The rain passed, but not the storm. I felt the hurricane gathering force beneath my skin, and even Tori’s fingers, laced with mine, mooring me to my spot, couldn’t stop it. She spoke to me without words, but it was another voice, a louder voice, that beckoned.

Jake’s.

“You’re worthless, boy. Always have been. Prove me wrong, why don’t you?”

And I had, over and over.

His face was the target of every punch. And it was his blood that stained my fists after every fight. But it didn’t matter, because the voice remained.

Jerking to my feet, I headed toward the Shelby, heavy boots splashing the shallow puddles on the flagstone path.

“Lo?”

My name on Tori’s lips was like a lasso around my heart.

I skidded to a stop but didn’t turn around. Because seeing her there, in the shadow of the life a better man had built for her … that was too much. “What?”

“Where are you going?”

Tori’s tone held nothing but concern I didn’t deserve. But when I spun around to tell her so, the wispy clouds stretching across the moon parted just enough to illuminate her face. The blue tinging her lips and the soft chatter of her teeth snapped me out of my downward spiral.

I cut the distance between us and crouched in front of her, my fingers flexing with the need to warm her. But not before I calmed the fuck down. “I’m just going to lock up the car. I’ll be right back.”

Nodding, she rubbed her arms. “C-can you grab my keys. And there’s some s-stuff on the passenger seat, too.”

I pressed a kiss to her forehead before I stood. “Sure.”

Blowing out a breath, I made my way down the path, regaining my focus with each step. Guilt replaced any lingering anger when I noticed the standing water pooled on the seat of Tori’s classic car. It didn’t matter that I could fix it, whatever the cost. It mattered that I broke it in the first place. I yanked off my shirt, doing my best to wick the moisture from the floorboard.

I was five minutes into my clean-up project when my gaze shifted to Tori, shivering on the steps with her eyes on the heavens. Her lips moved, and I wondered if she was praying. To God? Rhenn? Paige?

With one last look at the mess I vowed to clean in the morning, I locked up the Shelby and jogged over to the SUV where a pink bakery box waited on the passenger seat. I peeked inside, and the kernel of guilt threatened to choke me when I saw a quarter of a cake with Happy scrawled at the top in burgundy icing, buttercream roses in shades of pink nestled into the white frosting.

With a sigh, I slung Tori’s worn backpack over my shoulder, grabbed the box, and headed up the walk.

“Whose birthday was it?” I asked quietly.

Tori took the keys with a trembling hand. “Mine.”

Dumbfounded and rooted to my spot, I blinked at her retreating back as she pushed her way through the door.

“Yours?” I managed when I finally stepped inside.

She nodded as she set the alarm. “It’s not for another ten days, but since I’m going to be on the road …” A small lift of one slender shoulder. “My parents surprised me. I didn’t know about it.”

Shivering in earnest now, her toes curled into the unforgiving marble as she looked anywhere but at me. I’d ruined her party.

I’ll make it up to you.

I didn’t say it, but it was true nonetheless.

Closing the gap between us, I took her elbow. “How about a warm bath?”

She smiled, gazing up at me through her lashes. “Okay.”

Up the stairs we went, but instead of turning into the room where we’d slept last night, Tori headed straight for the double doors at the end of the hallway.

She gripped the knob, but then her head fell forward. I felt her turmoil, tasted it on my tongue as she hovered between her new life, the one with me in it, and the broken fairy tale that still lived on the other side of the door.

I pressed a kiss to her shoulder. And I waited.

Long moments later, she turned the knob and stepped over the threshold. Fighting to maintain the small smile pinned to her lips, she twisted her hands in front of her.

“This is my room.”

But it wasn’t. This was their room. I took the invitation and followed her into her past. The space was large, with a masculine four poster bed facing the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the grounds. Two couches and an overstuffed chair cupped the fireplace in the corner. But it was the wall of framed photos I gravitated toward. While Tori shuffled to the adjoining bathroom, I glanced over the memories from her prom, the first Damaged tour, and her wedding. Not a single picture from the years following Rhenn’s death. And I wondered if she realized that.

With a knot in my stomach, I followed the sound of the running water and found Tori perched on the side of a marble soaking tub. Some of my tension eased as I looked around, because this room, this oasis, it was all her.

As if she could read my thoughts, Tori gazed up at the crystal chandelier. “I designed this room myself. All the fixtures, and this tub.” She ran a hand over the snow-white marble. “I imported it from Italy.” Her eyes caught mine and held. And she smiled. “There’s plenty of room for two if you’d like to join me.”

Water sloshed over the side of the tub when I tipped forward with a bite of cake on the plastic fork. “Open.”

Tori’s lids fluttered, and she shook her head. “Ugh … no more. I’m so full.”

I popped the tidbit into my mouth. “More for me.”

She smiled when I settled back and started massaging her foot again.

“You never wear shoes,” I noted. “Must be a rich girl thing.”

Tori pushed herself up, curiosity twisting her brow. “What do you mean?”

I shook my head and shrugged, a little embarrassed that I’d let the thought slip out. She splashed water at me.

“Tell me,” she said.

I dug my fingers into her arch. “Anna doesn’t wear shoes either.” Tori’s smile wilted around the edges, and I chuckled. “I told you we were roommates. You notice shit like that when you live with someone.” I realized how that sounded, like we were living together, Tori and me, so I quickly amended, “Or spend a lot of time together.”

She hummed. “Okay … but I still don’t understand the ‘rich girl’ comparison. My dad was a cop. Not much money in that.”

“He probably made more than a part-time bouncer. And as far as the shoes go, in the trailer park where I grew up, you couldn’t walk around barefoot. There were no lawns, just dried grass and broken bottles. So you wore shoes, even if they were two sizes too small with holes in them.”

I forced my lips to bend as I offered the small confession. Maybe if I revealed enough of the shit that floated to the top, Tori wouldn’t want to deep dive into the cesspool for more details.

Eager for a change of subject, I asked, “Did you see Taryn today?” Sealing her lips around her wineglass, Tori nodded. “Was she happy you were back? If there was kissing involved, don’t spare any details.” I waggled my brows.

“No kissing,” she said with a small smile, placing her goblet on the tub ledge. “We packed up some stuff in Rhenn’s—er … the studio.” When I cocked my head, she pointed to the ceiling. “Upstairs.”

Rhenn’s studio. The mysterious third floor. It all fit now.

I re-focused on her foot. “It must be hard, living someplace with all these memories.”

Moments passed, each one heavier than the last. And then sighed, scooting farther down in the tub. “You know … one day I added it all up. Rhenn and I only spent twelve nights under this roof.”

My hand froze. “Twelve?”

She smiled, contemplative. “It took almost two years to build this place. And when we were in town, which wasn’t often, we stayed on the boat.”

“I didn’t know you had a boat.”

She nodded jerkily. “The Belle. It’s docked at Volente Marina. I don’t … I don’t ever take her out.”

A shiver rolled through her like an earthquake, goose bumps rising on her skin despite the warm water. I nudged her with my foot. “Come here, baby.”

She glided over and settled into the well of my arms, her back to my chest. I pulled her close, kissing her temple while she drew lazy circles on the top of my hand.

“You thought he lived here?” she asked. “Like, this was where we lived? Together?”

“Yeah.”

Her head dropped back, and she slanted her gaze up to meet mine. “We lived in hotel rooms. And then on the boat. Rhenn built the house because I wanted to start a family. It was kind of a gift for doing the last tour.” She laughed, a little bitter and a lot wistful. “Okay, I’m lying. He built the house because I threatened to leave him if he didn’t.” With that, her eyes unfocused, and she frowned. “Rhenn was a good man, Lo. But he wasn’t perfect.”

The selfish prick inside me wanted details on just how imperfect Rhenn Grayson was. But just knowing there were flaws was enough.

Another moment passed, and then out of the blue, she asked, “Did you go to your mom’s funeral?”

It felt like she’d wrapped those dainty fingers around my throat and squeezed. “No.”

“But you … you knew she was dead, right? Like, as soon as it happened?”

The gunshot rang in my ears, and my heart stalled. “Yeah.”

“You’re lucky.”

One hand curled around the lip of the tub, either to keep from sliding under, or to push Tori off me and bolt to my feet. I couldn’t decide. “How do you figure?”

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t register my tension. Or the edge in my tone.

“Closure, I guess,” she whispered. “You know how people wonder what it’s like to be in a coma? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was in there sometimes. It was like a long dream. But I clearly remembered voices. Well, Taryn’s voice.”

Turning her head, she pressed her cheek to my arm, and tears spilled over my skin, burning hot and full of something deeper than sorrow.

“What did she say?”

“That Rhenn was waiting and I had to wake up. But when I did, he was gone. Buried. That’s what I meant about closure. I knew … I know … he’s dead. That Paige is dead. I know it. But one day I went to sleep, and they were there and then …” I heard her swallow and it sounded like she was choking, drowning in a salty sea of tears. “Sorry.”

I curved my body around hers, protecting her from the memories. And from the pain. “Don’t apologize.”

I tried to force out a hollow condolence, and I couldn’t. Because even though I’d do anything to take away this horrible thing that had happened to her, without it, I wouldn’t be here, in this very spot. I was still trying to figure out how many ways I’d burn in hell for my selfishness when Tori’s hand found mine. Threading our fingers, she guided me down, between her thighs, and through her folds.

Nuzzling her hair, my lips grazed the shell of her ear. “Do you want to come, baby?”

“Yes … yes …”

My free hand cupped her breast, thumb gliding over her pebbled nipple as I fondled her clit. Her breath hitched when I slid a finger around her entrance, and she gasped when I gave in and plunged two digits deep inside her tight pussy.

Pumping her slowly, I ground my hard dick against her ass. “You feel that? It’s all for you.”

Groaning, she bucked against my hand. And when she came, clenching tight around me, it was my name that she sang up to the heavens.