Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights 1)

Kale

I had experienced every kind of high while being up on stage, performing for crowds since I was seventeen when Gray had first put Tainted Knights together to do our first gig. There was nothing like the thrill of a crowd rocking out to our music. To hear people screaming our names and singing word for word to music we had poured sweat and blood into creating.

Right then, I was feeling an all new one.

Santana had watched me tonight. I could feel her eyes on me during the entire song. Had it excited her? Did it make her wet to see me doing the one thing that had always filled the empty hole in my soul?

I was hard as stone because all I could think about was getting her back to my place and sinking deep into her tight, wet heat.

As we exited the stage, Roanna and the other Bombshells took over again, while Cash and Sin took two groupies up on an offer they couldn’t refuse. Meanwhile, I scanned the crowd, looking for my little doll, who wasn’t anywhere in sight.

Frowning, I stopped beside Kin and Lucy. “Kin, I thought you and Kassa were gonna take care of Santana for me,” I grumbled.

Kin shrugged. “She got a call. She just went to the bathroom to take it. Kassa went with her to make sure she was okay. Relax. The girl will be back soon.”

I nodded, taking the beer Harris offered. She was okay. She would be back any second, and then we could get the hell out of there.

Relaxing, I let Gray pull me into a conversation with Caleb and Carolina. Kin’s youngest stepsister was a cute, little thing, nothing like her sister Georgia who Kin couldn’t stand. Caleb and Angie were Kin’s stepsiblings from her mother’s side, but Carolina’s mom was married to Kin’s movie director father. The three had one thing in common. They loved Kin, and in my book, that was all that mattered.

I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t realize fifteen minutes had passed. Looking around, I noticed that all the other girls had disappeared except for Carolina. Harris and Jace kept looking toward the bathroom, frowning as they muttered back and forth.

Where the hell was my doll?

Another five minutes passed, and I kept looking toward the bathroom. One of the girls should have been back by now. Lucy couldn’t seem to go five minutes without being with Harris. I started to feel uneasy. It felt like a cold, lead weight was settling in my stomach.

“Carolina, can you go check on Santana for me?” I asked, interrupting Caleb who was telling her a joke.

She shrugged. “Sure. I was starting to wonder where Kin was, anyway. I have a curfew, and she promised me a ride.”

“Where’s Kassa?” Gray muttered, seeming to have suddenly remembered her. “I haven’t seen her since we went on stage.”

“I saw her follow after Santana,” Caleb told him. “But that was, like, twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes ago, man.”

I barely heard them. My eyes were glued to the bathroom as Carolina stepped inside. The door had barely closed behind her when she stepped out again. Even from where I was standing, I could see she was frowning. She glanced around, as if looking for someone, then pulled out her phone, typed out something, then headed back toward us.

Before the girl could get back, Jace and Harris were suddenly in front of me. “Want to tell me why my girl just left?” Jace asked, sounding like he expected me to have the answer.

“I have no clue why Kin would leave,” I told him, still watching Carolina. “Besides, I thought she was in the bathroom with the others.”

“She was,” Harris muttered. “So was Lucy. But she just sent me a text saying they were leaving.”

That cold, lead weight seemed to explode in my chest, spreading throughout my entire body. I swallowed down my unease, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Leaving? Did Santana go with them?”

“Hey.” Carolina had reached me. “No one’s in the bathroom. Did Kin leave without telling me?”

“Santana left?” I asked Harris, ignoring Carolina.

The girl huffed and pushed past me.

“Caleb, do you mind taking me home? My mother is going to lose her shit if I don’t get there on time.”

“Sure,” the big man readily agreed. “Later, guys.”

“From Lucy’s cryptic as hell text, Santana was the reason they left. They’re going to Jenna’s.” Harris glanced around at the crowd that was getting rowdier by the minute. Security kept the crowd away from the stage, but some of the drunker guys were trying to push their way closer, too caught up in Roanna’s spell to care if they caused a fight or not. “Fuck. I can’t leave. The way these idiots are acting, I’ll probably end up having to call the cops.”

I couldn’t have cared less if he was leaving or not.

Pulling out my phone, I saw that there wasn’t a single missed message or call from Santana. What the fuck? Why would she just leave like that?