Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

“Relax, Gray,” Kin, Jace’s girlfriend, told the guitarist with a smirk, then tossed her long auburn hair over her shoulder. “Aunt Emmie will get you out of here as soon as she can. She can only stand so much of your dumb ass at a time.”

“Explain to me why she has to be here.” Gray took a step toward the redhead before Kassa put herself between them. It was the quickest and easiest way to make him stop in his tracks. Gray didn’t care about many people, but Kassa topped that short list.

“Will you please stop?” Kassa groaned, pushing Gray back a step, something she couldn’t have done if he hadn’t allowed her to. Kassa was a tiny, little doll compared to Gray, and most of the time, he treated her like one. “We leave for this tour in a week.” She glared from the man still in front of her to Kin, and then to Jace before moving her gaze back to Gray. “Can’t we all just get along?”

“We?” Sin decided to put his two cents in as we moved toward the table.

I grabbed a doughnut covered in red icing and chocolate sprinkles, and took a hungry bite out of it before moving around the table to get out of the line of fire, should they all start throwing more than insults at each other. I’d known them all long enough to know when to get out of the way, but I never went far. The show they provided was too entertaining to miss out on.

“Since when is Kassa going with us?” Sin demanded as he grabbed a bear claw and started to pour himself a cup of black coffee. “I thought she had school.”

“Since I said so,” Gray growled at his best friend. “Her semester ends this week, so she’s free to go with us.”

Sin lifted a brow at him, but after a few seconds, he shrugged like he couldn’t care less one way or another.

“Well, it’s always good when I come in to a surprise like this.”

All our heads snapped around at the sound of Emmie’s voice.

Emmie was a redhead with the biggest green eyes I had ever seen on a person. She was hot in a MILF kind of way, not that I would ever tell her that and let it get back to her demon husband. Nik Armstrong would probably wear my intestines as a scarf if he knew I thought his wife was hot. It wasn’t just her looks that made her so appealing, either. Tiny she might be, but that didn’t stop her from taking charge of an entire room wherever she went. It was like she appeared and waved a spell over every person who looked at her, because they suddenly felt compelled to do whatever she wanted them to do.

That was exactly what happened right then. Even Gray shut his mouth and turned his attention to the woman who was now walking into the room, which was a small miracle all its own.

Emmie folded her hands in front of her as she let those big green eyes skim over each and every one of us. They lingered for a few extra seconds on Kin, who had become an honorary niece to her over the last year or so, before moving to Jace and then to me.

With a satisfied nod, she continued forward. “Thank you all for showing up on time. Your cooperation is appreciated. I expect you to keep it up over the coming weeks while you’re out on the road with Travis. Don’t think for one second he won’t tell me if you give him any trouble.” She pushed her hair back from her face as she neared Sin and Cash, but her gaze went to Gray and stayed there for a long moment, as if she could already predict the trouble he was going to give her. “You guys are grown men, and I expect you to act your age.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered.

“Aw, manners.” Emmie shot me a wink with the smallest ghost of a grin before it dimmed, and then she was looking at everyone else. “Okay, people, let’s get this show started. Santana is already setting up, and once she’s ready, we can knock the photo shoot out of the way. We need individual shots, as well as group ones. We have to have merchandise to sell to the fans that have already sold out ten different venues to see Tainted Knights. As long as things go smoothly today, I’ll have all that ready before you leave. Travis can go over your responsibilities when it comes to selling them at the venues.”

“Santana?” Kin whispered to Jace, who just shrugged.

“Don’t give her any trouble,” Emmie continued.

“Why do you talk to us like we’re a bunch of second graders?” Sin suddenly interrupted. “We’re n

ot idiots.”

Green eyes narrowed on the bassist. “Don’t take it personally, Sinclair. It’s been my experience that rockers act more like toddlers than adults, so I talk like this to everyone. Ask my husband.”

He gave her a disbelieving look, and she actually smirked at him.

“As I was saying, don’t give her any trouble.”

“Or we’ll have to answer to you?” Sin interrupted again, smarting off. “Will we be put in timeout?”

Emmie laughed, and it was both hot and scary as fuck. The more time I spent in the same room with her, the more I realized that pissing this particular chick off would be about as smart as kicking a live bomb. Both explosions would fuck us all up.

“No, precious,” she told him with a wink as she moved toward another door across the room. “You’ll have to answer to Santana.”

TWO

Santana

I was running on three hours of sleep and very little coffee, so my mood was dark as I moved around the studio, getting everything in order for the photo shoot my biggest client had set up for that morning.

My hair fell into my face for the tenth time, and I seriously thought about just picking up a pair of scissors and hacking it all off. Instead, I pulled a hair tie out of my pocket and pulled the long, dark hair into a messy bun on the top of my head. It was so thick and weighed so much that I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, though, not without risking a headache that would make working nearly impossible later.