Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6)(41)

“Can we go outside and talk?” I asked.

She looked back at the stage and I followed her gaze. The guy was singing, but his entire focus was on Jess. “I think he loves me. He hasn’t said it, but he treats me like no one ever has. He acts like he can’t live without me, and he never makes me feel unworthy or not good enough.” She looked back at me. “I’m enough for him. Don’t mess it up for me. Because I’d hurt him for you. And in the end you’d hurt me.”

She pulled her arm free and walked away. I let her go this time. I stood there as she walked past her friends at the table and to the stage. Then she opened the back door and disappeared. Krit left the band to finish without him as he hurried off the stage.

He was willing to put her first. I never had been. He made her feel special, and I hadn’t. He wore eyeliner and had more piercings than one human should, but he knew what he had and he wasn’t willing to lose her.

Problem was, she had said she would hurt him for me. It was me she wanted.

How the hell was I supposed to walk away from that?

Chapter Sixteen

JESS

The stage door had barely closed behind me when Krit came stalking backstage. His eyes searched my face, and I felt like crumpling to the floor. He was worried about me. Jason was out there and I had all but told him I still wanted him, and Krit was worried about me.

“What the hell did he want?” Krit asked, looking ready to strike.

“He’s here with friends. He just wanted to say hello. I don’t think he expected to see me,” I told him.

“Does he know you’re with me?” Krit asked, taking another step toward me like he was scared I would burn him if he got too close.

“Yes, I told him. But he saw us earlier too.”

Krit studied me. “Now you’ve seen him, are you over it? Is this your closure?”

My closure? Could you get closure for something like this? Loving a man who didn’t love you back? “I don’t think there is anything to close. We were a mini fling.”

“Bullshit! He screwed with your head. Then that motherf*cker has the nerve to walk into this bar.” He started pacing again.

“Krit, get out here,” Green said in an aggravated tone as he stepped backstage.

“Leave me the f**k alone,” Krit snapped at him. Then he looked back at me and cupped my face. “You okay?”

“They want you, Krit,” Green yelled over the crowd.

“I said to back the f**k off,” Krit yelled back at him.

I put my hand on Krit’s chest. “Go. I’m fine. I just want to stay back here and watch until your break,” I told him.

Krit nodded, then pressed a kiss to my lips before walking back onto the stage.

The door behind me closed, and I turned to see Trisha standing there. “Did he go back on?” she asked me, and I nodded.

Trisha walked over to stand beside me, and we watched him as he entertained the crowd. “He loves you,” Trisha said.

He hadn’t told me he loved me, but after the way he had acted outside earlier, I was beginning to wonder. “Why?” I asked. I hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

Trisha grinned. “Because you’re you. He knows the real you. Not the wild party girl you show the world. But then, you’ve not been that girl since the beginning of the summer.”

I hadn’t been that girl since I met Jason. We were both thinking it, but neither of us said it out loud.

“He’s not ready for what he feels. He wants to be, but he’s not. He’ll let you down. He’ll mess up.” I looked at Trisha, surprised by her words. She adored Krit. “I love him. But I know him. He’s a free spirit, and for the first time in his life he’s got someone he wants to hold on to. He’s never had that before. But he isn’t ready for it. It will ruin you both eventually.”

“I can’t hurt him,” I told her just as Krit turned to look back at me. He winked and licked his lips, causing the crowd of females to squeal.

“He’ll hurt you if you don’t. He’ll hate himself for it, and I’ll end up having to protect him from Rock. I don’t want to say all this, because for the first time in a very long time I can see he is really happy. You make him happy. But it’s not going to last. He can’t keep this up. He’ll crack. The right girl will throw herself at him and not take no for an answer and he’ll have had too much to drink. Then he’ll hate himself.” Trisha stopped talking and sighed. “I hate doing this. But if there is anything to that guy out there and you, he’s your ticket out, Jess. He’s the one who will pull you out of the life you were born into. Don’t let that go.”

What was out there would hurt me more than Krit could ever hurt me. I looked at Trisha. “Jason has the power to destroy me completely. I can’t let him. He broke me once. I can’t chance that.”

“You love him?” she asked.

I wanted to say no and for it to be true. I couldn’t. “Yes.”

“Krit has a club full of females willing to soothe his broken heart. He loves women, Jess. You know that. He’ll be hurt, but he will get over it. The females who adore him will help him.”

“When he’s ready, I’ll let him go. I can’t love him. My heart’s already taken.”