With Vengeance (21 page)

Guilt gnawed at his gut. So, yes, he needed
to tell her everything. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the best time.
“I’ll make us appointments, okay?”

“Okay.”

Suddenly, her eyes glimmered with mischief.
“Hey, if we check out, maybe you can come in my mouth.”

He just stared at her. Her words made his
sated cock stir with renewed hunger.
And maybe I can feel you
without a condom,
he wanted to add. But instead of giving voice
to his wicked thoughts, he chucked her on the chin. “You’re
terrible.”

Actually, though, he was the terrible one—for
getting into a relationship with her and not telling her the whole
truth. And, with a trip to the clinic in the works, this was
definitely a relationship.

Klement shoved his hands in his pockets as
they left his garage workshop. He would have to tell her soon,
definitely. After talking with her last night, he’d gotten the
impression that she really cared about him—about
both
of his
identities. Hell, she’d told him that he, as IT Guy, would have had
a chance with her, but now she intended to be faithful to him as
Klement. Surely she’d embrace him as both…right?

***

Kat walked with Klement back to the house.
She was sore everywhere, but she relished the aches of her
shoulders and hips. Most of all, she treasured the tenderness
between her thighs.

Her scalp also hurt a bit from him pulling
her hair. Heat crept into her cheeks. What had she been thinking to
ask him to do that? What if he thought she was some kind of freak?
But he must not have, because he’d been all too enthusiastic to
comply with her request. With a secret smile she ran a hand through
her hair, attempting to straighten up some of its mess. Sure,
they’d been working on the car, but she was pretty sure she looked
more disheveled than warranted.

When they entered the house, Cliff and Rod
were in the kitchen devouring plates of nachos. Kat’s stomach
growled. After filling a plate, she didn’t hear a word anyone said
until she’d devoured the whole thing and went back for seconds. Who
knew that working on cars followed by wild, illicit sex could give
someone such an appetite?

“Mike called while you were working,” Rod
said as he rummaged through the freezer for ice cream. “The press
release for Thrashfest was sent out today, that we’ll be there with
a new guitarist.”

Kat blinked. In that case, she’d have to
check her email and see if the release was sent to her site as
well. Either way, she’d have to post something about it, either
just mentioning that there would be a new face in the lineup, or
coming out and saying she’d joined the band. It wouldn’t do for
Chatterhead and Rocktalk to be the only ones with the official
scoop. For a moment she resented her oath of confidentiality with
the band. She had so many juicy off-the-record details. Then she
remembered the juiciest thing was her.

“That’s cool.” Klement nodded before turning
to Kat. “Looks like you’ll be spreading the word on your site?”

Rod passed around fudge pops. “About that.
Mike wants to know if he can release the identity of our new
guitarist.”

Kat’s hands trembled on the wrapper of the
treat she’d been given.

“Well, it
is
time, I suppose,” Klement
said.

Cliff frowned. “But we’re going to clarify
that it’s only for Thrashfest, right?”

“Sort of.” Klement licked his fudge pop,
momentarily distracting Kat. “We’ll clarify that we’re going to see
how she works out with us on the road and make an official
announcement about our decision once we’re sure, though in all
actuality we can’t say anything until she signs the contract.”

He glanced at her and Kat shivered. A
contract. With a big record company. She hadn’t even considered
that part.

Klement suddenly shunted that aside with a
fresh new worry. His tone was harsh and cold. “What’s the matter,
Cliff? Do you not want her in the band?”

“Whoa, man.” The singer held up his hands and
turned to Kat. “I didn’t mean it
that
way! I think you’re an
amazing guitarist. Hell, you might be even better than me. My point
was that I really don’t know if you’ll be able to handle playing on
a big stage in front of thousands of people. I hope you do fine,
but we won’t know until then. I mean, the last band I was in would
have had an amazing drummer—though not as good as Rod—but the guy
totally blew it on the first big gig and dropped out.”

Kat nodded. “That’s fair enough.”

“All right then.” Cliff tapped his fudge pop
on his lower lip. “Now that we’re all on the same page, we’d better
get you ready for Thrashfest. I think you should wear one of those
sexy outfits like you wore to the club the other night. The fans
will totally dig it.”

“No way.” Klement’s fist hit the table. “For
one thing, that is way too gimmicky. For another, sexing her up
will just make people think we took her on because of her looks.
The focus needs to be on her talent just as much as it is with the
rest of us.” He glanced at her again before quickly looking away.
“Besides, it’s already clear that she’s a beautiful woman. There’s
no need to capitalize on it.”

Kat’s body warmed all over.
He just called
me beautiful in front of everyone!
Even more important, he
didn’t want her to be seen as a promotional sex object.

“You have a point there,” Cliff said.
Nodding, he turned back to Kat. “Besides, I’m supposed to be the
sex symbol of the band.” He flexed his muscles and did a dorky pose
that reminded her of a cover of a Mills & Boon romance from the
seventies. “It wouldn’t do for you to usurp that from me.”

Kat grinned. “I think your position will
always be safe.”

Klement gave her a look from the corner of
his eye. His frown concerned Kat. Had he missed the light sarcasm
in her tone? Was he jealous? After what they’d shared, did he
really think she’d hit on Cliff? How insulting. And her eyes
narrowed as she continued thinking. Why didn’t Klement say anything
about them being together? Why did he want to keep their
involvement secret? It wouldn’t bother these two, would it?

They all finished their fudge pops and waited
while Klement made a few phone calls to their publicist and tour
manager. Kat wondered if he also made their appointments at the
clinic. She still couldn’t believe he’d been so cool and down to
earth about that. Richard had pitched a fit when she’d broached the
subject of him getting tested, so she’d gotten herself tested and
refused to let him touch her without a condom. No oral either.

The distasteful memories of her ex fled when
Klement returned. God, he was so much better than Richard in every
way.

They all went upstairs to practice a few
songs, but Kat was actually relieved when Cliff begged off, too
drunk to continue. Her own fingers were a little sore from working
on the bolts, and she was ready to head back to her room and
drafted her blog post announcing her upcoming participation in
Thrashfest.

Her stomach knotted with anxiety as she cut
and rewrote sentence after sentence, agonizing over every line, but
the sound of Klement’s soft muttering and the rhythmic clatter of
his keyboard down the hall acted as a soothing balm. Eventually she
got the post exactly how she wanted: highlighting the good,
glossing over the details of how she’d been hired, and omitting any
hint of bad. Also, she made sure she sounded humble and not a
braggart about her induction into the band, but she also didn’t
sound like the terrified wimp she really was.

After hitting PUBLISH on the post, Kat shut
down her computer and headed out to get a glass of water before
bed. She encountered Klement in the hallway.

He grinned. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“I posted my announcement.”

“Awesome!” He raised his hand for a high
five. “What are people saying?”

“No idea. I shut everything down right after
I posted. I’m too scared to look.”

He made a noise that sounded like a cross
between amusement and frustration. “You’re going to have to
moderate the comments.”

She crossed her arms. “No, I won’t. I’ll have
Kinley do it…or maybe my IT Guy.” She peered up at him through
lowered lashes.

Klement’s face darkened a moment, and he
remained quiet longer than usual. “Kinley would be your better
bet,” he said finally. “She knows more about what you want for the
vibe of your site, which criticisms to keep and which to delete.
But you’d really be the best one for the job.”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I’m too biased
and sensitive to be objective.”

Klement placed his hands on her shoulders.
“It’s going to be fine.”

Kat rose up on her toes and reached for him,
her lips parted for a kiss. Unfortunately, footsteps sounded on the
stairs. One of the guys was heading their way, and Klement released
her and walked away, giving a minute shake of his head.

Stinging from the rejection, Kat went back to
her room. Climbing into bed, she curled up with the robe that still
faintly smelled like him. The lullaby sound of his voice down the
hall reminded her again of IT Guy, and as her eyelids drifted
closed she whispered, “When are you going to tell me the
truth?”

Chapter Eighteen

Klement led Kat out of the clinic, hiding a
smile at her beet-red face. Though he didn’t like seeing her
uncomfortable, she was adorable when she blushed.

He patted her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s
all over with.”

“I feel so violated every time,” she admitted
as they got into his Suburban. “My mom calls it the ‘salad
scoops.’”

He cringed in sympathy. “It’s no picnic for
dudes either.”

The majority of the ride home passed in an
awkward silence. Though, from the corner of his eye, Klement
watched Kat fidget on the seat and gnaw her lip like she wanted to
say something.

Just as he was about to tell her to spit it
out, she spoke.

“Klement?”

“Yeah?”

Her fingers twisted on her lap. “Why don’t
you want the others to know that we’re…um…involved?”

He sighed. He’d known she was going to go
there, especially after last night. And she had a point. “The main
reason is that I don’t want them to think I’m having you play
Thrashfest because I’m biased.”

“You’re not, are you?”

He shook his head as she peered at him
intently. “No. If you weren’t qualified, I would have found someone
else.”

“Ah. So, what’s the other reason?”

“It’s complicated.”

How could he tell her that he was afraid
she’d ditch him once she learned about the secret he’d been keeping
from her? And if she didn’t ditch him, how could he tell her how
much it would kill him if he publicly acknowledged that she was his
only to have her be wooed away by someone else? Like fucking Cliff.
God, what if it was Cliff? He wasn’t about to believe that Cliff
had given up yet.

“Complicated,” Kat repeated drily. “Like
anything’s simple between us?”

Klement laughed. “You have a point.”

“It’s not just because the secrecy adds more
spice to it, is it?” She licked her lips. “I mean, it
is
kinda hot—though inconvenient.”

“Of course not. That part is almost more
hassle than it’s worth.”

She pouted, but he saw a glimmer of real pain
in her eyes. “Do you mean you don’t want to…anymore?”

“I said
almost
,” Klement clarified
quickly. He was maybe more impatient-sounding than he intended. “We
wouldn’t have gotten tested if I didn’t want to have sex with you
anymore.”

“Oh, okay.”

Kat lapsed back into silence for the rest of
the drive. Once they got home, she made a sandwich and disappeared
into her room. He knew she was hurt by some of his answers, but he
didn’t know how to fix that. Rod and Cliff were staying in again
tonight, so he couldn’t attempt to talk to her. Not without
imperiling their secrecy.

Sighing, he made his own sandwich and
retreated to his office to play with the security footage. No luck
yet, but he might as well do something useful. Any time now he
might find a frame he could actually manipulate into providing
useful information. So he worked until it was two A.M. and his eyes
were grainy.

He didn’t see Kat until the next morning.
Unfortunately, because he slept in so late, he didn’t have time to
even eat breakfast with her. Even more depressing was that she took
her own car so they didn’t ride together.

Getting through the session was tedious.
Kat’s parts came out fine, but Cliff was so upset that his Internet
troll had returned that he played his parts over again five times
before getting them right.

“I told you to ignore that shit,” Klement
scolded.

“I know, but he’s so hostile that it’s
creepy.” Cliff’s eyes were wide with unease. “What if it’s the
dead-cat guy?”

Klement hadn’t considered that. “Okay, I’ll
try to track his IP address and see if I can figure out who it is.”
He shook his head, already dreading the arduous process. “But if it
turns out to be some thirteen-year-old kid, you’re going to owe
me.”

“Thanks, man.”

The owner of the studio handed over copies of
the security footage from the last two weeks, which Klement had
requested to see if he could spot the same Kia from his own
footage. Damn, though, the work kept piling up. At this rate he’d
never get the chance to get things figured out with Kat.

Heading back to the house, it was agony not
to keep checking the rearview mirror to make sure Kat was behind
him.

Once he pulled into the driveway, he cursed
as his phone rang. His mood lightened when he realized it was the
clinic. The results had gotten back fairly quickly. Of course, his
big donation probably helped with that.

He headed into his office for privacy as the
nurse delivered the verdict. He was clean, which didn’t surprise
him, but it was nice to know. Leaning back in his office chair, he
stretched. He should tell Kat the good news and see if she’d gotten
her results yet.