Redeeming You(62)

Taylor turned away momentarily to hide the tears threatening to spill down her face. Before Cam, nobody ever cared about anything that might hurt her except for Alec. Miles only cared about himself and whether she fit the role he wanted to her play at any particular second. Her mother barely noticed if she was alive or dead until one of her boyfriends slapped her around, and then her mother only laughed or looked away in disgust if Taylor tried to fight back.

“She should have thought of that before she—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Cam warned stepping within inches of Jax’s face. “She doesn’t deserve any of the blame. It was all me.”

Taylor grabbed Cam’s hand. She wouldn’t let Cam take the fall for her. “He’s not telling the truth. I pushed him into this. He was a perfect gentleman.”

“Tay,” Cam said.

“Cam, it’s true. If someone’s going to get in trouble, it should be me.”

He started shaking his head.

“You and Jax need to get to the meet and greet. You can finish the conversation later.” Or not, Taylor added silently.

Jax’s eyes drifted back and forth between her and Cam. After a few tense seconds, his shoulders finally dropped and he blew out a long exaggerated breath. “Fine. The band can vote on how we handle the situation. I won’t make any decisions alone. We’re a team.”

Taylor tensed. The last thing she wanted was the band discussing her sex life. She couldn’t think of many things more humiliating at the moment, especially since the conversation would include her brother.

Cam squeezed her hand, pulling her toward him, his blue eyes compassionate. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Your brother won’t do anything to hurt you and Marcus won’t get involved. Nothing’s going to happen and Jax knows it. He just wants to protect the band. He’s not mad at you.”

She nodded, hoping Cam was right.

Just before they stepped into the green room for the formal meet and greet, Cam slipped his hands around her waist, drawing her closer to him. “Don’t even consider leaving without me. I have a surprise for you tonight.”

Her eyes went wide.

“You’ll love it.” He took a step toward a long rectangular table, then stopped and looked over his shoulder with a warm, slightly devious smile. “Or at least I hope so.”

“Will you at least give me a hint?” she called after him.

He chuckled and kept walking.





CHAPTER NINETEEN





Cam could barely wait until this meet and greet thing ended. Normally, he didn’t mind interacting with the fans and signing a few autographs. It gave him the opportunity to scope out hookup opportunities for the night and it reminded him how much he loved being a part of Chasing Ruin, but tonight he didn’t want to be Cam, the lead guitarist for Chasing Ruin. First and foremost, he wanted to be Taylor’s boyfriend and he suspected that that sentiment wouldn’t change anytime soon.

Tonight would be the only night he and Taylor had alone in a hotel before the tour ended. Until they reached Seattle, they had to sleep on the bus, and while tempting; he didn’t think he should risk crawling into Taylor’s bunk again while the guys slept. Last time, no one woke up, but he didn’t think their luck would hold if he tried it again. Besides, now that everyone knew he and Taylor were together, they’d be watching him or least Alec would be, and he couldn’t blame him.

Cam’s gaze wandered over to Taylor for the hundredth time since the meet and greet had started and she flashed him a little sexy smirk as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder. His insides were twisting with excitement and a hundred other nervous emotions as his foot bounced up and down under the table. He couldn’t wait to drag Taylor back to their hotel room and show her what he had been working on all afternoon, but at the same time, he knew how volatile Taylor could be and he didn’t want to scare her away. He hoped he struck the right balance tonight between showing her how much he cared about her and not making her feel anxious and overwhelmed.

“Relax,” Marcus said, leaning into him. “You look like you want to devour her and Alec looks like he’s coming out of his skin.”

Cam peeked at Alec. He was scowling at him and none of the fans were within five feet of him.

“See,” Marcus said.

“Fine, I’ll stop.”

The minute his manager signaled five minutes until the end of the event, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. The flirting, teasing and innuendo that happened at these types of event used to get his blood pumping, but it didn’t do anything for him today. The only person he wanted to hear anything remotely suggestive from was Taylor. All these other women didn’t appeal to him anymore. In fact, he could hardly remember why they appealed to him in the first place.