Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(81)

and tel ing me beautiful things.

“Stel a, girl –” Floyd whispered but that was it. I was done. I’d done it to myself this time, I had no one else to blame.

For some insane reason, I got up and ran across the smal stage, jumped down and started pushing through the crowd. I felt nothing, I knew nothing, I just knew I had to go, where, I had no idea, I just had to go.

I could feel hands on me, tugging at me. I heard my name cal ed in familiar voices. I knew one was Hector’s, the other was Duke’s.

But I was gone. Through the crowd to the doors. I felt freedom but it was far from sweet right before I was caught, my momentum meaning I was lifted up, swung around and put down. I looked behind me and up to see I’d been caught and was now held by Bobby, one of Lee’s men.

“Shit, woman, what’re you thinkin’?” Bobby’s voice was annoyed.

I didn’t answer.

I struggled to get away, kicking and grunting and then something happened.

Bobby was no longer struggling with me. He let me go and he was struggling with someone else, a big bulky man, bigger and bulkier even than Bobby and Bobby was enormous.

Then Luke was there and he barreled into another man.

With a shoulder to the other man’s bel y, Luke lifted him clean off his feet and slammed him against the wooden railing outside The Little Bear. The man flipped, feet-overhead, over the railing, landing on his back and cracking his skul with a sickening thud against the pavement. Luke turned toward me but there were more men, one came at him then more people were there, including Hector, Lee and more suited men and al of them were engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Before I could get my wits about me, I felt hard, firm fingers attach on my upper arm. I gave a surprised cry right before I was yanked down the wooden plank steps and before I knew what was happening, I was thrown into the backseat of a waiting, long, sleek, black limousine.

The door closed behind me and the limousine shot away.

I realized I was holding my breath and I turned to see there was someone in the backseat with me.

He was very tal , lean, wel -built, on the other side of middle-aged, black hair peppered with silver and wearing in an expensive suit, expensive cufflinks and an expensive watch.

Oh, and last but not least, he had clear, sharp, achingly familiar jade green eyes.

I stared at him with my mouth open while he spoke.

“Hel o Stel a. I’m Preston Mason, Kai’s father.” Oh dear.

Chapter Fifteen

I’m Not Good Enough for Him

Stella

“I’m supposed to be in a meeting,” I told Preston Mason because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

I had, actual y, been half-assedly planning to get out of the meeting with Dixon Jones by feigning a migraine or a heart attack or something but now I kind of wish I’d made the meeting with Jones. I figured he’d be a lot easier to deal with than a surprise kidnapping by Mace’s apparently super wealthy Dad.

“You’l need to reschedule,” he replied.

I decided to push. “It’s kind of important.” He calmly adjusted the cuff of his impeccable light blue shirt under the sleeve of his equal y impeccable dark blue suit jacket.

“I’m afraid you’l have to reschedule.”

I sat back as the limousine took a curve on the mountain road.

The Little Bear was in Evergreen, a mountain town that managed to be hip, cool, exclusive and a Harley boy hangout al at the same time it looked just a smidge shy of being the type of place where gunslingers would stil have showdowns at high noon.

I effing loved Evergreen. It was as rock ‘n’ rol as you could get (according to me).

“Erm,” I ventured careful y. “Did you just kidnap me?” His jade eyes came to me. “Yes.”

Wow.

Wel one thing was certain, even if I didn’t have the eyes as proof, Preston Mason was as straight talking arrogant as his son.

“Why?” I asked.

“We need to talk about Kai.”

“I don’t want to talk about Kai.”

And I didn’t.

Furthermore, I didn’t want to cal him “Kai”. It felt weird. I felt weird enough as it was, I didn’t want to feel weirder. If I felt any more weird, my mind might spin off into an alternate reality and live there the rest of my life, my body stil in real reality, lying in a coma, confounding doctors who would eventual y turn off life support and then where would I be?

“How wel do you know Kai?” Preston Mason took me out of my crazed thoughts and my eyes focused on him again.

“Um…” I hedged because this was a good question.

Biblical y, one could say I was a “Kai Expert”. Al other ways it was up for debate.

“I feel I should warn you, my son is not a good man.” I sat and stared at him in complete and total shock.

Then I said the hated word, “What?”

“He’s responsible for his sister’s murder, amongst other things.”

Gut kick.

So huge and savage my body jerked with it.

Mace’s sister was murdered?

Visions of Mace’s face swam in my head, the demons dancing in his eyes. Mace tel ing me he could understand what I meant about my father.

And meaning it.

Holy effing hel .

Mace’s sister was murdered.