Black and Blue (Black and Blue Series) (22 page)

He closed his eyes
. “It been just over sixteen years,” he said, and she glanced at the woman who had raised her since she was born. She was close to her father’s age, but to Jamie she had always seemed older. Maybe it was the white hair.

Jamie looked bac
k at her father, who was staring at her. “What would you do if you caught me making out with a
Blue
?”

His eyes narrowed
, and his face darkened with fury.

“You don’t need to answer that, I
know
what you would do! You would sentence him to death without even thinking twice about it!” She stood up and stared at him, she hoped she was keeping her face blank.

“Are you trying to tell me something?”
he asked arching one dark eyebrow at her, and she shook her head.

“No, but I think it’s a double standard and it’s not right.” She felt a lump growing in the back of her throat. Jamie
placed her hands on the door behind her to help her stand up. She needed to get out of the room and away from her father before she started to cry. “I need to finish getting ready.”

Her father
nodded. “Fine, but we will talk later.”

She turned around and reached for the door knob, Henry and Matthew were talking. Jamie knew she looked like she was about to cry, and she just wanted to get to her bedroom.

Both of them look at her, and she knew they knew she was about to cry. “Where is Emily?” she asked trying to keep her emotions in check as much as possible.

“She’
s downstairs making something for you two to eat. She couldn’t find Mrs. Hudson.” Henry’s voice wrapped around her, and she wanted him to take her into his warm embrace. It seemed like she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets between her and her father. He had been keeping his and Cynthia’s affair to himself for over sixteen freaking years. “Are you okay?” Henry asked. His sweet voice made her look up and she saw his eyes were gleaming at her.

“No
, I need Em,” she said and forced herself to walk past the man she loved and toward her bedroom.

“I will send her up then
,” Henry said from behind her, and she just nodded her head.

She was done talking, and she was scared that she would start crying if she did.
Jamie opened her bedroom. Her heart was racing and she tightly closed her eyes. So many thoughts were racing through her mind, and it kept landing on the fact that the two most important people in her life had been lying to her for sixteen years. She knew what her father would do if he found out about Henry, he would sentence the love of her life to death and wouldn’t think twice about it. Jamie’s chest ached when she thought of Henry in the tower because of her. He would be tortured, she knew that.

Her eyes sprang open when she her Emily’s voice in the hallway.
“What the hell do you mean she was crying? She better not be! I spent way too much time making her face look beautiful!”

Jamie
couldn’t help but to smile, that was why she needed her. She could always cheer Jamie up and she didn’t have to do much. Jamie turned around just as Emily walked in her doorway. She arched an eyebrow at her, but Jamie looked past her best friend to the man she would be marrying later that night. He looked worried and she was happy that her father and Ryan weren’t around to see because they would definitely know something was going on between them.

“W
hat’s wrong? Do I need to castrate a certain man?”

Jamie bit her bottom lip to ke
ep her smile off of her face. “If by ‘certain man’ you mean my father, then yes.”

Emily’s eyes widen
ed. “Does he know about-”

Jamie shook her head.
“No…well I don’t think he does.” She glanced behind her best friend, who was still standing in the doorway with Henry and Matthew behind her. She loved Henry, but had to wonder, if he had the chance, if he would use her father’s relationship with Cynthia against him. “Em, will you shut the door?”

Emily’s eyebrows creased together. “Umm…sure.” She turned around and shut the door. “What’s going on
? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

She wis
hed it was as simple as a ghost. What she’d seen had hurt her more than anything, because she knew it wouldn’t affect how her father felt about her with a Blue. Jamie flounced over to her bed and sat down, putting her head in her hands. “My father has been having an affair with Cynthia for sixteen years,” she whispered.

“
What? You mean Mr. Prefect is sleeping with the help? That is priceless!” Jamie looked up as she heard the eagerness in Emily’s voice.

“
You aren’t making things better. I thought my father and I told each other everything and I thought Cynthia and I were closer than that. I thought she would have told me if she was seeing someone, but I knew nothing. We know what my father would do to
you know who
, if he found out and I don’t think he should have any kuld

Emily pulled her into a hug
. “Jamie, I know it isn’t fair, but are you going to be the one to turn your father in when you about to marry a Blue yourself? Could you live with yourself if he was sentenced to death as an example? And you know they would kill Cynthia without thinking about it.”

Jamie’s sorrow took her over, and she cried on her best friend’s sh
oulder. The answer to all of those questions was no, no she wouldn’t turn her father in, but not because she feared he would be sentenced to death, but in hope that he wouldn’t sentence Henry when he found out.

Beep, beep.
Her intercom made a high beeping sound when someone was trying to talk to her through it. “Miss Moore, there are some people here that need to talk to you about your party.”

Crap
, she forgotten about the band she’d hired a week earlier for the party. She’d told them to be here early so she could hear them play live and make sure they were appropriate. She’d only heard them on the MP3 player that Emily had given her. Jamie crossed the room to the intercom to answer Henry. “Please tell Rob I will be down in five minutes. And can you have him wait for me in the living room?”

“Yes ma’am.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Let me fix you up before we head down there.”

Jamie knew she didn’t cry pretty, it always made her blotch
y. She followed Emily back into the bathroom for another round of make-up application.

“So…who is Rob?”

Jamie sniggered, because her best friend was absolutely boy crazy. “He’s the lead singer of Kickers, you know, from the band I hired to play tonight? I told him I wanted to hear them play before they went on tonight.” Jamie glanced at Emily through the mirror; her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open.

Kickers was
the hottest band, and she knew she had to have them play at her party. Last week it seemed that having them play for her was the best thing ever, now it didn’t seem that important. She grabbed the black eyeliner and grinned as she handed it to her best friend.

“
Right, make-up before we meet the lead singer, I need to fix you!” Emily exclaimed in excitement, and then looked at Jamie’s face. “Jamie are you okay?”

S
he wasn’t, but she knew her best friend would fight tooth and nail for her, even if she had to go against her father. “I will be, I just want to get this party over with so I can start the rest of my life with the man I love. Will you help me put my dress on? If I don’t do it now I won’t have time later.” She smiled wide because her thoughts had turned to the wedding and she couldn’t wait to call Henry her husband.

* * *

Henry walked into the living room with the lead singer of Kickers, Robert Miller, behind him. He knew who the man was and didn’t care for him. Mike and he had booked Kickers a few times for the
No B Club
and every time they’d been there, they left more trouble for him and Mike to clean up. The guy was a jerk who used woman because he could.

“Hey,
don’t I know you?” Robert asked.

Henry
was happy that he didn’t remember him. When
No B Club
booked a band, Mike was the one in charge, the one to handled most of the meet and greets. It made it easier to get the bigger bands who were all Blacks. They felt more comfortable being around his best friend. He had walked in on the Kickers doing a sound check once, but he’d kept his head down.

“I don’t think so,
sir.” He stared at the
wannabe
rock star, who wore a stupid grin on his face.

“Is she hot? I heard rumors that she was.”

Henry wanted to beat the living crap out of him for making comments like that about Jamie, and he didn’t feel guilty about it. Robert was talking about the woman he loved, the woman he was marrying that night, and he didn’t like it at all. His mind flashed to Jamie as she’d come out of her father’s office, the way she’d looked made his chest ache. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss away the pain he’d seen in her beautiful green eyes. But he knew he had to be cautious around her, because he didn’t want her to get in trouble for him. He didn’t care what happened to him, he was worried about her. “I can’t say, sir,” he finally said through clenched teeth.

Robert laughed, and shook his head. “Dude
, I won’t say anything if you told me she was, I just want to know what I have to work with. She
is
a Moore, so that makes her pretty influential. Even if she looked like a dog, I would still give her a go.” The bastard laughed and Henry wanted to kill him. Robert walked to the large white sofa, and grabbed a bright red pillow. He looked back at Henry and arched a dark eyebrow. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

Henry smiled and nodded. “I am pretty sure
, sir.” He heard footsteps running down the stairs and was thankful Jamie would be there. He was getting tired of the man’s mouth and he didn’t really want her to have to deal with him either. He knew he wouldn’t be leaving the love of his life with the womanizing pig.

He worked hard to disguise his feelings since
Matt had told him that what he felt for Jamie showed on his face every time he looked at her. He was afraid that William was putting two and tw kng pilloo together, but he just couldn’t help it. He’d never been that happy with anyone before. He had a strong feeling that something was going to happen that would change everything.

Henry
heard Jamie and Emily giggling in the hallway and he covered his mouth to hide his smile. It was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard, and she was his. He gulped loudly as she entered the room. She stole his breath away in the dark-green, sparkling ball gown she wore.

* * *

Jamie hid her smile when she saw Henry’s expression. She loved the way he looked at her. Even with the image of her father and Cynthia kissing running through her mind, and knowing that they had been keeping their relationship from her, Henry made her feel as if she were the only girl in the world. Jamie looked past her love to see the man she’d seen on the cover of her latest CD and in the pop magazines. Robert Miller was just as gorgeous in person as he was on paper. His blonde hair hung straight, touching his shoulders and his stunning light blue eyes were on her and her alone. A wicked grin spread across his sculpted face.