Tainted

by Jamie Begley

  Alec returned and asked the women to follow him after a quiet conversation with Kaden. The women meekly followed him out of the hotel room.

  “Where is he taking them?” Sawyer asked, concerned for their safety.

  Kaden returned his attention to her. ‘’He’s taking them to a private rehab home not far from here. They’ll be checked out and given help to get rid of the drugs Redman has kept in their systems.

  Rehab houses were known for their discretion and silence dealing with wealthy clients. These women weren’t being given their freedom, but exchanging it for a more luxurious prison.

  “Why aren’t you trying to send me with them?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Because Redman wants you; he doesn’t want them.”

  His words had what little color the food had given her disappearing again. Did that mean he had decided to give her back to Rick? The door had been unintentionally left open after the last woman had left the suite.

  “I need to go to the restroom.” Nonchalantly, she rose to her feet.

  “Fine.” Kaden was motioned to Sin’s and R.J.’s side after he’d dismissed her.

  Sawyer turned toward the bathroom, and before anyone could react, she ran for the door. She saw the elevator door was closed, so seeing the exit sign and hearing running steps and yells from behind her, she went for the exit.

  Her movements were slow after being chained to a bed for several weeks, but she managed to make it to the door. Her hands touched the knob, frantically turning the handle and barreling through the door only to find herself almost knocked off her feet when she ran into one of Alec’s men coming up the stairs. His hands went to her waist, barely managing to keep them from both going headfirst down the steps.

  “Jesus,” Kaden said, his arm going to her waist and pulling them both back to safety.

  The security man released her with a sharp word while Kaden gripped her arm, forcing her struggling body back into the hotel room. The band members and R.J. all gave her angry stares at her attempt to escape.

  Kaden didn’t stop escorting her down the hallway where he opened the bedroom door, then pushed her in before she could stop him, shutting and locking the door before she could react.

  “S—s—son of a b—bitch!” Sawyer turned and began hitting the door with her fists, yelling to be let out. Trying the door handle, she realized the lock was strong, and she wasn’t going to be able to break out anytime soon. Pounding on the door, she continued to yell for help, hoping fruitlessly that someone would hear and come to her aid. When her voice gave out, and her burning fists couldn’t take it anymore, she slid down the door, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the door for support.

  “I’m sorry,” she heard Kaden mutter from the other side of the door, before his footsteps sounded, leading away from the door.

  She was being held captive again, losing her freedom before she actually had regained it. A self-mocking laugh escaped her lips. As always, freedom was just beyond her reach.

  Chapter Five

  “Kaden you should see the turkey Mom bought. It’s so big it won’t fit in the oven.”

  “How many pounds?” Kaden asked Grace, watching Tatiana trying on the lingerie they had spent the morning shopping for.

  “At least twenty-four. I don’t know how she’s going to make it fit in the oven.” Her soft laughter came through the phone with a slight edge to the sound. “I thought you would have been on your way. You said you were leaving yesterday.”

  “Yeah, well, something’s come up. We’re not going to be able to come. Tatiana’s parents are throwing a fit that she’s not coming home for Thanksgiving, so we’re going to have to go there. It’s important to them since we just got engaged. Mom will understand.”

  “Kaden, she’s been cooking for the last two days.” Disappointment filled her voice, which he ignored as Tatiana struck a pose in her new, red lace camisole. She hadn’t bothered to put on the flimsy bottoms.

  “I’ll make it up to her. We’ll spend a few extra days at Christmas. I have to go, Grace. Tell everyone, hi.”

  Smiling, Tatiana took the phone away as her arms circled his neck, disconnecting the call.

  Kaden sat on the leather chair, looking out the tinted tour bus window, watching the scenery as they drove toward their next concert venue. The silence in the forty-five-foot bus was strained.

  His return to the band was turning out to be one fucked up mess. They had spent the previous day trying to figure a way out of the mess they had found themselves in, while Sawyer had tried to contact her friend with no success. Each time he had gone into the bedroom to give her the phone, her look of reproach had him regretting his decision not to go to the police. It was only his faith in Alec’s ability to handle the situation that had him keeping the woman contained.

  Alec took the chair next to his. “We have a problem.”

  “No shit. Which problem are you talking about? A pimp threatening us, the fact that we’ve kidnapped Sawyer or the failure to notify the police about a crime?” Kaden said sarcastically.

  “The police know, or rather the FBI. One of my men has a contact in the FBI. He told them what happened. Kaden, if it wasn’t for your quick thinking none of us would be here today. Redman works for a highly dangerous man named Digger, who has been running a sex ring for years. The FBI has been building a case to arrest him, but they haven’t been able to locate where he keeps the women. It seems that he has a way of making them disappear, and they don’t show back up again; at least, not alive.” Alec’s grim visage showed the extreme danger they were all in.

  “Jesus,” Kaden said, still thankful that Redman had returned this morning with Ax when the money had cleared his account.

  All the men stood around the bus, listening as Alec explained the tenuous situation.

  “They’ve put the women in the rehab center in protective custody, but are leaving them there. None of them are talking; they’re too afraid of this Digger to give evidence.”

  “What about Sawyer?” Kaden asked. “Should we turn her over to the FBI?” He still remembered Redman’s final words when Ax was returned that morning.

  “You better keep that bitch under control. Any escape attempts and I’ll either blow her brains out or take her back. Either way, she won’t be around to play those games you kept your other bitches playing.”

  Alec’s voice drew him back to the present. “They want us to keep doing what we’re doing. They’ve placed an undercover agent in with my security, and they’re keeping us under surveillance. The FBI are hoping that this Digger will make a move on Sawyer and they can finally get some evidence on him.”

  “Why not just get Sawyer to testify? She doesn’t seem the type to be afraid to testify.” She would probably demand to testify if given the chance.

  “The problem is that she can’t testify against Digger because she’s never seen him. He’s the one they want. Arresting Redman, would slow the operation down, not eliminate it and find the missing women.”

  The only choice was to keep Sawyer, if there was any chance to find the other women. Kaden sighed; they weren’t going to be able to leave this problem behind. They were going to have to stick it out.

  “I’ll tell Sawyer that…” Kaden began.

  “She can’t know. The FBI says if she is taken, despite their efforts, that she could be forced to tell them what she knows, and Digger and his men will disappear. They say the least she knows, the better, for her own safety.”

  Kaden didn’t agree, especially if it would take that accusing look out of her eyes. He also didn’t think they were taking Sawyer’s safety seriously if they were more concerned with arresting Digger.

  “So what’s the problem you’re talking about?” Kaden asked Alec.

  “Another reason they don’t want us to tell Sawyer is her connection to another man named King. They think that was the original reason she was kidnapped.”

  “How does she know this King?” The fragile woman appeared t
o have a few secrets.

  “No one knows. Digger is trying to move into King’s territory and Digger intends to use Sawyer against him, but no one knows how. As far as the FBI can find, they didn’t even know each other. The only thing that tied King to her is a protection order he put out years ago for her and her friend, Vida.”

  “Can this become anymore of a clusterfuck?” Kaden said angrily, getting to his feet to move around the bus. As large as it was, he was starting to feel smothered in the confining space, surrounded by the listening band members.

  “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I thought I was saving everyone from the press. Instead, everyone’s in danger. I didn’t know the women were from a slave ring. I thought they were just doing it for the money.” R.J. sat at the table, drinking a glass of whiskey, his face pale.

  “You should have learned by now that it never works out when you interfere,” Kaden said angrily, before asking Alec about Sawyer’s friend.

  “Does Vida know that she’s in danger?”

  Alec nodded his head. “She’s a smart girl. She went to King for protection. The FBI thinks she’s safe and are watching her also.”

  “They want to take both Digger and King down using those girls, don’t they?” Kaden questioned.

  “Yes,” Alec answered.

  “Fuck.”

  “What are we going to do?” Ax asked. He was sitting at the table with R.J., but had a bottle of whiskey, and Kaden couldn’t blame him. If not for his own self-imposed ban against alcohol, he would have the whole bottle in front of him by now.

  “The only thing we can do is what the FBI wants us to do. Keep Sawyer safe until they can arrest this Digger,” Kaden stated, coming to the same conclusion he’d seen in Alec’s eyes.

  “She’s not going to be happy about that,” D-mon said, nodding to the bedroom door.

  “She might hate us, but she’ll be alive,” Kaden said grimly.

  Kaden heated several of the premade meals for the men in the microwave. When it was done, he made a plate for Sawyer and picked up a beer and bottled water, taking everything to the bedroom at the back of the bus. It was his when they were on tour, but they had locked her up inside to keep her from distracting the driver while the bus was moving.

  Alec unlocked the door for him before going to make himself a plate of food. Kaden went into the dark bedroom where he saw Sawyer curled up on the bed, still in the same clothes she had been wearing when he had found her in the hotel room. The hoodie had been thrown to the floor.

  Kaden managed to set the food down on the desk before turning on the light.

  “Why are you sitting here in the dark?”

  She didn’t answer him; she merely laid her cheek down on her knees as she silently watched him. Kaden shoved his hands into his jean’s pockets, staring at the woman sitting on his bed.

  “You’ll feel better if you take a shower and change your clothes.” Again he tried unsuccessfully to interact with the silent woman. His guilty conscience wouldn’t let him talk harshly with her, but it was going against his grain to pacify a woman who was ignoring him. Usually, he just told them what to do, and they jumped, wanting to make him happy. Even the few women he had been with after he had stepped out of the limelight had wanted to please him.

  “You can’t escape if you don’t keep your strength up.” Her golden eyes stared at him before she angrily climbed off the bed, moving toward the desk and pulling the chair out. She then ignored him as she started to eat the food. Opening the water, she took a long drink.

  Kaden was wary to say anything in case she would stop eating. Unable to prevent himself, though, he took a seat on the bottom edge of the bed. “How did Redman kidnap you?”

  She swallowed a bite of food in her mouth before answering his question. “H—he came into the restaurant I was working at; several of the workers knew him. He asked me out a couple of times, but I turned him down. Then he offered me dinner at a five star restaurant I couldn’t afford, so finally I said y—yes.” Her lips twisted in self-disgust. “We left my apartment and that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in that r—room with the women.

  “I—I would have still been there if Redman hadn’t needed one more woman for you and your friends, and the other women were in too bad of shape, physically.”

  The disgust she made no effort to hide had him getting to his feet. “We didn’t hire those women. Our tour manager screwed up, but neither me nor the guys in the band knew the women weren’t willing.”

  “Oh, they were willing. The drugs Rick gave them made sure of that.”

  Kaden winced at her words. “I know you’re angry, Sawyer, and I can’t blame you. I can only assure you we mean you no harm.” Standing up, seeing she was finished, he took her plate and the beer bottle she hadn’t touched. “The other women are safe, and as soon as Alec thinks it’s safe to release you, we will.”

  “What about my friend, Vida?”

  “She’s still not answering her phone,” Kaden lied. Alec had said that she was under King’s protection now, and the FBI thought that the women shouldn’t be able to talk. They didn’t want Vida running before they had a case against King. Both women were being used as pawns and Kaden had a feeling one or both of them were going to end up hurt.

  Sawyer searched his eyes, but Kaden was an experienced liar and knew how to hide the truth from a woman. Going to the door, he opened it before her next words had him unexpectedly turning back.

  “You’re lying.”

  Her perceptive response had him startled. “Take a shower, Sawyer. Get changed.” He refused to acknowledge that he hadn’t told the whole truth.

  “Go fuck yourself,” she said, throwing the half full water bottle at his head, which made him almost drop the plate and beer bottle he was holding.

  Seeing the temper the woman was capable of, his dominant blood stirred, wanting to tame her; however, he forced down the desire, giving her a hard stare that more than one woman knew to be wary of. Kaden had never found pleasure in getting submission from someone naturally submissive. Instead, he thrived on the challenge of obtaining submission from a strong woman who gave in to his demands, wanting the pleasure he could give her.

  “I’m trying to be a nice guy here, Sawyer. Under the circumstances, I can understand your anger, but if you use physical violence against me again, don’t expect me to stand still and take it without consequences.” Kaden let his words hang in the air as he went out the door, closing and locking it behind him.

  Chapter Six

  Sawyer stood backstage in the VIP room. Kaden had let her out of the bus to watch the concert they were to perform. She didn’t even know which city they were in, since she the bus’s movements had lulled her to sleep last night.

  The large room was filled with the band members as they waited to be called to the stage, Sawyer presumed. She had expected them to change their clothes for their performances, but they hadn’t, staying in their casual jeans and t-shirts instead.

  The room was filled with different bottles of liquor, water and sodas, while food trays sat around as they each took their turn snacking on the vast array available to them. Sawyer, having worked in several restaurants that catered, knew the money that went into fixing the table with their smorgasbord of luxury items.

  “Hungry?” Ax asked. Sawyer shook her head in response. He was the friendliest of the men. He was constantly trying to talk to her and give her reassurance that everything would be fine. She thought it was his own recent journey into Rick’s world that had him so sensitive to her situation.

  Kaden, she had noticed, had taken a seat away from the others, getting up every so often to move around the room without talking to any of the other men.

  “He goes into his own head right before a performance,” Ax said, taking a beer from the ice bucket. Sawyer’s eyes went to the television screen in the room where they could see the stage. A group was out there amping up the atmosphere until Mouth2Mouth was to take the stage.

>   “They’re pretty good. They’re new, but they’ll make it eventually, especially if they keep writing the songs the way their fans like.”

  Sawyer nodded her head, listening to the soulful voice of the woman singing on the stage. She commanded the stage with her vitality and voice, drawing the crowd into a round of applause when her song ended.

  “It’s time,” R.J. said from the doorway.

  “Hell, yeah! Let’s do this,” Ax yelled, and Sawyer felt her lips twitch in a smile for the first time since Rick had kidnapped her.

  The men filed out of the room, slapping each other on the back.

  Kaden stopped in front of her. “Behave, Sawyer.” He didn’t wait for her to tell him to fuck off again. He simply left her with an infectious grin that she was hard-pressed not to return.

  She was now the only one left in the room except for Alec, who remained by the door. “Relax, Sawyer. Enjoy the show.”

  Frustrated, Sawyer took a seat on the expensive couch, watching as all of the men ran onto the stage, except for Kaden. Her eyes searched, but she didn’t see him. She did hear his voice, though. Soft, yet strong, he sang the words as the stage lights gradually lifted, finding him sitting on the corner of the stage with a guitar. His voice immediately drew her in and didn’t let go. He moved around the stage, commanding the audience’s attention as he played the guitar.

  Sawyer swallowed. Jeez, the man had sex appeal in spades. You could actually feel the sexually suggestive song in your bones as if he was singing it just to her. Sawyer tried to draw herself out of the music, but couldn’t. Only when the song ended did she move her eyes away from the screen. He wasn’t finished, going from one song to the next flawlessly, but she didn’t allow herself to become trapped in the spell he was casting over his audience.

  The band was the perfect foil for him. Each with their own talented skills, they had the audience divided as to who was the more talented. They blended their music and voices into songs that went from heart wrenching to full on rock, and had the audience dancing and singing along.