Tainted Butterfly (Tainted Knights Book 2) by Terri Anne Browning
I had barely noticed the discomfort when he had broken through my tender flesh the first time, but this time, I felt a sharp slice of discomfort before he pushed his hand between us and rubbed my clit with his soapy fingers. My head fell back, bumping against the tiled wall as he groaned something that sounded feral as he jackhammered his hips, thrusting into me as if he didn’t even know what he was doing.
I sliced my nails into his back, trying to hold on to reality as the pleasure began to build to the point of no return. The shower rained on his back, flooding over his shoulders and sliding down our joined bodies like a waterfall, allowing our bodies to move together in perfect rhythm. My inner walls began to squeeze around him as my release hit me with the force of a Mack truck.
“Gray!” I screamed, not caring if everyone in the building heard me or not. “Gray, oh God. I love you. I love you!”
“Fuck!” he roared as he stepped back, and reaching between us, he pulled his cock free from me. His release sprayed over my stomach and onto the floor, the shower washing it away while my pussy continued to contract as I came long and hard.
Breathing raggedly, he carefully released his hold on my ass but pulled me in close, letting the shower rinse both of our bodies as he pressed kisses to the top of my head. “I love you, Kas. Fuck, I love you so much.”
TWENTY SIX
Gray
“Gray, your phone is ringing.”
I groaned and pulled Kassa in closer, kissing her lips as I tried to wrap my body around her completely without smothering her in the process. “Don’t give a fuck,” I grumbled, kissing her again.
Kassa kissed me back, both of us forgetting about the phone until it went off again.
Muttering a curse, I reached behind me and grabbed the phone. “What?” I roared.
“Dude, you awake?” Kale didn’t sound like he was worried that I was in a pissed mood. “I’m on my way.”
Hearing his voice, I remembered that I had told him that I would go with him to deal with the douchebag who was giving Santana a hard time. “I am now,” I muttered and lifted onto my elbow.
Kassa looked up at me. With her kiss-swollen lips, her sleepy eyes, and her tits practically begging me to play with them, all I wanted to do was sink deep into her and forget about the rest of the world.
“Fuck, man. I’ll be downstairs in ten.” As I dropped the phone onto the bed, I kissed Kassa again, this time quick and hard. She pouted up at me when I pulled back and got to my feet. “Baby, don’t look at me like that. I gotta go help Kale deal with that fucker Santana was telling him about last night.”
She sat up in bed, pulling the sheet up around her as she watched me grab my clothes and pull them on. I could smell coffee, so I knew Jace was home. I couldn’t go back to my room for a change of clothes not wearing anything. If he saw me like this in Kassa’s room, he was going to lose his shit, and after the perfect night I had just spent with my girl, I wasn’t about to ruin it by having to fight her brother.
“Will you come straight back?”
I bent over her, putting a hand on either side of her to keep from touching her. “I promise.” I kissed her one last time. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
Two hours later, after Kale had practically made that little shit Wade piss himself and I’d had to flirt with the hostess to keep her from calling the cops on us, he dropped me off in front of my apartment. But, instead of going upstairs and crawling back into bed with Kassa, I got in my car, not wanting anyone with me for the shopping I had to do.
I still felt dirty from having flirted with the hostess at the restaurant earlier. It hadn’t been anything more than that, but I didn’t feel right about having done it. I wanted to announce to the world that I belonged to Kassa, but first, I had to announce it to her brother. The first stop I made was to the drugstore, where I stocked up on condoms. No fucking way was I going to repeat what had happened the first time the night before with Kassa. I loved Kassa, but I didn’t want to be a dad yet. Maybe not ever. Fuck, just the thought of Kassa being pregnant made me break out into a cold sweat.
The second stop was out of the way, but it was the best jewelry store in the city. When I walked in, several heads turned in my direction, but my gaze was pulled to one particular glass counter. I walked over just as the saleswoman turned, a welcoming smile on her face. She was at least Alicia’s age, but she looked nothing like my aunt in the least.
“Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you?”
I looked at the display and a ring caught my eye. “No fucking way,” I muttered with a laugh as I saw the shape the diamond had been cut into. “Is that really...”
“Oh, yes. It is, actually.” She pulled the selection the ring was part of from the display and set it on the glass top. “It was a rather large diamond, but the artist said he felt inspired when he started cutting it.”
“I want it,” I told her, not even bothering to ask what the price was.
“This ring is quite expensive, sir,” the saleswoman murmured, her eyes going to the ink on my arm then the holes in the jeans I had pulled on earlier in my rush to get out the door.
“I want it,” I repeated and pulled out the one card I had never used until right then. But this ring was important, and the money my father had left me was just sitting there. It was time it represented something other than the ugliness of my past. Now, it was going to be the beginning of my future with Kassa.
The saleswoman’s greedy eyes widened when she saw the black AmEx card I was handing her. “Yes, sir. I’ll take care of this for you.”
By the time I got back to the apartment, another hour had gone by, but when I opened the door, I was glad I had taken the extra time. Jace was sitting in the living room with Kin and Kassa, watching a movie. Kassa shot me a smile while the other two barely lifted their heads as I walked in.
“Harris wants us to do a song tonight,” Jace informed me as I headed for my room.
“No problem. I’ll let the other guys know,” I called over my shoulder, already pulling my phone out to text Cash, Sin, and Kale.
After hitting send, I found a good place in my room to stash the ring I had bought for Kassa. She wouldn’t snoop around in my room, but I didn’t want to take the chance of her finding it before I had everything set. After tossing my phone onto the bed, I took a shower and then headed into the kitchen for something to eat.
Kassa was standing at the sink, washing off some freshly sliced fruit. Glancing over my shoulder to make sure Jace and Kin were still in the living room, I moved up behind her and wrapped my arms around her small waist.
She mewled softly and leaned back against me as I bent to kiss her neck. “You were gone longer than you promised,” she chided, pushing a piece of fruit into my mouth.
“I had a few things I needed to take care of myself, baby.” I kissed her neck again and stepped back, my body already responding to the way she was rubbing her ass against my cock. Much more of that and I was going to fuck her right there against the kitchen sink.
“Hmm,” she said with a twist of her lips before grinning up at me. “I guess I forgive you.”
I stole a quick kiss before going to the fridge and pulling out the fixings for a sandwich. “You want one, or you going to gorge on fruit?”
“I’ll share my fruit if you fix me a sandwich,” she offered in that sweet voice I loved so damn much.
“Anything for you, baby.”
She finished washing her fruit and came over to watch me make our sandwiches. “So…”
I lifted my gaze from what I was doing and found Kassa biting her lip, her gaze going over my shoulder to the kitchen door then back to me as if she were waiting for someone to burst through the door and start shooting. “So?”
“I was just wondering if we were going to tell Jace … or anyone else.”
I put the butter knife back into the mayo jar and wiped my hands on the dish towel she had left on the counter. Pulling her in close, I kissed her lips, taking my time, not car
ing who the fuck saw us. “Maybe you should tell me what you want to do about that, Kas,” I told her as I pulled back just enough to meet her eyes. “Because I’ll do whatever you want to do. If you want me to go in there and tell your brother right now, I will. If you want me to keep my mouth shut and my hands to myself while we’re out with friends, I’ll do that too.”
She melted against me, her arms snaking around my waist as she leaned her head on my chest. “Would you be upset if I said I wanted to hold on to what we had last night and not share it with anyone else right now?”
I tipped her head up so I could see her face. “Is that what you want?”
She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
“Then that’s what we’ll do, baby. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. So happy I feel like I could burst right now.” She stroked her fingers over the stubble on my chin. “Which is why I don’t want other people fucking that up.”
“Hey, I understand. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to dealing with Jace on this yet anyway.” I kissed the tip of her nose then rubbed my cheek against hers, making her gasp as I touched my tongue to the spot just under her jaw that I knew made goose bumps pop up along her entire body. “But whenever you want that to change, Kas, just say the words. I’ll face him and anyone else who runs their fucking mouth. Because me and you, we’re forever, baby.”
TWENTY SEVEN
Kassa
I was seriously not a fan of the tour bus. I hadn’t ever gotten motion sickness before, but it seemed like riding down the highway at seventy miles an hour on a bus that was basically our home for nine weeks wasn’t my stomach’s favorite mode of transportation. From the very first day we had left Los Angeles, I had been taking motion sickness tablets daily just so I wasn’t throwing up constantly in the bathroom.
Seven weeks into the tour and the motion sickness was only getting worse. It was to the point that I didn’t have to be on the bus for the nausea to hit me. Alicia had told me to try sucking on peppermint to help, and so far, that had been working. More often than not, I was sucking on a piece of the sweet peppermint candy Gray, Jace, and the other guys bought me every time we stopped to fill up the bus with gas.
I hated having an upset stomach. It was the worst feeling in the world, but it seemed to become a part of my daily life. I might have thought it was morning sickness, but I had gotten my period right on time, just like always. When I had seen the smear of blood, I had been disappointed, but when I told Gray that we were in the clear, he had been so relieved that I had almost felt bad for feeling that way. From his reaction, I got the feeling that having kids was pretty low on his life plan, which kind of made me sad. I wanted to be a mom someday. We hadn’t talked about it though, and every time I had tried to mention it before I had found out I wasn’t pregnant, he had freaked out.
Tonight’s stop on the tour was Miami, and it was supposed to be one of the more important stops. Not because of fans, although Tainted Knights had gained a huge following over the last seven weeks, but because Petrova, the guy who ran Petrova Inc. had a house there and was throwing a huge party. I didn’t want to go, but Travis told Gray that he had to because Petrova ran the record label the band was signed with, and he wouldn’t go without me.
There were half-naked women running around everywhere, not just out by the pool. Booze and drugs seemed to be flowing freely, and there were music artists from every genre chasing after all three. Gray, Sin, and Kale parked their asses on a long couch out by the pool, already talking to a few of the guys from the band they had opened for earlier that night. Cash and Jace were off doing their own thing, and I was bored out of my mind on top of being nauseated. I felt out of place because I wasn’t smoking weed or snorting coke with some of the other girlfriends of a few of the other artists, and I wasn’t drinking because my stomach seemed to fucking hate me.
Gray and the other guys seemed to be having fun, so I tried to as well if for no other reason than to show Gray I could handle this new world of his. I chatted with a few of the sober people and the ones who weren’t high out of their minds, but they were few and far between. Emmie would have probably blown a gasket at all the drugs lying around. She had given the guys—and even myself—more than one lecture about getting into the drug scene and fucking up their careers.
Eventually, I gave up trying to mingle and stood back to watch Gray and my brother. My nausea, which had calmed down for the most part during the day, came back with a vengeance and I just couldn’t deal with stupid or high people.
Travis, a glass of some kind of clear liquor in hand, came up beside me. “Having fun?”
I shrugged, moving back a step so that, if Gray happened to look over at us, he wouldn’t think I was flirting with Travis. “Are all after-parties like this?” I muttered, watching as one girl in the hot tub suddenly pulled her bikini bottoms off and started kissing the girl sitting on the lap of some guy I didn’t recognize.
Travis laughed. “This one is pretty tame, actually. No one’s started a fight yet, but the night is still young.”
“It’s two in the morning!”
“These things can go on until dawn if it’s done right.” He shifted, stepping closer, but I took another step away from him. “Two more weeks and then we head home. Would you like to grab dinner with me one night?”
Before this tour had started, I had liked Travis. He had seemed like a nice enough guy, didn’t take shit from anyone, and had a good job. The two of us could have been friends, just as I was friends with Nate. But, unlike Nate, Travis didn’t seem to take the hint that I wasn’t interested in more than just friendship. Gray had been seething over it since before the tour had begun, and Travis was one more “accidental” touch away from getting his face rearranged—by me.
I gave him a tight smile. “Uh, thanks, Travis. But I think we’re going to fly back to Bristol when we get home. I feel like I haven’t seen Alicia in forever, and I want to spend a little time with her before college starts back in the fall.”
His face, which had been relaxed and smiling just moments ago, turned hard. “And you wouldn’t want to upset your boyfriend.”
My hand tightened around the bottle of water I had brought with me from the bus. Gray and I had kept our relationship quiet, just as he had promised me he would until I was ready to share us with the rest of our friends. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of our relationship or thought that it wasn’t going to go somewhere. I just knew how our friends were, and I wanted to enjoy the newness of there being an “us” before they got to butt in. Not to mention, I knew how Jace was going to react and I didn’t want to deal with him until Kin was with us so she could attempt to talk some kind of reason into him before he went completely ballistic.
But, lately, I had wanted to give in and tell everyone that I was with Gray. That he was mine and I was his, and if anyone—Jace—didn’t like it, then they—Jace—could suck it. Especially when dickheads like Travis thought they knew what they were talking about when they didn’t know jack shit.
“No, I wouldn’t want to upset him,” I told him honestly, my stomach churning too much for me to care if I hurt his feelings or not. “But, actually, it’s mostly because I just don’t want to go out with you. Even if I wasn’t with Gray, I wouldn’t be interested. This tour has shown me your true colors, and you’re nothing more than a tool who hides behind the job title to one of the most badass chicks I have ever met.”
His face burned red as he stepped back from me, his cold eyes glaring daggers at me as he sneered. “Being that you’re just a groupie that will be replaced in about two weeks with someone knew, I’m pretty sure I don’t give a fuck what you think about me.”
I was the one who stepped closer to him this time, my anger only making my nausea that much worse. “I’m not a fucking groupie, and if you keep talking to me like that, I’ll happily show you all the self-defense my brother and Gray have taught me over the years. Because I don’t need either of them to kick yo
ur wimpy ass.”
“Whatever,” he muttered. “You’re not worth my time anyway.”
“Keep telling yourself that, dickhead.” I gave him a tight smile despite the nausea roiling around in my stomach and making me miserable, and then I stepped away from him. “And I’m sure Emmie would like to know about our little chat here. You’re here to do a job, not hit on me, dumbass.”
He paled, his mouth falling open, but I wasn’t interested in what he might have said.
Turning, I walked away. I moved through the crowd, ignoring anyone who tried to get me to stop and talk with them. Reaching the couch where Gray was sitting with Sin and Kale, I glared down at him, too pissed at Travis to care if I ruined his night and so nauseated that I felt like I was going to vomit at any minute.
“I’m leaving,” I bit out, trying to keep from emptying my stomach all over poor Sin.
He jumped to his feet, his eyes full of concern. “Whatever you want, baby.” He didn’t even give the other guys on the opposite couch another look as he took my hand and pulled me through the house and out the front door.
We had taken a limo over from where the tour bus was parked, and he signaled the driver, who pulled up in front of us. In the back seat, I lay with my head in his lap as I fought my gag reflex, making deals with the devil and anyone else I could think of as long as I didn’t vomit. Gray, knowing that I didn’t like to talk when I was feeling so bad, stroked my hair until we got back and carried me onto the bus. He helped me get changed into my usual long night shirt and panties, and then we crawled into the same roost together.
There was already a small bucket at the end of our bed, something that had become my best friend over the last few weeks. I moved it so that it was within easy reach because I was going to have to use it before the night was over.
Gray held me loosely, knowing I would need the bucket, but as he hummed the lullaby he had always hummed to soothe me, I began to relax a little. The more I relaxed, the less my stomach tossed and turned. I closed my eyes, relieved that the nausea was easing up enough that I wasn’t scared I was going to blow chunks at any moment.
I sliced my nails into his back, trying to hold on to reality as the pleasure began to build to the point of no return. The shower rained on his back, flooding over his shoulders and sliding down our joined bodies like a waterfall, allowing our bodies to move together in perfect rhythm. My inner walls began to squeeze around him as my release hit me with the force of a Mack truck.
“Gray!” I screamed, not caring if everyone in the building heard me or not. “Gray, oh God. I love you. I love you!”
“Fuck!” he roared as he stepped back, and reaching between us, he pulled his cock free from me. His release sprayed over my stomach and onto the floor, the shower washing it away while my pussy continued to contract as I came long and hard.
Breathing raggedly, he carefully released his hold on my ass but pulled me in close, letting the shower rinse both of our bodies as he pressed kisses to the top of my head. “I love you, Kas. Fuck, I love you so much.”
TWENTY SIX
Gray
“Gray, your phone is ringing.”
I groaned and pulled Kassa in closer, kissing her lips as I tried to wrap my body around her completely without smothering her in the process. “Don’t give a fuck,” I grumbled, kissing her again.
Kassa kissed me back, both of us forgetting about the phone until it went off again.
Muttering a curse, I reached behind me and grabbed the phone. “What?” I roared.
“Dude, you awake?” Kale didn’t sound like he was worried that I was in a pissed mood. “I’m on my way.”
Hearing his voice, I remembered that I had told him that I would go with him to deal with the douchebag who was giving Santana a hard time. “I am now,” I muttered and lifted onto my elbow.
Kassa looked up at me. With her kiss-swollen lips, her sleepy eyes, and her tits practically begging me to play with them, all I wanted to do was sink deep into her and forget about the rest of the world.
“Fuck, man. I’ll be downstairs in ten.” As I dropped the phone onto the bed, I kissed Kassa again, this time quick and hard. She pouted up at me when I pulled back and got to my feet. “Baby, don’t look at me like that. I gotta go help Kale deal with that fucker Santana was telling him about last night.”
She sat up in bed, pulling the sheet up around her as she watched me grab my clothes and pull them on. I could smell coffee, so I knew Jace was home. I couldn’t go back to my room for a change of clothes not wearing anything. If he saw me like this in Kassa’s room, he was going to lose his shit, and after the perfect night I had just spent with my girl, I wasn’t about to ruin it by having to fight her brother.
“Will you come straight back?”
I bent over her, putting a hand on either side of her to keep from touching her. “I promise.” I kissed her one last time. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
Two hours later, after Kale had practically made that little shit Wade piss himself and I’d had to flirt with the hostess to keep her from calling the cops on us, he dropped me off in front of my apartment. But, instead of going upstairs and crawling back into bed with Kassa, I got in my car, not wanting anyone with me for the shopping I had to do.
I still felt dirty from having flirted with the hostess at the restaurant earlier. It hadn’t been anything more than that, but I didn’t feel right about having done it. I wanted to announce to the world that I belonged to Kassa, but first, I had to announce it to her brother. The first stop I made was to the drugstore, where I stocked up on condoms. No fucking way was I going to repeat what had happened the first time the night before with Kassa. I loved Kassa, but I didn’t want to be a dad yet. Maybe not ever. Fuck, just the thought of Kassa being pregnant made me break out into a cold sweat.
The second stop was out of the way, but it was the best jewelry store in the city. When I walked in, several heads turned in my direction, but my gaze was pulled to one particular glass counter. I walked over just as the saleswoman turned, a welcoming smile on her face. She was at least Alicia’s age, but she looked nothing like my aunt in the least.
“Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you?”
I looked at the display and a ring caught my eye. “No fucking way,” I muttered with a laugh as I saw the shape the diamond had been cut into. “Is that really...”
“Oh, yes. It is, actually.” She pulled the selection the ring was part of from the display and set it on the glass top. “It was a rather large diamond, but the artist said he felt inspired when he started cutting it.”
“I want it,” I told her, not even bothering to ask what the price was.
“This ring is quite expensive, sir,” the saleswoman murmured, her eyes going to the ink on my arm then the holes in the jeans I had pulled on earlier in my rush to get out the door.
“I want it,” I repeated and pulled out the one card I had never used until right then. But this ring was important, and the money my father had left me was just sitting there. It was time it represented something other than the ugliness of my past. Now, it was going to be the beginning of my future with Kassa.
The saleswoman’s greedy eyes widened when she saw the black AmEx card I was handing her. “Yes, sir. I’ll take care of this for you.”
By the time I got back to the apartment, another hour had gone by, but when I opened the door, I was glad I had taken the extra time. Jace was sitting in the living room with Kin and Kassa, watching a movie. Kassa shot me a smile while the other two barely lifted their heads as I walked in.
“Harris wants us to do a song tonight,” Jace informed me as I headed for my room.
“No problem. I’ll let the other guys know,” I called over my shoulder, already pulling my phone out to text Cash, Sin, and Kale.
After hitting send, I found a good place in my room to stash the ring I had bought for Kassa. She wouldn’t snoop around in my room, but I didn’t want to take the chance of her finding it before I had everything set. After tossing my phone onto the bed, I took a shower and then headed into the kitchen for something to eat.
Kassa was standing at the sink, washing off some freshly sliced fruit. Glancing over my shoulder to make sure Jace and Kin were still in the living room, I moved up behind her and wrapped my arms around her small waist.
She mewled softly and leaned back against me as I bent to kiss her neck. “You were gone longer than you promised,” she chided, pushing a piece of fruit into my mouth.
“I had a few things I needed to take care of myself, baby.” I kissed her neck again and stepped back, my body already responding to the way she was rubbing her ass against my cock. Much more of that and I was going to fuck her right there against the kitchen sink.
“Hmm,” she said with a twist of her lips before grinning up at me. “I guess I forgive you.”
I stole a quick kiss before going to the fridge and pulling out the fixings for a sandwich. “You want one, or you going to gorge on fruit?”
“I’ll share my fruit if you fix me a sandwich,” she offered in that sweet voice I loved so damn much.
“Anything for you, baby.”
She finished washing her fruit and came over to watch me make our sandwiches. “So…”
I lifted my gaze from what I was doing and found Kassa biting her lip, her gaze going over my shoulder to the kitchen door then back to me as if she were waiting for someone to burst through the door and start shooting. “So?”
“I was just wondering if we were going to tell Jace … or anyone else.”
I put the butter knife back into the mayo jar and wiped my hands on the dish towel she had left on the counter. Pulling her in close, I kissed her lips, taking my time, not car
She melted against me, her arms snaking around my waist as she leaned her head on my chest. “Would you be upset if I said I wanted to hold on to what we had last night and not share it with anyone else right now?”
I tipped her head up so I could see her face. “Is that what you want?”
She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
“Then that’s what we’ll do, baby. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. So happy I feel like I could burst right now.” She stroked her fingers over the stubble on my chin. “Which is why I don’t want other people fucking that up.”
“Hey, I understand. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to dealing with Jace on this yet anyway.” I kissed the tip of her nose then rubbed my cheek against hers, making her gasp as I touched my tongue to the spot just under her jaw that I knew made goose bumps pop up along her entire body. “But whenever you want that to change, Kas, just say the words. I’ll face him and anyone else who runs their fucking mouth. Because me and you, we’re forever, baby.”
TWENTY SEVEN
Kassa
I was seriously not a fan of the tour bus. I hadn’t ever gotten motion sickness before, but it seemed like riding down the highway at seventy miles an hour on a bus that was basically our home for nine weeks wasn’t my stomach’s favorite mode of transportation. From the very first day we had left Los Angeles, I had been taking motion sickness tablets daily just so I wasn’t throwing up constantly in the bathroom.
Seven weeks into the tour and the motion sickness was only getting worse. It was to the point that I didn’t have to be on the bus for the nausea to hit me. Alicia had told me to try sucking on peppermint to help, and so far, that had been working. More often than not, I was sucking on a piece of the sweet peppermint candy Gray, Jace, and the other guys bought me every time we stopped to fill up the bus with gas.
I hated having an upset stomach. It was the worst feeling in the world, but it seemed to become a part of my daily life. I might have thought it was morning sickness, but I had gotten my period right on time, just like always. When I had seen the smear of blood, I had been disappointed, but when I told Gray that we were in the clear, he had been so relieved that I had almost felt bad for feeling that way. From his reaction, I got the feeling that having kids was pretty low on his life plan, which kind of made me sad. I wanted to be a mom someday. We hadn’t talked about it though, and every time I had tried to mention it before I had found out I wasn’t pregnant, he had freaked out.
Tonight’s stop on the tour was Miami, and it was supposed to be one of the more important stops. Not because of fans, although Tainted Knights had gained a huge following over the last seven weeks, but because Petrova, the guy who ran Petrova Inc. had a house there and was throwing a huge party. I didn’t want to go, but Travis told Gray that he had to because Petrova ran the record label the band was signed with, and he wouldn’t go without me.
There were half-naked women running around everywhere, not just out by the pool. Booze and drugs seemed to be flowing freely, and there were music artists from every genre chasing after all three. Gray, Sin, and Kale parked their asses on a long couch out by the pool, already talking to a few of the guys from the band they had opened for earlier that night. Cash and Jace were off doing their own thing, and I was bored out of my mind on top of being nauseated. I felt out of place because I wasn’t smoking weed or snorting coke with some of the other girlfriends of a few of the other artists, and I wasn’t drinking because my stomach seemed to fucking hate me.
Gray and the other guys seemed to be having fun, so I tried to as well if for no other reason than to show Gray I could handle this new world of his. I chatted with a few of the sober people and the ones who weren’t high out of their minds, but they were few and far between. Emmie would have probably blown a gasket at all the drugs lying around. She had given the guys—and even myself—more than one lecture about getting into the drug scene and fucking up their careers.
Eventually, I gave up trying to mingle and stood back to watch Gray and my brother. My nausea, which had calmed down for the most part during the day, came back with a vengeance and I just couldn’t deal with stupid or high people.
Travis, a glass of some kind of clear liquor in hand, came up beside me. “Having fun?”
I shrugged, moving back a step so that, if Gray happened to look over at us, he wouldn’t think I was flirting with Travis. “Are all after-parties like this?” I muttered, watching as one girl in the hot tub suddenly pulled her bikini bottoms off and started kissing the girl sitting on the lap of some guy I didn’t recognize.
Travis laughed. “This one is pretty tame, actually. No one’s started a fight yet, but the night is still young.”
“It’s two in the morning!”
“These things can go on until dawn if it’s done right.” He shifted, stepping closer, but I took another step away from him. “Two more weeks and then we head home. Would you like to grab dinner with me one night?”
Before this tour had started, I had liked Travis. He had seemed like a nice enough guy, didn’t take shit from anyone, and had a good job. The two of us could have been friends, just as I was friends with Nate. But, unlike Nate, Travis didn’t seem to take the hint that I wasn’t interested in more than just friendship. Gray had been seething over it since before the tour had begun, and Travis was one more “accidental” touch away from getting his face rearranged—by me.
I gave him a tight smile. “Uh, thanks, Travis. But I think we’re going to fly back to Bristol when we get home. I feel like I haven’t seen Alicia in forever, and I want to spend a little time with her before college starts back in the fall.”
His face, which had been relaxed and smiling just moments ago, turned hard. “And you wouldn’t want to upset your boyfriend.”
My hand tightened around the bottle of water I had brought with me from the bus. Gray and I had kept our relationship quiet, just as he had promised me he would until I was ready to share us with the rest of our friends. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of our relationship or thought that it wasn’t going to go somewhere. I just knew how our friends were, and I wanted to enjoy the newness of there being an “us” before they got to butt in. Not to mention, I knew how Jace was going to react and I didn’t want to deal with him until Kin was with us so she could attempt to talk some kind of reason into him before he went completely ballistic.
But, lately, I had wanted to give in and tell everyone that I was with Gray. That he was mine and I was his, and if anyone—Jace—didn’t like it, then they—Jace—could suck it. Especially when dickheads like Travis thought they knew what they were talking about when they didn’t know jack shit.
“No, I wouldn’t want to upset him,” I told him honestly, my stomach churning too much for me to care if I hurt his feelings or not. “But, actually, it’s mostly because I just don’t want to go out with you. Even if I wasn’t with Gray, I wouldn’t be interested. This tour has shown me your true colors, and you’re nothing more than a tool who hides behind the job title to one of the most badass chicks I have ever met.”
His face burned red as he stepped back from me, his cold eyes glaring daggers at me as he sneered. “Being that you’re just a groupie that will be replaced in about two weeks with someone knew, I’m pretty sure I don’t give a fuck what you think about me.”
I was the one who stepped closer to him this time, my anger only making my nausea that much worse. “I’m not a fucking groupie, and if you keep talking to me like that, I’ll happily show you all the self-defense my brother and Gray have taught me over the years. Because I don’t need either of them to kick yo
“Whatever,” he muttered. “You’re not worth my time anyway.”
“Keep telling yourself that, dickhead.” I gave him a tight smile despite the nausea roiling around in my stomach and making me miserable, and then I stepped away from him. “And I’m sure Emmie would like to know about our little chat here. You’re here to do a job, not hit on me, dumbass.”
He paled, his mouth falling open, but I wasn’t interested in what he might have said.
Turning, I walked away. I moved through the crowd, ignoring anyone who tried to get me to stop and talk with them. Reaching the couch where Gray was sitting with Sin and Kale, I glared down at him, too pissed at Travis to care if I ruined his night and so nauseated that I felt like I was going to vomit at any minute.
“I’m leaving,” I bit out, trying to keep from emptying my stomach all over poor Sin.
He jumped to his feet, his eyes full of concern. “Whatever you want, baby.” He didn’t even give the other guys on the opposite couch another look as he took my hand and pulled me through the house and out the front door.
We had taken a limo over from where the tour bus was parked, and he signaled the driver, who pulled up in front of us. In the back seat, I lay with my head in his lap as I fought my gag reflex, making deals with the devil and anyone else I could think of as long as I didn’t vomit. Gray, knowing that I didn’t like to talk when I was feeling so bad, stroked my hair until we got back and carried me onto the bus. He helped me get changed into my usual long night shirt and panties, and then we crawled into the same roost together.
There was already a small bucket at the end of our bed, something that had become my best friend over the last few weeks. I moved it so that it was within easy reach because I was going to have to use it before the night was over.
Gray held me loosely, knowing I would need the bucket, but as he hummed the lullaby he had always hummed to soothe me, I began to relax a little. The more I relaxed, the less my stomach tossed and turned. I closed my eyes, relieved that the nausea was easing up enough that I wasn’t scared I was going to blow chunks at any moment.