It was beautiful.

She’d challenged me every second of the way. Now she was mine, and I didn’t want to let her go. It had been a while since I’d felt this way. Instead of wanting her to get the fuck out of my room after we had slept together, I wanted to keep her as close as possible.

And do it again.

Outside my window, dawn was breaking.

I was restless. All I could think about was Grant fucking Newman and how badly I wanted to hurt him for laying a hand on Andrea. I wanted that punch in the bar back. If I could do it again, I’d hit him so hard—fuck the hospital—he’d be in the morgue.

My mind went in circles as I worked myself up, imagining how the scene between the two of them went down. Andrea was strong-willed, but even so, she was clearly still working some shit out.

I was too though, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

She slept so peacefully, and I stared at her like a creep while her chest contracted and expanded, running my finger from her calves to her thighs, hips, up her midsection to her shoulders before I kissed her on the neck.

She let out a tiny moan and wiggled her ass into me. The blood began to flow to my cock again.

I’d spent the last several years running around like a douchebag playboy, spending time with Tumblr girls with skinny waists and drug habits that I had no interest in. Too much time wasted. I’d told myself that was the best I’d ever get, especially after the Dani-Danny fiasco. My college sweetheart had taught me to not think too deeply about having relationships, just meaningless hookups where no one got hurt and it was all about a fun time. It wasn’t just Dani’s betrayal, but the fact that I didn’t have very many good examples of healthy male-female relationships.

Now, the thought running through my head was, How the hell did I land a girl like Andrea? Cuz I sure as hell didn’t deserve her.

She spoke like a lady and screwed like a pro, and I never would have figured she was a virgin. She was so confident, and she trusted me not to hurt her. Right now, I was feeling things I thought I was no longer capable of feeling given how jaded I’d become. And here I was with a fucking princess. It felt like Andrea was my prize for a rocky childhood.

I swept my hand lightly along her leg, enjoying the soft touch of her flesh. She turned her head upward and nuzzled her brown hair into me.

I don’t know if she was sleeping or what, but she gently took my hand and guided it to the wet spot between her legs.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Hey yourself,” she responded.

“We fell asleep with the lights on,” I said, stating the obvious.

“And I haven’t slept this good in days. Wait.”

She got up from the bed, turned off the lights, and snagged a condom from the top of my dresser before snuggling back into bed with me.

“You want to have round two?” She asked so politely, there was no way I could say no.

Who were we kidding? She had basically read my mind.

A few hours later, I finally woke up, which meant I had finally been able to fall asleep after our last round.

“Good morning again,” she purred, propping herself up on her elbow.

“Morning.” I smiled back.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she said drowsily.

“So early,” I growled back.

“I know, but I had a dream last night that we got matching tattoos, and I’m curious now. I never asked you what those mean.”

She ran her hand over my chest, specifically over the mirror image tattoos I had. Suddenly, a ball of anxiety formed in my stomach.

“Diggs, you don’t want to know…”

She looked back at me with those stunning blue eyes of hers and fluttered them. She made it so hard for me to stay closed off.

“Please,” I said, suddenly feeling awake.

“You don’t feel comfortable with me?” She swallowed and turned away from me.

“Wait. Sorry. I do. Listen, I’ve never told anyone about these tattoos. No one. Do you realize how many times I’ve had to make up shit about these? I’ll tell you.”

She still had her back toward me, so I crept behind her and pressed myself into her back as I whispered in her ear, “When I was fifteen, I was in a bad place. I had just changed foster homes again, and my new neighborhood was in gang territory. Basically, I had a choice. Get beat up every day at school, or join a gang.”

She spun her head back toward me, touching her forehead to my chin.

“You joined a gang?”

“For the first three months of that school year, I’d refused. They would beat me up every day. But finally, they found out I had a sister and started threatening her. So I did what they asked.”

She spun all the way around to face me, on her side.

“And they made you get these two tattoos—what do they say?”

I sighed. “Trust and Mi vida loca—they look backwards for you, but if I look in the mirror, I read them perfectly. The gang leaders said they wanted me to look at them every day in the mirror so I would remember I was one of them—that was the same gang that those guys who tried to jump you were in.”

She wiped a tear that ran down her cheek. “Why didn’t you just get them removed?”

I paused for a moment to think while I ran my hand up and down the side of her body. She had just asked me a damn good question.

“I don’t know. I guess…I guess I have thought about it. But in the end, it’s the scars that form you and make you who you are as much as the positive experiences. I like to look at them and remember that I’m the fucker who made it out.”

We made eye contact, and I realized that Andrea, while she didn’t have tattoos to remember them by, had her own scars she carried with her. As I caught myself looking up at the ceiling, I felt Andrea’s lips on my chest. I looked down to see her kissing my tattoos. She kissed both of them, then looked up at me.

“Never be ashamed to show me your scars,” she said. “I won’t be ashamed to show you mine.”

Her teary expression changed into a slight grin. “Besides, your tattoos are hot A-F.”

I tilted my head. “Did you just say hot A-F? As in, hot as fuck?”

She grinned sheepishly. “Yes.”

“One of these days, Andrea, I’m going to get you talking dirty.”

I growled at her and brought her body into mine for a kiss.

After a moment, she pulled away. “Hey, maybe we have time for one more. Can you check what time it is though?”

I rolled over and checked my phone.

“Shit, Diggs. It’s quarter to nine. What time do you have to be at work?”

She rubbed her eyes and looked me. “It’s...what time?”

“Almost nine.”

Her eyes popped open in alarm. “Crap, crap, crap!” She jumped up from the bed and went about my bedroom and the living room and the couch area, gathering her clothes in all the different places she had shed them the night before.

“I wish you wouldn’t have to hurry out of here. Aren’t I your biggest project anyways?”

“Well, yes,” she yelled from the other room. “But my boss doesn’t need to know that I’m sleeping with you.”

“So what, I’m just going to be your secret side ho?” I ribbed as I walked into the living room. I had an inkling, and I reached into the couch and pulled out her white thong. I handed it to her with a smile.

She returned my gaze with a quizzical look. “How the hell did these...you know what? I’m not even going to ask. I was in a haze for about two hours last night.”

“Is that all?” I asked, grabbing her body and pulling her into mine. She was still naked, holding all of her clothes in her arms. I kissed her on the forehead and looked down at her. She stepped into her thong and skirt.

“Argh, this is just a little bit skimpy for the office, but I’ll have to let it slide. No time to go home.”

My phone buzzed, and I checked the number.

I got so many random sales calls, I basically never answered unless I knew the number or was expecting a call, but this was from a 312 number, so I decided to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Is this Jake Napleton?” a female voice asked.

I frowned, hearing lots of noises in the background, including an ambulance and shouting voices. “Yeah… Who is this?”

“My name is Janice Caldwell. I live near Keri and the boys,” she said, as though that explained it all.

“Oh-kay, and…?”

She huffed and puffed. “Keri Straub?”

Oh shit. “Tate’s aunt?” I asked, shocked.

Andrea’s ears perked up, and she gave me a look of concern, purse in hand and slipping her shoes on. I shook my head gravely. She took a step towards me, but she stopped when her phone started ringing. Go, I mouthed, but she came to me to give me a kiss on the cheek, which took me by complete surprise. But a good surprise.

“See you later?” she whispered.

I nodded, smiling briefly.

“I’ll pick up something, okay?” She looked down at her phone, which was pinging like crazy. “Crap, so late. Have a great day baby…” she said quickly with a wave, her eyes still on her phone. She was gone before I could return the favor.

“Mr. Napleton?” Janice snapped.

I was still staring after the door as it clicked shut.

“Hey! You! You hearin’ me?” Janice went on.

Fuck. “Uh, yeah?” I said, focusing back on the conversation, but it was hard. “What’s wrong?”

“Tate gave me your number. He said you told him to call you if anything ever happened?”

My gut twisted. “Yes,” I said hoarsely. “What happened?”

“Keri was shot while on her way home from work last night. It’s…not looking good,” she said, her voice hard and grim. But then it softened just a little. “With the situation with Keri’s son, Tate’s alone. But I can’t be watching him after this morning. I got my own family to take care of, see?”

Oh shit, I thought, processing all that. “I understand, can I talk to Tate, please?”

That got me another sigh, but there was a jostling of the phone and then—

“Coach N?” came a wobbly voice. “Is that really you?” My heart dropped from out of my chest cavity to the floor. I heard panic in his voice.

“It’s me, Tate. How ya doin’, kiddo?”

“Okay, I guess. Coach N, my auntie got shot.”

I bit my lip and resisted letting loose a string of swears. A wave of emotion came over me. I loved this fucking town most of the time, but this was one of the times I hated it more than ever.

“I’m so sorry, Tate. Where are you right now?”

“I’m at the hospital.”

“Okay. But which hospital are you at, Tate? South Side?”

A brief pause, then, “Yeah… That’s what Janice says.”

“You stay put. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Okay?”

For an eight-year-old, he sure as hell was a lot calmer than I would be in this situation.

“Tate. You there?”

“Yeah.”

“Stay right where you are,” I told him, afraid for him, hoping it would all turn out okay, but knowing it probably wouldn’t. “I’ll come get you. You won’t be alone in this.”