line of sight. They’re pristine, which means they belong to Finn. He’s a sneaker head and treasures his vintage shoes like trophies.
“I’m taking down the instruments,” I mumble. It should be pretty freaking obvious.
“Where did Cadence go?” Zane asks, joining me at the front of the mixer board.
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” I growl.
There’s a fine line between harmless ribbing and fight talk. I know I’m spinning out closer to starting a fight than anything.
But Zane doesn’t look annoyed. He just looks amused.
“What’s got your panties in a twist?”
I roughly bend our wires so they can fit in our travel case. “I flunked on the last riff.”
I got nervous with Cadence standing beside me and my fingers didn’t bend the strings right.
My brothers nod because they know how seriously I take music. What they don’t know is how much of tonight’s music I enjoyed simply because Cadence was there with her stupid triangle.
My head’s a mess and it’s all her fault. When I saw her walk out of the changing room wearing that silky black dress, her mouth all glossy and pink…
I nearly busted a vein.
Then she threw her arms around me after the performance tonight.
It was just a squeeze, as basic and innocent as vanilla cream, but my pants got so tight I’d thought they’d pop off.
Every nerve in my body is alive from her touch.
Finn looks at me like he knows the real reason why I’m restless. I need my brothers to get out of my face as soon as humanly possible.
“Oh, I found her.” Zane nods in the direction of the crowd.
I look up almost eagerly. And then I scowl when I don’t see Cadence anywhere.
“By her, I mean her hot best friend.” Zane winks at me. “Who did you think I was talking about, Dutch?”
“Screw you.” I flip my brother off.
Finn scrubs his chin. “Any of you guys feel like we’ve seen her friend before?”
“Who? Cadence’s friend?” Zane clarifies.
Finn nods.
“I don’t know.” Zane takes the mike cords out of my hands. “What I do know is Dutch isn’t allowed to take down our instruments tonight.”
“What? Why?”
“We’ll take care of this.”
“I got it.” I reach for the music cord.
Zane blocks me. “We spent a crazy amount on these wires and you’re bending them wrong. If they stop working in the middle of a set, I’m blaming you.”
“Go spike the punch or something.” Finn slaps me on the back and retreats to his bass where he carefully sets the guitar in its case.
“You boys need any help?” A nerdy-looking teacher wearing glasses approaches us. But he’s not really looking at us. His eyes dart around like he’s on the search for stowaways.
I start to notice how empty the front of the stage is. We usually get lots of girls coming up to us after a set. By the looks of the teachers hovering around us, I’m guessing the lack of interaction is intentional.
I drag a hand through my hair and peruse the crowd again. It’s dark and almost impossible to make out any individual faces, but I locate Cadence anyway by the shimmer of her dress.
Hell, I spent most of the drive over to the school trying not to think about her in that dress but I failed. Big time.
Everything about her affected me.
The way her rack spilled out of the top.
The way she chewed on her glossy mouth when she realized where we were going.
The way she kept playing with her earrings.
I shouldn’t be thinking about her.
But there’s…
I don’t know. There’s something there.
In the distance, Cadence stumbles back as a tinier girl pounces on her. It’s too far to tell, but I’m guessing that’s her little sister. The other girl is wearing a frilly dress and big hair.
Looks like Cadence comes from a family of huggers.
Zane motions to me. “Can you put this in the truck?”
“Yeah.” I accept the mixer from him, glad for an excuse to leave the gym.
When I return, Cadence is standing closer to the stage.
And she’s with some guy.
My hand curls into fists when I see how close the other guy is to her. She laughs at something he says and her hand lands on the sleeve of his jacket.
The sight makes me livid.
I’ve felt a ton of dark feelings in my life, but the ones that are currently thrumming inside me are the most frightening because I have no right to them. Not with Cadence.
I roughly grab my guitar case and stalk outside. The night wind does nothing to cool my fury. I bend over the backseat, tensing my shoulder muscles and doing my best to keep still.
Say I do walk in and cut off that guy from talking to Cadence? Then what?
I don’t want her for myself.
She’s not the girl I care about.
She’s the girl I need to run out of Redwood.
I curl my fingers into fists and pound the chair. It’s like I’m being torn from the inside.
The connection I feel with the redhead is real. Every time I think I’ve got a hold on myself, I hear her play and she wrenches something out of the deepest, darkest parts of me.
But I can’t pretend that Cadence isn’t getting under my skin too. Even now, I want to drag her into one of the empty classrooms. I’d run my hands down her body, over her curves. I’d swallow her throaty moans to keep her quiet so we don’t get discovered by the chaperones.
Because once I get a taste of her, I sure as hell won’t stop for anything short of a hurricane.
I rake my hands roughly through my hair, breathing hard and fast.
Need is pounding in my veins.
I scrub a hand down my pants.
A long groan escapes. I sound like a tortured mental patient.
Approaching footsteps warn me that my brothers are coming. I straighten up and scowl at them.
Zane is carrying a drum piece in a padded case. The school provided a fully-equipped drum set, but my twin never plays without his own snare.
“You ready to head out?” Zane asks.
I look behind him. “Where’s Cadence?”
“She’s staying,” Finn says.
My nostrils flare. “Who’s taking her home?”
I picture that guy offering her a ride, reaching over the stick shift, setting his hand on her thigh—my temper spikes.
“Why do you care?” Zane challenges.
I stare him down. “I don’t.”
“Then let’s hit the road. There’s no reason for us to stick around.” Zane throws an amused grin over his shoulder. “The admin want us gone faster. They think we’ll fall for jailbait.”
My feet are rooted in place. Leaving Cadence here to flirt with some jerk chaperone makes me want to smash my fist through a window.
But I don’t have a reason to stay.
At least not a good one.
Forcing myself to turn, I follow my brothers to the car.
“Wait!” A girlish squeal rings out, causing us all to stop.
The girl who hugged Cadence earlier comes leaping down the back steps. She’s huffing and puffing by the time she gets to us.
“I’m…” She pants. “Voila… Cadey’s… sister.”
I arch an eyebrow, taking note of the family resemblance. Viola isn’t as tall as her older sister, but she’s got that same delicate beauty. I can see the family resemblance in their eyes and in their smiles. Although I don’t have much to compare it to since Cadence rarely smiles at me.
“Hey, Viola,” Zane says.
Finn does a chin-up.
“I know you’re busy and I didn’t come here to fangirl over you.” She straightens after catching her breath. There’s a flush to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong though. I totally would because I adore you guys. You were amazing tonight.”
“Thanks.” Zane flashes her his signature grin.
The poor kid almost faints.
I step forward. Cadence started getting in line when I threatened to show up in front of her house. Which means she’s trying to protect something close to home. Her sister.
“We got time.” I ease closer to her.
She blushes.
“Do you play piano like your sister?” Zane asks in a friendly tone.
“No, I don’t. I kept begging Cadey to teach me, but she’s always working late.” Her giggle is self-conscious. “So I kind of found my own thing.”
At the mention of Cadence working hard, I get a prick in my chest.
“Anyway,” Viola waves a hand, “I wanted to thank you for helping my sister get over her stage fright.”
“There’s still a long way to go,” I warn her. Playing the triangle in the background is a far cry from being able to play alone in front of crowds.
“Yeah, but you have to understand, Cadey would never get up on stage before. She’d break out into hives, throw up and…” She shudders. “It was awful.”
“When did the stage fright start?” Zane asks.
Viola chews on her bottom lip and it reminds me of her sister. “Mom wasn’t always… in her right mind. Sometimes, she’d take Cadence to places that weren’t safe and forced her to play.”
Finn looks disturbed.
Zane curses. “What kind of mom would do that?”
“One who has a drug problem,” Viola confesses.
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.
“When our mom died,” Viola’s eyes get misty, “I thought that Cadey would never play again. But then she got her scholarship to Redwood and she met you guys and now she’s having fun. Mom might be gone, but it’s almost like she’s still here, watching over us.”
“Sorry about your mom,” Zane says quietly.
“She wasn’t that great of a mom to be honest,” Viola admits, her eyes on the ground. “Cadey was the one who paid the bills and took care of me. She never really got a chance to be normal.” Viola must realize she’s sharing too much personal information because she suddenly cringes. “Oh my gosh. Do not tell her I told you all of that. She’d kill me.”
“Your secret’s safe with us,” Finn says sincerely. Just then, his phone chirps and he glances down. His expression shifts instantly. It’s enough to set me on edge.
“What’s up?” I ask my brother.
Finn clears his throat. “We need to go. Now.”
“Viola, it was great meeting you,” Zane says, trotting toward the truck.
“Let us know if you ever need anything,” I tell her, backing away.
She brightens. “Totally.”
I climb into the driver’s side and wait for my brother’s doors to bang shut. Starting up the engine, I glance at Finn.
He lifts his phone. “It’s Jinx. She got a location on Sol.”
Jinx: No good deed goes unpunished. Since The Kings were kind enough to bestow their royal presence on kids from the southside, here’s my gift to you. You’ll find your buddy Sol here. Location attached. But be careful. Not every caged bird can be freed.
