Tainted Forever

by Terri Anne Browning

  I paused in the process of pulling out a shirt from my closet. “I still don’t know why you want me at a freaking baby shower. I thought that was a chick thing.”

  “It’s a couples thing too,” Harris informed me. “And Kin will be there. Also, you’re going to be Hayat’s godfather, so you need to be at all the events. That includes the baby shower.”

  “Right. I’ll be there.” I pulled my shirt over my head before putting the phone back to my ear. “Don’t know what kind of gift I’ll bring because no one is willing to help me figure that shit out, but I’ll be there.”

  “Call Nat. She’s got all the links to the baby registry Lucy signed up for. Pick something off there. Problem solved. Now get your ass over to the club and check on my pregnant wife so I can get some work done instead of having to sit in this damn office worrying about her.”

  Thirty minutes later, I walked into the club after having to tip the bouncer at the door a hundred dollars. There was a line long enough to equal the normal crowd at First Bass outside the building, and the guy didn’t instantly recognize me as the front man of Tainted Knights, but the five girls waiting to get in next did, screaming my name and jumping up and down in excitement. Before Kin left me, that kind of thing would bring a smile to my face. Now, it just annoyed the hell out of me.

  Inside, I moved through the crowd, determined to find Kin and talk this out.

  Upstairs, I spotted the Blondes out on the dance floor. Sin was right in the middle, letting the four of them move around him, but his eyes were solely on Roanna. A little bit away from them were Kale and Santana, along with my sister and Gray, all of them dancing and laughing.

  I bypassed them, not wanting to hear my sister bitching. I wasn’t there for any reason other than to check on Lucy and talk to Kin.

  Spotting a roped-off area, I noticed Marcus standing with three guys who looked like the club’s security. Figuring that was where I would find Lucy at least, I headed in that direction. The closer I got, the more I could see of their group. Jenna and Angie were off to one side of the overstuffed round sectional. Amara and Lucy were sitting beside them, drinking bottles of water.

  My gaze barely scanned over them, searching for Kin. When my eyes landed on the redhead sitting at one end all by herself, her eyes glued to something happening at the bar to my left, I felt myself begin to relax for the first time since leaving her at the studio earlier that day.

  She looked good with her hair down over her shoulders, dressed in a black skirt that thankfully fell to midthigh even though she was sitting and a silky dark green top that ended halfway down her torso, showcasing her flat stomach. She wore ballet flats on her feet that were crossed over each other as she leaned back, sipping a beer.

  I moved up to the group, giving Marcus a chin lift in greeting before leaning between him and one of the club’s security to speak to Lucy. She smiled up at me when I touched her shoulder. “You good?” I asked, my gaze going to her stomach under her maternity dress.

  Her hand rubbed over her belly. “We’re good.”

  “Text your husband and reassure him of that,” I told her with a smile. “Daddy is having separation anxiety, it seems.”

  I glanced down at Amara, unable to remember the last time I’d seen her, and was surprised when I saw that she had her own baby bump. “Cash know you’re knocked up?”

  She snorted water out her nose. Coughing, she laughed up at me. “Pretty sure,” she choked out.

  “That why you haven’t been around lately?” I asked, nodding down at her stomach.

  “No, I was gone for work. I’m Kin’s manager.”

  I leaned in closer, glancing at Kin for a second and noticing she was still too enthralled with whatever she was watching happen at the bar to realize I was even there, before looking back down at the two pregnant chicks. “You’ve been with Kin the last few months?”

  “Yup.”

  “Where?” I wanted—fucking needed to know—in case Kin ran off again. If she disappeared, I would know where to find her.

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s none of your business.”

  “Hey, douchebag.” Angie’s sharp voice hit me like a blast from the left. Reluctantly, I looked over at her where she was cuddled up against Jenna. My eyes widened seeing them together like that. It wasn’t that I didn’t know Angie was a lesbian, but she’d never really openly shown the world she was either. Obviously, I’d missed something. “What are you doing here? I don’t remember you being invited.”

  “Ang.” Jenna tried to shush her. “This isn’t our business.”

  “The hell, it isn’t. I told him what would happen if he broke her heart again.” Angie started to get to her feet, but Jenna pulled her back down and lowered her head. When the little blonde started to yell at her, the beautiful brunette swallowed it with a kiss.

  Angie immediately melted into her girlfriend, but my eyes were drawn back to Kin. She hadn’t even glanced away from the bar during the whole exchange, making me wonder what the hell held her attention so thoroughly.

  Following her line of vision, I straightened when my eyes landed on her father. He stood at the bar, some chick with dark hair who looked vaguely familiar cuddled up against him, while she spoke animatedly to a guy in front of them. I couldn’t tell who the guy was and instantly dismissed him, but even from this distance, I could tell the chick wasn’t Kin’s stepmother. Had Kin had a run-in with her father and the woman who was so obviously Jillian’s replacement?

  Concerned, I walked around the sectional and sat down beside her.

  “I’m not thirsty,” she grumbled, not even looking at me.

  “Me either,” I told her and felt her stiffen. “I could eat, though. Let’s go grab a burger.”

  Blue eyes jerked away from the people at the bar, filling with ice as she glared at me. “Go away, Jace.”

  I leaned back, draping my arm along the curve of the sectional. “I just got here, babe.”

  “I don’t want you here,” she bit out.

  “Did you run into your dad?” I asked, ignoring the way she was shooting daggers at me with her eyes. I touched her cheek, but she flinched and pulled her head back. “Did he do something to upset you?”

  “Why? Are you going to go rearrange his face if he did?” She rolled her eyes skeptically and scooted over a few inches, putting space between us.

  I would have broken his neck if that was really what she wanted, but I knew she didn’t. She hated Scott Montez, but I knew deep down all she really wanted was for the man to care enough to put her first. We both knew that would never happen, though. Her actor/director father was too narcissistic for that. He barely remembered Kin existed.

  “Who is the bimbo with him?”

  She pressed her lips together for a moment before blowing out a rough sigh. “Jillian’s replacement. She wants a spring wedding,” she mocked with a shake of her head.

  “Why does she look familiar?”

  “Probably because she’s Shannon Stewart.”

  “The bitch he was cheating with a while back?” Kin nodded, her lips pressing into a hard line. “I’m assuming since you knew about the spring wedding thing, you spoke to them earlier. What did you think of her?”

  She lifted her shoulders in a careless shrug, but she couldn’t hide the flash of pain that crossed her face. I touched her back, stroking my fingers over her shoulder through the silky material of her top. She shivered, leaning into my touch, unconsciously seeking the comfort I offered.

  “She seemed nice,” Kin said after a small pause, as if she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to be mad at me, but she knew she could tell me what she was feeling and what had happened without judgment. “But if she’s as blindly in love with Scott as she appears, then I fear for her mental health. Or maybe she’s just a really good actress and wants people to think she’s in love with him. I don’t know.”

  Jenna and Angie moved past us, holding hands and whispering to ea
ch other.

  “You’re leaving?” Kin whined, making the couple pause.

  Angie leaned down to hug her stepsister. “Call me when you get home. If I don’t see you tomorrow, we’ll see you at the baby shower Sunday.” Her eyes landed on me as she straightened. The glare should have frozen me solid on the spot, but it had no power over me. I was beside the only person who mattered, and I would endure even Angie’s shit for Kin.

  “If you need us, call,” Jenna told Kin, pulling Angie away. “And that’s the last beer you’re getting. I already told Lucy you are cut off.”

  “I was done anyway,” Kin called after her. “I need a clear head.”

  As they disappeared into the crowd, her attention went back to the bar. I glanced back over at the couple still talking to that guy. Of the three of them mixed in with the others at the bar, Scott looked out of place.

  The guy needed to grow up and start acting his age. I hated the fucker for hurting Kin for so long, and if I knew she really wanted me to knock his ass out, I would have done it years ago. But she’d always stopped me, and I’d realized she didn’t want to cause her father actual physical pain.

  The guy with her father looked over his shoulder, and Kin’s breath hitched. I knew in my gut he was looking right at her. Guys checked her out all the time, and I saw that same hungry look in their eyes every single damn time.

  But there was something different in the air when his eyes landed on her.

  Because she was looking right back.

  Was this guy what had held her attention the entire time?

  It was like a switch was flipped inside me. Jealousy spiked white-hot and stronger than anything I’d ever felt in my life. “What the fuck?” I growled, grasping her chin and forcing her to meet my gaze. Guilt flashed in her beautiful eyes before she blinked, and the guilt turned into anger. “Who the hell is he, Kin?”

  She jerked away from me, slapping my hand away. “Fuck off.”

  I jumped to my feet and grabbed her arm without thinking. That part of my brain was turned off. I needed to get her out of there, away from that motherfucker, and back in my arms. I needed to sink so deep inside her, she didn’t have a choice but to remember I was the only one to ever make her come on my cock. The only man to ever claim her sweetness. It was mine and mine alone. “Let’s go. We need to talk. Now.”

  She didn’t move, so I pulled her up forcefully, instantly attracting everyone’s attention around us. Kin slapped at my hand that was locked around her wrist like a steel band. “Let me go, Jace. I’m not going anywhere with you when you’re like this. Let. Me. Go.”

  “Kin.” Desperation made my voice harsh. I’d seen the look on her face when she met that guy’s gaze. I knew it well, but I had only ever seen it directed at me. It was killing me, my body already breaking out in a sweat, and I realized I might actually lose her for good. “We’re leaving. Walk, or I’ll carry you.”

  “Jace.” Lucy’s voice drilled into me, trying to reason with me. “This isn’t going to solve anything. Let her go.”

  I ignored her. “Why the fuck were you looking at that douchebag? Who is he?”

  “None of your business.” She finally pried my pinkie free and pulled it back. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t release her. I couldn’t. My fucking life was on the line, and I was a desperate man. “Jace, you asshole, leave me alone.”

  “Jace!” Kassa was behind me now, slapping at my other arm, trying to shake me off. “What the hell are you doing? Stop manhandling her!”

  “Stay out of it,” I snapped at my sister without taking my eyes off Kin. “This has nothing to do with you.”

  “Dude, not cool,” Gray said from right behind me. His heavy hands fell on my shoulders, squeezing hard, and I couldn’t shrug him off. “Release the redhead and step away before I have to make you.”

  “Kin.” I pulled her against me, begging her with my eyes to look at me again like she’d just looked at another guy. “Do you want him? Do you want to fuck him?”

  “You’re disgusting,” she seethed. “He’s her brother! He’s going to be my uncle.”

  “Then why the fuck were you looking at him like you want to ride his cock?” I roared in her face.

  I realized I was overreacting a millisecond before her hand slapped my face. I dropped my hold on her as twin tears spilled down her cheeks. “I hate you,” she whispered, and her words sliced my heart open. I gasped for my next breath, but I couldn’t fill my lungs. “If even a small part of me thought we still had a chance, you just proved me wrong. Don’t ever touch me again, Jace. Because if you do, I’ll bring you to your knees.”

  Shoving me back, she walked around me and stormed away. But not before I saw the guy with her dad rushing after her.

  “No!” I yelled after her, and I would have gone after her then and there, but Sin had shown up now, helping Gray hold me back. “No,” I choked out, feeling the panic try to swallow me whole as my eyes followed after Kin until I couldn’t see her any longer. “I’m losing her.”

  “You already lost her,” Kassa informed me, devoid of sympathy. “And you have no one else to blame but yourself.”

  Chapter 12

  Kin

  Strong arms caught me around the waist before I even reached the exit. I kicked backward in rage, wanting to make Jace hurt as much as I was. I couldn’t believe the way he’d just behaved, but I wasn’t going to put up with his shit anymore tonight.

  “Jesus,” a voice that was definitely not Jace St. Charles’s laughed in my ear. “Feisty little thing, huh?”

  I gasped and turned my head to see it was Derrick Stewart who had his arms around me. The chill that had started to invade my body began to fade, replaced with something white-hot and edgy. Guilt flooded through me all over again. The only person to ever incite that kind of reaction in me was Jace, and I felt like I was betraying him in some way for feeling it now with Derrick.

  But that was crazy. Jace and I were over. I was allowed to lust after anyone I freaking wanted.

  Not this guy, though.

  I couldn’t want this guy.

  He was going to be related to me, and that just felt wrong. As I thought about letting him kiss me, the lust that had been eating at me since I literally ran into him earlier dissolved and turned to feelings of disgust. Kissing him would be like kissing Caleb.

  Gross and wrong.

  So I turned in his arms and shoved him away. “I thought you were Jace,” I told him, pushing my hair back from my face.

  “The guy who was in your business earlier?” I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest.

  His dark eyes fell to the wrist I was keeping close to my stomach. Long fingers caught my arm and pulled it away gently. Turning it over, he skimmed his fingers over the red marks Jace had left. A lump clogged my throat, not at how tender he was being, but because Jace had touched me so forcefully. He’d never done something like that before, and I knew he’d done it because he was upset with me—the desperation had been coming off him in waves, the panic making his eyes manic. But that didn’t excuse the way he’d just treated me. It wouldn’t make the fucking bruises go away.

  “He your ex?” Derrick asked, his jaw clenched as his thumb skimmed over a particularly tender red spot.

  “Yeah,” I choked out, tugging my arm free. “Look, I need to go. It’s getting late.”

  “Do you need a ride?”

  “I can hail a cab or get an Uber,” I assured him, unsure why. This guy was no one to me. He was going to be family, but it wasn’t like we would ever see each other again. Scott couldn’t have cared less about me, and we never saw each other. Out of sight, out of mind—that was how our relationship worked.

  “Let me drive you home,” Derrick urged. “You’re still upset, and I think you need someone to vent to.”

  He held out his hand. I looked down at it, then back up at his face. Fuck, he was male perfection. Just looking at him made it hard to remember he was going t
o be family one day. But the hunger I’d seen on his face earlier was banked now, and only concern for me shone out of those dark chocolate orbs.

  “I’m a really good listener,” he said, sweetening the deal. “My sisters all tell me I’m good boyfriend material because I know how to pay attention.”

  My teeth sank into the inside of my bottom lip. “I’m not shopping for a new boyfriend.”

  “No more than I’m looking for a girlfriend. But we’re going to be family, so that means you are important, little niece. I have two ears that hear perfectly, and my shoulders are strong enough for you to cry on without breaking me.”

  My heart clenched when he said I was important, and I suddenly found myself putting my hand in his.

  “I only have one ear I can hear out of,” I confessed as we walked out of the club.

  He glanced down at me in surprise. “Really? Is that something you were born with?”

  “No. I had a lot of ear infections when I was a toddler, but apparently, I never cried or did anything to alert my mom to the fact that I was in pain. By the time she realized what was wrong with me, I’d already lost hearing in my right ear.”

  Derrick handed over the valet ticket to the attendant before turning his full attention back to me. “You’re totally deaf in that ear? A hearing aid wouldn’t help?”

  “It’s completely gone.”

  “Want to know something weird about Shannon?” I lifted a brow, waiting for him to answer. “She had webbed toes when she was a kid. Both her big toes were connected to the second toe with this weird membrane thing. It was really gross, and it freaked me out to look at her feet. When she decided to get into acting, she had surgery to get rid of it, but I still can’t look at her feet without shuddering.”

  His confession about his sister was so unexpected, I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound surprised me even more because it was so natural.

  “That is a really pretty sound,” Derrick murmured, stepping closer to me, his eyes scanning my face. “I’ll have to remember to make you laugh more often.”

  I gulped as a blush filled my cheeks. Quickly, I averted my gaze.