Redeeming You (Before You #2)(42)

Well, this just sucked. Marcus knew something had happened or was happening between him and Taylor, and Taylor had disappeared. Based on the pattern of his life recently, he likely already succeeded in screwing up things with Taylor. It was the one constant in his life. Everything he touched turned to shit.

Less than ten minutes later, Alec and Taylor stepped on to the bus. Their voices were hushed and their heads were bent close together. Cam eyed Alec carefully to determine whether Taylor had disclosed their relationship. He couldn’t tell, but Alec was a hard person to read. “Where’d you guys go?” Cam asked cautiously.

“Dinner,” Alec responded. Taylor wouldn’t even look at him. In fact, he was positive that her eyes roamed every square inch of the bus except for where he sat.

“Tay,” Cam said, and she looked at floor rather than at him. He swallowed hard and forced the sound from his dry mouth. What the hell happened between the start of the performance and now? “I didn’t realize you had the night off.”

She lifted her eyes to face him, and pain, anger and hurt flashed across her face. She shrugged, then she removed her gray button up sweater tossing it onto the sofa next to him. “Alec said you had company and you didn’t need me tonight.”

Cam turned to Alec who was studying him a little too intently for his taste. “Really,” Cam said, his voice empty and his face blank.

“Yeah, we saw you with Anna and I figured you’d be good for the night.” Alec leaned his shoulder against the wall almost daring Cam to contradict him. He wouldn’t, not when he didn’t know what Taylor had told him.

Glancing at Taylor again, he saw her shake her head almost imperceptibly. So she hadn’t told Alec anything and she clearly didn’t want anything to come out right now, but there was no way he’d allow her to believe he wanted anything to do with Anna. Anna was like a disease that kept infecting his life with her venom. He needed to have her banned from backstage because she was a part of his life he didn’t want to have thrown in his face any longer.

Cam laughed halfheartedly, directing his attention to Alec. “I should kick your ass for leaving me with Anna. You know I can’t stand her. She’s developing stalker-like tendencies and it’s starting to scare me. Do me a favor and save me next time.”

“So you’re really done with her?” Alec asked and Cam didn’t know if he was asking for himself or Taylor. Without a doubt, Alec had suspicions about what was going on between him and Taylor, but now wasn’t the time for everything to unfold.

“I haven’t talked to her in over a year except when she randomly shows up backstage. You know that.”

Alec pushed away from the wall, shoving his hands in his pocket. “Yeah, maybe. I can’t keep up anymore.”

Cam didn’t believe that for a minute. Alec had an agenda tonight and it clearly involved putting a stop to anything between him and Taylor. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, man,” Cam said, stretching his arms out on either side of the sofa.

Alec snorted, then started walking to the back of the bus. “Taylor,” he called over his shoulder. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Sure, I’ll join you in a minute. I need something to drink.”

Alec nodded. “Grab me a beer,” he said, closing the curtain separating the sections of the bus.

Taylor opened the refrigerator sifting through the contents, probably looking for the beer that Alec stocked for himself.

“I missed you tonight.” He walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him.

“Uh huh,” she mumbled. “It looked like it.”

“Well, then you weren’t looking close enough.” He bent his head to press a kiss against her neck.

“Yeah, right.” She tried to push his hands off of her waist. “I’m not blind.”

Cam skated his hands along the contours of her waist, brushing the sides of her breasts and sliding back down again.

“Cam, not now. What are you doing? Alec is less than ten feet away,” she whispered.

“Touching my girl,” he answered, brushing his thumbs across her nipples.

She sighed. “Is Anna your girl too?” Her voice cracked.

Shit. He didn’t want her to think he betrayed her when he didn’t touch Anna any longer than it took to push her body away from his. He’d done f*cked up stuff like that in the past, but he didn’t want her to think it when it wasn’t true and when he wasn’t even tempted to touch anyone but her.

“No. I don’t want anything to do with her.” She tried to twist out of his hold, but he pulled her tighter against him, forcing her to stay put. “I haven’t had anything to do with her in a long time.” He laced the fingers of one hand through hers and squeezed lightly. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what to believe. You didn’t object when she glued herself to your body in the green room. That hurt.”

Cam sighed. “You obviously didn’t stay for more than a second because I put an end to that immediately. I told you I wanted to be with you. Seeing her didn’t change my mind. Not even close. She doesn’t compare to you.”

Her shoulders dropped and she leaned back into him for a few moments and he buried his nose in her hair. He could stay like this for hours if she’d let him. “I’ll give you a pass on this tonight because we can’t talk about this right now.” She spun and ducked under his arms.