Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights Book 1)

by Terri Anne Browning

  “Be good,” he said with a growl at my ear.

  I didn’t want to be good. I wanted to be bad, and do very wicked things to him.

  He flattened his hands against my stomach, his fingertips teasing along the top of my panties through my dress. I squirmed against him more.

  I wasn’t the only one who wanted to do bad things. He was teasing me, and all I could think about was finding a dark corner and taking the edge off the throbbing ache he was building between my legs.

  “You guys all know that Tainted Knights was here before us,” Roanna was saying now as she pushed her sweat dampened hair back from her face.

  The crowd screamed at the mention of Kale’s band, and I got the impression that they had been missed since the Blonde Bombshells had taken over.

  “Those boys are a hard act to follow; that’s for fucking sure.”

  More screams in agreement. It wasn’t so much because the crowd didn’t enjoy the girl band, but because the Tainted Knights were just that damn good.

  “And now they’re getting ready to head out on their first tour. Lucky bastards.”

  Kale paused his teasing hands, and I could sense him starting to pull away. I turned my head to look at him, and he gave me that damn panty melting wink. Oh, fuck. What did that mean?

  “But we can’t let them leave us without at least one more taste of why they’ve scored a fucking dream deal with Petrova Inc., now can we?”

  The crowd was suddenly going crazy around us.

  Kale released me, and Kin and Kassa were right there to surround me as he followed Jace, Gray, Cash, and Sin toward the stage.

  I couldn’t contain my excitement. I was actually going to get to see Kale perform? I hadn’t realized how badly I wanted to see him in action until right then.

  The guys took the stage, taking the instruments from the girls as they stepped back. Gray was on the guitar, while Sin and Cash both took a bass. Jace took the microphone from Roanna, commanding everyone’s attention, but mine was glued to Kale.

  The blonde who had been on the drums said something that made him grin as she handed over the drumsticks, and then he took her now vacant seat behind the drums.

  A small slice of jealousy hit me square between the eyes, but I pushed it down quickly when he turned his gaze back to the crowd and seemed to zero in right on me. I caught my breath at the hungry look he was giving me. Then he lifted the sticks and hit the drums like they were his to command, and I was lost. Lost in the music, the beat, and the way he moved so fluidly as Tainted Knights rocked First Bass one more time.

  The words to the song went right over my head. The other four guys moving around the stage, playing their guitars, singing and playing up the crowd that was losing their damn minds, they all escaped me as I lost myself in watching Kale. If I had been wet for him before, that was nothing to how much I needed him right then.

  The song was starting to come to an end when my phone went off again. I sent it straight to voicemail, but it started going off almost immediately. Again, I diverted the call, only for it to start up a second later. Frowning down at my phone, concern started to eat at me. I wondered if everything was okay. Maybe something had happened. Maybe Sage needed me.

  “I have to take this,” I shouted at Kin, waving my phone at her.

  She nodded and pointed to her left where there was a sign for the bathrooms.

  Giving her a smile in thanks, I pushed my way through the crowd.

  By the time the bathroom door had closed behind me, my phone had stopped ringing, but it quickly started up again. Worried now, I answered it.

  “Hey, Sage. What’s wrong?”

  “Your boyfriend got Wade fired!” she practically screeched at me.

  Two women entered the bathroom behind me, deafening me to what Sage was saying for a moment. The door closed again, and I could hear her once more. Belatedly, I moved out of their way as I tried to comprehend what my friend had just said.

  “Fired? What are you talking about? Kale hasn’t even met—”

  “Drummer boy showed up at The Way at lunchtime while Wade was working.” She was yelling, but I was thankful for that because her high voice was cutting through my surprised stupor. “He threatened Wade, who has done nothing to deserve it. Said you were crying on his shoulder about your childish little argument last night. One that you started, by the way. And then, after the psycho rocker assaulted him, his boss came out and fired him.”

  Ah, hell. I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t make sense of what I was feeling. Pissed. Touched. Pissed, mostly, but still touched. Kale had confronted Wade at work. I should have known something like that would happen. He was too possessive not to deal with Wade personally.

  I couldn’t let him do that kind of shit. He should have talked to me about it. Instead, he had kept quiet for the most part and gone off and done it behind my back. His possessiveness had to have boundaries. If this was something that was going to last—and I really hoped it was—then there had to be lines drawn.

  “What do you want me to say here, Sage?” I asked when she just kept yelling. As frustrated as I was with Kale, I was at the end of my rope with my roommate. “He thought he needed to take up for me. You sure as fuck haven’t done that in the two years you’ve been with Wade.”

  That shut her up really quick. For all of ten seconds.

  “Take up for you? You’re the one who starts shit, and then goes crying to the first man who looks twice at you with some sob story that Wade is some big bad wolf out to eat you alive.”

  That was a new twist to this whole thing. I had never acted like someone who needed saving. I’d had to take care of myself for too long to even ask someone to help me. I could have handled Wade on my own. I could have easily kicked his ass if it had come down to it. That wasn’t even the point, dammit!

  “Oh, my God. You are the most blind person I’ve ever met. Wade is toxic, Sage. Open your damn eyes!”

  “You know what? I’m done. Wade told me tonight that I have to choose: you or him. So, I’m done, Santana. You’re on your own. I want you to move out.”

  Move out? She wanted me to go? After taking care of her for fucking years, she wanted me to move out of our home?

  Although I had made the decision already to do just that, her words cut me deeply. She knew I had been on my own practically all my life. That it was the one thing I feared more than anything else on the planet. Loneliness was one of the most heartbreaking things to ever experience, and I had lived with it for most of my life. She and her family had taken me in, saved me from that life of loneliness. Yet, there she was, picking her bastard boyfriend over me, her best friend, the girl who had been taking up for her, who had taken care of her since high school.

  Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let her hear them in my voice.

  “If that’s what you really want, then I’ll get my things tomorrow.” I couldn’t keep my voice steady for much longer. “Good-bye, Sage.”

  I hit end and just stood there. Unable to hold the tears back a second longer, I let them fall. I had only been ready to move out, not end our friendship.

  She picked him over me.

  I felt like I had just lost my family all over again. First my dad, and now Sage.

  The pain went soul deep, and I was helpless to hold back the sob that burst free. Wrapping my arms around my waist, I bent in half from the pain.

  “Santana?”

  I couldn’t lift my head, couldn’t bring myself to look at whoever was speaking to me. Soft hands touched my arms, guiding me forward. I was pushed down onto a soft sofa, and then she was sitting beside me, her arms going around me, trying to offer me comfort. I kept my head turned away, not wanting whoever it was to see my pain.

  “Sweetie, what’s wrong?” I recognized the voice now. Kassa. “Did something happen?”

  I swallowed another sob and shook my head.

  “What’s going on?” A new voice that was familiar to me asked. Kin.

  “I d
on’t know. I came in and found her like this,” Kassa told her. “Do you think we should get Kale? She’s really upset.”

  At the mention of his name, I finally turned to face her. “N-no. Not Kale.” I couldn’t think about him right now, let alone deal with him. “I … I’m fine. I just …” Another sob escaped me as the realization that I had lost Sage hit me right in the chest all over again. “I’ll be okay.”

  Kin crouched down in front of me, her blue eyes full of concern and kindness. “Babe, you’re not okay. I know all about pain, and from the sound of those sobs, yours goes soul deep right now. You don’t have to tell us about it; we won’t make you. We just want to help.”

  “My …” I swallowed hard and tried to get control of myself. “My roommate wants me out of our apartment. Kale did something, and now her boyfriend made her choose between him or me …” Fuck, it was like a stab right to the heart. I closed my eyes. “She picked him.”

  Kassa’s arms tightened around me. “I’m so sorry.”

  The door opened behind Kin as more females went in and out. Through my tears, I saw them shooting us curious looks, but I couldn’t find it in me to care if they saw me having an emotional meltdown or not. The door opened again, and Lucy walk in with Jenna and Angie.

  “You guys get lost?” Lucy teased, then stopped when she spotted us. “What’s wrong?”

  “Her roommate is a total bitch,” Kin told her friend. “Kicked her out because of her boyfriend.”

  “That little cunt monkey,” Angie exclaimed as she came over and put an arm around my shoulders. “Well, you don’t worry, sugar. We’ll take good care of you.”

  Jenna and Lucy crossed toward us, both nodding.

  “My offer is still open, Santana. I have that huge room going to waste back at my place. You’re more than welcome to it,” Jenna assured me.

  “You’re one of ours now, babe. We got your back,” Lucy vowed.

  These girls barely knew me, yet there they were, offering me a place to stay. It was more than that, though. They were giving me the one thing I had been afraid I had lost. Friends. Maybe a family.

  More tears filled my eyes, and I bent in half, pressing my forehead to my knees as the tears refused to stop.

  FIFTEEN

  Kale

  I had experienced every kind of high while being up on stage, performing for crowds since I was seventeen when Gray had first put Tainted Knights together to do our first gig. There was nothing like the thrill of a crowd rocking out to our music. To hear people screaming our names and singing word for word to music we had poured sweat and blood into creating.

  Right then, I was feeling an all new one.

  Santana had watched me tonight. I could feel her eyes on me during the entire song. Had it excited her? Did it make her wet to see me doing the one thing that had always filled the empty hole in my soul?

  I was hard as stone because all I could think about was getting her back to my place and sinking deep into her tight, wet heat.

  As we exited the stage, Roanna and the other Bombshells took over again, while Cash and Sin took two groupies up on an offer they couldn’t refuse. Meanwhile, I scanned the crowd, looking for my little doll, who wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  Frowning, I stopped beside Kin and Lucy. “Kin, I thought you and Kassa were gonna take care of Santana for me,” I grumbled.

  Kin shrugged. “She got a call. She just went to the bathroom to take it. Kassa went with her to make sure she was okay. Relax. The girl will be back soon.”

  I nodded, taking the beer Harris offered. She was okay. She would be back any second, and then we could get the hell out of there.

  Relaxing, I let Gray pull me into a conversation with Caleb and Carolina. Kin’s youngest stepsister was a cute, little thing, nothing like her sister Georgia who Kin couldn’t stand. Caleb and Angie were Kin’s stepsiblings from her mother’s side, but Carolina’s mom was married to Kin’s movie director father. The three had one thing in common. They loved Kin, and in my book, that was all that mattered.

  I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t realize fifteen minutes had passed. Looking around, I noticed that all the other girls had disappeared except for Carolina. Harris and Jace kept looking toward the bathroom, frowning as they muttered back and forth.

  Where the hell was my doll?

  Another five minutes passed, and I kept looking toward the bathroom. One of the girls should have been back by now. Lucy couldn’t seem to go five minutes without being with Harris. I started to feel uneasy. It felt like a cold, lead weight was settling in my stomach.

  “Carolina, can you go check on Santana for me?” I asked, interrupting Caleb who was telling her a joke.

  She shrugged. “Sure. I was starting to wonder where Kin was, anyway. I have a curfew, and she promised me a ride.”

  “Where’s Kassa?” Gray muttered, seeming to have suddenly remembered her. “I haven’t seen her since we went on stage.”

  “I saw her follow after Santana,” Caleb told him. “But that was, like, twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes ago, man.”

  I barely heard them. My eyes were glued to the bathroom as Carolina stepped inside. The door had barely closed behind her when she stepped out again. Even from where I was standing, I could see she was frowning. She glanced around, as if looking for someone, then pulled out her phone, typed out something, then headed back toward us.

  Before the girl could get back, Jace and Harris were suddenly in front of me. “Want to tell me why my girl just left?” Jace asked, sounding like he expected me to have the answer.

  “I have no clue why Kin would leave,” I told him, still watching Carolina. “Besides, I thought she was in the bathroom with the others.”

  “She was,” Harris muttered. “So was Lucy. But she just sent me a text saying they were leaving.”

  That cold, lead weight seemed to explode in my chest, spreading throughout my entire body. I swallowed down my unease, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Leaving? Did Santana go with them?”

  “Hey.” Carolina had reached me. “No one’s in the bathroom. Did Kin leave without telling me?”

  “Santana left?” I asked Harris, ignoring Carolina.

  The girl huffed and pushed past me.

  “Caleb, do you mind taking me home? My mother is going to lose her shit if I don’t get there on time.”

  “Sure,” the big man readily agreed. “Later, guys.”

  “From Lucy’s cryptic as hell text, Santana was the reason they left. They’re going to Jenna’s.” Harris glanced around at the crowd that was getting rowdier by the minute. Security kept the crowd away from the stage, but some of the drunker guys were trying to push their way closer, too caught up in Roanna’s spell to care if they caused a fight or not. “Fuck. I can’t leave. The way these idiots are acting, I’ll probably end up having to call the cops.”

  I couldn’t have cared less if he was leaving or not.

  Pulling out my phone, I saw that there wasn’t a single missed message or call from Santana. What the fuck? Why would she just leave like that?

  “Kale, wait up.” Jace jogged after me, catching up before I hit the street. “The girls left in Kin’s Rover. Can you give me a ride?”

  “Hurry up,” was all I said.

  The valet seemed to take for-fucking-ever to bring my car around. For a minute, I thought about grabbing a cab, but the kid drove up with my car right then. As soon as he had the car in front of me, I was jumping in.

  Jace had barely shut his door before I was pulling into traffic, cutting off three different cars as I cut across multiple lanes so I could head toward Jenna’s apartment. The apartment Gray, Jace, and Kassa shared, as well as Lucy and Harris’s apartment were both in the same building as Jenna’s, so I knew exactly where I was going.

  The closer I got, the colder I seemed to grow. Something was wrong. I knew it. I could feel it. Santana wouldn’t just leave without telling me. She would have waited for me. She would have l
eft with me.

  Muttering curses under my breath, I ran two red lights back to back, thankful there weren’t any cops around to pull me over.

  “Holy shit, Kale!” Jace yelled as I practically drifted through the next turn.

  Angry car horns shouted at me from either side, but I kept going like I hadn’t nearly been taken out by some guy in a lifted truck with wheels as tall as my car.

  “What the fuck? Goddammit, man, I want to get home in one piece, not in a body bag.”

  “Ask Kin if Santana is okay,” I commanded.

  I was still a mile away, but it might as well have been fifty. I felt like I was driving through quicksand. I couldn’t get there fast enough.

  “We’ll be there in less than a minute. You can ask her yourself.”

  “Too long,” I muttered. “I need to know now.”

  Blasting me with a round of curses, Jace shot Kin a quick text. Two seconds later, his phone announced an answering text. I shot my friend a quick glance as I started to slow down for the last turn, but his face had clouded over as he read what was on his screen.

  “Well?”

  Jace blew out a frustrated breath. “Santana doesn’t want to see you.”

  The coldness was starting to encase my heart now.

  “Why?” I gritted out.

  “She didn’t say, and knowing my girl, she won’t tell me shit. Kin is fiercely loyal, you know that. If you did something to Santana, she’s liable to kick your ass.”

  “I haven’t done anything to her. She was fine when I left her with your girl to do that fucking song Harris wanted us to do. Kassa and Kin were taking care of her for me. I’m clueless as to what happened between then and now.”

  I barely touched the brake as I pulled into the garage for Jace’s building. Finding a spot, I parked and barely turned the car off before I was running for the elevators, Jace right behind me.