The Rocker That Savors Me(17)

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I entered the bathroom behind Lana.

Her cheeks were still pink, but she just needed for me to unpack a few girl things for her. By the time I returned to the living room, Lucy was on the sofa between Jesse and Drake, talking animatedly to them. That surprised me because the little girl was normally reserved around men. But there she was, asking them all kinds of questions about the new house she was going to be living in.

“That’s so awesome!” she said now. “Will you build a sandcastle with me, Mr. Drake?”

“Um…Sure.” He seemed a little out of his element, but I was touched that he was at least making an effort with her. “We will have to go shopping for some toys though, I think. I’m not sure we have the right tools for sandcastle building.”

“Not today, Lucy,” I interrupted them. “We have a lot to do today, baby.”

“Tomorrow?”

Before I could say anything Drake was already nodding his head. “Tomorrow. It’s a date, okay?”

Lucy’s eyes were huge in her little face. “Promise?”

“Promise.” He stood, a smile on his handsome face. “Now, let’s get you ladies moved.”



Jesse

I didn’t realize three females would have so much stuff. Emmie had spoiled me because she always packed so light when we traveled. But between Layla, Lana, and Lucy’s clothes, and countless other things, the back of the truck that we had rented for the day was pretty full.

I drove the truck back to Malibu with Layla and her sisters following behind. Drake, who had been half dead on the ride out, was now more alive than I had seen him in…Months? Years? I couldn’t honestly remember the last time I had seen him really smile like he had been for the last two hours. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the way little Lucy had seemed to take one look at him and attach herself to him, or… But I wasn’t going to think those thoughts. Drake would never—I mean never, ever—touch Lana. If there was anyone the teen was safe with it would be Drake.

But I couldn’t get over how at ease he seemed despite the headache he had been bitching about just hours before. It was good to see him like that, because Drake was just so messed up in the head the majority of the time.

When we reached the beach house, he jumped out of the moving truck and got right into helping unload it. Shane and Nik came out to help and it didn’t take as long to unload as it had to fill it up. By the time we had all of their things in the guest house, it was after noon and we were all hungry and thirsty.

Emmie had the patio already set with beers, iced tea, sodas, and several boxes of pizzas for us. I steered clear of the box that had bacon written on top and dived into the one that was loaded down with everything else. Lana and Lucy were already being welcomed by the other guys with good-natured teasing, and I saw that Lucy seemed to be invading more than just Drake’s heart as the afternoon went by.

I knew what they saw when they looked at Lucy. I saw the exact same thing. We all saw Emmie who had only been a little younger when she had moved into the trailer park beside of Nik. But there was a huge difference between Emmie then and Lucy now. Emmie had been a neglected, abused, lost little girl that was skittish of the four teens we had been when we first attempted to take her under our wings. Lucy was a healthy, loved little girl.

Lucy was what Emmie should have been.

“There must be a place around here where we can buy all the things we need to make the perfect sandcastle,” Drake said to Lucy, who was still munching on pretzels after the three slices of cheese pizza she had already devoured. “Want to go with me to find it?”

I felt Layla tense beside of me. I didn’t know if it was because she felt like Lucy was bothering Drake, or if she was worried about Lucy being alone with the rocker. Without thinking about it, I captured her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “That sounds like a really fun idea,” I agreed before anyone else could say anything. “Then Layla can get some unpacking done without having to worry about Lucy.”

She seemed to relax a little after that. It made my chest tight that she took my opinion on the idea to heart and was confident in it. Lucy shot Layla a look. “Can I go, Layla? Please?”

“Sure. As long as you are on your best behavior, baby.”

“Awesome.” Lucy pumped a fist in the air and I came to the conclusion that ‘awesome’ was Lucy’s favorite word.

“Awesome.” Drake pushed back his chair and stood. Lucy put her little hand in his bigger one. Before they turned to leave, Drake glanced down at Lana who was frowning out at the ocean. “Want to join us, Lana?”