With Vengeance (14 page)

“
No, I can’t do this,”
he’d said.
“It’s not right, not in the condition you’re in.”

Despite the rejection, he’d been gentle and
tender, cradling her face and staring deep into her eyes like a
lover. And his cock had been hard as steel, straining against the
fabric of his jeans.

Her core filled with heat at the memory of
how he felt pressed between her thighs. He’d wanted her, that was
unmistakable, but he’d held back because she’d been drugged up.
Despite her frustration that he’d stopped, his honorable reasons
filled her with even more respect and affection for him. She’d had
her share of drunken one-night stands that she’d ended up
regretting.

With what had happened last night? She had no
regrets. Sober, she only wanted Klement more.

In his embrace, she’d never felt safer. In
his company, she’d never been more relaxed. Every time she’d been
in need, he’d been there without her even having to ask. When her
old guitar strap hurt her shoulder, he gave her a new one. When her
car broke down, he had it towed to his place and immediately began
planning how to fix it. When she’d had a panic attack, he’d
comforted her. A lump formed in her throat at the magnitude of her
gratitude for everything he’d done. If only there was a way to
repay him. But, what could she do for a man who seemed to have
everything?

Kat chose her outfit for the day with care.
Klement had mentioned working on her car, and the least she could
do was help him with that. But she still wanted to look good.

Settling on a pair of well-worn jeans that
still flattered her figure and a snug black Slayer t-shirt, she
next went to the bathroom and fixed the train-wreck that was her
makeup. Apparently she’d also forgotten to wash up last night and
had total raccoon face.

Downstairs, Roderick told her that Klement
was already working on her car, so she grabbed a few bagels and a
cup of coffee for each of them, hoping she’d added enough cocoa to
his. Outside, she headed to the garage and laid eyes on his tall,
lean-muscled form, and her knees went weak.

Klement saw her and smiled. “Hey there.”

She licked dry lips. “Hey.” For a moment she
stood like an idiot. She wished she could smack herself upside the
head. “I brought you coffee and bagels.”

“Thank you so much,” he said, as if she’d
done something far more impressive—like bake them herself. He took
what she offered.

“No problem.” Her voice came out husky, and
Kat couldn’t stop staring at his lips and remembering how they’d
felt against hers. She’d never been so strongly affected by a guy
before. “What can I do to help?”

Klement finished chewing a bite of bagel and
took a sip of coffee. “I could use your small hands to reach down
and unfasten the fuel hoses tucked back under there.” He pointed to
her engine compartment. “Then we need to measure how long they are
before I cut new ones.”

Kat followed him to his toolbox and blinked
to see boxes of car parts and loops of fuel hose. “You went to the
parts store already?”

“Yeah, I’m usually an early riser.” He handed
her a pair of needle-nose pliers and a Phillip’s head
screwdriver.

“Shouldn’t we drop the tank before replacing
the hoses?”

He inclined his head toward a dark shape in
the corner of the garage. “Already done. I flushed it with hot
water to get rid of the sugar and then filled it with a
rust-removing solution to let it soak. That should take care of the
rust and the remainder of the water. After it dries we’ll want to
coat the inside with a rust converter.”

“Wow. Thanks!” He had to have been up for
hours to have accomplished all that. And it had all been for her.
“You should have woken me up so I could have helped more.”

“Nah, you needed a rest after the crazy night
you had.” An inscrutable look passed over his features. Was he
remembering their kiss?

Kat bit her lip. “Yeah. Crazy. I’ll get
started on those hoses.”

As she unfastened the hose clamps from the
fuel pump, taking a break to grab some PB Blaster to break loose a
rusted screw, Klement leaned over her shoulder. For a moment some
silly part of her thought he was going to kiss her neck. But when
she dared to glance up, she saw that he was watching her
progress.

“You seem to have some experience working on
cars.”

How could he pretend nothing had happened
between them last night? She clenched her teeth and went back to
attacking the hose clamp.

“My stepdad taught me the basics, but I
really learned the most when I helped Kinley get her Duster. Her
dad’s a major sexist prick and said he’d give it to whichever of
his sons got it running.” She grinned at the memory. “But Dale
already had his own car, and Chris was more interested in video
games, so Kinley demanded he include her in the challenge.”

“And how’d that go?”

“Lots of scraped knuckles and broken bolts.
Her dad would come in the garage with this sanctimonious smirk that
made me want to punch him in the face, so I picked up all the shop
manuals and watched all the YouTube tutorials that I could find and
I helped her.” Her smile broadened. “The car didn’t run pretty, but
it ran. And the look on her dad’s face when we drove it around the
block was worth it.”

Klement laughed with the unabashed delight
that she’d grown to love. How could she have thought he sounded
dorky?

“That’s awesome,” he said.

They worked together on her Subaru with
almost as much harmony as she had with Kinley—maybe more in some
ways, since Klement knew more about what they were doing.

After removing the last clamp, Kat grabbed a
shop rag and wiped her fingers with a grimace. “Damn, these were
sticky. I wish I could find out who fucked with my car and beat the
crap out of them.”

Klement’s expression darkened. He crossed his
arms and leaned forward. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you.
Did you tell anyone that we hired you to be our recording
guitarist?”

“No. Well, only Kinley, Quinn, and my mom.”
Kat paused, remembering. “Wait, I did tell my IT Guy for our
website. But I never told him where the studio is. Besides, he
wouldn’t do something like this.”

Klement arched a brow. “How do you know?”

Kat glared at him. “I’ve had a long enough
working relationship with the guy to know he’s not a psycho.
Besides, it makes zero sense for him to do anything that would cost
me money. Then I wouldn’t be able to pay him for his work.”

“Fair enough.” Amusement tinged Klement’s
voice, as if he found her defense of her IT Guy to be funny. “But
what if he told someone else?”

“He wouldn’t,” Kat insisted. “He’s very big
on confidentiality.”

“You seem to trust the guy a lot.”

Again, Klement sounded amused, and Kat put
her hands on her hips. “I do. It’s why I’ve stayed working with him
since our site was founded. That reminds me, I need to call him
today to run an update.”

Klement’s features sobered, and he got back
to his main point. “And you’re sure no one else knows? About you
playing for us.”

“Completely sure. You told me to keep it
quiet for now. I kept my word.”

Something in Klement’s eyes gave her pause.
“What? Do you think someone found out and is upset about me playing
with you guys?”

Klement nodded and blew a strand of hair from
his face. “It’s a theory. Cliff’s been getting a bit of harassment
out of left field too, so I was wondering if they’re related, but
nothing’s happened to his car yet. Have you given any more thought
as to possible culprits?”

Kat blew out a breath. “I still got nothing.
I mean, I had a bad breakup six months ago, but like I said to the
cops, he lives in Spokane. And I haven’t heard from the asshole in
a long time. And all he did was send me a bunch of angry texts.
Those petered out awhile ago.” Her fists clenched in helpless
frustration. “I wish I had some other clue. I mean, who would do
this? And what will they do next?”

To her humiliation, she started shaking
again. Klement placed his hands on her shoulders and bent down to
face her. “Don’t worry, Kat. I won’t let anything else happen to
you. And I
will
find out who did this.”

Chapter Twelve

Richard grinned when he saw Cliff enter the
bar and give him a pleased wave. He’d hoped the guy would show up
again.

“Where are your bandmates?” he asked as the
singer approached his table. He didn’t want to risk Kat coming in
and recognizing him.

“They’re back at the house working on a new
song. It’ll be in honor of Lefty.” Cliff winked. “Which means I’m
free to enjoy the weekend. That’s why I drove myself here. But
they’ll be in soon.”

Richard hid his mirth behind a sip of his
drink. The great Cliff Tracey was just a hired performer? He
wondered what Kat thought of that.

“You mean, you don’t write the music?”

“Not the basic tracks. I
perfect
them.
Once the lyrics are written, I decide how they’re sung and then the
guitars and bass are adjusted to fit.” He laughed and beckoned a
cocktail waitress over. “So, in the end, I get the credit and the
chicks.”

Richard smirked and admired the waitress’s
tits. “Not a bad arrangement. Still, doesn’t it bother you to not
have creative control?” In every band he was in, it was his way or
the highway. Kat hadn’t seemed to get that, so she hadn’t
lasted.

“Nah, Klement knows what he’s doing for
instrumental appeal. I know what I’m doing for vocal and visual
appeal. It works.” Cliff ordered a drink and gave the waitress an
autograph and a huge tip. “Besides, if I come up with an awesome
riff, Klement always finds the best place to incorporate it.”

Richard still didn’t get that, but whatever.
He was here to get revenge on Kat and use her fuck-buddy to do it.
For that he needed information.

“I hope this isn’t a rude question, but have
you guys found a new guitarist? I mean, Lefty was one of my idols,
but it would be a shame if Bleeding Vengeance didn’t continue.”

“Well, we hired one for the studio, and we’re
going to try her out for Thrashfest.”

Richard pretended to be surprised. “You hired
a chick?”

Cliff held up his hands, looking defensive.
“She’s one hell of a guitarist. She nailed Lefty’s riffs better
than our other candidates.”

Richard dropped his voice to a conspiratorial
tone. “Is she hot?”

“Oh, yeah.” Cliff waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll
have her in the sack in no time.”

Richard blinked in surprise. So, Cliff wasn’t
fucking Kat yet? Relief mixed with an odd feeling of irritation
that he didn’t have that sin to lay at her door. Not yet, anyway.
But was she just trying to fool Cliff into thinking she was a good
girl? She’d let Richard fuck her the night they met, just like the
slut she was. He almost pitied the lead singer of Bleeding
Vengeance.

He took a big swig of his drink. “How do you
think she’ll handle onstage?”

Cliff shrugged. “Okay, I guess. My only worry
is that she has some kind of anxiety disorder, so hopefully she
doesn’t have a freak-out in the middle of the set.”

Oh yes, her so-called PTSD. Richard resisted
the urge to roll his eyes. He’d always suspected it was bullshit.
Something she did for attention. He remembered a time when they
were supposed to go to a party at a friend’s house. She’d started
shaking like an epileptic and totally ruined his night.

Cliff shrugged. “I guess we’ll see come
showtime.”

“What do the fans think of her replacing
Lefty?” Richard asked, this time with genuine curiosity.

Cliff made a face. “Actually, we haven’t
decided if she’ll be permanent or not, so right now we’re keeping
it under wraps.” He stopped suddenly, looking nervous. “Fuck, I
wasn’t even supposed to tell you.”

“I’ll keep quiet, I swear.”

Until it suits me not to.

“Thanks, man,” Cliff said. “Anyway, we’re not
going to make any official announcements until after Thrashfest.
Klement thought it would be best to just have her up there with no
fanfare and let her performance speak for itself.”

Doubt laced the singer’s voice. So, he didn’t
think Kat would be up to the job either? Richard stroked his lower
lip and fought back a smile. Maybe he didn’t need to do anything to
ruin things for her. Maybe she’d do it all herself.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Cliff reached into a
pocket and pulled out a blue triangle sticker. “Here’s a backstage
pass if you can make it to the show. Maybe we can jam
afterward.”

Richard grinned as he looked at the Bleeding
Vengeance logo on the pass. “Wow, thanks man!”

This would make
his
vengeance so much
easier.

***

Klement and Kat followed Roderick into The
Hellion, looking around for Cliff. He spotted his friend at a table
with another man with long curly brown hair, and from this distance
the two looked like they could be brothers. But Cliff’s companion
suddenly rose from the table and headed off, melting into the
crowd.

Klement glanced to the side to make sure Kat
was still with him. She had fallen back a few steps to watch the
house band with Roderick. With her sultry beauty and the purple
velvet dress she was wearing, it was impossible not to stare. Guys
everywhere were already ogling her.

His jaw clenched as he tapped her on the
shoulder. “Come on, I found Cliff.”

“Okay.”

Some of the club patrons gave Klement jealous
looks to see Kat by his side. Cliff just gave them a lopsided smile
as they joined him.

“Hey, I wanted to introduce my friend Rick,
but he had to take off.”

Klement shook his head as he saw that the
singer was already drunk. Things were going according to plan.
“That’s too bad. But, give me your car keys. I’m not going to let
you drive wasted. You’re riding home with us.”