URGENT (Book 2 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 41: Little Sisters Have Adventures Without Rock Stars

Kat

Denizen is not turning out like I hoped.

It's a dance club. When Bridge asked me to come tonight, I thought we were coming to dance. I need to dance.

I have a lot of pent-up energy.

Like, a lot.

It really sucks when your gorgeous, unbelievably sexy and incredibly adorable boyfriend introduces you to sex in the most wonderful ways. Makes you feel like the Queen of Sex, then jets off on tour, and you haven't seen him in nearly two months.

He left me with taste of heaven and and it's always on the tip of my tongue now.

Especially in a place like Denizen, which is a just a pre-game for sex for probably everyone in this whole damn club, except for me.

Well, and Seb. Seb's partner is doing an artist-in-residence thing in Europe somewhere, so he's hard-up, too.

I turn toward the incredibly handsome man beside me and briefly consider asking him to dance, since Street has bailed, and Bridge regrets her shoes and refuses to dance anymore, and I don't know the other members of this party well enough to be the get-up-let's-go-girl. Everyone here looks pretty drunk and chill, except for me and Seb.

But then, I dismiss the idea. It would be weird. Sebastian Morrigan is like thirty-five, and my painting instructor, and we are also sort of working together right now, because he's agreed to host a charity event for Marianne's Foundation at his gallery. Marianne has designated me the creative liason to this project. That's a huge responsibility, considering I've only been working for the MdM Foundation for two months.

It's a little crazy how fast my life is changing, but it's all good.

Marianne called me to her office two weeks after I moved to WITCH campus and had me sit on her couch beside her as she pulled up a picture of Matt and Trace. A proof of the two of them from the Rolling Stone shoot.

This particular shot will never be distributed publicly. Matt was laughing and shaking Trace by the shoulder, trying to get him to loosen up, but that was before Matt realized how hard it is for Trace to be "man-handled" by pretty much anyone but me. The strain on Trace in that moment is evident in his body language, captured forever in photo. He's got a pissed off grimace as he rolls back on his heels away from Matt. The way he's holding up his hands could be a defense as easily as a surrender to Matt's playfulness.

"Look at their eyes," Marianne murmured, spreading her fingers on the screen of her Ipad, magnifying the picture. "So alike, but so different. Matt's full of nothing but pride and Trace's so...wary."

"He's always been like that," I said softly. "With everyone but me. And maybe the band."

"It just kills me to think of what that doll went through," she blinked back unshed tears. Then she summoned her steel. "So we are going to heal him, and we are going to pay it forward for him. The healing is mostly on Trace and you and Matt and Gina. But the paying it forward? That's on me. I'm going to work like we are trying to eradicate domestic violence world wide, but the truth is, if we can stop what happened to Trace from happening to one other kid, it will be worth it."

Sometimes, you have those moments when everything comes clear. My whole life, I never really had a passion. I love painting and drawing as a hobby, but I never thought I'd be a professional artist. I never knew what I wanted to do. That's because, I had to be there, in that moment with Marianne, for my destiny to present itself.

I sit up straighter, look her in the eye, and say, "I want to help. I know I've only been here a couple of months, and I'm just a newbie WITCH but this is what I'm supposed to do—be a part of this. I think I always knew what was happening to Trace and I just didn't know how to help him. If I had ever said one simple thing to my mom, or dad, or maybe even to Ashlynn —that I thought Trace's dad hurt him—maybe everything would have been different. Maybe Trace would be so much farther down the road to healing. Maybe my sister wouldn't have brain damage and a drug addiction. So I want to help empower victims and witnesses," I whispered. "I more than want to. I have to. It's what I'm supposed to do."