Tainted Heartbreak (Tainted Knights 3)

“You know a little,” I countered, knowing him too well. “She sent a cake, Caleb.”

“That was probably Angie’s idea. Or Lucy. That totally sounds like one of them. Trust me, bro, if she finally decided she’s had enough and is ending things, she would have been too upset to do much of anything but cry.” He exhaled roughly. “And that’s all she’s been doing for the last twenty-four hours.”

I narrowed my eyes at his slip, and I glanced at Jace. He looked sick, like he was going to blow chunks any minute now. I knew he had no one to blame for this but himself, but part of me felt bad for him. “You home or at their place in Cali?”

“Home…”

Before he could finish, I was already saying goodbye. Tossing my phone on the table, I told Jace what I knew. “She’s with Caleb. If you leave now, you can be at their house in about two hours.”

“Thanks,” he choked out and sprinted out of the room.

Kassa scooted back her chair. “We better go with him so he doesn’t get in a wreck and kill himself.”

Gray sighed heavily and followed suit. “We’re out. See you fuckers at home, whenever.”

Everyone stayed quiet until the three of them were gone. All eyes went to Emmie, who was still visibly upset, as if waiting for her to break the gloom that was holding all of us prisoner now. Jace’s pain had been vibrating off him, but it wasn’t like he shouldn’t have expected this would be coming. Everyone who knew Kin and him had seen it coming a mile away. What surprised us all was that Kin had let things go this long before finally calling it quits. Whatever latest lie Jace told her must have finally destroyed the small thread that was holding them together.

“Kale,” Santana hissed, and I looked over to find him eating one of the corners off the cake.

“What?” He chewed, swallowed, then licked his lips. “Damn, that’s some good cake. Who wants a piece?”

“I’ll take a slice,” Axton Cage called.

“Breakup cake tastes like dying dreams. I bet it’s delicious,” Zander Brockman laughed, causing his other bandmates to snigger. “Cut me off a chunk, kid.”

“Excuse me,” Emmie muttered. Getting to her feet, she left, with Nik and Jesse right behind her.

Standing, I grabbed my phone and walked around the table, taking the seat Nik had just vacated beside Amara. As soon as I was in my seat, she leaned into me. I caught her hand and laid it on my thigh as her friend asked what was going on with Jace.

“Riles!” Amara admonished. “It’s not our business.”

“Oh please, it’s going to be all over TMZ by tomorrow night if what I think just happened really happened. Jace St. Charles is—was?—dating Kin Montez. Her daddy is some hotshot director who has been in the hot seat for having an affair with some up-and-coming tart who was in his latest flop of a movie. He admitted to the affair, the airhead wife ‘forgave’”—she made air quotes—“and they are living happily ever after once again. So, of course, TMZ and the like will be all over the fact that his daughter is going through a breakup with Jace Fucking St. Charles.”

Shane and Drake, sitting on either side of Riley, were nodding even as pieces of cake were set in front of them. “True,” Shane agreed. “Montez is a dick, but his wife loves any attention the media wants to give her. Even if it’s because her husband was cheating. It puts her front and center, and she eats that shit up.”

“But Emmie is already on damage control,” Drake assured us. “No one will hear a peep about this if she can help it.” His gaze went to Riley then Amara, a warning in his blue-gray eyes. “Unless you two open your mouths.”

The two chicks shared a quick, meaningful look that had me curious as hell before shaking their heads adamantly. “No worries there, dude,” Riley assured him, and I released the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. If these two were looking for a story to sell to the tabloids, one had fallen right into their lap, ready-made. Whatever this was I was feeling for Amara, I wouldn’t throw my friend under the bus for her. “I don’t want any reason for my name to pop up on anyone’s radar. Right, Mar?”

“I don’t need my name floating around in the tabloids or social media sites,” Amara said with a nod. “And while I’m happy to hear all the gossip anyone wants to tell me, I don’t repeat anything I’m ever told.”

“Riley, Amara, would you two like a piece of this stupid cake?” Santana called down. “Cash?”

Amara and I shook our heads, but Riley was already accepting a slice. Amara turned her hand over in my grasp, her fingernails biting into my leg through my jeans. I had to shift to rearrange my aching cock. The smirk that lifted her lips told me she knew exactly what her touch was doing to me.

I leaned my head down until my lips were barely an inch from her ear. Her shiver only made my blood burn hotter. She was just as affected as me, and she wasn’t fighting it any more than I was. “Want to get out of here?”

Her nails dug deeper for a moment, as if she couldn’t wait, but then she went still and her gaze shifted to Riley. I turned my head to look at Riley, but her attention was divided between what Shane was saying to her and her cake.

Drake caught my gaze. “She’ll be fine. We’ll make sure she gets back to her hotel.”

I nodded just as I sensed Amara relaxing. Grabbing the little bag I bought her earlier, she stood and walked around the table. She whispered something in the other girl’s ear that had her eyes narrowing as they turned on me with a silent warning. I lifted my hands in self-defense, and she grinned.

“Okay, Mar. See you tomorrow,” Riley told her as she turned her attention back to her friend. “Be careful.”

I didn’t waste another minute. Standing, I took Amara’s hand, and she practically skipped beside me to keep up with my long strides toward the nearest exit. Out in front of the restaurant, I caught her around the waist and lifted her into me.

Her head was already lifting as mine descended, and our lips collided together. I swallowed her whimper of surprised pleasure, both of us falling headfirst into whatever the hell this was between us. Nothing and no one had ever induced this feeling deep in my gut. The feeling that had been gnawing at me from the moment I saw her standing in front of the guitar tent before she even turned and crashed into me eased, only to turn into a ravenous hunger that was starting to consume us both.