Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1)(80)

Fox’s hand clenched on her thigh. “Why should you have to get used to it?” It was a growl. “I want to make music—it’s what I’ve always wanted. When did wanting that mean people have a right to invade our privacy?”

“It’s not fair,” Molly said, “but if we allow that to grind us down, we allow them to win. I’d rather we just live our lives, because one thing is for certain—you and I, we aren’t going to break.” It was a promise.

“No, we’re not.” Closing a strong hand gently around her throat, he ran his thumb over her pulse point. “But if one of those parasites ever pulls the kind of shit with you that they tried to pull with me today, all bets are off. I will destroy him.”

“Don’t do anything that’ll get you thrown in jail,” she said, looking directly into his eyes so he’d know she was dead serious. “You leave me and I will never forgive you.”

Fox’s thumb went motionless against her pulse. “You mean that.”

“You know what my parents did,” she said in answer, her mind roiling with memories of her father’s ugly crimes and of her mother’s alcoholism. “Their choices left me alone and nearly broken. I’m trusting you not to do the same thing to me.” It was the biggest trust she’d ever given in her life, and her voice shook with the sheer, unrelenting weight of it.

Fox held the intimate eye contact as he spoke. “You’re more important to me than any pap. I’ll sic the lawyers on them—and I’ll tell the overpriced sharks to bite hard.”

Swallowing the knot in her throat, she touched her fingers to his lips. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for not being an ass.” He gathered her close, and they sat there for a long time, listening to the late-night wind whisper through the trees around the property, the waterfall of the infinity pool a peaceful murmur in the background.

“Tell me about Charlotte,” he said some time later.

“Charlie? Why?”

“She’s your family like the band’s mine. I want to know her.”

Yes, her rock star understood her. In ways no one else ever had. “We met on the first day of nursery school,” she said, his heartbeat strong under her palm. “I remember her giving me her pail in the sandbox so I could build a giant sandcastle. Then she ran around and made sure no one disturbed my creation.”

Her lips curved. “That’s who Charlie is in a nutshell—sweet and generous and loyal.” A woman who deserved a man who understood and cherished the treasure in his arms. “She’s so honest and kind, I’d worry about her, but Charlie sees people for who they are.” Though Molly wished her friend’s innocence about the world hadn’t been shattered as it had been.

Fox buried the fingers of one hand in her hair. “Were you good girls at school?”

“We weren’t teacher’s pets, but neither one of us is rebellious by nature.”

“Yet you ran off with a no-good musician, and you keep talking about some guy called T-Rex with Charlie.”

Molly slapped playfully at his chest. “You’re not meant to listen in!”

A rumble against her as he laughed. “I can’t help it. I’m fascinated by how you and Charlie can chat for two hours without running out of things to say.”

“I could do that with you, too, though you’d probably ask for phone sex.”

“Abso-f*cking-lutely.”

Bursting out laughing at the unrepentant statement, she nuzzled a kiss to his throat. “What was the worst thing you did as a student?”

Fox whistled. “That’ll take some thinking. I made it my mission in life to be a problem—until I realized nothing I did would make my mother want me enough to stand up to the prick.” The acceptance in his tone was almost worse than the echo of old pain; Molly couldn’t imagine how badly he must’ve hurt until the wound scarred over.

“Then,” he said, “I became a model student. I think the teachers thought I’d been possessed, especially when I turned out to be freaky good at algebra.”

“I hope you apologized to the teachers you drove crazy,” she said, taking her cue from him and keeping it light; Fox didn’t have to rip open old wounds, didn’t have to bleed to invite her into himself.

“Naw… but I, uh, sponsor a program for kids like me.”

The unusual hesitancy of his voice had her sitting up, her eyes locked with his. “A program?” It was a soft prompt when he fell silent.

“The ones who don’t have anywhere to go for the holidays,” he elaborated. “The program means they get to travel to another country, spend the time with a host family.”

Her eyes burned. Blinking rapidly to fight it, she said, “That’s wonderful,” her throat thick.

Fox shrugged. “It’s not the same as being with your own family, but I thought maybe the excitement of seeing another country would help blunt things. Anyway,” he continued quickly, “the principal writes me now and then. He says most of the kids stay in constant contact with their host families and choose to go back to the same families year after year, so I figure maybe they’ve chosen new families like I did with Noah, David, and Abe.”

There was so much she didn’t yet know about this gorgeous, talented man. Each piece, each facet, he revealed, it tumbled her deeper and deeper into a love she knew would forever define her. “You’re doing an incredible thing,” she said, and when he looked uncomfortable, cupped his face. “Your girl is allowed to say mushy things like that about you. She’s allowed to think you’re wonderful.”