Page 24 of Edge of Heaven (Crimson Edge #2)

Mick

We drive in silence for a while, everyone seemingly lost in thought. I can’t tell what Taryn is thinking, but she’s nestled against my side, her fingers still twined with mine. I feel like I need to say something, an explanation of sorts, but I can’t.

So we just sit there for a bit until Angus says, “My buddy just texted. There are a lot of arrests. I asked him to see if he can find out specifically about Callum, and he said yes. He and Dusty were just taken out in handcuffs.”

“What does that mean?” Taryn asks quietly. “Can he get out tonight?”

“Probably not. They’ll arraign in the morning.”

She lets out a sigh of obvious relief. “Thank fuck.”

“Any other news?” Tate asks.

Angus types something into his phone. “It’s a clusterfuck. Adam says they’re arresting everyone they can round up. People scattered, like we did, but they arrested at least twenty-five or thirty people. Including the band.”

“Thank you for getting me out of there,” Taryn says quietly. “It could have been a disaster for me if I’d been arrested. Both personally and professionally.”

Angus nods. “You’re welcome.”

“And thank you.” She looks at me, a soft smile on her face.

“You think I’d leave you behind? Not in a million years.”

“Are we just going to drive around?” Sam asks, looking out the window. “It’s late.”

“Adam says we need to give them about an hour to clear out the police and such.”

“I might take a nap,” Ryleigh says, yawning and resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m not used to all this excitement.”

“We really need to get the fuck off this tour,” Sam mutters.

“A couple more weeks,” Jonny says.

“A couple more weeks?” Taryn asks, confusion on her face. “Are you leaving the tour?”

Crap.

I haven’t had a chance to talk to her about this.

“Yeah,” I say gently. “Things haven’t been going well for us.”

“The crowds have been rough on you,” she says, nodding. “But I didn’t realize you could just… leave the tour.”

“It’s not that simple,” Angus says, “but we can’t keep playing to crowds who boo us.

The fact of the matter is, we were never a good fit with Karnal Death.

They play speed metal with a much harder edge.

Our music is a lot more melodic, contemporary rock, for lack of a better term.

Our fan bases are totally different. But with Nobody’s Fool and Onyx Knight both on hiatus, our label couldn’t find us a tour we could just step into.

And they offered us a sweet deal with merch and such. ”

“But now we know why,” Sam says. “I’ve done some digging, along with Angus, and it turns out no one likes touring with them.”

“Wait—I didn’t know about this,” Jonny says, looking up.

“Just came to light yesterday,” Angus says.

“Haven’t had a chance to tell you everything I found out.

Anyway, their fans are essentially as big of assholes as the band is.

Not all of them, obviously, but they have fan clubs who go out of their way to bash their opening acts unless it’s someone Karnal Death personally asks them not to. ”

“What the fuck?” I mutter. “That’s bullshit.”

“Exactly.” Sam nods. “So that’s why we’re trying to get the hell out. We have a platinum album, so we really didn’t want to do a club tour, but that’s looking like our only option for the summer.”

“Is that bad?” Taryn asks. “I mean, clubs are smaller, so you’ll sell less tickets, but they’re probably less expensive?”

Angus nods. “That’s the thing. Sasha is running numbers to figure out how many nights we have to play to pay all our expenses.

We don’t pay transportation costs right now because that was part of the deal—our equipment travels with Karnal Death’s.

That was a big selling point. Now we’re going to have to hire trucks and drivers and whatnot to go solo. Costs go up exponentially.”

He could singlehandedly run a tour for us himself—he’s richer than God—but we agreed that Angus wouldn’t throw his money around unless we’re desperate for it. We want to do this without him. So to speak.

“I didn’t realize,” Taryn is saying. “I guess there’s a lot to touring that most of us don’t know anything about. I’m going to miss you guys, though. You’ve made this leg of the tour bearable.” She glances at me, and I lean over.

“We’ll figure something out for us,” I say against her ear.

“I’m working on an exit plan,” she whispers back.

“We’ll talk later. Stay with me tonight?”

She nods. “Absolutely.”

I know the others are watching and listening, but I don’t care. They might give me shit privately, but they won’t embarrass Taryn or do anything to get her into trouble with Callum. I trust these guys with my life, so she can too.

* * *

It’s after four when we get back to the hotel.

We’re all tired, but Adam brings us in through the shipping doors and puts us on the freight elevator again. My room is on the eighth floor, and we head in that direction as we all say good night.

“You look tired, babe,” I tell Taryn after I close the door behind us.

“I’m exhausted,” she admits, sinking into a chair and kicking off her heels. “But we don’t get to spend much time together, so I don’t want to sleep.”

“Okay.” I pull off my shirt, toe off my Chucks, and make my way to the bed. “Come here. We can talk while we get comfortable.”

“I better set an alarm, in case we fall asleep,” she says. “I can’t be gone when Callum gets back.”

“Do what you need to do.” I fluff up a few pillows and then lean back against them. She types something into her phone and when she’s finished, I hold out my arms.

She slides onto the bed and immediately nestles against my chest.

We sit like that for a few minutes, and I stroke her arm, waiting for her to say something. I’m wiped out, but she’s right that we get so little time together.

“How long do we have before you leave the tour?” she asks finally.

“Around the first week of June.”

“I may have to move up my timetable,” she says quietly.

“What timetable?”

“I have about twelve grand in my savings account. I’m getting a few thousand from Alexa, and just under a grand from Rock Vibe.

That other photo shoot I did will bring in another fifteen hundred, so that’ll put me around fifteen, so with my mom’s help, I should be able to pay the last two months of Toby’s treatment without Callum. ”

“Babe, let me help you so you can get out now. I can ask Angus or?—”

“No. Please.” She sits up, shaking her head.

“Look, you’re important to me. Like, probably the most important person in my life other than my son.

And I don’t want us to start a relationship based on…

me needing you. I want us to be together because we’re in love.

Because we can’t stand to be away from each other.

I don’t want there to be this money thing hanging over our heads. ”

I start to protest, but she puts a gentle finger over my lips.

“I know you wouldn’t do what Callum does.

I know that. But you’re too important to me to start our relationship based on need.

Not again. It’s different, but in my heart it would be us starting off with something between us—and I don’t want that.

I need to figure this out on my own. I have to. Can you understand?”

I sigh. “I do and I don’t. I’m in love with you, Taryn. I know it’s soon and crazy and all the things our friends would tell us, but I can’t pretend like I’m not.”

“I’m falling for you too,” she whispers. “That’s why it’s so important to me that I get myself out of this mess I’m in.”

“Okay.” I nod, even though I hate it.

Now that I know for sure she feels what I feel, I need to get her away from Callum.

Sooner rather than later. I respect her wishes, and I understand the idea that she wants us to basically start with a clean slate.

But this seems like such a big sacrifice on her part.

The idea that he touches her every night—forces her to do things she doesn’t want to do—it just rubs me the wrong way.

“Michael?” Her voice changes slightly, one of her hands on my face.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Will you kiss me?”

“I’ll do anything you want.” I lean in and capture her lips with mine. It’s late and we’re both exhausted, but my heart—and regions farther south—are extremely excited about this turn of events.

I pull her astride me and the kiss deepens, a soft whimper escaping her as we explore each other as thoroughly as we can without taking things to the next level.

“Been a long time since I’ve been relegated to second base,” I murmur playfully.

“Third base is on the table,” she whispers.

“Yeah?” I smile. “You know I can wait, right? We don’t have to do anything if you’re not comfortable.”

“It’s not about comfort. Initially, I didn’t want to be a woman that cheats, but I don’t feel that loyalty to him anymore.

Not with how he treats me. The fact that he doesn’t hesitate to get blow jobs when I’m away and then spanked me so hard he left bruises.

I’m done with him. Me wanting to wait goes a lot deeper than whether or not I’m technically cheating. ”

“I understand all of that, and I’m okay with it. What I’m not completely sure about is what third base entails.”

She giggles. “I’m not completely sure either.” She runs a hand down my chest, over my abdomen, and to the area just above my groin. “Hand jobs? Fingering?”

I chuckle. “You tell me.”

“I feel like we’re in high school again, trying to figure out how far we want to go.”

“So you don’t get pregnant.” I grin.

She laughs and holds up her arm. “I know what you’re trying to say, but just FYI—I have a birth control implant. No matter what happens, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Good to know, but I’m a big proponent of condoms.”

“I remember.”

“So tell me about third base. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries.”

“How about we play a game?” she suggests, a wicked gleam in her eye. Then before I realize what’s happening, she slowly pulls off her dress, leaving her in nothing but a tiny black thong.

I swallow, eyes glued to her beautiful body. “What, um…what kind of… game?”

“The everything but game.”