“Excuse me, Miss. Do you have Zoe Green’s new book? It’s called—”

The woman’s words vanish when I turn around.

Her mouth drops slightly as her eyes widen.

It’s the look I get every time a stranger sees me for the first time. I hate it, but I’m used to it.

“Savage Pleasures, right?” I ask as I force out a smile.

She catches herself and manages to close her mouth, but she’s still staring like she physically can’t take her eyes off of my face.

I know the scars are hard to look at, but do people have to look so horrified all of the time?

“Y-yeah,” she says, stuttering nervously. “That’s the one.”

“Follow me.” I walk past her down the aisle of the bookstore and hear her exhale deeply behind me.

I find the book for her and hand it over. This time she doesn’t look at my face. She takes the book and pretends to inspect it, even though I know she’s probably not seeing any of it. My face tends to make people uncomfortable. It has for years.

“The sequel is coming out next month,” I say in a cheery voice. “So, if you like it don’t forget to come back and get it in a few weeks.”

“Okay.” She glances at my face quickly and then hurries away, clutching the book to her chest.

It’s people like that who make me want to stay home and never leave. I hate when people stare at me or look at me like I’m subhuman.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to before the scars, but that’s a dark road that leads to the dark places in my mind. It’s best to just try and accept it, and live with the limitations.

Limitations like avoiding crowds of people, or the types of jobs I can get.

But the biggest limitation is love. I know that no one will ever love someone like me.

I was in love once, but I know that it won’t be in the cards for me again. I’ll just have to cherish the time I had with Maximus and try to be satisfied with that.

The bell over the door chimes as the lady rushes out after paying and I’m alone in the store with Walter who’s reading behind the cash register.

It’s his store, a cute little independent shop called Quill and Feathers Bookstore. I love it here. It’s located in a small town in the middle of Colorado. I like it because there’s not too many people and most of them know me by now. They’ve seen my face before and rarely stare, although there’s always that one person who’s visiting or who’s new in town who can’t help but gawk at my scars.

Sometimes I wonder what I would do if I saw someone who looked like me. Would I stare? Would I quickly turn away? Would I try to remain inconspicuous but fail miserably?

The problem is that it’s hard for people to hide the emotion of surprise, and they’re always surprised when they see me.

My face was shredded by four thick claws about six years ago when I got a little too close to an angry grizzly bear. In one quick swoop, that bear ruined my face forever and took my right eye as a bonus.

The scars start on the right side of my forehead and travel down to the left side of my chin. I’ve had countless surgeries to make my face look better, but at some point, the surgeries stop making it look better and they start to make it look worse. And I’ve reached that point.

This is how my face will always look. The scars will never go away. The outside pain healed a long time ago, although the inside pain is still tender.

Six years later and I’m still taking it day by day.

“Kennedy!” Walter’s voice rings down the empty aisles of his bookstore. “Where are you?”

“Romance section.”

He laughs. “As usual. It’s time to take your break. Quickly before the hordes of shoppers break down the door and come rushing in like a stampede.”

I giggle as I run my fingers over the spines of the books. Like that would ever happen. The most customers we’ve ever had in this shop at the same time was six. And that was at Christmas time.

People love having independent shops in their towns, especially bookstores, but then they never shop in them. They just like having them there as they walk by. Luckily for me and for the town, Walter uses the fortune he inherited to keep the store afloat.

My eyes roam over the crisp book spines as I try to pick something to read on my break. I’m in the mood for a romance. I’m always in the mood for a romance. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it’s still useful to help scratch that itch.

I’m scanning the back of a romantic comedy when I hear the bell chime over the door. I think nothing of it until I hear a deep voice that sends cold chills snaking through me.

“Kennedy Baker,” he grunts. “Does she work here?”

That voice. It can’t be.

It’s the man I ran from six years ago. The man who started the chain of events that led to my face looking like this.

James Bledsoe.

“Who are you?” Walter asks as I crouch down behind the bookshelves. It feels like someone has just dropped a stack of books onto my chest. I’m finding it hard to breathe.

“Never mind that,” Bledsoe says. “Where can I find her?”

“I don’t know of anyone by that name.”

I could kiss Walter. He’s a true friend.

But he won’t be able to stop Bledsoe. A million questions are racing through my mind and I don’t have the answers for any of them.

How did he find me? What does he want? Is he going to hurt me?

All I know is that I’m not about to stick around and find out. I quickly turn around and hurry to the back of the store. There’s a back exit through the employee break room, which I head straight for.

“Look, old man,” Bledsoe says as I creep into the employee room. “I know she works here so why don’t you go into your files and pull out her home address before I smack you across the head with that hardcover book you’re reading.”

My home address?

The thought of Bledsoe showing up at my place is terrifying. I know that Walter would never hand it over to him, but I also know that Bledsoe takes whatever he wants. If he’s looking for my address, he’s going to get it.

I can only hear murmurs of their heated conversation as I hurry through the break room and out the back door, grabbing my purse on the way. Luckily, my car is parked behind the store and I jump right in it and peel off.

As soon as I turn the corner, I call the Sheriff and tell him there’s trouble at the bookstore. He likes Walter so he’ll head right over. Hopefully, he’s not too late. I know how aggressive Bledsoe can get.

My hands are shaking as I drive through the town, wondering what to do. Bledsoe knows I’m here. The man who tried to kidnap me and maybe even kill me, knows I’m here.

I’m panicking, but I already know what I’m going to do. Where I’m going to go.

I promised myself that I would never show up on Maximus’ doorstep, but it’s the only place I can be safe.

Maximus will protect me from Bledsoe. I haven’t talked to him since that horrible day six years ago, but it’s time to break the silence.

Maybe I’ll finally find out why he let my parents take me away without saying goodbye. Maybe I’ll find out that he has a wife and kids. Maybe I’ll find out that he still loves me.

I shake my head as I curse myself under my breath for going there. Maximus loved the old me, the young pretty me. He was so gorgeous and probably still is.

Those feelings are gone and they’re not coming back. No one will ever love someone like me.

I repeat it under my breath, just to kill any false hopes. “No one will ever love someone like me.”

My heart sinks as I pull out of town and drive onto the highway.

I’m going there for protection. That is all.

If I can come to terms with that, then maybe I won’t leave with a broken heart.