Redeeming You (Before You #2)(38)
Taylor listened to his footsteps on the concrete floor as they echoed down the hallway. When she knew Marcus was gone, she dropped her head against Cam’s chest. “Do you think he heard us?” Taylor asked.
Cam stepped away from her and she wanted to pull him back so she could feel his heat again. She had felt alone for a long time and, for some reason, Cam had the ability to ease her loneliness.
Cam lifted his head toward the ceiling as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Fuck,” he finally blurted out after a few prolonged seconds.
Taylor flinched at the anger in his voice. “Don’t freak out yet. He won’t say anything because he doesn’t know anything for sure,” Taylor assured Cam as she slid off the table and arranged the folds of her dress.
“That’s not why I’m pissed,” he said cupping her face between his hand hands, his eyes enslaving hers.
“No?” she questioned, confused.
“No.” He kissed her hard, branding her lips before he started walking toward the door.
“Okay. Do you want to elaborate?”
“I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about us and I know he will.” Cam opened the door.
“And what’s the wrong idea?” she asked hesitant to follow him.
“That I’m using you during the tour because I don’t have any other options.” He looked at her over his shoulder. “Are you coming?”
Her stomach twisted even as she nodded and started following him through the door. “And that's not the case?” She didn’t want to ask him the question, but her insecurities climbed the walls of her chest and she couldn’t stop herself from asking if she had tried.
His back tensing, Cam paused and then turned to face her. Afraid of what she’d see in his eyes, she counted each scuff on her black ballet flats with intense scrutiny. One, two, three . . .
Cam tilted her chin up so she couldn’t avoid him. “No, not even close. Unless we’re on a different page.”
She nodded, unable to answer, but she felt a smile teasing the corners of her lips.
“And by the way…in case you misunderstood my intentions, I don’t plan on our relationship ending when tour ends, but again, that’s up to you. I’m not the only person in this relationship.”
Relationship; she liked that word. Her heart skipped a beat or two. “Okay,” she whispered.
“Are we good?” he asked, a grin spreading across his sinfully seductive face.
“Better than good,” she answered, her voice a little breathless and throaty, and her mind utterly muddled from his proximity. Would she always feel this way around him? It felt surreal and a little frightening, but she could handle it as long as she had Cam.
***
Standing just outside the side curtain backstage, her finger tapping against her leg, Taylor watched Chasing Ruin rock the final song of the night. She had been caught in Cam’s gaze more than once during the performance and she hoped the rest of the band was too focused on their music to notice the fiery looks he tossed in her direction every few minutes.
By the time the performance ended, the members of Chasing Ruin were drenched in their own sweat as smoke and lights swirled along the depths of the stage. Alec beat on his drums unaccompanied by the rest of the band for less than a minute, and then the stage went entirely black. The crowd chanted, “more, more, more,” their cell phones held high in the air illuminating the shadows of the stage. Finally, all the lights turned back on and the crowd filed out of their seats as electricity and excitement buzzed through the room.
She loved watching live music. It was the main reason she worked as a band promoter in Seattle during college. The energy and power of a live performance cradled her damaged soul. As a kid, she listened to music to drown out her mother’s drunken rants or late night visitors, but as she grew older, music became her escape where she could feel something other than the pain and destruction in her life.
She couldn’t take credit for zeroing in on music as a way to escape her depressing reality. Alec inspired her love of music one night when he shared his earphones with her as way to pass the time and ignore the sounds of drunken strangers filling their home. Both of them had listened to the music streaming from his headphones until they fell asleep. It was a ritual that she continued even after Alec moved away from home and joined his first band. By the time she left for college, she had playlists for every unhealthy circumstance her mom had brought into their home—another new boyfriend, one night stand night, alcoholic binges, parties, drugs and…the abuse.
When the stadium seats were nearly empty, Taylor made her way back to the green room. She couldn’t wrap herself around Cam like she wanted to, but she wanted to see him and be close to him, let him know that she loved the performance tonight and maybe they could slip away for a few minutes before the band had to be on the bus again.
Standing at the entrance to the green room, she scanned the room for Cam. A parade of women, in all different sizes, builds and colors trailed behind the security staff to join the party. From her casual scrutiny, the women only shared a few traits—a lack of clothing and several unnaturally bloated body parts.
“Hey,” Alec said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” she replied, her eyes still focused on the mayhem threatening to erupt before her eyes.
“Do you want to grab something to eat?”