Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

Sage loved him, anyway.

Seeing what I was wearing, Sage whistled appreciatively. “Holy hotness.” She wiggled her brows at me. “I see you have another date with the drummer.”

I grinned down at her as I sat down on the arm of the couch beside her. “He’s taking me to First Bass tonight. We’re hanging out with his friends for a little while.”

“I feel like I should be lecturing you on using protection and all that shit.” She tilted her head back, scrutinizing me closely. “No glove, no love.”

I laughed, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “No worries, babe. I’ll make him wrap it up … if it comes to that.”

I really, really wanted it to come to that. As slow as Kale was taking things, I didn’t know if that was going to happen tonight or not.

Sage patted my knee. “Good girl.”

“What drummer?” Wade asked as he slurped noodles into his mouth, forcing my gaze to go to him.

I let my eyes take him in for a second. He was tall and semi-fit, but he had a slight paunch that had slowly settled there over the time he had been with Sage. His hair was on the shaggy side, but he normally kept it trimmed since his job wouldn’t put up with him looking unkempt. His face was handsome, I guess, but I knew what he was really like inside for me to consider him to be good-looking.

“He’s the drummer for Tainted Knights. They just scored a record deal with Petrova Inc.”

At that, Wade’s eyes got a spark of interest in them.

Petrova was the top record label in the country. They only signed on the best of the best. The label had more Grammy winners than any other every single year, so he knew they had gotten a good deal when they’d gotten signed.

“How did you hook up with a badass like that?” Wade asked with a grunt, slurping more noodles, not even trying to keep the sneer out of his tone.

I didn’t hide my disgust at how gross I thought he was when he ate. Seriously, the guy was a gross-ass pig, shoving food into his mouth without stopping to really taste it before gulping it down.

“I did their photo shoot Monday.”

“I repeat: how did you hook up with a badass like that?” The sneer accompanied a contemptible once-over.

I felt dirty as Wade’s eyes traveled over my body. His words said he was just as disgusted with me as I was with him, but he couldn’t completely hide the interest that filled his eyes. I wanted to scream at Sage, See! Open your eyes and see what he does right in front of you. But she never did, and probably never would. I couldn’t prove it, but I was sure he had cheated on her. His eyes were too wandering for him to stay faithful to her.

“Oh, it was pretty easy really. He’s a nice guy. Panty melting hot, too. Ten times better-looking than anything that I’ve ever seen lying around this place.” I smirked at him when anger filled his eyes. “He’s got some yummy-looking friends, too. As soon as I convince Sage she can do so much better than your pathetic ass, I’m going to set her up with one of them so she can finally find out what a real orgasm feels like.”

“Santana!” Sage exclaimed as she glared up at me.

My eyes remained on Wade.

He had turned blood red with rage, and it was starting to change to an ugly purple color. There was pure hatred in his brown eyes, but I preferred that to the lust I had seen there just a moment before. At least now I didn’t risk vomiting in my mouth.

“You little bitch. How would you know what a real orgasm is? I bet that pussy of yours is so dry it’s shriveled up and unusable.”

“My pussy is none of your business, creep. But trust me; it gets a hell of a lot drier when you’re in the same room.” I was just starting to get worked up.

I could feel Sage’s anger blasting at me from where she sat, but I didn’t care. I wanted to shake her until she opened her eyes and saw what her boyfriend was really like. It was so blaringly obvious to everyone else.

Wade jumped to his feet, practically shaking as he glowered down at me. His anger only doubled when I didn’t so much as flinch. I wasn’t afraid of him. If he even tried to touch me, I knew I could take him on. He wasn’t all that much taller than me, and even with the pooch on his belly, he wasn’t all that heavy.

I just sat there, meeting his glare head-on with one of my own, anger and disgust sharp on my tongue and making my stomach turn as I anticipated what would happen next.

I knew he wouldn’t hit me. At least, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t. He had gotten in my face a few times in the past, but he’d always walked away before it had come to that. What I couldn’t help wondering was: what would Sage do if he ever did?

Part of me wanted to believe she would finally kick him to the curb. The more realistic part knew she probably wouldn’t, not even then, which was why I had been thinking about moving out lately.

He opened his mouth, but he was so pissed nothing came out.

“Brain not working quite so fast?” I derided. “Poor thing. I think you used up the last of your good brain cells with that last comeback.”