Wicked Innocence (Wicked Innocence 1)

I watched his car disappear down the street and then wandered over to the entrance. Waving at the security guard on duty, I made my way to the elevator, a giddy grin on my face. If anyone saw me right then they would have thought I was stoned. Which was funny, because that’s kind of how I felt.

“Hey,” I said to Nelson as I walked inside.

The door slammed shut behind me, making me jump. Nelson didn’t even flinch. He just mumbled a reply, not looking up from his computer screen. Nelson was twenty-seven and worked as a debt analyst for a mortgage financier. But he lived for his computer games.

He spent all his time glued to his leather recliner in the living room, playing games. I’m talking for hours at a time. It wasn’t unusual for the guy to forgo sleep—and pants—to allow for more playing time.

Another one of my awesome Craigslist finds.

He wasn’t that bad to live with. It could have been a lot worse. My roommate options had been pretty limited: an unemployed meth-head who kept a small bag full of fingernail clippings around his neck, a creepy guy in his forties with way too many cats to be considered normal, or Nelson.

I think I chose pretty well. Three years later I was still living with him, though our conversations hadn’t evolved beyond the odd word from him.

***

I grabbed a Coke and some leftover pizza from the fridge and headed for my room. There was nothing better than cold pizza the next day—and anyone who didn’t agree obviously lacked the culinary sophistication needed to appreciate it.

I flicked my iPad to life and began to drown myself in the sounds of Resurrection. Lying down on the bed, I propped myself up with pillows and ate my dinner. I was still having trouble believing all this was really happening. I’d been singing regularly at open mic nights around LA since moving there, but there was something different about tonight. Being up on that stage and having the attention of every single person in that place had felt fucking unreal. Right away, I could tell this was what I was meant to be doing. It made all the doubts, all the sacrifices, worth it.

Running through my playlist, I found the particular track I was looking for: “Severed,” featuring the vocals of Saxon Waite. Closing my eyes, I listened as his sexy, low, gravelly bass consumed me.

I’d actually met Saxon Waite. More than that, he was about to become my freaking manager. That meant we would be spending a lot of time together. I shivered. The thought of being that close to one of the biggest names in rock made me nervous. Maybe I’d imagined it, but I was sure I felt some kind of connection…or maybe he was like that with every female he met. He was Saxon Waite, after all. I’d heard the stories.

The gossip pages had gone crazy when he had been arrested three years ago. He had been in the headlines for weeks prior, due to his constant partying and alleged drug use. Every photo showed him with a different woman hanging on his arm.

His every move edged him closer to the rock bottom of his downward spiral, showcased in even worse light by the constant barrage of media attention. The paparazzi were everywhere—it was almost as though they knew where he would be before he did.

He’d pleaded guilty to a string of charges including possession of cocaine and heroin, driving under the influence, and endangering the life of a minor: his fifteen-year-old sister had been in the car when he was arrested.

After that, it was like he disappeared. Rumors flew that he had gone to jail, rehab, fled the country, but nobody really knew what had happened to one of the biggest names in rock. The band carried on for a few months, but without him as their frontman they couldn’t really put on the caliber of show that Severed was known for and they just kind of fell apart.

I had never heard his name again…until tonight.

I sighed as I pictured his face. He looked older, but he still had that same, sexy bad boy look about him. Those piercing blue eyes and that little smirk constantly playing on his lips…

Who was I kidding? He was fucking hot; and he damn sure knew it.

Chapter Five

Sax

I shook my head and sat down as the huge fucker of a beast came out of nowhere and threw his arm around the blonde that Harry was chatting up. She blushed, almost disappearing into his hold. I’d just arrived back at the bar after taking Micah home. For a Friday night, the bar was pretty empty, which made this whole scene pretty hard to miss.

“The fuck is going on?” the beast growled, taking a step toward Harry.

Oh, shit.

I leapt off my chair and eased between him and Harry, resting my hand on his chest. His eyes widened. Okay. I removed my hand. That was a bad move. This dude was really fucking angry.

“Get out of the way, fucker. Your fucking buddy here was wheeling onto my girl and now I’m going to split his face in two.”

“Sir, I apologize on behalf of my cousin. He was just being friendly,” I said smoothly. I reached behind me, grasping at Harry’s shirt and pulled him forward. “If he had known she was with someone, he never would’ve spoken to her. Right?” I said.

“Right,” Harry said hastily. If we both weren’t on the verge of getting the shit kicked out of us, I would have laughed. The kid looked positively pale with fear.

“Yeah,” Beast mumbled. He looked unsure of what to do next. His girlfriend tugged at his arm. Shrugging her off, he took a step back. “Well, keep your cousin on a tighter leash. And he better stay out of my way,” he warned. Turning around, he stalked off, dragging the blonde with him.

Harry chuckled behind me. Turning around, I whacked him over the back of the head.