Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

Hearing him say it out loud like that had the anger that had started to boil in my stomach turn to rage, but I couldn’t let Kale do something that could land him in trouble just days before he was supposed to go on tour. Emmie would go berserk, and I wouldn’t be able to live with that kind of guilt.

Deciding that a little revenge was called for, I shut and locked the door with the three of us still inside. Grabbing my camera, I took it over to my laptop that was sitting on the little desk by the window.

“He’s going to pay, babe; I promise you.”

Gray flopped down on my bed, a grin splitting his handsome face. “I really like this chick.”

At that moment, I could see exactly why Gray Knight was Kale’s best friend. He was extremely immature at times, but in the brief time I had known him, I’d also seen how much he cared about his friends. Right then, I considered him my friend, too.

I shot him a smile. “I like you, too, Gray.”

Kale growled something, but calmed down as he watched me pull up a social media site. One of the things about taking care of Sage for so many years was that I knew all her passwords to just about everything. With just a few clicks, I was on her wall.

For half a second, I felt bad about doing what I was doing, but only because I knew it would truly be the end of my friendship with Sage. However, remembering that she had picked her tiny dicked boyfriend over her friendship with me, the feeling faded, and I uploaded the picture.

A nice little caption—pun intended—and I hit submit. I stood there, watching and waiting. Thirty seconds passed, and then suddenly ten different people on Sage’s friends’ list started reacting to the picture.

“Oh!” Gray cried as he laughed at the reactions. “Tiny dick’s out of the closet.”

Laughing along with him, I went into Sage’s personal information and changed her password so she couldn’t easily get in and delete the picture. Then, shutting down my computer, I moved back to the bed and packed my camera away.

Kale was simply standing in the middle of the room, his eyes unfocused as he glared out the window. “I still want to kill him.”

A shriek that echoed throughout the entire apartment suddenly sounded from Sage’s room, telling me plain as day that she had finally seen what I’d done. A moment later, she was beating on my bedroom door.

“You little bitch. How did you get that picture?” she screamed. “Have you been fucking my boyfriend?”

I moved so fast that the two guys didn’t have time to react.

Opening the door, I stepped into Sage’s space. “Have you lost your mind? Why would I fuck around with that limp dick bastard? He’s disgusting. He messed with my camera and took a picture of himself with it.” I glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Wade behind her, but if he was in the apartment, he was too scared to come out with the guys here with me. “Tell him to consider this a little lesson. Be thankful I didn’t make it more public.”

“More public than social media?” she screeched. “That’s the most public you can get, Santana!”

I felt a smile teasing at my lips. “Better that than letting my boyfriend kill him, don’t you think?”

Sage stomped her feet, her face turning an ugly shade of purple. “I hate you!”

“Right now, I hate you, too.” All the hurt I had been feeling since she’d called me the night before came rushing back, making my heart ache. Regardless, I pushed back the tears that tried to threaten and shook my head at her. “You are my best friend … Were my best friend. We’ve been through so much together. I thought we would always have each other if nothing else in this damn scary life. But you’ve proven me so wrong. You broke me a little last night.” I thought I saw regret flash in her eyes, but it was gone so fast I couldn’t be sure. “I loved you like a sister. I never would have picked some guy over you. Fuck, Sage, if a guy really cared about you, he would never make you choose.”

Her face hardened all over again, and she glared at something over my shoulder. “Oh, yeah? You think if the roles were reversed, your precious drummer wouldn’t do the same thing? You think you wouldn’t pick him over me?”

I shrugged. “I know I wouldn’t. That’s the difference between Wade and Kale. Kale would never treat me like Wade does you. Therefore, I’d never have to choose. The situation wouldn’t ever come up.”

“And you know that how?” She gave me a smirk. “You’ve known him all of five minutes.”

“I knew how Wade was two seconds after you introduced him to me,” I snapped at her. “The way he looked me over like he was comparing me to you. The way his beady, little eyes got all glassy when he liked what he saw.” Sage gasped and lifted her hand to slap me. I caught it before it could make contact. “I’m just telling you how it is, sweetheart.”

“You’re nothing but a lying, little bitch.”

I refused to let that slice me apart. “Leave me alone, Sage. I have work to do. I can’t get out of here fast enough.” I turned away from her, but glanced back one last time. “One day, you’re going to open your eyes, and I won’t be there to pick up the pieces. Good luck.” Using my foot, I kicked the door shut.

Moving back toward my closet, I glanced at the two guys who had been quiet throughout the whole confrontation. Gray was still on my bed, but he had a thoughtful look on his handsome face. It was Kale who stopped me, though. The way his mostly green eyes seemed to eat me alive.

“I really would never do this to you if the roles were reversed,” he said after a moment. “You know that, right?”

I crossed the bedroom and wrapped my arms around his waist. He folded his strong arms around me, holding me against him almost instinctively. Standing on tiptoes, I kissed his lips.

“I know that. You’re a good guy, Kale Conway. I kind of like you.”