It was covered in tattoos, as well, though beneath the designs the skin was gnarled and puckered and pink.
As if the man had been burned alive.
A strangled cry clawed up my throat, and I pushed my hand to my mouth to try to cover it.
Jud stiffened when he heard it. When he realized where I was staring.
Trembling like I’d been zapped by a live current, I pushed to standing. My footsteps were unsure, faint as I slipped that way. With a jittering hand, I reached out and traced the marred flesh.
Jud shivered beneath it.
“You deserve someone to see you for who you are and not what you’ve done.” I whispered the truth of what he’d spoken earlier tonight.
God, I wanted it for him.
I cared.
And maybe that made me the biggest fool of all.
When he looked back at me, I saw the sadness that held his expression. “Tried so hard to be worthy of that.”
Jud shifted around, edged in closer. “Thing is, if you saw the ugly parts, you’d go running, too.”
He caressed my cheek. “Maybe that’s exactly what you should do. Problem is how fuckin’ bad I want to keep you.”
All of it felt like a warning.
An omen.
A prophecy.
Then he cracked a grin like he hadn’t cut himself wide open. “Come on, let’s get that sweet ass home. Told you I’d give you a ride. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t come through?”
Right.
Friend.
I kept my focus on my feet as I moved for my shoes while Jud snagged his shirt from the floor and redressed, not sure I could handle anything more.
Worried this gravity would finally consume me.
I needed space, and so did he.
It’d become strikingly clear neither of us were in the position for this.
So, we ignored the connection that groaned. Pretended like what we’d shared hadn’t meant much to either of us.
We were nothing but feigned, forged smiles as we moved back through his loft and eased downstairs. But rather than him leading me to his bike where he parked it in his personal bay across the shop, he led me to the pickup parked beside it. He clicked the locks, and we climbed in as the garage door lifted behind us.
The silence between us shouted as loud as the engine.
Jud drove me home.
That energy snapped and boomed and screamed in the cab.
A crackle that called from the depths that we both fought to ignore.
It was near painful by the time he pulled up in front of my house and came to a stop at the curb. He hopped out, ran around the front, and opened the door. He hit me with another one of those deadly grins as I climbed out.
Aloof and carefree.
But I saw the pain written underneath.
I started to walk, only I brushed my hand over his, and I shifted my attention to his rugged, unforgettable face. My voice was haggard as I took a stupid, reckless chance. “Maybe you just need the right person who can see through it.”
His expression dimmed and shifted, the smile beneath his beard sad. “Ah, darlin’， I’m afraid a love like that might hurt too damned bad.”
Warily, I nodded, and I stumbled up the walkway. At the doorway, I paused and looked back at him. He’d shut the passenger door and had leaned against the metal, his hands back in those pockets and a foot kicked over his ankle.
“Friends?” he asked.
“If that’s the only way you’ll have me.” With a soft smile on my face, I tossed back what he’d given me.
Jud chuckled. “Ah, Sweet Enchantress, there is somethin’ about you.”
A tender smile tweaked at my mouth, and my chest pulsed full, and I had no idea where I stood. How far I would fly or where I would land. If I’d run or if I’d stay, but I knew, without question, I would never regret experiencing tonight with this man.
I gave him a tiny wave before I eased my key into the lock, and I slipped inside.
I jumped when I noticed a dark figure hovering by the kitchen archway, then I heaved out the shock on a long breath when I realized it was Darius. “Shit. You scared me.”
Disgust twisted his face. “Told you to stay away from him.”
My entire being trembled. “You don’t get to tell me that.”
Rage vibrated to his bones. He inclined his head as he approached. “When I’m doing this for you? Trying to protect you? Trying to give you and your daughter a chance at a normal life?”
My heart beat hard, a thunder in my chest, and Darius came even closer, grating the words two inches from my face. “Then yes, Salem, I do.”
SEVENTEEN
SALEM
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
Salem shifted uneasily where she sat with her butt barely hanging onto the edge of the couch cushion. She felt so out of place.
Out of sorts.
Like she didn’t belong.
Okay, there was no like to it.
It was a simple fact.
She was reminded of it when Darius shot her another glare from across the throbbing room where he was huddled with a group of his friends against the far wall.
The party was packed, the lights cut dim, though colored strobes flashed from where the DJ was set up. The pulsing beat boomed at a deafening level, making it almost impossible to hear.
Forcing her attention from the daggers her brother was shooting her, Salem took an uncomfortable sip from her beer and tried to pay attention to Talia who had some random guy flirting with her.
Talia turned to Salem with a salacious look.
“See, I told you it would be a blast,” Talia shouted above the din.
“Total blast.” Salem all but rolled her eyes.
Talia reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, shook it around. “Come on, have fun. Why are you the boringest borer ever?”
Salem couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m not boring.”
Talia looked at her. Deadpan. Nothing but a disbelieving blink.
Salem sighed. “Okay, fine.”
But she took life seriously. Her goals. Her dreams. The fact that she was going to make her mimi proud, go to college, have a home of her own.
She was determined to take care of her grandmother the way she’d taken care of Salem and Darius.
It didn’t leave a whole lot of time for this.
Which was fine because it didn’t feel like her scene, anyway. She’d have preferred hiding out in her room watching a movie with her best friend rather than watching a guy who was clearly too old for Talia feeding her a cheesy line that she ate up like candy.
Or maybe it was just that Salem felt like a third wheel.
A spare.
In the way.
Because no one flirted with her.
Ever.
So she tried to hide her unease behind her cup. To fade into the shadows the way she did.
Only Talia nudged her with her elbow hard. “Look who’s here.”
Salem looked up to find a new crew coming through the front door. Five of them. The air changed when they did. An unsettled charge of unease and intrigue as they walked in.
She wanted to hole up under the weight of it, but she was frozen, locked under the eyes that latched onto her after Carlo had surveyed the crowd.
It was as if he’d sifted through purposefully in search of a wallflower.
Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and Carlo turned to him, and Salem breathed out when she was freed of his piercing gaze.
Her stomach unsure.
Attracted…but…not.
She never could quite put her finger on it.