Shattered Dreams (Boys of Bellerose, #3)(81)

Clearly the lead singer of Lightstones had seen the Dirty Truth articles about me or had witnessed me being passed around by my guys at one of the venues. The asshole had formed his own opinions from that, thinking I was just a band groupie to be used and abused.

No doubt that’s what it looked like from the outside, but I knew the truth.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Grayson pulled me back to the present, and I couldn’t help but step closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“I’m okay,” I replied. “Thank you for having my back.”

His chest rumbled again, and it sounded louder when I was pressed against him. “Always, Prickles. I will never fucking let you down again. I promise.”

He’d never let me down in the first place.

The rest of the band was off stage now too, heading for the refreshments. Grayson had clearly seen what was happening with the Lightstone’s front man and had bailed a few minutes before the others.

“Do you think we’ll be able to figure out who actually initiated the hit on my mother?” I asked suddenly. It was a topic close to mind these days. “Angelo swears that he’s been looking and nothing ever came through official Ricci channels. But he did confirm she worked for his dad, though.”

“She worked for multiple criminal organizations,” Grayson added. “I’ve managed to find out that much. Her reputation as an accountant was strong, and it was known that she kept her mouth shut and the money clean. Clearly, though, she pissed off the wrong person.”

“How would she even get into accounting for gangs and cartels and the mafia in the first place?”

I mean, we were just middle-class suburban people, Mom an accountant and Dad a mechanic. None of it made sense.

“She caught the eye of the wrong person at the right time,” Grayson said, still holding me close. We were able to have our whispered conversation like this, and everyone left us alone, no doubt happy to see our rift healing. “And once her rep got around, others would have approached her too. She never exclusively signed to any one criminal organization, and she probably had no idea how risky it was to work for multiple.”

That was probably where all that money I’d inherited had come from. She’d either stolen it or earned it by doing really terrible shit. My instinct to never touch it had been a good one. No doubt I’d have found my throat slit too if I’d messed with that blood money. Messed with the wrong people.

Just like my poor dad.

He’d been an innocent caught up in mom’s illegal bullshit. Just like Penelope.

These new revelations had me feeling like I was losing them all over again.

The wounds were still so raw and aching that not even my usual techniques from Dr. Candace could stop tears from spilling free. Only a couple, hidden against Grayson’s shirt. He didn’t say anything else, just held me tightly, and I felt like some of my broken pieces almost fit back together under his touch.

“It’s going to be okay, baby girl,” he told me, when we finally pulled apart. “We will get to the bottom of it, and I promise that everyone involved that hurt you and Penelope will pay with their lives.”

He’d do it too; the truth of that was written across his face.

As I pushed up on my toes, he dropped his head so that our lips could touch. It had been too long since I’d kissed Grayson, and despite the very brief taste, it calmed a corner of my heart that had been aching for the last ten or so days. A piece of my soul righted once more.

“Come on, Gray, we need to get ready,” Jace shouted, shooting me a smile and a wink. He seemed happier than ever, and I wondered if that was because he’d felt the same pain in the rift as I had. This was Jace’s band… his brothers, and he wouldn’t like any of them being on the outs.

Gray kissed me one last time before Rhett swept in and twirled me around, kissing the hell out of me. Hannah shouted for them to get their asses moving, and once they were gone, I realized I was starving.

I joined a grinning Vee. “Girl, get your energy levels up,” she said as I grabbed a plate and started filling it.

“You think I’m going to need it?”

She picked up a second plate. “Hell yes, you are. I’m filling one for you too.”

Vee and I spent the next couple of hours, eating, laughing, and waiting for the concert to kick into gear. The stadium was absolutely packed, the noise near deafening as the crowd screamed for Bellerose to come out on stage. The opening act started, and I almost laughed at the rasp in the lead dickhead’s voice. He made it through somehow, but he’d be paying for it tomorrow.

Not that I cared. He got what he deserved.

As Lightstones left the stage, Bellerose was announced, and the crowd lost its shit. Like, I’d thought it was noisy before, but this was next level. Vee clutched my arm, and I was a little sad that in this venue the boys were going to enter from beneath the stage, which meant I couldn’t give out my customary kisses for luck. Oh well, I’d have to save all the kisses for afterward.

Vee squealed, and I almost did the same when the boys filed onto the stage, taking their places behind their instruments. Grayson’s drums were closest to us—that was how he’d been able to see the scene earlier from the stage—and he shot me a slow smile as he twirled his sticks around his fingers.

Fingers that I already knew were talented in ways well beyond drumming.