Tainted Forever (Tainted Knights 5)

“You’re that anxious?” She nodded, and I tucked her head under my chin. “You don’t need to be. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Kin. I’ll be right there beside you the whole time, cheering you on.”

“I know,” she whispered.

For the next few minutes, we just sat there. I began to relax, glad I hadn’t done anything to make her cry again. Everything that upset her made me second-guess anything I said or did for fear she would leave me again.

Her muscles began to loosen, the tension in them too, and when I looked down at her, it was to find she’d fallen asleep.

Shaking my head at her, I stood with her in my arms and carried her into her room. The bed was unmade, and there was a pile of crumpled tissues spread all over the sheets. I laid her head on the pillows, tucking the covers around her before picking up the trash and tossing it into the wastebasket in the bathroom.

Going back into the bedroom, I kicked off my shoes. Taking out my keys and wallet, I tossed them on the side table and pulled off my shirt and jeans before crawling into bed behind her. With a sigh, she turned, pressing her face into my chest, her arm going around my waist.

“Love you,” she murmured in her sleep.

I kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Kin.”

--

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, there was blinding light coming through the window.

Squinting my eyes against the glare, I sat up. Kin wasn’t in bed beside me, and the bathroom door was open with the lights off. I sat there, listening for some sign of life in the rest of the apartment.

When I heard footsteps outside the door, I got up. Pulling on my jeans, I grabbed my T-shirt and walked out to the kitchen where I found Riley and Amara eating breakfast together.

“Morning,” Amara greeted. “Hungry?” She held up a plate of pancakes, but I wasn’t sure she was actually offering me one. I knew she wasn’t much of a sharer these days. Cash teased her about it all the time, but it was kind of adorable. Her baby bump only got bigger every time I saw her, and she was always eating something.

“I’m good,” I told her, even though my stomach was growling. “Where’s Kin?”

“She’s not in her room?” Riley asked, her brows lifted.

“No.” I grabbed the coffeepot, pouring a cup full, and swallowed it in two big gulps.

“We haven’t seen her,” the little brunette informed me, and my heart started to jackhammer.

She’s okay, I told myself. She’s just nervous. She would have told me if something was wrong.

But even as I tried to reassure myself of all that, I couldn’t get my own anxiety to calm down. I excused myself and ran back to Kin’s room to grab my keys and wallet, only my keys were gone. Shit. She must have taken my car.

Picking up my phone, I called her and blew out a relieved breath when she picked up on the second ring. “Hey. Sorry I took your car. I need to run out to see Lucy really quick.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care if you use it. I was just worried when I woke up and you weren’t here. If you’d woken me up, I would have gone with you.”

“I’m sorry. You were sleeping so peacefully, and this won’t take long.”

I dropped down onto the edge of her bed. “Take your time. I’ll just hang around here.”

“Jace…” She paused then exhaled heavily. She wanted to tell me something; I could feel it all the way to my bones. But when she spoke again, it was only to say, “I love you.”

I rubbed a hand over my chin. “I love you too, babe. Kiss Hayat for me, and I’ll see you later. Okay?”

“Okay. See you.”

After she hung up, I fell back onto the mattress and closed my eyes. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just because of her stage fright. I knew my girl, knew she was strong enough and amazing enough that she could face a crowd no matter how big or intense it really got.

No, there was some

thing else going on. I just had to give her time to tell me.

Chapter 31