Tainted Bastard (Tainted Knights 4)

“Lewis and Son,” a deep voice barked. “This is Barrie Lewis.”

“Are you the Lewis or the Son?” I snapped.

“I’m the Lewis,” he answered with amusement lacing his voice. “What can I do for you, ma’am?”

“I got a present from you this morning,” I informed him. “My name is Roanna King, and I want to know why the fuck you sent me those goddamn pictures.”

There was a pause on his end during which I heard him shifting papers. “Ah, yes. Miss King. I was hired on your behalf by a…hold on…a Judge Blaylock. The judge said he was a friend of your father’s and that he was worried your boyfriend was cheating on you. One of my guys spent the entire weekend following him around Vegas. I didn’t see the pictures myself, ma’am, but from what my guy tells me, he got plenty of proof that your man has indeed been stepping out on you.”

Judge Blaylock?

Who the fuck was that?

I didn’t know who the man was or why he was in Sin’s and my business.

Those pictures were my worst fear, the one thing I hadn’t let myself think about since Sin and I had started seeing each other, but it had been at the back of my mind the entire past four months.

During that time, I’d begun to relax, thinking maybe I really was enough to hold Sin’s attention and he wouldn’t cheat on me.

Once again, it was being tossed in my face that I’d given him way too much fucking power over me.

“Miss King?” Barrie Lewis’s voice asked with concern at my ear.

“I’m still here,” I gritted out.

“I’m sorry my guy couldn’t reassure you that you had a good man, Miss King.” His voice actually did sound regretful, but it did nothing to ease the tightness in my chest. “But I see this kind of thing every single day. People can’t stay monogamous to save their lives. Lucky for you there was someone who had your back and let you see how this guy really is before you got in too deep.”

I was already in too deep.

But even as hurt as I was, I couldn’t let those pictures float around out in the universe. Whoever this Judge Blaylock guy was, he could very well have his own copy and use them to make Sin’s life uncomfortable. Sin and the other Tainted Knights were rising celebrities, and trashy magazines would be all kinds of greedy to take those pictures off the judge’s hands. Kale had been hit sideways by a single picture of him at some stupid party the band’s road manager set up.

I was pissed, there was no doubt about that, but I loved Sin too much not to do something to try to stop this before it got ugly.

I blew out a pained breath. “Mr. Lewis, you sound like a nice enough man, but you’re not coming across as all that bright. I have no idea who Judge Blaylock is. I’ve never even met the man as far as I know. And honestly, my mother never knew who my father was. So I’m more than a little confused why this man took it upon himself to have you investigate my boyfriend, regardless of what you found.”

A stunned silence filled my ear before he choked out, “I think we should meet to discuss this, then, Miss King.”

Chapter 25

Sin

I rolled out of bed with the mother of all hangovers.

Between the whiskey tasting the night before followed by a shit-ton of beer, my head and stomach were equally trying to kill me. Beside me, Cash was snoring so loud it was a wonder the walls weren’t shaking.

With Lucy’s bachelorette party joining ours at the strip club the night before, Cash and I had ended up sharing a room because the other rooms in the suite were occupied by couples fucking like rabbits all night.

A long, hot shower later and I was coherent once again.

And missing Roanna.

I searched my stuff, looking for my phone, and finally found it tangled in the covers on the bed under Cash. Shoving at his shoulders, I tried to wake him up. “Get up, man. We got a plane to catch in a few hours.”

Groaning, he lifted his head. “When Gray has his bachelor party, remind me not to drink so much all weekend.”

“Yeah, I need that reminder myself.” Scrubbing a hand over my face, I tried to turn on my phone, only to realize it was dead. Muttering a curse, I found my portable charging brick and plugged it in, my stomach tossing as I waited for my phone to juice up enough so I could check to see if I had any missed texts or calls from Roanna.

There weren’t.