Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

Emmie moved in to wrap her arm around Kin’s waist, and Santana held her hand as we turned and climbed onto the bus. They were still standing there when the bus moved forward a few minutes later.

Jace and I sat on the couch, looking out the heavily tinted windows as they slowly faded from sight.

“Nine weeks,” I muttered.

“What?” he asked, scrubbing his hands over his face.

“Nine weeks,” I repeated. “Sixty-three days. It’s better to give it a number, man. A countdown until we get to see our girls again.”

“That’s a damn lifetime, dude,” he said with a tired exhale, his eyes closing as he laid his head back against the couch.

I pulled out my cell phone when it went off with a new text message.

Have fun—xoxo. S

“Fuck, I know. It’s forever.”

EIGHTEEN

Santana

The day Kale and the band left was not an easy day for me. Saying good-bye to the guy who had become such an essential part of my life in so short a time broke my heart a little. I knew he was coming back, knew I could talk to him on the phone any time I wanted to, but there was this gut-clenching fear that he would forget about me.

That he would get bored and fuck around with all those groupies I knew followed rockers around.

I couldn’t let those around me see my pain or my fear that first day, though. For one, I figured they would think I was insane or obsessed with Kale because we had barely known each other a week. For another, Kin was so upset that it took me, Jenna, Lucy, Angie, Caleb, and Carolina to get her to even calm down once the bus was out of sight.

The poor girl cried herself to sleep on Jenna’s couch, surrounded by everyone. My already aching heart broke a little more for her.

The texts started coming in that night, and I went to bed in my new room with my eyes full of tears as we messaged each other until I fell asleep late that night.

The next morning, Monday, I was bone tired because I hadn’t slept well, but I was so busy with work I didn’t have time to think about Kale being gone or how exhausted I was until after lunch. I hadn’t had a chance to check my phone until then, but Kale had already left me a dozen messages, telling me where they had stopped for their first show, letting me know he missed me. There was a picture of the guys doing a sound check as they set up. More “I miss you” texts.

They all made me smile.

They all made my heart ache a little more.

I sent him a few back then put my phone away so I could focus on the next clients who were doing a wedding announcement shoot. The newly engaged woman was already a total bridezilla, so my patience was stretched thin by the time I locked up for the night. I felt bad for her groom. If that was the way that chick was going to act before the wedding, I could only hope for his sake she calmed the fuck down afterward.

Jenna had gone to dinner with Angie and Kin, so it was just me when I got home. I made myself a sandwich, ate only half of it, then took a long, hot shower. I didn’t look at my phone again until I was in bed.

Another dozen text messages were waiting on me. All of them timestamped during the afternoon, but they had stopped around six, when the band was supposed to take the stage for their first concert. They were the opening act for most of the shows they had scheduled. It was after eleven now, but I knew from the schedule Kale had told me about that he would still be busy.

Merchandise booths. Meet and greets. Helping pack up their stuff so they could move on to the next city and the next show, which would take place the next night. It was probably exciting to him, but it sounded exhausting to me.

Lack of quality sleep the night before quickly caught up to me and, before I knew it, I was drifting off.

My cell ringing woke me with a start. I reached for it blindly, still trying to focus my eyes in the darkened room.

“H-Hello?” I found the brain power to answer.

“Hey, doll,” Kale’s excited voice filled my ear, and my heart turned over in my chest at the sound. “Did I wake you?”

“Yes, but I don’t care. I wanted to hear your voice tonight.” I turned onto my side and pulled my extra pillow close so I could pretend it was him while I talked to him. “So, how did it go? Was it everything you imagined?”

He laughed and it sounded like it came straight from his soul. “At first, the crowd was a little lack luster. We’re still pretty new to the game, so not many people were there to see us specifically. But three songs in, the crowd was on their feet and people were screaming for more.” He let out a tired, but exhilarated sigh. “Fuck, I wish you could have been here to watch us. I’m getting goose bumps just remembering it.”

“That’s great, babe. I’m so happy for you.” There was a lot of background noise going on—power tools being used, people talking, and then I heard Gray yelling at someone. “What are you guys doing now?”