Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

There was a long pause on the other side before Angie spoke again. “Hell, I don’t know. She won’t tell us.”

Perfect. No one knew what was going on.

“So, let me in,” I pleaded. “I can fix this.” Whatever the fuck “this” was.

Another long pause, then I heard the locks clicking. Moments later, the door opened a few inches. Angie and Kin stood in the slightly open doorway, glaring at me like I was public enemy number one.

Jace stuck his head around the corner to see what was going on, but quickly jerked back when he saw his girlfriend standing there. “Hell, she’s gonna tear you up, bro. Back away real slow.”

“Shut up, Jace,” Kin snapped.

“Just trying to warn the poor fuck, baby. We need him for the tour. Don’t kill my drummer.”

“Look,” Angie spoke in a lowered voice so that only I could hear her, both of us ignoring Jace and Kin. “Santana and her roommate had a falling out. I don’t know all the details, but Sage told her she wants Santana to move out.”

“Ah, hell.” I gripped the back of my neck with both hands and closed my eyes. That was what was wrong. Santana had told me a little about her past. How lonely she’d been until Sage had come along. I bet she was probably feeling abandoned all over again, and I could only imagine what Sage had told her.

What that pussy Wade had told her.

Opening my eyes, I did the only thing I could do. I begged.

“I have to see her. Please, Angie. I need to take care of my girl right now. Me. Not you or any other person. She needs me.”

“She seems mad at you,” Kin whispered fiercely, stepping closer to Angie. “Whatever you did today, her roommate used it to kick her out. Now she feels like she has no one.”

“She has me,” I practically shouted, then forced myself to calm down. “She has me, and I’m not letting her go. So, let me the fuck in.” I took a step closer to the two girls and the barely opened door. “I’d never hurt either one of you, but moving you out of my way is something that is seriously about to happen.”

She slammed the door in my face.

I took a step back, ready to kick the damn thing in if I had to. In that moment, I didn’t give a damn about anything but getting inside to Santana.

It opened again before I could take another step back. Kin stood there with the door open far enough to let me in, but the look on her face was full of loathing. “You make her cry, and Tainted Knights really will be in need of a new drummer.”

“I won’t,” I promised as I entered the apartment.

Lucy, Jenna, Kassa, and Angie were sitting in the living room. They all had a cup of what looked like tea in their hands, and an open glare for me, but there was no sign of Santana.

Jenna gave me the hardest look out of all of them as she stood. “She’s in the guest room,” she muttered with obvious reluctance then led me to it.

I started to open the guest room door when she caught my arm. “Don’t hurt her.”

“That’s the last thing I want to do,” I assured her, trying to keep my voice steady. “She means a lot to me, Jen.”

She just stood there for a long moment, looking straight into my eyes as if she were trying to read my soul. I let her, having nothing to hide. I wasn’t ashamed of what I was feeling for my little doll. It was intense and scary as hell, but it was something I had been waiting all my life to feel.

Releasing my arm, she stepped back. “Good luck,” she muttered then turned to leave.

I made myself wait until she was out of sight before opening the door. Stepping into the guest room, I saw a comfortable-looking king-sized bed, a dresser, with a medium-sized flat screen beside the bed, and a few paintings on the wall that I knew Jenna had painted herself. Santana, however, was missing.

The toilet in the bathroom flushed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I crossed to the bed and sat down, my legs suddenly feeling weak and wobbly as warmth slowly returned to my body. Whatever happened in the next few minutes, I knew I couldn’t lose that girl.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Santana came out. She wasn’t wearing the dress she had been wearing earlier. Now she was in a pair of pajamas that were way too long on her, and her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head.

She looked beautiful as always.

Turning off the bathroom light, she started to cross toward the bedroom door when I shifted on the bed. Seeing me sitting there, she froze.