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Fuck.
Lifting my head, I found the blonde—not the redhead I was hoping for—that I’d brought home with me the night before curled around one of my pillows like she was taking root in my bed. My gaze skimmed over what I could see of her. Nice face, I guessed. Or it would have been if she hadn’t caked on all that makeup that was now smeared across it. Her hair was long, which was probably what had attracted me in the first place. I was a sucker for long hair.
Long red hair...
Shaking back the thought of the girl I’d left behind, I continued my appraisal of the chick I’d hooked up with after the show the night before at First Bass. The covers were tucked under her arms, but I could still see the hint of cleavage, telling me that her hair hadn’t been the first thing to catch my attention. I’ll admit that I’m a breasts man. Always had been, always would be.
Hook-up Girl was also fair-skinned.
Other than the color of her hair she was a dead ringer for the one girl I wanted to forget, but couldn’t seem to push far enough from my mind. But unlike my feelings for the redhead on my mind, whatever I’d felt the night before concerning Hook-up Girl was long gone. I’d gotten what I wanted and now I had to get rid of this chick before she decided to stick around.
My phone buzzing with an incoming text pulled my gaze away from the blonde’s face. Grabbing it before it could wake my now unwanted guest, I saw that it was Grayson letting me know that he’d made coffee and was headed to the gym. The thought of coffee along with the lingering scent of it in the air helped set me in gear and I was able to force myself out of bed.
I’d figure out how to get rid of Hook-up Girl after I had a cup or two of strong brewed coffee in my veins. I didn’t want to be a dick about it, but I would be if it came down to it. Right then I just wanted her gone and as far away as possible. Regret was choking me. I felt like I’d just committed adultery, even though I didn’t have a girlfriend anymore.
Clenching my jaw, I grabbed the pair of boxers I’d tossed aside the night before. I pulled them on and
grabbed the first T-shirt I came to on my way out of my room.
The three-bedroom apartment I shared with Gray was bigger than the two of us needed, yet not nearly big enough at the same time. Maybe it was just that I was sharing it with Gray. I respected the rocker who was Tainted Knights’ founder and guitarist. He had mad skills and I knew he was the reason we had gotten noticed.
Grayson Knight, the actual man, I couldn’t stand.
I’d grown up with Gray. For almost half of my life I’d lived under the same roof as him, was raised by the same woman. My parents had split when I was ten, leaving me and my sister, Kassa, to fend for ourselves.
I barely remembered the man and woman who had given life to me and Kassa, but I did know they hadn’t been the kind of parents to brag about. The scent still lingered in my nose from how bad the house would smell after they would go on one of their all-night binges. Could still hear the laughter that echoed off the inside of my skull from the raging parties that brought strangers into our house while Kassa and I slept each weekend.
Kassa had slept, at least. I’d been too worried for my sister to shut my eyes on those nights. What if one of the drunk, high strangers went into her room? She was just a little girl, but I’d seen a few strangers looking at my beautiful little sister with a glazed look in their eyes and knew instinctively that this person could and would hurt Kassa if given the chance.
We’d gone into foster care after our parents had abandoned us, but hadn’t stayed there very long. I’d felt safer at the foster home, and there hadn’t been anyone who looked at Kassa the way those strangers had. Alicia St. Charles had shown up out of nowhere, wanting to adopt a little girl, but when she’d seen me with Kassa she’d taken us both. The court system had done cartwheels to get the paperwork taken care of in only a fraction of the time it normally would have taken for Kassa and me to become hers.
Almost overnight I’d gone from sleeping in a bunk bed in my foster family’s guest bedroom, to sleeping in a king-sized bed in my own room. I’d learned quick that Alicia St. Charles was a woman like few others. She was a powerful woman in the judicial system in Bristol, Virginia. She was a ballbreaker in the court room. At home, though, she was a loving mother to my sister and me. Alicia took care of us, loved us as if we had been born to her.
Our new peaceful family didn’t last long, however.
Less than a year after we’d become officially hers, Gray’s mother had died and his father had pushed Gray off onto his sister-in-law, Alicia. Alicia hadn’t even blinked when she became responsible for yet another kid—even the moody pre-teen her nephew had been. She welcomed her late sister’s son with open arms, treating him like her own son as much as she did me.
Gray was a year older than me, and he let that year gap be known really quick from the moment he moved in with us. Twelve to my eleven at the time, we’d butted heads from the moment Gray had taken up the room on the other side of my sister’s. He was always trying to outdo me at everything. If I made a team at school, he became captain. If I liked a girl, he kissed her first. If I wanted a new game or toy, he’d either played it already or broke it before I could touch it.
Alicia hadn’t understood why Gray and I couldn’t get along when we were growing up. At least once a week she had to break up a fight between the two of us. I knew it broke her heart, but I couldn’t help not liking her nephew.
Maybe I’d been jealous. Or maybe it was because Gray really was a douchebag at times. I didn’t know which it was, and hadn’t taken the time to examine my feelings. Through my eyes, I’d always thought Gray was a dick. He took what he wanted, when he wanted, and didn’t care about the consequences.
The only things we had ever agreed on was taking care of my sister and Tainted Knights. Those two things were really all that mattered, though, so it was enough to make me tolerate the guy.
Most of the time anyway.
I was on my second cup of coffee before I had the brain power to go back to my room and get rid of Hook-up Girl. It took nearly half an hour to get her out of the apartment. She was a clinger and I couldn’t stand clingy chicks. Nothing turned me off faster than a chick who used whiny, temper tantrums to get their way. By the time I was alone, it was after four in the afternoon. I needed a shower and something to eat before I headed over to First Bass later.
Tainted Knights’ contract with Harris Cutter was only for weekly shows on Thursday nights. The rest of the time was our own. Gray and I didn’t have to get an extra job because Alicia took care of our bills, so the money we made at First Bass was plenty for us. The other guys weren’t as lucky and had extra jobs that took up a big part of their down time.
I didn’t have to go to First Bass as often as I did, but I liked hanging out with Harris. He’d become a close friend. Maybe the only one I really had. I wasn’t tight with my bandmates. We played music together—killer music—but that was all. I didn’t hang out with Kale, Sin, or Cash unless we were partying after a show. Gray was their friend, not me.
I was getting out of the shower when my cell started going off. I picked it up as I wrapped a towel around my waist and looked down at the picture of the girl on the screen. Shaking my head at just how beautiful my sister was, I hit connect and lifted it to my ear. “Hey.”
“What are you doing, big brother?” her sweet voice said, filling my ear.
I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face at the sound of her voice. Kassa was an angel, there was no other way to describe her. With her long, thick blond hair just a few shades lighter than my own, big blue eyes, and a voice that could talk anyone into doing anything she wanted, there was no other word for her. Kassa was everything good in the world. At least in my world.
