Night with Sole Regret

TEMPT ME XIII

He leaned out the open door, said something to one of the security guards just outside and in an instant, the girl was gone.

“Since when do you care how obnoxious a babe is behaving as long as you’re getting laid?” Kellen asked.

“Madison doesn’t need to see someone acting like that,” Owen said. “She’s . . . nice.”

Nice. It didn’t feel like a compliment. Madison kept encountering the women who naturally hung around the band and nice wasn’t the first descriptor that came to mind. Maybe that was why she felt so out of place.

“She also makes the best gingersnaps I’ve ever tasted,” Owen added.

Adam growled and tried to kick him, almost unsettling Madison in the process.

The band’s drummer, with his black and red mohawk, tattooed scalp, and startlingly green eyes, slid into the seat next to Owen. If Adam was damp, and Kellen was wet, then Gabe was drenched. Madison wasn’t sure how Owen managed to look like he’d just stepped out of a styling salon. He didn’t have a single hair out of place.

“Hey, Gabe, where’s Shade?” Adam asked.

Now that Miss Groupie, make that Miss Grope-y, was out of the car and Adam was no longer in danger of s****l harassment, Madison tried to shift off his lap. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from moving away.

“I think he’s on the phone arguing with Tina again,” Gabe said.

“He can do that at the hotel,” Adam said. “Let’s go.”

“Keep your pants on, Adam,” Kellen said.

“If you had this woman on your lap, would you want to keep your pants on?”

Madison flushed. She could not believe he’d said that.

“Well, no. I’d already have my pants off if I was in your situation,” Kellen said, “but you might not want to piss Shade off any more than you already have. He’s having a bad day.”

“Which I’m sure he blames on me,” Adam said. “Just like he blames everything on me.”

Shade slid into the car next to Adam and the door shut. Someone slapped the roof of the car and it moved forward.

Shade was still clutching his cellphone and didn’t spare any of them a glance, not that it was easy to tell what his gaze was fixed on as he always wore a pair of aviator sunglasses. While Owen enthusiastically described some s*x club in San Antonio to Kellen, who seemed interested, and Gabe, who did not, Adam’s hand kept wandering under Madison’s skirt to stroke the inside of her thigh. Shade stared out the tinted window and didn’t say a word to anyone. Madison’s need to counsel him was overwhelming. She extended a hand in his direction and opened her mouth to ask him a question, but thought better of it and pursed her lips.

“Come on, Gabe,” Owen said. “You’ll have a great time.”

“I told you,” he said, running a finger along his head at the boundary of his mohawk. “I have this thing I’m working on with Melanie.”

“What thing?” Owen asked with a smirk. “Does it involve batteries or a gas-powered generator?”

Brows drawn together, Gabe bit his lip and punched Owen in the thigh. “A relationship. You know, commitment?”

“Never heard of it,” Owen claimed as he elbowed Kellen in the ribs.

Madison’s attention turned to Gabe. She’d never known any of the band members to commit to a woman in the entire year she’d been acquainted with them. If Gabe could manage it, then maybe Adam could hang out with him while the other three went out and fooled around with their grope-ies. Or went to s*x clubs. Or whatever other activities they partook in that might involve the indiscretion of Adam’s d**k.

Owen’s blue eyes shifted to Adam and then immediately diverted to Shade. Apparently he knew better than to ask Adam in front of Madison. “You’ll come, won’t you, Shade?”

As the sound of his name, Shade pulled his strict concentration from the dark streets outside the car. “What?”

“This club I heard about in San Antonio. You’re coming, right?”

“s*x club?” Shade asked, as if it was their most typical excursion.

“Oh yeah.”

“When?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“Exclusive?” Shade asked.

“Yep.”

“I’m in.”

Owen glanced at Adam again. Madison could tell he wanted to ask Adam if he was going, and she wanted to hear Adam’s response. Did he go to s*x clubs often? Was that where he’d learned to be such an amazing lover? She wasn’t even sure what went on at s*x clubs. s*x, she presumed, but would it be like a brothel or a free-for-all orgy or what?

“What do you do at a s*x club?” Madison asked Owen.

Adam’s thighs stiffened beneath her.

Owen glanced nervously at Adam. Madison turned her head and found Adam staring ice daggers at the bassist.

“Nothing that would interest you, sweetie,” Owen said. “Or Adam,” he added with a wave of his hand.

Of course Adam would never be interested in something like that. Sure. She wasn’t going to be deterred that easily. “Do you just have s*x with strangers out in the open in front of everyone?”

“If that’s your kink,” Kellen said.

Madison’s heart rate accelerated. “Is it yours?” she asked him, lost in his dark brown eyes. The man had an unquestionable strength about him. He didn’t say much around her, but she was always aware of him. Owen drew attention with ceaseless interaction, Kellen by his presence alone.

“Performance s*x?” Kellen shook his head. “Not particularly, no. That’s more Adam’s thing.”

“Don’t tell her that,” Adam said. “She’s liable to believe you.”

Shade leaned across the back seat and slid a hand onto Madison's knee. “I think you should come down to San Antonio and join us, sweetheart. I always wondered what it was about you that kept Adam interested. You seem pretty vanilla to me. What are you hiding behind that innocent act? And beneath that skirt?”

Adam grabbed Shade’s hand and crushed his fingers. “Don't touch her.”

Shade chuckled. “See? He's all pissed-off now. Hey, Adam, what's so great about her anyway? Does she give good head or what?”

Before she could tell Shade to go f**k himself, Madison found herself bouncing across the seat beside Adam when he tossed her off his lap and jumped on Shade. Within seconds, a full-out brawl raged in the back of the limo. Adam got in a few good punches before Shade found enough leverage to send him flying toward the backseat. Adam careened into Kellen's and Owen's legs before launching himself in Shade's direction again.

Heart thundering out of control, Madison grabbed the back of Adam's shirt to try to pull him off Shade. “Stop!”

She instantly found her back secured against a hard chest with both wrists trapped at her sides.

“Let them fight,” Kellen’s deep voice said in her ear. “This has been building for weeks.”

Madison struggled to be set free, but not only was Kellen strong, he seemed to know some technique for keeping her easily immobilized. “One of them is going to get hurt,” Madison said.

Adam and Shade’s rapid-fire punches were already slowing and becoming less punishing. After less than a minute, they separated, glaring acid at each other. Shade's sunglasses were bent and askew. Adam's full lower lip was bleeding. A red mark darkened his cheek.

“I am sick of your bullshit, Shade,” Adam yelled. “I've f*****g had it.”

“What? You gonna leave?” Shade returned. “Go ahead. Leave. Then maybe we could find someone to take your place who shows up for sound checks on time, doesn’t think f*****g is more important than breathing, isn’t stupid enough to smoke pot backstage while on probation, and isn't the all-around most inconsiderate asshole I've ever met.”

Madison’s heart slammed into her ribcage. What did Shade mean about Adam smoking pot backstage? Recently? Why would he keep something like that from her? Why would he lie? And if he lied about something like that, how could she believe anything he said to her?

“Yeah, maybe I will leave,” Adam yelled. “At least I won't have to put up with getting bitched at by an egomaniac like you.”

“No one is leaving,” Kellen said. “You two need to stop pissing each other off on purpose. It’s juvenile.”

Adam and Shade gaped at Kellen in astonishment.

“It's f*****g obvious that you do it,” Owen said. While Adam and Shade agreed on nothing, Owen and Kellen seemed to agree on everything. “Adam knows how much it pisses Shade off to be late, so any opportunity he has to be late, he takes it.”

Adam lowered his gaze and stared at his reddened knuckles.

“And Shade will do anything to get Adam riled,” Owen continued. “He knew it would piss Adam off to make a move on his girl, so what does he do? Makes a move on his girl.”

“Maybe I'm genuinely interested in her,” Shade said, his deep voice gruff. He removed his ruined sunglasses and stuffed them into a pocket.

Shade had gorgeous dark blue eyes set off by thick, black lashes. There were all sorts of emotions swirling around in their depths. Madison wondered why he hid those beautiful eyes behind sunglasses at all hours of the day and night.

“Yeah?” Adam asked. “If you’re so interested in her, what's her name?”

Shade shrugged and shook his head. “Like I give a shit.”

Owen released a heavy sigh. “Maybe it's time for you two to apologize—”

“I'm not apologizing to him,” Adam grumbled.

“What the f**k do I have to apologize for?” Shade bellowed.