Tainted (6 page)

“Do you need anything?”

“You could stop the bus and let me off
,” she said, sitting up.

His lips tightened. “I was talking about something to eat or drink.”

“I know what you meant,” Sawyer snapped. “How long are you going to do this, Kaden? You’re holding me prisoner against my will. Eventually you’ll have to let me go, and then you and your entire band are going to go to jail,” she said angrily.

“I don’t think it’s to
o smart telling me that, do you?” Kaden crossed his arms over his chest, watching her reaction.

Sawyer forced herself not to let his attitude intimidate her.
“Let me go, Kaden, and I won’t say a thing to the police. I promise.” Sawyer meant it; she just wanted her freedom. She would tell the police about the other women, but she would keep Kaden and his band out of it if he would let her go.

“Somehow
, I just don’t believe you, Sawyer.” When she opened her mouth to explain, he cut her off. “Sawyer, I told you what Redman said. I’m keeping you for you and your friend’s safety.”

“I don’t need your help.” At his look of disbelief
, she corrected herself. “I just want to get Vida and disappear.”

“How? You said you worked as a waitress
; how are you just going to disappear from a group of men involved in a sex ring who want you dead?”

Sawyer winced at his blunt words.

“
V—
Vida and I have been saving. We have almost five thousand dollars...” She turned red. She was aware five thousand wasn’t a large sum of money to him, but it was a fortune to her and Vida.

“Five thousand isn’t going to be enough to hide you from men like Redman
. They’ll have you in a week. This time, they’ll have your friend, Vida, also. It will take weeks, if not months, for the police to build a case. As soon as you tried to get a job when your money ran out, they would have you.”

She hadn’t thought of that
, assuming that the police would make an immediate arrest. She had heard that it took time to gather evidence and prosecute criminals; however, she hadn’t thought about it in regards to her and Vida’s safety. She was going to have to start thinking smarter if they stood any chance of surviving.

Chapter Seven

Sawyer sat in the corner, watching another after party, and at the same time, wanting to scream in frustration as yet another woman slipped unnoticed into the room. How so many could sneak into the guarded room while she couldn’t slip out was working her nerves to a screaming point.

Being constantly monitored by Kaden and Alec
, plus being on the bus, was bringing back the memories of her childhood where her over-protective mother had smothered her with attention after the death of her father.

It had been three weeks since she had
begun being held prisoner by Kaden. At first, she’d tried to remain aloof from the band, but the individual band members were gradually wearing down her intentions. She was deathly afraid that they were weakening her resolve to escape.

Ax especially was sweet toward her
, with a sense of humor that never failed to get a reluctant smile from her. He drove the other band members crazy with his pranks, and Sawyer especially enjoyed it when Kaden was the victim. He had locked Kaden inside his bed compartment with the sliding door this morning, and swore he didn’t remember where he had put the key.

She had sat at the kitchen table
, smirking into her coffee as she wondered how he liked a dose of his own medicine when Alec had spoilt the fun by picking the lock and releasing a furious Kaden. He had gone for the prankster and wrestled him from one end of the bus to the other. At first she had thought that Ax would be the easy winner of the wrestling match with his larger, muscled frame, but Kaden had quickly changed her opinion. Kaden may be lean; however, he was a dirtier fighter.

Alec’s attention was diverted by a
curvy brunette, who was flirting with him, while Kaden was surrounded by at least two women. Sin had disappeared for his concert hump, and D-mon, as usual, had his own personal fan club vying for his attention.

Sawyer nonchalantly got to her feet as if going to get a drink
. Using the crowd as cover, she edged for the door. A number of women came in the door and Sawyer took the opportunity to slide through. She saw Alec’s men with their backs turned, trying to keep the large number of women back. This arena was larger than the previous ones, with more exits for the men to cover, and they were becoming overwhelmed.

Not hesitating
, she used the forward momentum of a large group of women to slip into the crowd.

“Hey! Stop!” one of the security detail yelled.

Frantically, knowing she had been seen, she weaved through the crowd, which she now realized had a number of men. Seeing a group of males, she smiled and edged in between them, hoping their height would hide her while she figured out which direction to go. She saw Alec and D-mon rushed past and shrunk down.

One of the men was looking down at her curiously.
Expecting him to question her, he gave her a wink and slung his arm over her shoulder. “Get to rowdy for you, sweet thing?”

It dawned on Sawyer
that they thought she was frightened of the crowd.

“Yes
,” she mumbled, looking around.

“Stay by me
; I’ll keep you safe,” the young man bragged, without a muscle on the arm around her shoulders to back up his boastful words.

His friends laughed. Seeing a
n exit sign, she was about to take off again when his arm tightened around her shoulder. “Where you going? Stay. We’re going to party after they leave. You can keep us company.”

Sawyer didn’t feel afraid
, not even when his hand went to her ass, bringing her up to his side.

Sin and
D-mon walked by, searching through the crowd.

“Sounds good.” Sawyer would agree to anything to get out of the arena. She could ditch them when she managed to get outside.

“Let her go,” Kaden’s voice sounded from behind her back.

“Go find yourself you
r own woman. Take your pick. The whole place is full of them,” he joked, making his buddies laugh.

“The one that I want has your hand on her ass
,” Kaden said sharply. The man removed his hand from her ass, drawing his fist back. Kaden looked back at the man, daring him to make a move.

“It’s Kaden Cross
,” she yelled, drawing attention to their group.

Kaden gave her a sharp glance
, while the man about to clock Kaden, looked around in surprise just before the crowd surged around them. Using the opportunity, Sawyer again slipped through the surging crowd. She felt guilty when D-mon and Sin were recognized as well and were swarmed in a mass of female bodies. The guards watching the doors moved forward, trying to rescue Kaden, D-mon and Sin.

Sawyer opened the heavy door
, running through it, but came to a halt when she was grabbed from behind. Looking back, she saw it was Ax who had stopped her flight.

“
P—p—
please,Ax.
L—
let me go.” She could tell he was wavering on his choice of releasing her or not. Gratefully, she took a step forward only to have her shoulder caught in Alec’s tight grip.

“That was stupid
, Sawyer. You could have gotten someone hurt. My men are still trying to get Kaden out.” Grimly, he propelled her toward the parked bus. The crowd thinned out as he drew closer to it. Angrily rapping on the door, he threw her a disgusted look as it swung open.

One of Alec
’s men reached down as Alec shoved her unceremoniously forward.

“Take her and lock her in the bedroom
. I have to get Kaden.” Alec’s man drew her up the step, leaving her no choice as he rushed her to the bedroom where he unapologetically pushed her inside before locking the door.

Sawyer stood
, staring at the door, biting her trembling lip. She refused to feel guilty for alerting the crowd to the fact that Kaden was there. She’d had to take a chance to escape and get to Vida, didn’t she?

She stood there several moments not knowing what to do
, when she heard a loud crash against the door. Frightened, Sawyer took a step back from the door, listening to what she thought was a struggle. Loud voices were muted against the door. She had learned through talking to Ax that the bedroom was soundproof, so whoever was sleeping wouldn’t be disturbed by what was happening in the front of the bus. Sawyer waited anxiously for Kaden to storm into the room, so it was almost anticlimactic to hear the low voices retreat.

Sawyer went to sit on the bottom of the bed
, feeling the bus start and begin moving. She twined a curl of hair around her finger over and over. She’d had the fixation since she was a little girl. She had almost broken the habit, yet recently, she seemed to be doing it constantly.

She tensed when she heard the key in the door
, and then held her breath as it swung inward, presenting Kaden standing in the doorway. Her first glance at him almost had her jumping up to run to the safety of the bathroom and locking herself in, but she doubted she would make it from the deadly stare Kaden was focusing on her.

She wanted to look away
, although she didn’t; her guilt forcing her to accept the blame for his condition. His nose was swollen and bloody, and his hair was a mess with several spots having blood matting it down. There were numerous scratch marks on his face, and even on his chest, which she could see through the tattered remains of his t-shirt.

“Oh!”

Kaden’s lips tightened at her response. “You fucking bitch.” Kaden strode forward. “Seven people are being sent to the hospital because of your stunt.” Jerking her to her feet, he propelled her into the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind them.

“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” Sawyer fought back the tears threatening to escape
. She bit back a sob when she saw that several of the scratches were deep.

“You don’t care about anybody but yourself
, Sawyer,” Kaden said harshly, pulling out a first aid kit from the small closet, slamming it down on the bathroom counter.

“That’s not true
,” Sawyer protested.

“Yes
, it is. Alec saw one of Redman’s men in the crowd. Even if you had managed to get outside the arena, he would have had you within minutes.”

Sawyer paled
. She had been so focused on escaping Alec’s security; she hadn’t given a thought to Rick’s men possibly being so close.

Kaden closed the lid to
the toilet, taking a seat. “You can clean me up since you’re the reason I got hurt.” She started to refuse, but thought for her own safety that it was better to concede to his demands.

Going to the counter
, she pulled out some antiseptic and cotton balls, which she dabbed with the antiseptic before hesitantly moving closer to him. He had flung the remains of his t-shirt into the laundry basket before glaring up at her. Gently she cleaned the scratches on his face and then got a clean one to do his chest. She winced when she saw how deep it was, taking her time to make sure that it was clean. She smeared antibiotic ointment onto each of the scratches. Tilting his head back, she then cleaned his bloody nose with a wet cloth, forcing herself to continue when more blood oozed out. Finally, the bleeding stopped and she began to sanitize the cuts on his head, which took several minutes to clean as she realized several handfuls of his hair had been pulled out by the roots.

“
I—
I
g—
guess you’re more popular than I realized,” she tried to wisecrack, inwardly sickened by the sight of his scalp.

“Sawyer
, I don’t know how, but in some way you have mistakenly come to the conclusion that I’m a nice guy,” Kaden spoke from between his clenched teeth.

“
N—
no I didn’t,” Sawyer interrupted.

“You do or you wouldn’t be standing there
, making lame ass jokes at my expense.”

Kaden stood up
and Sawyer took a step back, going to the first aid kit and putting everything back in order. She glanced up to see that Kaden was undressing behind her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to take a shower,” Kaden replied, unsnapping his jeans. With a gasp, Sawyer fled the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

She turned
on the television and took a seat in the chair by the window. She had made the mistake in trying to escape before thinking it through. Not only her safety was at stake; Vida’s was as well. She stared out the dark window, thinking about her friend, wishing she was there to talk to. They had always confided everything with each other, ever since they were little.

The bathroom door opening drew her attention as Kaden came out with just a towel wrapped around his hips. His dark hair was wet and his lean body still had droplets of water sliding down his chest to be caught by the towel. Sawyer swallowed at the man’s overt sensuality and lack of modesty
, while he ignored her, going to the closet to pull out his bag, taking out fresh clothes.

“I’m sorry.”

Her husky voice had him pausing before he zipped his bag closed. Tossing the towel to the floor
, he unconcernedly put on his jeans. Sawyer turned her head away, listening to the rustle of his clothes as he dressed.

“Come here.”

Sawyer’s head turned to see that he was standing in the middle of the floor with his hands tucked into his pockets. She was determined to stay seated, but felt herself rising to her feet, moving to stand a few feet in front of him.

“Say that again
. This time while looking me in the eyes.” Sawyer’s hand went to her hair, unconsciously twining a curl around her finger.

“I’m
s—
sorry.I never meant for anyone to be
h—h—
hurt.” It was hard to meet his eyes with a guilty conscience berating her.

“That’s better.” Kaden’s eyes studied her before he bent down to pick up the wet towel. Going into the bathroom
, she saw him tossing it into the dirty clothes bin. He then leaned against the doorway.

“Tomorrow
, we have one more concert before we take a week’s break at R.J.’s house. The security team is spending their resources trying to keep you contained, and are failing on keeping the fans and press out. It’s going to stop now, Sawyer. We are going to come to an agreement that’s going to keep everyone safe.”

“What d
o you mean? You’re going to let me go?” Hope lightened the dread in her chest.

“No.” Kaden’s voice softened
, but not by much. “What I mean is, do we both agree that five thousand isn’t a drop in the bucket to what you actually need for you and your friend to disappear?”

She didn’t want to admit it
, but he was right. Five thousand would maybe keep them hidden a couple of months if they were frugal and she wasn’t confident that with that amount of money they wouldn’t be found.

“
Y—
yes.”

“Then to secure your cooperation
, I’m willing to give you three hundred thousand dollars for three months of your time.”