Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights Book 1)

by Terri Anne Browning

  She started to walk back toward the elevator, when I caught her elbow, my eyes still on her closed apartment door.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Santana huffed. When I just stood there, she shrugged. “Sage has company. I saw his car down in the parking lot.”

  My brows lifted. “And the problem is …?”

  “Wade is a dick, and I’m not in the mood to deal with him just yet.” She tugged her elbow free and crossed her arms over her chest, looking defensive.

  Something about the way she looked right then told me that it was more than just that. Whoever the hell this Wade guy was, I didn’t like him already. And from the all too brief flash of what I thought was fear, or maybe it was disgust, in her brown eyes, I wanted to beat the shit out of the guy.

  I could tell she wasn’t going to tell me what was up with him, so instead of pushing the subject—one I was going to get to the bottom of one way or another—I took her hand and linked our fingers.

  “What do we need for this delicious dinner?”

  She relaxed as we walked the few blocks to the grocery store. Then she took her time as we went around the store. I knew it was because she wasn’t in a rush to get home while this Wade fucker was still there. I didn’t like that she felt like she couldn’t be in her own home while her roommate’s boyfriend was there. I wanted to take her back, pack all her shit, and take her home with me.

  Yeah, sure. Like she would do that.

  I had only met this chick that morning, yet I could already imagine the storm that would blow up if I pulled something like that. Still, I was so tempted to do just that, I had to bite down on my tongue to keep the words from exploding out of my mouth.

  With the grocery basket now full, she twisted her lips and blew out a long sigh. “Well, I guess we better get back.” She grimaced. “Wade will probably be gone by now. He’s got to work this evening.”

  We walked to the front of the store, and I put the basket up on the checkout belt. “Care to tell me about this Wade guy?”

  Her left cheek sunk in, and I realized she was biting on it. Without thinking, I touched my fingers to her cheek, rubbing them over the soft flesh. She instantly released the inside of it and blew out a long breath.

  “He’s a total douche. Sage is so in love with him that she’s blind to everything about his personality.”

  The checkout girl was ringing up our stuff and bagging it. I barely gave her a nod before turning back to Santana.

  “Is he mean to her?”

  Is he mean to you?

  “He doesn’t get physical, if that’s what you mean, but he talks down to her. Sage isn’t the type of person who easily stands up to people, so when Wade talks down to her, she doesn’t take up for herself. She … She just takes it.” She shrugged, then wrapped her arms around her waist. “I can’t stand it. When he starts talking to her like she’s an idiot, I always run my mouth, which he can’t handle. He’s one of those guys who thinks we mere, little females don’t have a brain cell to share between the lot of us, so when I make him look like the idiot, he pouts and won’t come around for a few days. Which is great, because really, I could do without that assclown. But then Sage gets all pissed at me, which sucks. She’s like a sister to me. It’s just better for us all if I avoid Wade as much as possible.”

  I was relieved that it wasn’t the kind of situation where Sage—and Santana by default—was in danger. Still, I didn’t like that she was around that kind of guy. A guy who tore a woman down with words was just as bad as one who did it with his fists. The two weren’t that far of a stretch from each other. If he got his rocks off talking to her like she was a dog, it wouldn’t take much for him to use his hands to get the same reaction.

  “That’s thirty-seven dollars and fifty-three cents,” the cashier said before popping a bubble with her gum.

  Santana started to move, but I was quicker. Pulling out my wallet, I handed over the cash and grabbed the three bags before taking the change. Santana shot me an annoyed look. I only winked back at her.

  “I buy; you cook. That’s an even trade, doll.”

  SIX

  Santana

  I was thankful that Wade’s car was gone by the time we walked back to my apartment. I hated that little weasel. Hated. With every fiber in my being, I hated him. I almost hated him more than …

  I gritted my teeth at the thought, but wouldn’t let it finish forming in my mind as I unlocked my front door and led Kale inside. It made my skin crawl that Wade had been there while I was out. After the last time that sniveling little prick had left in a snit, I’d hoped Sage was finally done with him. Had hoped that she could finally—finally, dammit—see him for what he really was.

  Obviously, she hadn’t.

  There were two reasons, and two reasons only, that he came around. Sex and money. More often than not, it was the former. All too often, though, it was the latter. Sage thought she loved him. Hell, maybe she really did. I had never been in love, so I couldn’t exactly tell her she wasn’t. Regardless, what she felt for Wade seemed more like obsession than love.

  As I entered the apartment and headed for the kitchen, I noticed that my roommate wasn’t in the living room. That was normally her favorite room. She camped out in front of the television for days at a time, often sleeping on the couch. It was her sanctuary when she was feeling depressed, especially after Wade had talked to her like she was a damn dog who had peed on his favorite pair of shoes.

  I loved Sage; she was like a sister to me. And after all the shit my own family had put me through over the years, she was the only true family I needed or wanted. That didn’t mean I wasn’t blind to her failings. Like how she couldn’t stand up for herself, or anyone else. How she hid from the world behind our closed doors when she let her depression get the better of her. A depression that she refused to see a therapist about.

  I let her hide, which made me her biggest enabler. I did her shopping, took care of her mail, and at times, I even paid her bills. Maybe if I didn’t, she would finally have to put one foot in front of the other and actually leave the apartment.

  Her mother was no better than me, giving her a large monthly allowance. She didn’t have to work. She didn’t have to go to school. All she had to do was hide from the world and herself at times.

  I could hear the soft sounds of her television as I passed her bedroom and paused to listen. Either she was asleep or in the shower. I couldn’t hear any other sign of her in the room.

  Kale stood behind me, patiently waiting for me to move on. He had been understanding when I’d explained Wade to him; had even gotten angry at the man he hadn’t ever met. That he had only heard my side of it, that he’d taken what I had said as the only truth he needed, had touched me in a way that had all the other things that had scared me about him throughout the day doubling.

  Yet, those fears had faded with a reassuring smile from this guy.

  I should have been pushing him out the door. I should have been locking him out and hiding my heart and anything else that might—was—softening toward him. I couldn’t believe I had only known him the span of a few hours—hell, not even a full day—yet there I was, melting for him in all the places I’d thought were immune to tender feelings for anyone other than those closest to me.

  “Everything okay?” Kale asked in a quiet voice when I just stood there.

  “I think she’s okay,” I assured him, though it hadn’t been Sage who had rooted me to the spot. “Come on; we can put those things away and maybe watch a movie before I start on dinner.”

  The grin that lifted his lips shined out of his hazel eyes, making them twice as green as they were brown. “I like that plan, doll.”

  I tried not to let that smile warm my entire body, but there was no controlling it. It was like someone flipped a switch when he smiled at me like that. One minute my body was at a comfortable ninety-seven degrees. Then, suddenly, I was a burning hundred and three. The fear was starting to become exhilarating. It was kin
d of addicting. When I stopped lying to myself, I realized that I liked it.

  A lot.

  In the kitchen, he helped me put away the groceries. There were fresh chicken breasts, red onion, crescent dough sheets, and my favorite honey barbeque sauce. I had also picked up things to make a salad and even a few items to make us some homemade cherry turnovers for dessert.

  Cooking was one of the things I only ever did for myself, so planning on fixing something for Kale made me nervous. It was the one thing I refused to do for Sage, not because she was so picky, which she freaking was. No, it was just too personal for me. My dad had always said, when you cook, you put a little of yourself in the prepping, you put a piece of your soul into it when you did it right.

  Maybe I was still looking at what he had said from a wide-eyed, little girl’s perspective, but I couldn’t share my soul with just anyone. Not even my best friend.

  So, why was I doing it for Kale?

  I didn’t have an answer, and I wasn’t going to examine it too closely. All I knew was that it felt right, and I liked having him around.

  Once everything was put away, I led him into the living room. It was a small room, with just the couch that Sage’s parents had given us when we had first moved in together. End tables I had picked up at a farmers’ market two years ago and refinished myself sat on either end of it, and a small entertainment center the two of us had picked out together held the flat screen and our Blu-ray player.

  Kale sat on the end of the couch closest to the window, and I grabbed the remote off the end table before sitting down beside him. I had barely turned the television on before he was snatching it out of my hand.

  “What’s on your DVR?” he asked with a grin as he started surfing through our recorded inventory. “Doctor Who?” He lifted a brow at me.

  Damn, that was sexy. How did he do that so effortlessly? I wanted to trace my finger across that dark brow.

  Shaking my head to dispel the thought, I told him, “I like the show, but that’s Sage’s guilty pleasure. She’s watched every single episode, including the older stuff.”

  Kale gave me a skeptical look for a second, then laughed. “Okay. I’m not gonna judge. Sin watches that show. So … Game of Thrones?”

  “That’s all me. Sage doesn’t like it. She does nothing but talk about how unrealistic it is. But, oh no, talk smack about The Walking Dead and she goes apeshit.” I shook my head when he chuckled. Many of our arguments that weren’t about Wade were over our choices of television crack. “Seriously. She’s emotionally invested in that show.”

  “I’m more a Supernatural fan myself,” he said with a wink as he kept moving through our recorded history.

  I bit the inside of my lip to keep from grinning, but I didn’t say a word until he found my own guilty pleasure.

  “Well, hell, I think I just fell a little in love with you.”

  Stupidly, pleasure flowed through me like a double shot of espresso. I was kind of addicted to Supernatural. Every episode was recorded on the DVR. It was the only show Sage and I could actually agree on. She was so loyal to Sam it made me sick. Meanwhile, I was a diehard Dean fan and proud of it.

  “Who’s your favorite?” he asked, turning to face me. “Be honest. Who you like more on there will tell me a lot about you.”

  I laughed. “Really? You decipher a person’s personality based on if they like Sam or Dean more?”

  He shrugged, looking completely serious.

  “If you like it so much, which of the two is your favorite?”

  “Two?” He shook his head. “No, doll. Three. Castiel is my favorite.”

  “Huh.” I frowned and looked back at the television. “I didn’t figure you for an angel lover.”

  He was quiet for a long pause, drawing my eyes back to him. The look on his face was closed, as if he was thinking deeply but didn’t want me to see it.

  “I like to think I have a few angels watching over me.”

  That made me wonder who he had lost.

  The way he tried to keep his eyes blank didn’t completely work. I saw something like anguish in his mostly green eyes. Whoever it was, he must have been very close to them because that look broke my heart a little.

  The serious expression vanished within a blink of his eyes, and he winked at me in a way that had my heart rate racing wickedly.

  “Plus, Castiel is funny as hell.”

  “Okay, so I’m a little in love with Dean,” I admitted once I could think straight again. That damn wink had short-circuited my brain for a few seconds.

  “Damn,” he muttered, his shoulders drooping. “I was afraid of that. If it had been Sam, I’m pretty sure I could have talked my way into the running for a piece of your heart. Now I know it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

  I just sat there for a moment, not sure how to take that. My heart, on the other hand, did a strange little flip in my chest.

  Then he winked again, that grin reappeared, and I laughed.

  “Nut.”

  “Santana?” Sage called out, and I heard her bedroom door shut. “Who are you talking to?”

  A small twinge of irritation hit me. I had been having fun just sitting there, talking to Kale. I wasn’t ready for Sage to mess it up. As soon as she saw Kale, she was going to start asking questions that I didn’t want to answer. Not only because it would be embarrassing as hell, but because I was afraid it would scare Kale away.

  “Santana?” Sage entered the living room and seemed to freeze when she saw me sitting on the couch beside the delicious rocker.

  She was a cute blonde with the kind of body most girls starved themselves to get. Her blue eyes had never truly shined because her depression had always gotten in the way. She was dressed in a pair of her favorite pajamas with her wet hair pulled into a knot on top of her head.

  Pink instantly filled her cheeks, and then she paled, only for them to turn pink once again.

  Pressing her lips together, she gave me a sharp look. “Who’s your friend?”

  Kale jumped to his feet, his right hand already extended. “Hi,” he said in a voice full of warmth and charm. “I’m Kale.”

  Sage blinked up at him, then down at his hand, before slowly shaking it. “Sage.” Her gaze went to me, her brows lifted. There was interest and all-out disbelief in her eyes now.

  “Kale is the drummer for Tainted Knights. I did their photo shoot this morning for Emmie Armstrong,” I explained.

  Sage still just stood there giving me that look, the one that said she didn’t know if she should believe her eyes or not.

  I never brought anyone home with me, and especially not a guy. I had given up on the whole dating thing two years ago, and I had been reluctant to dive back in. Watching Sage and Wade together only made that urge shrink a little more whenever I even thought about going out with someone.

  Kale didn’t seem to notice the tension I was suddenly feeling. If he did, he was nice enough not to make it more awkward for me.

  “I conned Santana into making me a home-cooked dinner, something I haven’t had in over a year. She took pity on me and invited me home with her.”

  That did nothing for my roommate’s shock. If anything, it only made it worse.

  “Really?” Her eyes went back to him, moving over him again as if looking for something in particular. “Did you put a spell on her or something?” she finally asked after a long moment of scrutinizing him and unable to find what she was looking for.

  Kale turned toward me, his mostly green eyes full of amusement. There was also something more in their depths. I thought it might be pleasure, but I couldn’t begin to understand why.

  “I think it might be the other way around,” he said in a voice that had gotten deliciously lower.

  My heart flipped over as it skipped a beat while pleasure shot through me like an arrow. Holy shit, this guy was too much.

  And I couldn’t get enough.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kale.”

  “Yeah, you, t
oo.”

  Sage was already backing out of the room. I felt like some small miracle had been worked for me. She was leaving without asking him a hundred and one questions? Thank you, Jesus!

  “I’m gonna veg out in my room and let you two get back to … whatever it is you were doing.”

  Kale moved back to the couch while my eyes remained on my roommate.

  She glanced from him to me, her eyes wide. Then she gave me a huge grin and a thumbs up. Maybe she thought this was just a hookup or something. Whatever the case, she was obviously giving me her approval.

  I couldn’t hide my grin as Kale took his place beside me. Neither of us spoke until I heard Sage’s door close again.

  “Thank God,” I whispered, more to myself than him, slouching down a little with my relief.

  He chuckled. “I have this feeling we averted a crisis just now.”

  I snorted. “I had this vision of her asking you a zillion personal questions then telling you way too much about me, and you running, screaming from the apartment. Oh, and then you telling Emmie what a freak I really am and her never giving me another job ever again.”

  “That wasn’t likely to ever happen. Unless she said you collected the bones of your dead pets. That’s just disturbing, doll.”

  I pressed my lips together, pretending to think about that for a minute. When his eyes got huge, I couldn’t hold back my laugh.

  He put a hand to his chest. “I was seriously scared there for a second.”

  I laughed harder, making sure not to snort-giggle. I wasn’t doing that shit again.

  “Who would collect something that morbid? It’s kind of mental.”

  He grimaced. “Let’s just say Sin has dated some freaks.”

  “No!” I was still laughing. When he only shrugged, I shuddered. “Wow. That’s … yeah. Wow.”

  He snatched up the remote again. “Let’s not talk about Sin’s castoffs. We’d be here until Christmas if we did that. So, Supernatural?”

  I grinned. Sin or any of his other bandmates weren’t at the top of my list of conversation starters. I didn’t care about them. The only one I wanted to know more about was sitting right beside me. And, so far, I was really liking what I was finding out about him.