Tainted Bastard (Tainted Knights 4)

Turning my head, I found a brunette with the longest legs I’d ever seen sitting beside me, a glass of white wine in hand. From the flush in her cheeks, it wasn’t her first glass either. Her manicured fingers touched my arm, trailing up my arm seductively. “I’m Angelina, but my friends call me Lina.”

“Uh-huh,” I grunted, picking up my beer and dropping a ten on the bar top. Jerking my arm away, I pushed back from the bar and walked away. Lina was a sure thing, but I wasn’t looking to get laid tonight.

There was only one chick I wanted tonight, and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything more than to hang out with her for a few hours and—if I was lucky enough—feed her. I would take it.

The crowd was starting to get rowdy, and I realized it was five minutes past the normal time the Blondes took the stage. They were always on time, and when another few minutes passed with no sign of the band, I went looking for them.

Security opened the green room door when they saw me coming, their faces tight. My brows lifted at their expressions, but I didn’t ask what was going on. Something was wrong, but I would prefer the answer coming from the source rather than wasting time with half the story.

As soon as I walked into the room, I felt her tension. She was pacing back and forth, her hands clenching and unclenching into fists. She was wearing more clothes that she normally did to perform. Her usual shorts and fishnet leggings had been replaced by jeans, and the shredded shirt over the leather bralette I was fond of was absent. In its place, one of the Tainted Knights shirts I’d given her and the three other remaining Blondes before we left on the summer tour.

The excitement that would normally be radiating off Roanna before she took the stage was absent, and all I could feel was how stressed she was.

“Hey, douchebag,” Aubree greeted, the first to notice my entrance.

“What happened?” I demanded, stepping in front of Roanna, forcing her to stop and look up at me.

“Nothing,” she muttered, turning away to continue her pacing.

I grabbed her wrist before she could take another step, spinning her around to face me. “I said, what happened?”

She shivered under my touch and then seemed to deflate before my eyes. “Nothing,” she muttered weakly.

“The new bartender harassed her earlier,” Genesis spoke up. “He tried to proposition her.”

Rage filled me, but I kept my grasp on her gentle. “Where the fuck is he?” I asked, trying and failing to keep my tone calm.

“Probably the hospital,” London said with a laugh. “We beat the fuck out of him, man. I’m pretty sure his balls are ruptured, and Aubree may have broken his nose.”

Despite how pissed I was at the faceless bartender, a grin lifted my lips. “Good for you three. Beers on me later.”

“If there is a later,” Genesis said with a worried sigh. “Ro has been trying to psych herself up to go out there since the incident earlier. Harris offered us the night off, but she was insistent the show go on tonight.”

“I’ll be fine. Just give me five more minutes,” Roanna muttered, tugging at her wrist.

I tightened my hold and pulled her against me. As I wrapped my arms around her, I felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. I breathed deeply, taking in the scent of her hair. Her free hand clutched at my shirt, fisting her fingers in the material, and she pressed her forehead to my chest.

Holding her like this, I felt like ev

erything was right with the world.

Rubbing my hand up and down her back, I touched my lips to the top of her head. “Give me the word, and I’ll find the motherfucker and finish what the others didn’t,” I vowed.

She snorted. “No thanks. I like you too much to ask you to commit murder. If you’re in prison, I can’t hang out with you.”

“Sure you can. You can visit me every Saturday.”

She lifted her head, a smile teasing at her luscious lips. Pink had filled her cheeks, replacing the ghostly white they had been when I’d first walked in. “I would much rather you came here every Thursday than have to find inventive ways to sneak you in a shank each week.”

“Ah, sweet girl, you would bring me weapons? I knew you cared.” Winking, I hugged her again then stepped back. “Now, move your beautiful ass before they riot out there.”

But she still had a death grip on my shirt. “Come with me?” she asked hesitantly.

“Always,” I whispered so only she could hear me.

Her eyes darkened, her fingers flexing in my shirt. As I watched, I saw a few of her walls begin to crack. Fuck yeah, it took long enough, but she was finally starting to let me in again.

“Ro, let’s go,” Aubree called, she and the other two already at the door waiting for Roanna.