Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights Book 1)

by Terri Anne Browning

  “I don’t know what to tell you, man. Something happened, and now Santana is upset. The girls are closing ranks, and you’ll have an entire wall of pissed off chicks standing between you and your girl.”

  The elevator was taking too fucking long, but I knew it would be quicker than running up all those flights of stairs to Jenna’s apartment.

  As soon as the elevator doors opened, I pushed inside. Grandma June would have whipped my ass with a wooden spoon for not telling the older couple I was sorry, but I was blind, deaf, and dumb to anything that didn’t involve getting to Santana.

  Less than a minute later, the doors opened on Jenna’s floor, and I jogged down the corridor until I reached her apartment. Holding my finger down on the doorbell with one hand, I pounded my fist on the door with the other. A full minute passed before I could actually feel someone looking at me through the peephole.

  Jace kept back a few steps, as if he wasn’t willing to take the explosion that was bound to happen when the door opened.

  I glared at the little hole. “Let me in. Now.”

  “Fuck off, Kale,” Angie’s sassy voice called through the door. “Santana doesn’t want to see you, so you’re not getting in.”

  “Why?” I demanded, trying and failing to keep the desperation out of my voice. “Why doesn’t she want to see me? I need to know what happened. What the hell have I done, Angie?”

  There was a long pause on the other side before Angie spoke again. “Hell, I don’t know. She won’t tell us.”

  Perfect. No one knew what was going on.

  “So, let me in,” I pleaded. “I can fix this.” Whatever the fuck “this” was.

  Another long pause, then I heard the locks clicking. Moments later, the door opened a few inches. Angie and Kin stood in the slightly open doorway, glaring at me like I was public enemy number one.

  Jace stuck his head around the corner to see what was going on, but quickly jerked back when he saw his girlfriend standing there. “Hell, she’s gonna tear you up, bro. Back away real slow.”

  “Shut up, Jace,” Kin snapped.

  “Just trying to warn the poor fuck, baby. We need him for the tour. Don’t kill my drummer.”

  “Look,” Angie spoke in a lowered voice so that only I could hear her, both of us ignoring Jace and Kin. “Santana and her roommate had a falling out. I don’t know all the details, but Sage told her she wants Santana to move out.”

  “Ah, hell.” I gripped the back of my neck with both hands and closed my eyes. That was what was wrong. Santana had told me a little about her past. How lonely she’d been until Sage had come along. I bet she was probably feeling abandoned all over again, and I could only imagine what Sage had told her.

  What that pussy Wade had told her.

  Opening my eyes, I did the only thing I could do. I begged.

  “I have to see her. Please, Angie. I need to take care of my girl right now. Me. Not you or any other person. She needs me.”

  “She seems mad at you,” Kin whispered fiercely, stepping closer to Angie. “Whatever you did today, her roommate used it to kick her out. Now she feels like she has no one.”

  “She has me,” I practically shouted, then forced myself to calm down. “She has me, and I’m not letting her go. So, let me the fuck in.” I took a step closer to the two girls and the barely opened door. “I’d never hurt either one of you, but moving you out of my way is something that is seriously about to happen.”

  She slammed the door in my face.

  I took a step back, ready to kick the damn thing in if I had to. In that moment, I didn’t give a damn about anything but getting inside to Santana.

  It opened again before I could take another step back. Kin stood there with the door open far enough to let me in, but the look on her face was full of loathing. “You make her cry, and Tainted Knights really will be in need of a new drummer.”

  “I won’t,” I promised as I entered the apartment.

  Lucy, Jenna, Kassa, and Angie were sitting in the living room. They all had a cup of what looked like tea in their hands, and an open glare for me, but there was no sign of Santana.

  Jenna gave me the hardest look out of all of them as she stood. “She’s in the guest room,” she muttered with obvious reluctance then led me to it.

  I started to open the guest room door when she caught my arm. “Don’t hurt her.”

  “That’s the last thing I want to do,” I assured her, trying to keep my voice steady. “She means a lot to me, Jen.”

  She just stood there for a long moment, looking straight into my eyes as if she were trying to read my soul. I let her, having nothing to hide. I wasn’t ashamed of what I was feeling for my little doll. It was intense and scary as hell, but it was something I had been waiting all my life to feel.

  Releasing my arm, she stepped back. “Good luck,” she muttered then turned to leave.

  I made myself wait until she was out of sight before opening the door. Stepping into the guest room, I saw a comfortable-looking king-sized bed, a dresser, with a medium-sized flat screen beside the bed, and a few paintings on the wall that I knew Jenna had painted herself. Santana, however, was missing.

  The toilet in the bathroom flushed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  I crossed to the bed and sat down, my legs suddenly feeling weak and wobbly as warmth slowly returned to my body. Whatever happened in the next few minutes, I knew I couldn’t lose that girl.

  A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Santana came out. She wasn’t wearing the dress she had been wearing earlier. Now she was in a pair of pajamas that were way too long on her, and her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head.

  She looked beautiful as always.

  Turning off the bathroom light, she started to cross toward the bedroom door when I shifted on the bed. Seeing me sitting there, she froze.

  “Kale.” Her voice was full of resignation.

  I took all of her in. The way she had rolled the borrowed pajamas pants up, and they were still too long and baggy at her feet. The way the top hung off her like a dress. But what I would never forget was the shadows under swollen, red-rimmed eyes. She had washed her face clean of makeup, but it couldn’t hide the trails on her face from her previous tears.

  My stomach bottomed out at the proof of how upset she was.

  Getting to my feet, I made my way to her in four steps. She just watched me with haunted brown eyes as I wrapped her up in my arms.

  “I’m sorry,” I breathed into her ear. “I’m so fucking sorry, doll.”

  “She …” She sucked in a shuddery breath. “Sage said you assaulted Wade.”

  My arms tightened around her. “I didn’t hit him. I swear I didn’t. But I wanted to,” I told her honestly. I would never lie to her. Never.

  Sighing, she pulled away then headed to the bed, where she sat on the edge of it. Lifting her head, she looked at me long and hard. “Maybe you should tell me everything that happened.”

  “After what you told me last night, I couldn’t think straight about that Wade fucker. So, Gray and I went to The Way at lunchtime.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, unconsciously drawing my eyes. I forced my eyes back to hers as soon as I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. Fucking hell, she was trying to punish me.

  “I planned on talking to him calmly, but when I saw him, I lost it. So, I grabbed him and gave him a little taste of what it’s like to be on the other side of feeling threatened.”

  Her forehead puckered up with a frown. “So, you didn’t hit him?”

  “No, I swear.” I raked my hands through my hair and shrugged. “I told him, if he ever did anything like that to you again, they would have to scrape him off the floor. That’s all. Ask Gray if you don’t believe me.”

  Another long moment passed. She just sat there, trying to read me.

  Finally, she sighed tiredly. “I believe you,” she said, lowering her eyes to the carpet. “No one’s ever stood up for me like th
at. Not even Sage. I’ve always had to take care of myself, so you doing that … It’s just new for me. I don’t know how to take it.”

  “So … you don’t hate me?” I practically whispered the words, too scared that she really did hate me and that I was about to lose her.

  Her head snapped up, those brown eyes turning into melted chocolate for me. “No, you idiot, I don’t hate you. We do need to talk about boundaries, though, because you can’t just do that whenever I have a problem.”

  “You are mine, Santana.” It came out as a growl, making her eyes widen. “That means, when you have a problem, I’m going to try to fix it for you. If that means I have to kick every guy’s ass who gives you a hard time, then I will.”

  “Kale, you can’t—”

  I didn’t give her time to say more. Moving across the room, I scooped her up into my arms and held her against my chest. I breathed in the cherry blossom fragrance of her skin, soaking up the feel of her warmth against my body and chasing away the last of the coldness that had taken hold of me.

  “I can, and I will.”

  We stood like that for a long time. Me just holding her, and her letting me. I had thought I was losing her. That I had lost her. Now that I had her in my arms again, my relief was so strong I practically shook with it.

  “You scared the fuck out of me, doll.”

  Her face burrowed against my neck. “I’m sorry. I was just so upset, and I didn’t know who I was upset with. It was all dropped on me so quickly, and what Sage said hurt so much.” Her voice quivered, and I tightened my hold on her. “She picked him over me.”

  Right then, I hated Sage just as much as I did Wade. That little bitch had some serious issues if she didn’t see what she was missing out on.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s losing,” I told her.

  “We’ve been friends for years. I thought she loved me.” She sniffed.

  I sat down on the bed so I could still hold her and see her face. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, her eyes swelling once again.

  “She’s the only family I have. Without her, I thought I would have no one.”

  I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “Wrong, doll. You have me, and all those chicks out in the living room. They were gonna kick my ass when I first got here.” And I would have gladly taken the ass-beating if it had been the only way to get in to see Santana.

  A small smile teased at her lips, but the tears kept coming. “They’ve been pretty great. Thank you for coming into my life and sharing them with me.”

  “No, thank you.” I kissed her temple. “Thank you for coming into my life. You’re special to me, Santana. Just thinking about leaving you on Sunday for this damn tour is tearing me apart right now.”

  More tears filled her pretty brown eyes. “I’m really going to miss you.”

  I cupped her cheek in my hand, wiping away her tears with my thumb. “I won’t be gone forever. I’m coming straight back to you … if you’ll let me.”

  “I-I want you to.” She pressed her lips to mine, giving me a soft kiss that left my body begging for more. “I really, really want you to, Kale.”

  “I will.”

  She laid her head on my shoulder. “We still have two days, though. We can make a lot of memories in that time,” she murmured in a bashful, little voice that had my dick thickening against her hip. “And there’s a bed right here for us to start making them.”

  “You’re a little tease, you know that?” I grasped her waist and stood with her in my arms. “I fucking love it, doll.”

  As I tossed her onto the mattress, her tears dried up and she started giggling.

  It was the best sound in the world.

  SIXTEEN

  Santana

  I had a shoot Friday, but because I had to sort out my living arrangements, I rescheduled it. Thankfully, my client understood and was happy to reschedule, especially after I promised her five extra prints.

  Kale had asked me to stay in his apartment while he was gone, but the thought of being all alone sucked. It was Jenna’s offer I took, after making her accept me paying rent. Jenna owned the apartment and made a decent living off her art work—not to mention the trust fund she told me she still had—so I knew she didn’t need the money. That wasn’t the point, though. I wasn’t a mooch, and I didn’t take handouts. I wouldn’t have felt right living in her apartment if I wasn’t paying my way.

  I still needed to get my things.

  Dreading the confrontation with Sage and figuring Wade would be there since he had been fired, I got ready to head over to my old place. Kale met me at the door, already holding a cup of coffee and a box of doughnuts. He must have slipped out while I was in the shower.

  “Coffee for my little doll.” He kissed my lips. “Sorry. The doughnuts are payment for the muscle.”

  I blinked up at him, trying to get my mind off the delicious sugary confections I could smell coming from the box. “Muscle?”

  He shrugged then opened the door.

  Out in the hall, I saw Gray, Sin, Jace, Cash, and Harris waiting on us.

  “I rented a truck,” Kale told me as he held the door. “And whatever you can’t fit here or at my place will go in the storage unit I rented for you.”

  I couldn’t help blinking again. “I was only in the shower for fifteen minutes. How did you do all of that so fast?”

  Pushing the box of doughnuts at Gray, who grabbed them with greedy hands, Kale shut the door. “I called Emmie on my walk to the doughnut shop on the corner. Woman’s a magician, or so Kin tells me. The truck is waiting on us to pick up, and these fuckers are going to help me do all the lifting.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep it from trembling as we all stepped into the elevator. All morning, I had been wondering how I was going to move my stuff and where I was going to put it. I hadn’t even told Kale about it, yet he had taken care of it for me.

  He had taken care of me.

  As the doors of the elevator slid closed and we started the decent, Kale suddenly lowered his head and kissed my lips, forcing me to stop biting on it. He backed me up against the wall, his hands holding onto my hips as he kissed me long and deep until I couldn’t think about anything but his taste. When he lifted his head, I fought back a whimper of loss.

  His lips touched the tip of my nose, and then the middle of my forehead. “You’re mine, doll. That means I get to take care of you.”

  Someone shifted beside me, and I lifted my head to find Jace standing right beside me, pretending he hadn’t witnessed his friend kissing me senseless. He stuffed what looked like a jelly doughnut into his mouth then licked his fingers.

  Remembering the rest of the guys, I buried my face in Kale’s shirt, a little embarrassed that I’d let him kiss me so thoroughly.

  “It’s kind of cute when she blushes like that,” Gray said from the other side of the elevator. “I mean, who blushes these days?”

  “Kas,” Jace supplied for him around his mouthful of pastry.

  “That’s because Kassa is a little caterpillar. No way in hell are we letting her become a butterfly and fly away into the real world.” Gray scarfed down his own doughnut.

  “Dude, she’s already a butterfly,” Cash told him. “A pretty hot one, too. You want to keep her blushing, you might want to clip her wing or something.”

  “Fuck off, Graves.”

  The guys arguing kept me entertained as we picked up the moving truck and drove to my old apartment. Seeing Wade’s car in the parking lot had dread roiling in my stomach, but Kale giving me a smile and a kiss before leading the other guys into the building made me feel better.

  I had my key out, ready to put it in the door, when Sin pounded his fist on the door so hard two of the neighbors stuck their heads out of their apartments.

  It took a few minutes for Sage to open the door, dressed in her usual pajamas with messy hair. She blinked her sleepy eyes at the six hot as sin guys standing in front of her before finally focusing on me.

  “
Wh-What’s going on?”

  I shrugged, pretending like I wasn’t the least bit upset about seeing her right then. “I came to get my stuff.”

  “Oh,” she murmured. “O-Okay.” Stepping back, she let the guys in, and I followed after them.

  We all stopped in the living room, and I told Harris, Jace, Sin, and Cash what things were mine. Once they got started, I took Kale and Gray to my bedroom. While I had a few things throughout the apartment, it was going to be this room that would take the most time.

  My bedroom door was open, which surprised me. Frowning, I walked in and immediately felt like something was off. My closet was slightly open, and I could feel anger start to simmer low in my gut.

  Crossing to it, I pulled it back and saw that my camera case had been moved.

  No fucking way.

  Sage knew that my camera was my way of life. It was the single most important thing I needed to survive. It was everything to me.

  Everything.

  And she had messed with it?

  Taking the case out of my closet, I set it and the rest of my gear on the bed. Then I carefully unzipped it, checking to make sure nothing was missing or damaged. All my lenses were in their usual places, although they had clumsily been shifted. Nothing looked like it was missing.

  Turning the camera on, I went through the pictures I had taken the day before. Everything looked to be there …

  Then I got to the end and nearly dropped the camera on the floor when I saw the picture that was waiting for me.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Kale said with a menacing growl from right behind me.

  “Holy micro dick.” Gray laughed, moving to see what Kale was looking at. “Dude, that’s just sad.”

  He wasn’t kidding. If that was Wade, and from the socks that he couldn’t completely get out of the shot, I was pretty confident it was, then he was seriously lacking in the man part’s department. I could totally understand why he was the way he was now. He had a lot to compensate for.

  “He’s dead,” Kale snarled, turning to leave my room.

  Quickly putting my camera on the bed, I jumped in front of him. Pressing my hands against his chest, I tried to stop him.