Tainted Love: Sinful Souls MC #3

  “Oh, shit! My bad. Kalie, this is Matt. Matt…Kalie,”

  I walk over to them on the couch and shake his hand.

  “Hi, nice to meet you!” I greet him with a huge smile.

  “Nice to finally meet you, too, Kalie,” he says kindly.

  I’m not going to lie, seeing Carter with someone makes me extremely happy. Who knew? I look back at Carter and he’s giving me evils. I snap my mouth shut and narrow my eyes back at him.

  “Stop!” He points to me with a small smile.

  I throw my hands up. “I’m not saying anything!”

  “Where are you going anyway? You look to die for.”

  “I’m going to dinner,” I say bluntly.

  “Yes, I gathered that, but with who?” he asks patiently.

  “With who is irrelevant,” I snap nicely at him.

  He narrows his eyes and lifts his arms off Matt. Just as his mouth opens to say something, I hear a knock at the door.

  “Shit.” I rush toward the door but fall on my ass in these huge heels, which results in Carter and his quick fucking feet jumping up and diving toward the door before me. He swings it open and smiles a big broad smile at me.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Dominic Abrahams.”

  I walk to the door with a frown, pushing him out of the way with my elbows.

  “Sorry about that. Carter is a little….fucking annoying. Shall we go?” I say innocently to Dominic. Carter frowns and kisses me on my head.

  “Be safe kids. Kalie, do you still have those—” I walk out quickly, slamming the door in Carter’s face instantly cutting him off. I blush and look to Dom apologetically.

  “Sorry again. He can be…yeah, he can be Carter.”

  Dom shakes his head, trying not to laugh out loud.

  “You two are cute.”

  I laugh at his comment.

  He’s anything but cute right now.

  We walk out the lobby of my apartment as he leads me to his truck. Opening the door, he helps me in, before going around to the driver’s side. Once he’s in, I look over to him while putting my seatbelt on.

  “So, where are we heading too?”

  “The Rocks,” he says smiling at me.

  “The Rocks? Wow! I’m impressed.”

  The Rocks is a high-class restaurant in Hollywood Hills. It’s hard to get a table there, and you usually have to book months in advance. So yes, I’m impressed.

  He shrugs and glances over to me. “Not a big deal.”

  I smile and look down at what he’s wearing. Tidy jeans, a white top rolled up at the sleeves, and Chuck Taylors. His hair is how it usually is shaved short on the sides with the top long and slicked back. Dominic has a body builder physic. He’s huge. He and Ade probably stretch around the same. Only Ade stands around six three and Dom reaches around six foot. I look out the window and swallow down nervously.

  I feel his hand grasp onto my knee. “You look amazing, Kalie. But you could wear a paper bag and still look fucking gorgeous.”

  I smile at him. “Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself.”

  We pull up outside The Rocks and I get out before he can open the door for me. He rounds the truck, hands the key to the valet, and grasps my hand leading me inside the building. My heels clink along the glass tiled floor as we head to the restaurant. There’s a young girl standing at the entrance behind a desk, and she gawks approvingly at Dominic. I almost laugh. It doesn’t bring up any jealous feelings in me, and I note that because if she were looking at Ade like that we would be having a problem. I bite down on my lip and breathe out loudly in the knowledge that maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Before I can let my thoughts go wild, I feel his large hand tug on mine gently.

  “Come on.” He nudges his head toward the tables.

  I smile and follow him to a table near the glass windows. I take my jacket off and sit down looking around at the beautiful architecture of the interior. It’s all glass and dimly lit with tea lights around the entire room. Picking up the water in front of me, I pour me a glass and take a few small sips. Dominic looks to me with a smile.

  “You okay?” he asks.

  I nod my head. “Yeah, I’m good. How was the rest of your day?”

  “It was good. Yours?” He picks up the menu and scans through it.

  “Meh, average,” I say shrugging my shoulders.

  He laughs. “You going back to work?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure what I’m doing yet.”

  I begin looking through the menu just as the waiter reaches our table. I end up ordering the eye fillet steak and Dom orders the triple meat combo. Not surprised.

  “Anything, in particular, you wanted to do? Your plans I mean.”

  “I have a few ideas, but I’m not one hundred percent set on them yet.”

  He reaches over and grasps my hand. “I’m serious, Kal. I’m really happy that you decided to give this a go.”

  I smile at him. “I’m happy I did too.”

  I see an older woman walking up to our table, she must be in her late sixties.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” she says looking between Dom and me.

  “It’s fine,” I respond, smiling at her.

  “You two remind me so much of my late husband and I. It’s so sweet to see young love.” My eyebrows shoot up and I start coughing, taking hold of my water.

  “Thank you,” I say into my glass.

  “It’s all new,” Dominic adds, stretching out his collar. I notice his cheeks redden a bit and he looks adorable.

  She touches my hand. “They all start new, sweetheart.”

  I smile at her words. Maybe she’s right. Dom stands from the table before the woman begins walking away.

  “Do you know how to take a picture on one of these?” he asks her, flashing his iPhone.

  I roll my eyes. There’s no way this woman knows how to take a picture on an iPhone.

  She giggles. “Well, yes I do. I had to learn so I can take photos of all my great-grandchildren.” Dominic hands her his phone with a smile then looks over to me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

  He sits back down and pats his lap. “Come on.”

  I smirk at him, walk over and sit myself on his lap sideways so my legs hang to his side. I look down at him with a smile.

  “You’re such a dork sometimes. Do you know that?” He places his hand behind my neck, pulling my face gently down to his and smiling against my lips, before kissing them gently.

  “Only when I’m with you.”

  We both start laughing against each other’s lips. I forgot all about the woman with Dom’s phone. I quickly stand and the old woman smiles.

  “I got some good ones in there. Bless your heart sweet girl. He’s a keeper.”

  I think that was the turning point for me. Dominic is amazing. Not only on the outside but the inside too. At this moment, I want to try with him.

  “Thank you,” I say shyly.

  Dominic walks up behind me, taking the phone from the old woman. “Thank you,” he says and she smiles. “Oh don’t thank me. That was a pleasure to see.”

  My eyebrows shoot up. If she weren't such a sweet old lady I would have been creeped out by that comment. I look up to Dominic, and he’s smiling a huge smile at me while flicking through his phone.

  “What?” I say self-consciously.

  He smiles. “You’re so fucking beautiful. These are going on Facebook.”

  I shake my head. “Give me a look first. Shit.”

  I swipe his phone out of his hand. Flicking through the photos, they are actually great. We look like a couple in love. She snapped three of them. One was of us laughing against each other’s lips. The other was a perfect snap of a light kiss on my lips, and the other was both of us looking deep into each other’s eyes. We look like a happy couple. I smile up at him and pass his phone back.

  “They’re good. Maybe she should be a photographer.”

  He laughs. “Or maybe you should be a model.”
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  I laugh, sitting back to my seat. “Yeah, nope. Never. Carter has enough model like behavior for me to handle.”

  The waiter comes back, placing our meals out in front of me and we chat and eat like the friends we are.

  I’m tossing and turning in bed, thinking about what happened tonight. It feels as though I’m forcing myself into this a bit too much. I need to try it out, but I also don’t want to lead him on.

  Relationships are such a fucking mess. Now I could lose a friend as well. I close my eyes and let sleep drift over me, where my nightmares await.

  “No. No. Get the fuck off me.”

  Who is that? Where am I? I try to open my eyes, but I can’t, it was as though they were stuck closed.

  “Get the fuck off me you pig.”

  That’s Alaina. Oh my God, what the fuck. I began to stir around.

  “Fuck up bitch!” I heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh, and then there was silence. The next thing I heard is a zipper and the slapping sound of skin-to-skin contact. I attempted again to say something, but it came out in mumbled words.

  “Fuck…where am I?” I managed to mumble out in a sleepy haze.

  The sound stops. “Fuck, Jason. Go put that bitch back to sleep.”

  I felt a hand come over my mouth and a pill drop on my tongue. He kept his hand covered over my mouth, forcing me to swallow. My eyes closed and darkness took over once again.

  I wake up in a sweat with my arms shaking. That wasn’t a nightmare. That was a memory. I look at the time on my phone, ignoring the two messages and see it’s the early hours of the morning. There’s no way I’m going to be able to go back to sleep. My body begins to convulse as tears start pouring down my face. “Alaina,” I whisper out to the darkness. She endured horrific things. I bet that’s not even the tip of what happened to her. Here I am moping about having fingers shoved inside me. I’m a shitty person. I pick up my phone, opening a new message and send her a text.

  Me: Can we talk sometime? Please.

  Placing my phone back down on my bedside table, I feel like a place in me has broken for her. That memory was so vivid. Fuck. I lay there for a couple hours until the tears have dried on my face and the early morning sun is pouring into my room. I hear a knock on my door.

  “Baby G, it’s me. Can I come in?”

  “If I say no will you go away?”

  The door swings open, and he prances in with his robe wrapped around him and in his Hugh Hefner slippers.

  “Of course not,” I mumble, rolling my eyes.

  He sits down on my bed, placing his arm around me. “I heard you screaming last night. I ran in here, but you were asleep and you wouldn’t wake up. What’s happening? I’m worried.”

  “It was a memory…from that week,” I say looking directly at the wall.

  His eyebrows push together in worry. “What happened?”

  “To me? Not much compared to what Alaina had to deal with. That’s her story, though. I can’t share that with you, Carter,” I reply sadly.

  “What about you? What did they do?”

  I shrug, pulling the blanket up to my chin. “It only happened a couple times. He always used his fingers. He never came near me with his dirty dick.”

  Carter swallows and turns red. “I can kill them,” he says with certainty.

  I sit up on the bed and pat his hand. “Ade has already taken care of it. And Zane. I’m gathering, seeing as I left them there with both of the men who did this to us.”

  “Well, I’ll unbury him and do it all over again,” he says with a shaky voice.

  I grip onto his hand. “Hey, don’t. I didn’t tell you for sympathy, Carter. Don’t cry for me.”

  He wipes under his eyes. “You don’t deserve all that, Kal. No one does. It’s sickening to think men like that exist in this messed up world.”

  I nod my head and throw the covers off me. “I know. I need to make sure Alaina is okay. Every time I see her it’s as if she’s so strong, calm, and collected. She endured some horrible shit, Carter. I’m surprised Zane hasn’t burned this entire earth down.”

  “Well,” he begins, walking over to me, “it’s probably that painful, that he’s gone the opposite way you know. It sounds like some pretty dark and deep shit.”

  He’s right, that’s probably what is. Sometimes our coping mechanisms can change depending on how serious the shit is we have to deal with. Nothing can pull Zane and Alaina apart. They’re the King and Queen of the MC world. She fits perfectly into it. I knew her pre-Zane and she was always quiet and reserved. Maybe Zane brought out a side of her that she kept hidden. It’s like she has no fear now that she has her man by her side. I envy her in a way and I have an inkling of how that will feel because I felt it once—with Ade. Carter chuckles while looking down at his phone. I look behind me, taking my top off, leaving me in my panties and bra.

  “What?” I snap at him.

  I know that laugh. It’s a tsk tsk laugh. I might kill him if he decides today is a good day to pick on Kalie. I have a video to do tomorrow, and I need to go out shopping today. He flashes his phone at me, showing me what he’s looking at. I narrow my eyes, trying to gain a better look. I smile at the screen when I see Dominic has tagged me in all three of our photos from last night.

  “Was a good night, huh?” Carter asks with a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow.

  I smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it was.”

  Picking up my phone from the nightstand, I open up my Facebook app, and ‘like’ all three photos. I toss over whether I should make one of them my profile picture. Then think, not yet, too soon. I check my Facebook wall while I’m on there, and Phoebe has left a comment, which sets off a conversation with the girls.

  Phoebe Rendon: Hey girl, lunch today?

  Vicky Rendon: Yeah, not without me you’re not.

  Phoebe Rendon: We might.

  Vicky Rendon: I sincerely doubt that, sugar puff. I’m leaving Westbeach now.

  Phoebe Rendon: Nope, don’t do the sugar puff thing again Vicky, makes me feel fat.

  Vicky Rendon: Calm your tight size 0 ass down about it, sugar puff.

  Alaina Mathews: I’M COMING! Vicky, if you leave me behind, I will set those Louboutin’s on fire. Don’t play.

  Vicky Rendon: You’re an evil woman. We need to sneak out. Because of you know who.

  Alaina Mathews: Yeah, that was pretty obvious, Vicky.

  Phoebe Rendon: Ade?

  I roll my eyes and laugh at their conversation. These girls are crazy, but I love them to bits. They don’t have to worry about Ade, he’s not on my friends list so there’s no way he can see their conversation. I look through the photos from last night again, smiling. My smile drops when I see the little earth symbol near the privacy.

  “Fuck,” I whisper while clicking on the symbol.

  Carter comes up to me, looking over my shoulder. “What’s up?”

  I point to the symbol. “These photos are public. Anyone on Facebook can see them.”

  It falls silent, and when I look over my shoulder I see his face is red from trying to withhold his laughter. I drop my eyes in a bored look.

  “Carter, this is not funny. Ade will get the wrong idea from those pictures. They almost killed each other at the wedding. He will for sure kill Dominic now. Shit.”

  Carter waves his hand around his face. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Look, Ade is probably not even on Facebook.”

  I think over what he just said, and he may be right. There’s no way Ade will have a Facebook. I check through Vicky, Phoebe, and Alaina’s Facebook friends anyway just to make sure, and sure enough, none of the boys are there. I relax instantly. Carter rounds me, standing in front of me and taking my brush in his hand and he begins running it through my hair.

  “The question is though, baby…why did that possibility bother you so much?”

  I swallow down and shoo his brushing away. “Because Carter…because I think I’m in love with him, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.?
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  Carter pauses and spins my body around to face him. “You know what you need to do. You can’t do that to Dominic. You need to let him go.”

  I look away from him, glancing at the door. “I know,” I reply swallowing down a ball of worry. “I’ll just…I’ll call him today.” I smile at Carter and he nods his head.

  “Good girl,” he says lightly kissing me on the cheek.

  I don’t know where I’d be without him. We balance each other out. God was apologizing for all men when he made Carter—as always, the good ones are either gay or married.

  Fuck my life.

  Apart from Dominic, he’s special. I really hope I haven’t ruined our friendship, I’ll be heartbroken. I can’t live without Dominic in my life. He’s been there for so long that I’ve almost become dependent on him.

  I take out some casual clothes, scrub fast through the shower before running back to my room. I end up settling on a black maxi dress that hugs my curves nicely, curves that have come back in full force after my week of no food. I swear my ass has doubled. I brush my long hair and leave it in natural waves down my back. I put on some BB cream then snatch my glasses and handbag from the dresser before I leave my room. I walk out to the living room to see all the girls in there and Carter playing with Phoebe’s hair. She has incredible hair, Carter and I always fight over who gets to touch Phoebe’s hair.

  “Hey!” I chirp, walking over to hug them all.

  “Hey girl,” Alaina says cheerfully from the seat she’s sitting on.

  Vicky smiles up at me, although the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “Please tell me those photos I saw today were just two friends casually kissing at a restaurant?”

  I blush, sucking in a breath, before sitting on the couch and placing my hands over my legs. These girls are my life; they will tell me where to put it if I fuck up. They’re real, and there’s no way I can lie to them. Especially Vicky, she’s scary.

  “Um…before I left for your wedding, Dom kissed me. I said to him just to give me some time. When I came back, one thing leads to another and he asked me out for dinner, as more than friends. I agreed. And that’s how those photos happened. I love Dom, so much. I really wanted it to work, but I can’t do that to him. Not when my heart is currently riding a motorcycle.” I breathe out in a rush and Phoebe adds in a mumbled tone, “More like riding his army of skanks.”