It was time to head out to our last stop on the tour. The guys had all finished their calls home and we settled down in the living area of the bus to unwind for the night. The bus jerked as we headed out of the parking lot.
“How’s Cora?” Kane asked as he slid into the half-circled booth seat behind the table.
“She’s Cora,” I said, dropping my head into my hands. “She’s driving me crazy. I don’t know what the hell she is keeping from me, but whatever it is, she’s stressed and I’m stressed. It’s killing both of us.”
“She hasn’t talked to you?” Kane asked, his voice sounding surprised. He’d just sat down from throwing his beer can in the trash and changing into a ripped up concert shirt that looked like it’d seen better days.
“No,” I responded, looking up into his eyes. “I’m sorry, Kane, but I really don’t want to talk to you about my relationship with your cousin.” There was no way in hell I was going down that road with nowhere to run and hide. I was bigger than her cousin, but I wouldn’t cross that man, even on my best day.
“I think maybe you damn well should,” he urged, teeth gritting in anger. I raised a brow, wondering what the hell was eating at him. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it.
“Kane,” Ash warned, standing up to get between the two of us. I frowned at the lead singer, completely oblivious as to what the hell was going on.
“No,” he barked, stepping around Ash. Ash placed a hand on Kane’s shoulders, stopping him from moving any closer. I stood up, bracing myself for whatever this guy was going to say or do. “This has gone on too damn long. I stayed out of it, because she begged me to keep my mouth shut. I’m done playing the nice guy.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded, my own anger boiling to the surface. “I’m so sick and fucking tired of these half-assed answers from her…you glaring at me like you are about to kill me at any moment. God dammit! What the fuck is going on!? I want answers and I want them right now!” I was so done with this whole situation. If Coraline wasn’t worth fighting for, then I’d have the driver pull off at the next town and I’d fly my ass home.
“Both of you calm the hell down,” Ash reprimanded, playing the peacemaker. “Kane…chill the fuck out for a moment and back off.” Kane took a deep breath and stepped back, but his body didn’t relax.
“Taylor,” Ash addressed me, getting my attention. “This needs to be handled delicately. Do you two think you can talk this out without going to blows?”
“I’m the one who’s been left in the dark here for about three months too long,” I bitched, running my hand through my hair. “Kane is the one who is acting like he wants to pound my face into the ground. I could understand that if I knew what the fuck I did wrong!”
“You two need to talk,” Reed interrupted, standing up from his seat and slapping Kane on the shoulder. “Go. Talk to him, man.” The room grew quiet as Kane and I both calmed down. My heart still raced, because whatever he had to tell me was going to be big. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that bad news was coming.
“Come on,” Kane said, jutting his chin out toward the back of the bus where Coraline should’ve been resting but was too busy working with a slight concussion. “Let’s head back to the bedroom to talk.”
Ash and Reed sat heavily at the table, both of them with grim expressions on their faces. My heart continued to pound in my chest, sweat beaded up on my palms, and I squared my shoulders, knowing that whatever Kane had to say was going to break me.
I sat heavily on the bed in the back room of the bus as Kane shut the door and leaned back against it. He crossed his arms across his chest and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “She hasn’t said anything to you? Nothing at all?”
“No,” I barked, jumping to my feet. “What the fuck is going on, Kane? I’ve had it with this bullshit. What the fuck is Coraline hiding from me?” My temper was at a fevered pitch. My hands clenched at my sides, because I had the sudden urge to punch something. My mind was all over the grid with the possibilities of what had happened, but until someone told me, I was stuck only getting half answers. Those half answers were really starting to piss me the hell off.
“Coraline called me two months ago,” he began, the flash of pain in his eyes caused my heart to increase in speed…something wasn’t right…something was terribly wrong. “It was two in the morning and she said she needed to go the hospital. Delilah and I rushed out to her place, and what I found there scared ten years off my life.”
“What the hell is wrong with her?” I demanded, my heart stopped beating for a moment. Was she sick?
“She was bleeding,” he sighed. I felt all of the blood drain from my face. My brain spun and I swear I saw stars dance across my vision. The feeling was strange. It was like my brain knew what was coming and was preparing itself for a fatal blow. A blow that would definitely change my life.
“Bleeding?” I gasped, my mind churning over a million reasons why she would be bleeding. Did she fall? Cut herself? I don’t remember seeing any scars and she wasn’t in any type of bandaging or brace.
“Taylor, she was pregnant,” Kane admitted. My ears rang, causing me to automatically shake my head to restore all of the blood that had just drained from there to my shattered heart. I reached out, grabbing ahold of his forearm to keep me steady, because at any moment, I thought I was going to go down into a large heap on the floor.
“What?” I breathed, my heart falling into the pit of my stomach. “Wait! You said ‘was’? Oh, God!” The words were there in my head, but they wouldn’t register. Bleeding...He said was bleeding.
“She was having a miscarriage,” Kane confirmed, his eyes glistened with the beginning of tears that didn’t fall. “She lost the baby.” I heard the desperation and sadness in his voice. His baby cousin had been pregnant and I was the low down, dirty asshole who didn’t come running to her side when she needed me the most. No wonder he acted like he wanted me dead…I’d never forgive myself for that either.
“No,” I cried, dropping to my knees. I buried my head into my hands and wept. I’d ignored her calls. I’d left her alone to deal with this and I did nothing! “This is my fault.”
“No,” Kane quickly responded, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault, man. The doctors said that the baby wasn’t viable. It was nothing that she could’ve prevented.”
The baby wasn’t viable? Our little baby wasn’t strong enough?
Oh, God. Cora!
No!
No!
“I didn’t answer the phone,” I whimpered, speaking to myself, but also aloud. “I never called her back. I…I was too damn concerned about myself. What have I done?”
My Coraline, my girl…she’d had been alone…probably scared. What type of man…human being was I that I let her go through that alone? I’d never be able to make it right.
“What were you doing during that time?” Kane inquired. When I looked into my friend’s eyes, I saw concern, anger, betrayal, and…understanding.
“I was having a hard time, Kane,” I admitted, looking at him with pleading eyes. “With the new album, I was on edge. You know how it is. The stress got to me and then my dealer showed up at the house. I sent him away and called my sponsor. I packed a bag and headed to his place for a bit. I needed some time to clear my head. Cora had been calling, but I was too fucking busy for her. By the time I’d gotten my shit together, the phone calls had stopped. I figured I could apologize in person.”
“You are still clean, right?” he asked.
“Yes, hell yes I am,” I informed him, moving to sit down on the bed. I couldn’t trust my legs to stand on their own anymore.
“You need to talk to her,” Kane told me, sighing heavily.
“You and I both know that Coraline Maddox has a mind of her own,” I stressed. “She’ll run from me.”
“Then you have to strong arm her,” he growled. “Make her talk to you, Taylor. She will try to ru
n. If you care about her as much as I think you do, then you’ll find a way to make this right. It’s killing both of you and I’m tired of seeing pain in her eyes…and yours.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I promised. “She won’t be alone again.”
Kane nodded and left me alone in the back bedroom. I covered my eyes with my hands and let the moisture fall, not caring to wipe it away. I’d had a bad feeling that whatever she was hiding from me was huge, but I had no idea it was this big. I had no idea that I was the father of a child that never even had a chance to live.
At some point in my grief, I must’ve fallen asleep. It was only then that I remembered the night on the island and the dream was so vivid, it was like I was there all over again.
I slid on my shades to cover my eyes from the bright afternoon sunlight. The ocean breeze blew across my face, causing the scent of coconut oil to register in my brain. My eyes scanned the area as I walked toward the water, a towel slung over my shoulder.
I’d come to this island for one purpose, and one purpose only…to find Coraline Maddox. I knew she’d frequented this place in the Azores when she wasn’t touring with her cousin’s band. She’d talked about this place with a dreamy expression on her face and swore that she was going to make this trip an annual one because of how much she loved taking a break at this little resort.
Now, my crazy ass self was stalking the poor woman halfway around the world, just so that I could possibly get to know her a little better. Yeah, we’d flirted on the tour the previous year, but she’d never given me the time of day.
Well, that was a lie. There’d been one night, a night that I remember well, where we’d bumped into each other as I was exiting the green room at the venue in Salt Lake City and she’d been rushing through to find one of the band members. My hands had automatically latched onto her thick hips, steadying her as she gasped in shock when she realized there was someone standing in the doorway. After her head snapped up from the clipboard she’d been holding, I saw her beautiful hazel eyes darken seductively.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Taylor,” she breathed. We’d been so close, our lips were only inches apart. It’d taken every ounce of willpower I had to keep from claiming her lush mouth right then and there.
“Slow down, baby girl,” I teased, but the smile I gave her was nothing close to humorous. No, it was predatory and she knew it. My eyes latched onto her lips and I felt my cock harden when her tiny, pink tongue snaked out to moisten her bottom lip. If it wasn’t for her mic crackling to life with someone calling for her to help with something on stage, I would’ve stolen a kiss from her then.
Now, here I was, standing on a beach, hovering over a sexy woman who was laid out on a chair, soaking up the sun in a navy blue string bikini. It was more string than bikini, and her ample breasts, flat stomach, and silky legs were shining with the lotion she’d applied before laying back.
“Are you going to stand in my sun all day or introduce…Oh!” she admonished, stopping when she opened her eyes and noticed who was invading her space.
“Cora,” I purred possessively. Holy fuck, she looked hot enough to eat. I took a moment and glanced around to see if there were any men, and when I noticed three off to her left staring at her like dogs in heat, I raised my glasses and narrowed my eyes, silently telling them to turn the fuck around. I was about to stake my claim on Coraline Maddox, and consequences be dammed.
“Taylor,” she stammered, looking surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m on vacation,” I casually shrugged. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m on vacation too,” she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Mind if I take a chair next to yours?” I asked, really not caring if she denied me or not. I was going to be close to her for the next three days if it killed me. I didn’t even wait for her to answer before I tossed my towel on the chair. Removing my shirt, I noticed when Cora’s head cocked slightly to the left, hiding her stare behind those dark sunglasses she wore.
“Uh, sure,” she whispered, but not low enough that I missed the desire in her voice.
“Want to go for a swim with me?” I flirted, holding out my hand. When her tiny fingers slipped into my palm, I felt like I could move mountains with the happiness surging inside me.
“Sure,” she nodded, rising to her feet when I gave her a little tug.
We spent the next three hours lounging and swimming. By the time the sun had started its downward trek, I found that I wasn’t quite ready to leave her side.
“Have dinner with me?” I blurted. She’d started gathering her things, placing them into a striped bag that was stored underneath the chair she’d claimed as her own for the day.
“I don’t know, Taylor,” she hesitated, crinkling her nose. “I don’t like mixing work and my private life.”
“Have we even talked about work today?” I asked. I had a point to get across to this woman, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Well, no,” she admitted, shaking her head slightly. The short black locks of hair slicked toward the back, showing off her beautiful eyes when the sun touched them just right. I found my hands itching to tighten into the back of her head to see if I could get a palm full of her hair while I kissed her senseless. “No, we haven’t.”
“So, you are not mixing anything with anything,” I stated. “Simple as that. So…dinner, yeah?”
I watched as several emotions played across her face. She wanted to have dinner with me, but was afraid. Her body language betrayed her indecision by leaning toward me, her hands wringing in nervousness. I didn’t even give her a chance to tell me to take a hike.
“Go take a shower, get dressed, and meet me downstairs in one hour for dinner,” I ordered, before standing up and walking away. I’d only made it a few steps before I turned around and caught her gaping at my back. “Don’t keep me waiting, Coraline.”
It was an hour on the dot when I turned from my seat at the bar to find Coraline standing at the entrance to the restaurant wearing a simple sundress that had no straps over the shoulders, just some material that kept it tight across her large breasts. I had to grab ahold of the bar to keep from falling on my face when all of the blood in my brain raced to my cock so that it could be ready to take this woman back to my room.
Oh, who the hell was I kidding? Coraline Maddox wouldn’t let me boss her around unless she approved of it first. She wasn’t that type of woman. No, she was the definition of a bad ass bitch.
“You look stunning,” I said, kissing her cheek as we greeted.
“Thank you,” she blushed. The slight dusting of pink across her cheeks almost did me in, but I gritted my teeth and followed the hostess to our table.
We ate dinner and laughed over a few bottles of wine, and before I knew what had happened, we were in her room, tearing each other’s clothes off.
I blinked and everything went dark. Coraline was somewhere off in the distance, causing me to jump from the bed in search of her frantic cries. My feet slipped out from underneath me when I stepped in something warm and wet, sending my body across the floor. Flashes of light to my left showed glimpses of my girl huddled in a corner…blood covering her body and the floor upon which I laid, unable to reach her when she needed me the most.
My eyes popped open as I gasped out in fright. I brushed my hand down my face, willing my heart to slow down from the nightmare that woke me. My mind was processing what I’d been told the night before, but I knew that the nightmare I’d just experienced was nothing compared to what was going to happen as soon as I confronted her with the fact that I now knew why she’d called.
I had no idea how to make Cora understand how sorry I was for being a complete asshole and letting her suffer alone. I’d spend the rest of my life making it up to her if that’s what I had to do to make her happy again.
Chapter 11
Coraline
Every step I took, my face throbbed and the knot on the side of my head ached. Th
e police had questioned me about Doug and I was also told that I should get a restraining order. Eric, the band’s head of security, said he’d take care of it as soon as possible. Doug was still on the run and I seriously doubted the jerk would come looking for me. He was probably laying low under a rock somewhere in the desert. There was so much weed found in the room that he’d be put away for a long time as soon as he was located.
There was only one more show, and that was the hometown return in Los Angeles. After the six shows overseas, I was off for the next year. I’d already made plans on a lengthy vacation somewhere private…and away from Taylor Vaughn. I needed a break. Why the hell did that thought hurt my chest?
I couldn’t spend any more time with him. Having him around over the past couple of weeks was nice, but also a test to my mental health. Every time he walked by, I would catch his masculine scent, and that sent my brain into a death spiral, remembering the time we’d had on the island. Then I’d remember the night Kane and Delilah rushed me to the emergency room. I couldn’t keep this up. I had to get over him before it killed me.
The band’s bus had already departed after I’d refused to spend any more time in the bed. Taylor had put up a fuss, but I silenced him with a hard glare. Kane wasn’t too happy about me not being under his watchful eye, either. Thankfully, they didn’t argue about me riding with the other crew. It didn’t take long to understand why they’d given in so easily.
“The boys asked me to keep an eye on you,” Rita admitted, rolling her eyes at what she had to say. “I told them I would. So, please don’t get me fired by passing out and hitting your noggin or anything.” We both laughed loudly as I pushed her toward the leather couch.
“Your loyalty to me is golden, my friend,” I grinned, bumping shoulders with her.
“Anytime, chica,” she winked. “So, when are you going to finally give in and jump Taylor’s bones?”
Fatal Desires (Fatal Cross Live! Book 1) Page 7
