“Really?” she taunted, eyes narrowed dangerously. At that moment, she looked like a goddess raging against him, larger than life and more beautiful than any woman he’d ever seen. He shook his head. He had officially lost his mind.
“Yes.” He let his eyes roam over her body. “For one month, it’s just the two of us unless you’re quitting already.” He smiled coldly.
“Fuck you!” She stormed from the dance floor, bolting toward the back of the bar.
He watched her as she melted into the crowd. Confused, annoyed and aroused, he dropped his head into his hands. What a cluster-fuck!
Less than a minute later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Marcus.
“Hey,” Cam said, searching Marcus’s face. Did he see what happened? Marcus wasn’t the most observant guy, but that could be an act for all he knew.
“Did you force her to quit already?” Marcus asked, with his hands on his hips and his face totally unreadable.
“Yes…no…I don’t know.” He honestly didn’t know. He didn’t think Taylor would give up that easily, but what did he know about her…other than she smelled and tasted unbelievably sweet and he wanted to rip her clothes off on the dance floor ten minutes ago?
“You better hope not. Alec will rip you to pieces if you cause her to shed one single tear,” Marcus said.
“I know,” Cam responded, his voice flat because he did know. It wasn’t a secret and that’s why pushing her away on the dance floor was the first intelligent decision he’d made in months.
“Do you want another drink?” Marcus asked, following Cam from the dance floor.
“What happened with the red head?”
Marcus shrugged. “I got what I wanted.”
Too bad Cam couldn’t say the same. That one brief kiss with Taylor wasn’t even close to enough to satisfy him and that terrified and thrilled him. “I’m going to take a taxi back to the hotel. There’s no reason to stay and we have a performance tomorrow.”
“Since when has that mattered to you?” Marcus asked smirking.
“Since now.” It had to matter because his dreams were hanging in the balance and he had to show the guys he could change for the better. If the label kicked him out of the band or the guys tried to force him out, he could kiss his career goodbye. No band would take a chance on him again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Late the next morning, Taylor woke up with a pounding headache, hazy memories and an achingly dry throat. So this was why she shouldn’t drink. She clearly remembered taking tequila shots with Cam. From there, she didn’t recall much. She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands sifting through snapshots in her mind.
“Fuuuuck!” She shot up in her bed, the sudden movement making her head spin and her stomach roll. That didn’t happen. Please don’t be real, she chanted repeatedly in her head. When no amount of wishful thinking succeeded in erasing the memories of her kissing Cam, touching him, practically begging him to touch her, she flopped back onto the mattress, covering her face with a pillow.
She officially failed. There wasn’t any excuse sufficient to justify her behavior. Chasing Ruin offered her the easiest job in the history of humanity and she couldn’t even keep her hands to herself for a single day. Maybe Miles was right. She was inept.
Even worse, if Cam wanted to get rid of her, he had the perfect ammo. One slip to any of the guys and her job would be over. Her brother wouldn’t allow her to be within a mile of Cam. She’d be forced to take Alec’s handouts or starve because she refused to run back to Seattle into the arms of her piece of shit ex-boyfriend, even if he still called weekly begging for her to come back. Handouts and starvation sounded vastly more appealing than being anywhere near that controlling loser again. The only thing she missed about Seattle was her old roommate, Evelyn.
Thinking of Evelyn, Taylor lifted her phone from the nightstand. She never told Evelyn that she accepted the position. There was one text from Evelyn and one from Miles. She deleted the text from Miles without reading it and read Evelyn’s text.
Evelyn: So are you officially part of the Chasing Ruin team? Please say yes.
Taylor laughed.
Taylor: Yes.
Evelyn must have been waiting for her text all morning because Taylor received an immediate response.
Evelyn: I’m soooo jealous. Maybe you could kiss Cam for me and tell me all about it. I watched that video and I wouldn’t mind sampling him for an hour or a night…
Taylor’s face heated remembering just how much of Cam she sampled last night.
Taylor: It’s a job. That’s it!