Fatal Desires (Fatal Cross Live! Book 1) Read online

  Fatal Desires

  Book 1

  Fatal Cross Live!

  License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the author, publisher, or retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer:

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental. The names of people, places, and/or things are all created from the author’s mind and are only used for entertainment.

  Due to the content, this book is recommended for adults 18 years and older.

  Please be aware, this book contains scenes relating to illegal drugs.

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2015 Theresa Hissong

  Cover Design:

  Custom eBook Covers

  Cover Photographer:

  Eric David Battershell

  Cover Model:

  Derrick Meacham

  Editing by:

  Heidi Ryan

  Formatted by:

  Wayne Hissong

  For more information or how to contact Theresa Hissong, please visit:

  http://authortheresahissong.com

  www.facebook.com/authortheresahissong

  Other Books by Theresa Hissong

  A Glory Days Production:

  Sing To Me

  Save Me

  Deliver Me

  A Glory Days Awakening:

  Wait For Me

  Take Me

  Accept Me

  A Glory Days Reunion:

  Understand Me

  Beg Me

  Break Me

  A Glory Days Finale:

  Need Me

  Burn Me

  Finish Me

  Warriors of the Krieger:

  Blood & Roses

  Blood at Stake

  Book for Charity:

  Fully Loaded

  Dedication:

  To new friends and old…

  I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I’m also a firm believer that a person is put into your path for a reason.

  To those of you who have crossed my path and brightened my day, encouraging me to reach for my dreams…thank you!

  This one is for you.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Coraline

  One night of heated passion with Taylor Vaughn and three store-bought pregnancy tests later, I was fucked. Totally screwed.

  I was freaking pregnant!

  And that low-down, dirty piece of shit wouldn’t return my calls.

  Taylor showing up at the same resort as me was just a coincidence…my ass. We’d both been flirtatious on the tour a year ago when his band, Fatal Cross, opened for Glory Days, my cousin’s band. I’d been a roadie and tour manager for Glory Days for the past six years. Ever since the day I graduated high school, I had worked my ass off to make their concerts the best of the best. That’s how the current events leading up to this point in my life happened. I ended up lusting over the guitarist for Fatal Cross when they’d opened for Glory Days just one year ago.

  It wasn’t until three weeks ago that I saw Taylor in the Azores at a resort I thought was private.

  A shadow had formed over my lawn chair and I raised my sunglasses to see who the hell was bothering me. I was completely surprised to see the sexy guitarist hovering over my chair like a dog in heat. Of course, his eyes heated from roaming up and down the navy blue string bikini I was wearing. And you better believe I flaunted my goods for him to see. We were on neutral turf, and I didn’t have to keep to my self-imposed rules of business only relationships with the people I dealt with on a day to day basis.

  Dinner and two bottles of very expensive wine later, we were tearing each other’s clothes off like pornstars just offered a million dollar contract.

  It was a curse that sex with Taylor was the best sex I’d ever had. It was also a given that sex that good should’ve come with a warning label, because nothing said I’d get knocked up with his kid. Of course, at the time, I really didn’t care when he was buried to the hilt and I was screaming his name.

  My birth control obviously didn’t work or I’d have made him use some sort of protection. That was the other dumbass move on my part. Rule number one….don’t sleep with rockstars who’ve dipped their pen in so much ink that their cocks are stained from all the attention.

  Now, I had to get in touch with him and he wasn’t answering my calls or returning my messages. The whole thing was nothing but a one night stand, and the sad thing was…I wanted more. Even if he was the biggest jerk on the face of the planet, I still wanted him. We clicked in ways I’d never had with another man. He got me, but obviously the feelings were one-sided.

  Standing in the bathroom of my condo in Los Angeles, and looking at the pregnancy tests lined up on the sink, I realized that I was a fool. Taylor Vaughn didn’t want anything from me but a hot night in the sack. I was a conquest. He’d scaled that mountain and posted his flag at the peak.

  And the kicker? In just two months’ time, he will be taking over for Glory Days guitarist, Gabe Miller, while he returned home for the birth of his child. I’ll be screwed, because with my line of work and being pregnant, I won’t be doing much more than being the band’s gofer, and Taylor will definitely know that I am pregnant as soon as I start showing. I didn’t mind about the work situation, but I was sure that once my cousin found out about the little bun in my oven, Taylor Vaughn was a dead man.

  Chapter 1

  Coraline

  Sleep still clogged my brain as I was jolted awake by a strange feeling in my gut. My stomach hurt, and I had no desire to get out of bed. It had to be super early in the morning or the middle of the night, because everything was dark outside my window.

  I gasped when another cramp rolled deep in my stomach, and that’s when I felt something hot and wet between my legs. I scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom, crying out in fear when I realized that I was bleeding…a lot.

  “Oh, fuck,” I gasped, grabbing a clean towel out of the linen closet by the door. Another cramp caused me to groan. I knew what was happening, but I was too panicked to shed tears. I had to get to the hospital, but there was no way I could drive in this condition.

  I cleaned up as best as I could and grabbed a clean pair of panties and a pad. I climbed back up on my bed, avoiding the large spot of blood on the sheets. I picked up my phone and dialed the only person who would come for me this time of night.

  “Cora, what’s wrong?” Kane gasped, answering the phone. His voice was rough with sleep, but the concern was there in his deep b
aritone voice. My cousin was the only family I kept close. He was the one who practically raised me and protected me while I was growing up.

  “Kane, I need you to take me to the hospital,” I said, trying my best not to break down in tears. It was hard to admit to myself that I knew what was happening. I was losing the baby.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  “Kane, just…just come to my place, please?” I begged, the tears breaking through and spilling down my cheeks. “I’ll explain everything when you get here. Please…hurry.”

  “I’m coming,” he said, already calling out for his bodyguard, Sergi, to stay with his wife, Delilah, and their daughters.

  I squeezed my legs tightly together, hoping that would somehow help keep the baby inside me. I laid on my side and prayed that everything was going to be okay.

  This whole situation was even more fucked up now. I was losing a baby I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep. I was only twenty-four, for heaven’s sake! I was too damn young to be a mom and had too much going on in my life to put my career on hold to raise a kid. The only thing I knew how to do was set up stage lights and run a schedule for four rockstars on a nightly basis. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, put a kid through that type of life. So maybe this was a blessing in disguise?

  It was fifteen minutes before Kane came bursting through my door with Delilah right behind him. “Cora!” I should’ve known that my best friend, who’d married my cousin, wouldn’t have let Kane come alone.

  “In here,” I called out. I squeezed my eyes closed and wiped away tears when I heard them curse upon entering my room.

  “Oh God, Cora,” Delilah choked out, her eyes wide with fright at finding me lying next to blood soaked sheets. She hurried up on the bed and sat behind me, rubbing her hands over my chilled arms. “What happened?”

  “Talk to me,” Kane demanded, leaning over so that we were nose to nose. His hazel eyes flared with anger and worry. Kane was my cousin, my protector, and my best friend.

  “I’m pregnant…and I think I’m having a miscarriage,” I cried. If anyone would be understanding, it would be Kane and Delilah, but that didn’t mean that Kane would be happy when he found out who the baby belonged to.

  “D, lock up behind us,” he ordered, scooping me up into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. His masculine scent felt like home and reminded me of when I was a little girl. Kane had always been there to patch up my scraped knees or to defend me when I couldn’t defend myself. “I got you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, squeezing him tighter. Kane was the closest thing I had to a brother, and I loved him more than he would ever know. My dad wasn’t around much and my mom died when I was a very young, leaving me alone and without any supervision. Kane practically raised me, and ever since I can remember, we were inseparable.

  “No need to be sorry, cuz,” he said, laying me across the backseat of the SUV he’d driven to my house. I noticed his muscled jaw tick as he clamped his lips shut to keep from asking me any other questions. His hazel eyes were masked with worry as he nodded and turned to get into the driver’s seat.

  Delilah climbed in the back of the truck and pulled my head into her lap, “How long have you been bleeding?” She stroked my short black hair, brushing my bangs off my forehead.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted, fresh tears rolling down my face. I was too tired and worried to wipe them away. “I woke up having cramps, and I’d been bleeding in my sleep. I called you right away.” My eyes flickered to the front of the vehicle and met with Kane’s in the rearview mirror. I caught a look of panic flash across my cousin’s face. I immediately felt horrible for being the cause of his worry, but I’d never needed him like I needed him now.

  Kane snapped his seatbelt in place and drove at breakneck speed to the hospital that was only fifteen minutes from my condo. He was quiet during the ride, and I knew it was killing him not to ask me how I could be so stupid as to get pregnant. I guess it didn’t matter now that Taylor never returned my calls. God, I was so fucking dumb!

  “Don’t cry, Cora,” Delilah whispered, stroking the hair back from my face again. It felt nice, in a motherly way. Something I hadn’t had in many years.

  Delilah had been my friend since before I’d graduated from high school. I’d worked at a local venue on weekends, learning the ropes to be the best roadie I could be. When she came through town, working for another band, we’d struck up a friendship that had lasted for several years.

  Our roles had reversed, though. It’d been me, at one time, who was rushing her to get medical help for the injuries she’d sustained when her ex beat her almost to the point of death. Now, she held me as I cried for an unborn baby I didn’t even have inside me for long enough to get comfortable with the fact that I’d been pregnant.

  “Who do I need to call, Cora?” Delilah whispered, her eyes darting to the back of her husband’s head. “Who is the father?”

  “He doesn’t know,” I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want him to know.”

  “Who, Coraline?” Kane asked from the front seat. His voice was strained and tight as he glanced over his shoulder.

  “Please, Kane, not now,” I cried. Squeezing my eyes closed, I prayed we’d get to the hospital in time. Or was it too late already?

  “Fuck, Coraline,” he cursed, pushing the accelerator a little harder. I flinched when he slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. “God damn it, Cora. Who the fuck knocked you up?”

  “Kane,” Delilah growled a warning. Her voice sent his attention back to the road.

  We arrived at the hospital, and I was taken back immediately. Kane and Delilah stayed in the waiting room while I was looked over by a doctor.

  The next few hours were the most emotionally painful of my entire life.

  Chapter 2

  Taylor

  “Are you going to answer that?” Cash asked from beside me in the Tahoe we were riding in to the studio.

  “Not yet,” I lied. It was Cora. She’d called three times in the past two days, but I couldn’t answer it. Not after the bullshit I’d pulled with her and not calling after we’d gotten lost in each other on that island. I should’ve called her the next morning, or the morning after that, but I just…didn’t. Now it was a month later, and I’d probably screwed up any chance I had with getting her into my bed for round two.

  My only saving grace was the upcoming tour with Glory Days. I knew she’d be there, and I hoped that I’d be able to sit her down and apologize in person. Over the phone just wasn’t the way to make amends.

  Something about that little pixie drew me in like a starving man about to eat his first meal. When I touched her for the first time, it felt like I was coming home, and that scared me senseless. Coraline Maddox was not the type of woman who’d wait for their man to come home after being out on the road. She was one of us and lived the way we lived whenever she was out on tour with her cousin’s band. That girl had fire and a mouth on her that makes a man want to kiss her until she shut up or hog tie her to the bed until she submitted.

  She’s exactly what I wanted and needed in my life. Dating was always a hardship, though. Most people believed that it was all fun and games dating a rockstar, but they’re wrong. It’s hard ass work, with sleepless nights and hours upon hours of traveling. Not knowing when I’d be home to a girlfriend was hard on all parties involved.

  Yeah…then there’s Cora. She got the business we’re in and she got me, more than I ever thought a woman could. That Maddox girl was getting under my skin and I didn’t want to want her, but I did. And that just pissed me off, because I was not boyfriend material. My job kept me too busy to maintain a healthy relationship with a woman as deserving as Cora.

  I’d been playing the part of a Casanova for the past few years, never keeping a woman to warm my sheets any longer than one night. Hell…usually, I’d show them the door before they wanted to cuddle and talk. All of them knew that b
efore climbing into the sack with me, because I’d made myself perfectly clear. The only woman I did not say that to was Cora.

  And the worst part of this? The fact that since Coraline and I had shared that night together a month ago, I hadn’t even looked at another woman…hadn’t even entertained the thought of sex when it’d been offered to me, because some portion of my brain would bring up images of the sexy, tough-as-nails roadie, and I couldn’t even come up to bat, so to speak.

  Whatever the hell was wrong with me, it needed to stop, and stop soon. I had an album to write and record, then hit the road in two months with Glory Days to fill in for their guitarist while he was home with his wife and new baby.

  “We’re here,” Cash said, pulling me back from my internal ass kicking. Cash, our bassist, had driven from his home over on the Olympic Peninsula and picked us up at my place in the city.

  We walked into the studio we were using in downtown Seattle to record a few demos for the upcoming album. We all groaned when the scent of weed hit us like a brick fucking wall. I covered my nose and cursed before turning around and propping the outside door open. The band before us was doing more partying than recording.

  “Hey, man,” some red-eyed kid slurred, raising his hand for a high-five. We all nodded, but didn’t touch him as we passed him in the hallway. Thankfully, he got the hint and didn’t reply. I would not give this guy the satisfaction of any type of joy about meeting him and his buddies.

  “Sorry,” Mitch, the producer, frowned as we found him putting away some files at his desk.