Tainted Bastard (Tainted Knights 4)

I liked her well enough—even though I rolled my eyes at her poor little rich girl problems at least ten times a day—I just didn’t trust her.

“Take it easy,” Genesis told her, unable to mask her annoyance at Peyton’s continued heel-clicking.

“I’ve never gone onstage with this many people watching before,” she whined. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“So, go puke,” London told her with a roll of her eyes. “Get it over with. We go onstage in like ten minutes, and we don’t need you blowing this by blowing chunks all over the front row.”

Groaning, Peyton made a run for the bathroom down the hall, and the four of us shared a look. “Pussy,” Aubree grumbled, twirling one of her drumsticks between her fingers.

I loved Aubree the most out of my three soul sisters. She was gorgeous with her ash-blond hair and pale blue eyes. She had the kind of body she could hide easily, with just enough curves to showcase if she decided to flaunt her femininity. I wished I had a body like that, one I could mask from the world so I didn’t have people constantly eye-fucking me wherever I turned.

A tap on the green room door had us lifting our heads. Harris Cutter, six and a half feet of pure male, with the most amazing aquamarine eyes I’d ever seen, stepped into the room. Wide shoulders, long limbs, lean in the waist, and a face that would make the angels cry. He looked exactly like his rock star father, with the exception of his hair. Where Devlin Cutter left his hair long, Harris always made it a point to keep his stylishly short.

His smile was tight when he addressed us, and not for the first time I wondered what had happened to him to make him unable to give a genuine smile. There were rumors he was heartbroken, that his best friend Lucy Thornton ditched him so she could go to college back east. The guy looked ill half the time, as if he didn’t eat enough, didn’t get enough sleep. I felt bad for him, but not bad enough that I was willing to ask what was wrong with him. Talking to guys was something I rarely did.

It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to—although that was true too. It was that the majority of the time, I just couldn’t. Sicko Stan robbed me of the ability to do anything but turn to stone when a guy tried to talk to me.

“Are you ready to go on?” Harris asked as he walked farther into the room. “The Tainted Knights guys are here and ready to hand over the reins to you.”

“As soon as Peyton gets done regurgitating, we’ll be all set,” Genesis assured him, eyeing him from head to toe in a way that told the rest of us she was thinking of all the ways she wanted to fuck him.

His tight smile turned into the frown he wore more often than not in the few meetings we’d had so far. “Stage fright?” Gen shrugged. “But not you four?”

“We know scary. Facing a crowd, no matter how big or small, that’s not even close to scary,” London told him.

Curiosity flashed in his pretty eyes, but he didn’t ask what London meant. Not that she would have told him even if he had. The past was the past, and we all tried to keep it there. I was the exception, it seemed. My past wouldn’t stay in the past, because it hung over my head like a thundercloud.

Harris rubbed his hands together. “You have five minutes. Jace will introduce you, and you can turn this place upside down all you want for the next hour.”

Excitement made my skin feel too tight for my body. I bottled it up, needing to preserve it so I could unleash it on the crowd.

As soon as Peyton returned, looking pale and green all at the same time, we went out to wait for Jace St. Charles to introduce us. His band, Tainted Knights, had played First Bass for the past year. Now, their contract was up, and they were moving on to bigger and better things.

It was our turn, the ink still damp on the contract we signed with Harris to perform exclusively at First Bass for the next year. It was a good deal. The money was decent, and with Peyton’s daddy paying our rent, we didn’t need to find side jobs to pay the bills.

The first floor was dark now, with the exception of the spotlight on the stage where the five guys who made up Tainted Knights were already making the crowd their bitch.

They played one song before Jace was calling us to the stage.

I climbed the stairs, my heart racing with the adrenaline I always felt as the heat of the spotlight touched my skin. As I met Jace in the middle of the small stage, I passed first Gray and then Cash. Both of them winked at me, but I was immune to the sexiness of them both.

Around me, the others were exchanging places. Gray and Cash handed over their guitars to London and Genesis. All the instruments from the guitars to the drums were the best of the best, with First Bass emblazoned on them. Kale stood so Aubree could take his place, the two knocking their drumsticks together as they traded off. Jace offered me a second mic, just as Sin said something that made Peyton laugh.

I didn’t know why I looked that way, didn’t understand the pull, yet I couldn’t keep my eyes from going to the other bassis

t. His dark head was tipped down to whisper something in Peyton’s ear that was making her giggle like some stupid middle schooler and not the twenty-one-year-old, sometimes slutty woman she really was. She touched his arm like she needed it to hold her upright because whatever he was whispering was making her weak-kneed.

I didn’t know why I felt a sharp slice through my chest at seeing them together. Why should I care if Peyton hooked up with the rocker?

Rolling my eyes because I already knew that was exactly what would happen before the night was over, I took control of the crowd.

The sound of my voice had the giggling to my right stopping, and I suddenly felt the heat of eyes on me. For a single second, I pretended the gaze was Sin’s, the sexy bassist I’d drooled over the first time I saw the band perform the week before when we came in to check them out. With his dreamy eyes, those incredible lips moving into a slow smile, how his face changed when he was lost in the music and singing along with his band brothers. How his eyes would caress me… That was all I really needed, a soft brush of his gaze down my arm…

Reality crashed back down onto me, and just the thought of him looking at me like that made my skin crawl.

Putting the thought of Sin and everyone else on the planet out of my mind, I smiled at the people in the front row. “It’s going to be hard taking over for the incredible Tainted Knights, but we’ll endeavor to give it a try.” I turned to look at my soul sisters, grinning. “Won’t we, ladies?”

Chapter 2