Tainted Heartbreak (Tainted Knights Book 3)

by Terri Anne Browning

  Riley grabbed my hand, her nails sinking into my palm, but I couldn’t pull my eyes off the rocker standing mere feet away. “Hi,” I murmured a little shyly.

  “I was looking for you,” he confessed, walking toward me so his three other bandmates could exit the stage.

  “Were you disappointed when you couldn’t find me?” I laughed.

  “Yeah, I was.” His eyes fell to the cup I was still holding tightly. “Want another lemonade? My throat is on fire. I could use something cold to drink.”

  “Amara!” Riley hissed at me, and I sighed.

  “Cash, this is my best friend and roommate, Riley,” I introduced. “Riles, Cash Graves.”

  Grinning, Cash offered her his hand. “Hey. Would you like to grab something to drink too?”

  She glanced from him to me and back again before shaking his hand. “Actually, I’m going for beers with London and Genesis.” She sent me a meaningful look, telling me I had to give her every single detail later. “Have fun. See you in a few?”

  I nodded, and the Bombshells put their arms through hers. Aubree shot an interested look between me and Cash, smirked and skipped off after the others, calling over her shoulder, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

  “Which isn’t a lot, actually,” Jace St. Charles said with a wink as he squeezed past us. “See you at dinner, fuckers.”

  “Jace,” his sister called after him as she stomped down the back stairs. “I’m not done yelling at you!”

  Gray muttered a curse, said something to Cash I didn’t hear, and followed after them, leaving us with only Kale, the brunette, and a different road crew who were now setting up the next band’s equipment out on stage.

  “Hi,” the brunette greeted me with a smile. “I’m Santana.”

  “Amara,” I told her, returning the smile.

  “So how do you know the Bombshells?”

  “My friend and I just met them today,” I told her honestly. “During their set, the guys behind us sent Riley over the fence, and Bruce helped us out. We watched the show from the stage and became instant friends afterward. We’ve been hanging out all day.”

  “Did your friend get hurt?”

  “She’s fine. It takes more than that to bruise Riley,” I laughed.

  Kale had pulled Cash to the side for a private conversation. The drummer was laughing. “It smacks you hard and right between the eyes, my brother. You don’t see that shit until it hits you, and then you can’t let go.” His eyes landed on Santana and softened. “You don’t want to.”

  “I don’t even want to know what they’re talking about,” Santana told me with a roll of her eyes. “Knowing those two, it’s something weird, and then it will be in my head. And I just don’t have room in my brain for that crap right now.”

  I looked at Cash, saw his eyes were on me, and tried to lower my gaze. But the intensity in those dark orbs trapped me, and I couldn’t look away. My breath hitched, and suddenly we were all alone backstage. I didn’t hear Santana and Kale leave as Cash moved toward me and took my hand that wasn’t holding tightly to my cup.

  “You ready?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

  My throat was so dry, I couldn’t speak, so I nodded. Entwining our fingers, he pushed through the crowds to the first vendor we came to. Grabbing us two bottles of water, he carried them both until we found a less congested area.

  Taking one of the bottles of water, I gulped a third of the contents before observing, “This place is crazy.”

  “It will only get worse as the night goes on. By the time Demon’s Wings takes the stage tonight, it will be pure mayhem.” He chugged the water then tossed the bottle in the recycling bin nearby.

  I glanced down at our still-linked hands. He hadn’t released me once, not even to pay for the drinks. Now, with his other hand free, he tugged me closer. “Are you hungry?”

  I shook my head. “We went to one of the BBQ trucks earlier. I got one of those sundae things with baked beans and coleslaw.”

  “Fuck, that sounds good. I’m starving. Mind if I grab something really quick? Then we can find some trouble to get into.”

  “Mind if you eat? Yeah, I totally mind. How dare you?” I snorted. “I don’t mind. Eat. I’d rather you not drop at my feet from low blood sugar. You look heavy, and I don’t have much faith in my ability to drag your ass around.”

  That smirk seemed to be a constant part of his face. It was kind of cute and more than a little sexy. Squeezing my fingers gently, he lifted his other hand to push a few strands of hair behind my ear. “Are you always this adorable, Dreamer?”

  Pleasure coursed through my veins, and I felt my face fill with pink. “Yup.” I nodded, pretending like I wasn’t crushing hard. “You’ll just have to get used to it, buddy.”

  Something flashed in his eyes, making my heart rate escalate, but he lowered his lashes before I could decipher what it was. He opened his mouth to say something, but I chickened out and pulled him toward the fenced-off area where all the food trucks were. Once we got in the long line for the BBQ sundaes, he stood behind me, his fingers still intertwined with mine, his free hand at my waist.

  My shirt had ridden up, and his callused thumb rubbed little circles on my exposed skin, making me squirm. I felt his breath on the back of my neck, causing me to shiver every few seconds. He pressed his nose into the side of my head, inhaling deeply, and I had to squeeze my thighs together to ease some of the insanely hot ache between my legs.

  His fingers on my hip tightened, pulling me back against him, and it was impossible not to feel how affected he was. His erection pulsed against my hip, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to hold back the whimper that strained to be set free.

  The line moved, and it was our turn to order. I cleared my throat, begging it to work properly, and asked Cash what he wanted to eat. He ordered the same sundae I’d had earlier, but before he could pay, I passed the woman a twenty.

  “That’s not how this works,” he grumbled at me as the attendant put his food on the counter and I was passed my change.

  Pushing the cash into my pocket, I grinned up at him. “Actually, that’s exactly how this works. You’re hungry, I’m feeding you. Just like when I was thirsty and you took care of me.”

  “So, it’s like a partnership? We take care of each other?”

  I patted him on the chest, but quickly dropped my hand when the urge to stroke my fingers over the hard edges and grooves became too tempting. “Exactly.”

  He chewed that over as he took a bite of his BBQ sundae. Swallowing, he nodded. “I can live with that.” He lowered his head until his nose nearly touched my own. “But only if I get to take care of you more.”

  My breath hitched at his nearness, then again at his words. I wasn’t about to allow myself to think he meant it. Whatever this was between us, I couldn’t see it lasting past the end of the night. He would be gone come morning at the latest, and even though the thought was making my heart ache already, I would happily take what I could get with him.

  Refusing to let him see my inner thoughts, I grinned up at him. “I can’t agree to that. Accept that it’s fifty-fifty and go with it.”

  He bit into his pickle spear then put it to my lips. I took a small bite, licking a little of the BBQ sauce off that had smeared across my bottom lip. “Fine. We agree on fifty-fifty.” Stuffing the last of the pickle into his mouth, he finished his sundae in three more bites then tossed the empty cup in the trash.

  I offered him my water bottle, and he chugged the rest of the contents down before trashing it too. I readjusted my cup under my arm, catching his attention. “Let’s get you a bag for that so you’re not carrying it around.”

  “I’m good like this.”

  “What if you drop it? There are cups just like it littering the whole place. You confident enough to know which one yours is if you drop it?” Well, fuck, he had me there. Smirking because he knew he was right, he draped his arm over my shoulders and guided me to the vendors across from
the food trucks.

  There was everything from T-shirts to vapes on display in the row of vendor tents. He found me a drawstring black bag that had the festival’s logo on it, and I put my cup inside along with my cap before putting my arms through the straps. The sun was beginning to set, but it was still humid as hell. Sweat beaded on both our brows, and we stopped for more drinks.

  While he grabbed us beers, I checked my phone to see if anyone had texted. I had one from each of my roommates. Riley’s told me she was headed back to the tour buses to hang out with the Bombshells. Lindsey’s told me she was bored without us there. She was supposed to go on a date last night with the guy she had been seeing recently. She was into this new guy but hadn’t introduced us to him yet. Since we were out of town, she was going to invite him back to our place, but he had blown her off, saying he had work early this morning.

  I shot her back a quick reply. I met a guy.

  Details!

  I glanced at Cash, who was paying for our beers. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell her, but it didn’t feel right dishing to her what I was feeling yet. This was too new and kind of raw for me. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to tell Riley, and I told her everything. Can’t right now. Talk later. See you Sunday night.

  Laughing, I put my phone in my back pocket and lifted my head just as Cash stepped up beside me, offering me an ice-cold bottle of beer. I rolled the bottle over my forehead then pressed it to my neck, moaning at the coolness against my overheated skin. Cash made a half-groaning, half-choked sound in his throat. Lifting my gaze to meet his, I saw a hunger burning out of his dark brown eyes, and that ache between my legs made my clit throb.

  Dropping my eyes, I took a long pull of my beer.

  He gave a low laugh. “That doesn’t help. Trust me, I tried that already.” He touched his lips to my ear. I shivered and reached out to steady myself by grabbing hold of one of his belt loops. “I think we both know there is only one way to ease this ache we’re both feeling, little dreamer.”

  My heartbeat was thundering in my ears as I lifted my eyes to look at him through my lashes. “Oh no. There are so, so many ways to ease the ache, Cash.” I touched my bottle to his neck, enjoying the way his eyes became hooded and full of lust. “So many.”

  Chapter 4

  Cash

  The laughter around the room made it nearly impossible to hear anything except those right beside me. The private room at one of the local steakhouses wasn’t exactly the place someone would expect to find a plethora of rockers hanging out. If someone came looking to see what all the laughing was about, they would have been stopped by any number of Emmie’s security detail, but what they would have seen wouldn’t have been anything unusual at a family get-together.

  That was exactly what the members of Demon’s Wings and OtherWorld were, though, literally for a handful of them. But even those who didn’t share a drop of blood between them treated each other like brothers. It was something I’d long admired about the two bands. The brotherhood between them was something I’d always craved. Now that I had my own band, with bandbrothers who had my back, I was able to appreciate their connection even more.

  But they were currently sitting between me and Amara, and I wanted to kick every one of their asses as they talked and laughed with her. My fingers flexed around the neck of my beer bottle, the only alcohol Emmie wouldn’t frown on whenever the members of Demon’s Wings were around, out of respect for Drake Stevenson and his sobriety.

  As soon as we walked through the door earlier, Emmie had taken Amara and Riley and kept them down at her end of the table, forcing me to sit alone with my bandmates—minus Sin, who was still back on one of the tour buses with the Blonde Bombshells eating pizza. Now, Shane Stevenson said something that had Amara and her friend tossing their heads back and laughing.

  Even over the sounds of everyone else’s conversations and laughter, I could pick out Amara’s laugh, and I forced my fingers to relax their hold on the bottle before lifting it to drain the contents.

  “Take it easy,” Kale advised with a grin as he chewed a bite of his steak beside me. Ever since I told him what had happened earlier with Amara, he’d been giving me hell. I deserved it, fuck knows I did, after the way I’d criticized how fast he’d gotten all possessive over Santana and started threatening anyone who looked twice at her. But after seeing how quickly Jace had fallen for Kin, I knew what Kale was feeling was probably legit. That didn’t stop him from making me eat my words now that I could see it through clearer eyes. “The look on your face right now is making that frown wrinkle Emmie’s brow every time she looks this way. While I’m glad not to be on the receiving end of it, I don’t want you ugly dead if she decides she’s pissed at you.”

  “Wow, you went with ‘ugly dead’ and not just regular ‘dead.’” Kassa lifted her glass of water, studying Kale over the rim for a moment before shaking her head and taking a sip. “What’s the difference?”

  “Well, my dear Kassa, let me explain…”

  Santana groaned, “Why? Why would you encourage him? Now you’ve got him started, and it won’t end anytime soon.”

  “Ugly dead is when you can’t identify the body…”

  Amara turned her head, her fawn-colored eyes catching mine, and I tuned out whatever ridiculousness Kale was spouting that was making Gray and Jace snigger and everyone else groan. The amusement that had made her eyes glassy and her skin glow turned to something that made my body throb and an edgy feeling crawl up my spine. The tip of her tongue skimmed over her bottom lip ever so slightly, teasing me and heating my blood that much more. I was in physical pain with how badly I wanted her, and the little minx knew it too.

  “Heads up!” Jesse Thornton called across from Amara, snapping her attention on to him, then to the waitress who was bringing in a huge cake.

  “What’s this?” Nik groaned as he looked at his wife. “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything. This isn’t me.” The waitress didn’t stop beside her, however, but kept walking to the end of the long table and placed the cake right in front of Jace.

  His face paled when he looked down at the cake, and we all leaned forward to read what had been written across it.

  You lied. Again. I’m done.

  Oh shit.

  Jace jerked back from the table so quickly the waitress didn’t have time to move, and he nearly knocked the girl on her ass. Liam Bryant caught her and gave her a grim smile as she walked away in a daze. I watched Jace cautiously. His eyes were wild, his breathing labored as he pulled his phone out of his pocket with fingers that shook noticeably and swiped his thumb over the screen. Jace normally kept his cool in most situations, but for the first time, I could tell he was fighting not to panic. Pressing the phone to his ear, he muttered a mantra of “Pick up, pick up, pick the fuck up, Kin!”

  The entire room was completely quiet now as all eyes were turned on him. Looks of sympathy were in some of the older rocker’s eyes, but Jace was staring blinding at the wall behind me, his eyes glazing over with emotion as he got Kin’s voice mail. Cursing, he hung up and dialed again, only to get the same result.

  His tortured gazed landed on me. “Call Caleb. Find out if he knows anything. Please.”

  “Jace.”

  He looked to Emmie. “Have you talked to Kin today?” Her green eyes were so full of surprise I knew she hadn’t realized anything was amiss between him and her newest honorary niece. Shaking her head sadly, she opened her mouth, then clamped it shut and shook her head again as tears filled her eyes.

  “Cash, man. Call Caleb,” Jace pleaded again, his voice catching and breaking.

  I pulled out my phone, saw that I had a few texts, but I ignored them as I pulled up my best friend’s contact information and hit connect. I didn’t have time for that chick—or this shit Gigi had emotionally blackmailed me into. I was fine with it up until I’d set eyes on Amara. Now, I was ready to tell my grandmother to find another solution.

  It rang thr
ee times before my friend answered. “I know nothing,” were the first words out of his mouth in greeting.

  “You know a little,” I countered, knowing him too well. “She sent a cake, Caleb.”

  “That was probably Angie’s idea. Or Lucy. That totally sounds like one of them. Trust me, bro, if she finally decided she’s had enough and is ending things, she would have been too upset to do much of anything but cry.” He exhaled roughly. “And that’s all she’s been doing for the last twenty-four hours.”

  I narrowed my eyes at his slip, and I glanced at Jace. He looked sick, like he was going to blow chunks any minute now. I knew he had no one to blame for this but himself, but part of me felt bad for him. “You home or at their place in Cali?”

  “Home…”

  Before he could finish, I was already saying goodbye. Tossing my phone on the table, I told Jace what I knew. “She’s with Caleb. If you leave now, you can be at their house in about two hours.”

  “Thanks,” he choked out and sprinted out of the room.

  Kassa scooted back her chair. “We better go with him so he doesn’t get in a wreck and kill himself.”

  Gray sighed heavily and followed suit. “We’re out. See you fuckers at home, whenever.”

  Everyone stayed quiet until the three of them were gone. All eyes went to Emmie, who was still visibly upset, as if waiting for her to break the gloom that was holding all of us prisoner now. Jace’s pain had been vibrating off him, but it wasn’t like he shouldn’t have expected this would be coming. Everyone who knew Kin and him had seen it coming a mile away. What surprised us all was that Kin had let things go this long before finally calling it quits. Whatever latest lie Jace told her must have finally destroyed the small thread that was holding them together.

  “Kale,” Santana hissed, and I looked over to find him eating one of the corners off the cake.

  “What?” He chewed, swallowed, then licked his lips. “Damn, that’s some good cake. Who wants a piece?”