Read Rocking Kin (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series Book 3) for Free Online Page A

in my own heartbreakingly endless grief.
    What had my mom been thinking when she had come up with the idea that I would be better off in California with Scott rather than with the three people who were the only real family I’d ever known? Had she not understood that I would grieve for her? That I would feel lost and alone and that shipping me off to my biological father the instant she was in the ground would destroy me?
    Maybe she hadn’t thought of that at all, but I sure as hell wondered about it every night as I tried not to cry myself to sleep.
    Today was Saturday and for the most part I’d avoided leaving my room as much as possible. It was better for everyone if I stayed in my bedroom. Every time I saw Jillian we ended up arguing and I was past caring if I hurt anyone’s feelings in this house. Two days after arriving, I’d finally had enough of letting the three chicks that I now shared a house that was more prison than home with, run over me.
    Georgia only had herself to blame for the pink food coloring I’d put into her shampoo and conditioner. Carolina shouldn’t have been quick to follow in her big sister’s footsteps because I hadn’t played favorites with them. The younger girl’s expensive shampoo and conditioner had been subjected to the same thing. The week-long grounding I’d gotten for turning Jillian’s daughters’ hair pink was well worth every second of home confinement. I’d had something to smile about at least each time I’d caught sight of that ugly pink color for the two days the food coloring had stuck around. The two hadn’t stopped washing their hair until the pink was all gone. Now SoCal was in a drought.
    I probably wouldn’t have even done anything to my two step-bitches if they had just left Lucy alone. Instead they had badmouthed her one too many times for my liking and I never let someone talk shit about my friends. Lucy and her family were the only shining lights to the otherwise dimness that my life was living with my father and step-monster. Without them, I was sure I would have lost my sanity already.
    Thankfully my punishment was finally over, and I was getting cabin fever from having locked myself in my room for so long. So I’d texted Lucy and gotten a little surprise when she’d called me back and told me to get ready. She was taking me to First Bass, one of California’s hottest new clubs. My new best friend had VIP access to a place where normal people had to wait weeks to get on the actual official waiting list, and she was finally going to use it.
    Knowing the owner handled the age requirement to get in, I guessed, because I was sure that places like First Bass didn’t normally let seventeen-year-olds inside. So there I was, dressed up—well, as much as I dressed up anyway—in jeans, one of my old rocker T-shirts and flip flops. I didn’t even touch my wild collection of new makeup Jillian kept adding to.
    With my hair flowing down my back I stood with Lucy at the bar as we waited for the yummy-looking bartender to grab our drinks. If Marcus, Lucy’s bodyguard and shadow, hadn’t been there I would have flashed my fake ID—a present from Angie on my last birthday. I wanted a beer more than the ginger ale that Nate was currently pouring for us.
    As soon as the guy returned, flirting like mad with my drop-dead gorgeous friend and offering his number, I took my drink and glanced around for somewhere to sit. With her own drink in hand, Lucy turned to follow my gaze. I’d seen more than one face that I recognized from various tabloids and movies that I’d actually liked over the years, but nowhere to sit. The place was amazing, the music kickass, but I was kind of bored.
    “Lucy!”
    My eyes instantly connected with an older chick in a dress that was almost indecent and heels that I figured she wasn’t used to wearing from the way she was stumbling. Her long dark hair was hanging almost limply in a tangle around her shoulders and her makeup was smeared