Only for You (4 page)

He rubs the side of his
face. “That’s not the name I remember moaning.”

It takes me a split second
to fully comprehend what he’s saying. Instead of letting my firsts
do the talking, I say, “Maybe you got shit for brains.”

Rae slides up to me, small
hand coming to rest on my arm. I take comfort in that. “He’s not
worth it.” I fix my gaze on her sweet face, on the look in her
eyes. Love lives there, for me. Only for me.

“
You’re right… it’s
my
name I
remember
her
moaning.” He grunts. “My bad.”

“
Don’t do it, Cole,” Rae
whispers.

“
Too late,” I mutter and
launch myself at him. We fall against the wall in the hallway, both
of us getting in good hits. His fist smashes into my mouth, blood
filling it before I spit it out.

“
PARKER,” Rae screams.
“Come help your brother.”

“
See,” I pant, and then
grunt when he lands another punch to my gut. “She’s worried about
me.”

This time his fist lands in
my eye. “Fuck you.”

My eye swells shut, only
having just recovered from a previous black eye when I decided that
cage fighting had sounded like a fun way to make money and exorcise
my demons.

Obviously, I don’t always
make the best decisions.

“
Not your hands, Jaxon,”
Rae wails. “You can’t play if you break them on his
face.”

“
Looks like you’re not
the,” he grunts as my knee connects with his thigh. Damn, he’s
fast, “only one she’s worried about.”

“
And if you can’t play,
then I can’t play and help Cole,” she adds. I give my opponent a
shit-eating grin.

“
Oh yeah, she does,” I
manage to get out before dodging anther punch to the
face.

I hear a whoosh, and then a
dull thud. Jaxon slumps against me, and then steps back. He winces
and rubs the back of his head, eyes blinking in stunned disbelief.
“She hit me!”

I shove Jaxon to one side
and find Rae close by, one of those ginormous Charlotte-Mecklenburg
County phone books in her hands.

Despite my ripped shirt, my
sure-to-be black eye, and the pain running in my body, I can’t help
but smile and crook my finger at her. “Damn, wildcat. Come
here.”

The phone book falls from
her hands and she rushes over to me, carefully inspecting my face.
“You’ve got to stop doing this.”

“
Why—you won’t love me
when I’m ugly?” This is my fear, that one day she will stop loving
me, for the ugliness that lives inside of me and can’t be contained
anymore.

She shakes her head. “I
don’t care what you look like, and I’ll always love you.” She runs
a shaky hand over my cheek. “But your poor face needs a break, and
not the kind you’ve been getting.”

I laugh a little at her
joke, and then stop as I suddenly realize two things.

One: Parker never
came.

Two: Rae’s dad, Everett,
Callie, Parker, and a group of people, who I’m pretty sure are
reporters, are standing in the hallway, not even ten feet away,
mouths hanging open in shock.

Yeah, this is going to be
fun to explain.

*** *** ***

Violet

“
What’s going on here?” my
dad asks as he marches over to me. He looks at Cole, then Jaxon,
and back at me. “Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine.”

“
What about you,
Jaxon?”

Jaxon chooses that moment
to spit out a glob of blood. I make a face, revulsion churning my
stomach. “I’ve been better.”

The group of reporters that
followed my parents, my producer, and my ex-best friend to the back
are furiously writing on their iPads. A sliver of dread pierces me;
they’ve smelled (and seen) blood on Cole. On Jaxon. And I’m
standing in the middle of it all.

“
Aren’t you going to ask
Cole if he’s okay, Daddy?” My dad has had only a couple of days to
get used to the fact that I refused to stop seeing Cole. He won’t
talk to my momma or me about it, though, so there’s nothing either
of us can do right now to change his mind.

But I had hope that once
he’d gotten to know Cole, that my dad would give him a
chance.

My dad’s mouth thins, and
he doesn’t even look Cole’s way. “He’s standing, isn’t he?” So much
for hope.

Cole moves in front of me,
to protect me, I realize. Only he fails to see that the press isn’t
just after me now. He’s soon to be the hottest thing that will be
on the gossips’ mind. On one point I can’t blame them, Cole is hot.
He’s gorgeous. Tall and lean, with black hair and blue eyes that
make me shiver in anticipation.

Once all those girls get a
look at him, he’ll be pinned on Pinterest Boards faster than I can
say Man Candy.

Davis turns to Cole. “Did
you start this?”

Cole’s shoulder slump, and
I know what he’s going to say—that he threw the first
punch.

“
I started it.”

All of us turn to face
Jaxon. He eases out of his shirt with a grunt, revealing hard abs,
a make-a-woman-sigh broad chest, and shoulders that are darkening
with bruises. Several tattoos outlined in black on his chest and
upper arms ripple and stretch as he moves. They’re new, all of
them. He’s never had ink before, but it doesn’t matter to me. I’m
not getting close enough to him to find out what they mean or even
what they are.

Despite my feminine
appreciation of his masculine form—one that had changed for the
better in the past nine months, he doesn’t make my knees weak. He
doesn’t make my heart beat faster.

He’s not Cole.

“
Was it over Violet Lynn?”
a voice calls out.

“
No,” Jaxon says, smashing
his lips together. I know what he’s thinking by answering. No
matter what he says, they’ll think and write what will sell the
most.

“
Callie, how do you feel
about your fiancé fighting over his ex-girlfriend?”

The girl that used to be
my best friend turns brown eyes full of hate on me. I recoil in
shock. Where did this hate come from? I hadn’t been the one to
steal
her
boyfriend.

“
Actually, I’m excited
about the new record that’ll be dropping next month. Jaxon and I
will be singing together on it. We re-recorded Holdin’ On To You,”
she says sweetly. “It’s a fresher, more up-beat
version.”

“
But that’s our song,” I
blurt, and then wish I can eat my own words. I’ve just made it
sound like I’m upset by Callie and Jaxon singing it, which I am,
but not because it has that kind of meaning for me.

It feels as though Callie’s
trying to become me, or at least the old me. She’s taken my
boyfriend, bleached out her hair, and lost a lot of weight, making
her super skinny. When we were younger, I used to be jealous of her
body, of the curves and boobs she had that I never
would.

Cole blinks at me, his
already battered face growing red. “Our song?”

Of course Jaxon steps
closer, smacking Cole’s back so hard that a resounding slap echoes.
“As in Violet’s and mine.”

“
Hold on a minute,”
Everett says, his voice booming. “We’re going to let the fans
decide what version they like better. Rooster and Doug at G97 will
be holding the contest.”

I’m not sure how I feel
about having Everett as my producer anymore. Sure business is
business, but with the way I suspect Cole has been treated all his
life, the thought of Everett producing my future records doesn’t
set well.

The group laughs, but
Cole’s face grows tight, his sexy mouth all smashed together. My
stomach dips and turns, folding in on itself. He’s holding on to
his temper by a thread, but I’m not worried about me, or even
Jaxon. It’s Cole that doesn’t need the scrutiny.

Jaxon leans in, whispering
in Cole’s ear, but it’s loud enough for me to hear. “Loved when she
sang it to me in bed… while I was inside of her.”

“
Stop it,” I hiss. “You’re
a perv, and-and… once a cheater, always a cheater.” Whirling away,
I grab Cole’s hand and, to my eternal gratefulness, he follows me
to my dressing room.

Cole lets go of my hand
once we’re inside. I lock the door for good measure. I hear the
sound of water running and turn to see Cole in the tiny half-bath,
his shirt off and jeans hanging low on his hips as he washes his
hands and arms.

I rush to him, taking the
brown paper towels he’s just dampened and try to clean the blood
off his face. He winces when I touch the corner of his
eye.

“
Sorry,” I
murmur.

“
S’okay.” He exhales
before sitting on the toilet lid. I move to stand between his legs,
wondering if I’m the only girl that has ever taken care of him like
this. Wondering if this is the time to broach the “our song”
subject.

His beautiful blue eyes
stare at me, the left one swollen and bloodshot. “I’m not the
jealous type, or at least I used to not be.”

Once the thought of a guy
like Cole or Jaxon being jealous would have thrilled me down to my
toes, but now, it only makes my heart ache. Jealousy hurts—it
pinches at your heart until all the love bleeds out and nothing’s
left but resentment and anger.

I cup the less bruised
side of his face. “Let’s get something straight, right from the
get-go, you have
nothing
to be jealous about. Nothing at all.”

He smiles, faintly, but
it’s there and my heart soars. “Tell that to my heart.” His smile
falls. “It’s not just you I’m jealous over, Rae. Seeing Jaxon is a
reminder of how much I count for shit in Everett’s
world.”

Tossing the paper towels
away, I hug him to me, his head cradled to my breasts. His arms
come around me, crushing me to him, and though I’m standing and
he’s sitting, it feels as though I’m the one holding us both
up.

“
For what it’s worth,
you’re everything to me, Cole Morgan.
Everything
.”

He presses a kiss to the
center of my chest, where my tank dips. My skin tingles in
anticipation. “That’s worth a hell of a lot, baby.”

*** *** ***

C
ole

Once everything settled
down, I followed Rae and that fucker, Jaxon, to the stage,
purposefully keeping my hand on her lower back.

If I could have grabbed her
ass at some point while we were walking, I would have, but I didn’t
want to embarrass her. My face throbs, my eye in particular, and my
body is sore in a few places, but that’s normal for me.

Based on the way Jaxon is
limping toward the stage, his guitar strapped to his back, it is
not normal for him.

I grin. “Pansy-ass,” I
mutter.

Once there, I stand off to
the side, keeping one eye on Rae while I text her mom. Kimberly is
watching my little sister tonight, so that all of us could be here.
There was no way Parker or I could have missed this, even if it
wasn’t my girl going on stage.

The Double Deuce is
slammed, even more than it had been last night, before we closed so
that Rae could rehearse with a local band. I glance over at the
bar, Parker’s behind it, working with our backup
bartender.

“
You really think you’re
good enough for her?” Everett asks, sidling up to me.

Instead of answering, I
cross my arms and say, “Better watch it. I think Jane spilled a
little something in that very spot you’re standing in.”

“
Damn, they look good
together,” Everett says before Rae and Jaxon launch into their
first song.

I have to agree, mostly
because this wasn’t rehearsed last night. This number is a product
of years of rehearsal and familiarity that I’ll have to play
catch-up to get.

You’re everything to me,
Cole Morgan. Everything.

I replay those words in my
mind while I watch the girl I love sing about being in love with my
brother on stage. I’m pretty damn sure Jaxon’s my brother, but to
what degree—that I have no idea.

“
Jaxon reminds me of
someone,” I say.

“
That’s because he is
someone,” Everett replies, and it’s all I can do to not tell him to
go fuck himself.

“
Wonder what Crystal would
say if she saw him.” I turn to look at my sperm donor and my blood
freezes at the smug look on his face.

“
I know exactly what your
momma would say.”

“
Yeah, what’s that?” I
can’t help but ask.

The music fades into the
background, people and instruments a dull roar in my ears.
“Should’ve asked for fifty grand more when I sold him to you and
that bitch wife of yours.”

Chapter Four

Cole

For a month now, I’ve been
sitting on the knowledge that my mother sold a baby to
Everett.
A baby.

What made Jaxon so special?
And not me, or Parker, or even Kelly? Why had she chosen him out of
all of us to have a better life?