We reached the top, and he turned right, but he didn’t stop at the door to the room I had been left in the last time I was here. Instead, he kept walking until he reached the end of the hallway and opened the last door, then stood back and motioned for me to go inside. I didn’t bother looking at him as I walked by him and into the new room.

  I was so focused on showing no reaction to him at all that I didn’t realize the room looked like it belonged to someone. It was clearly lived in. The door slammed, startling me. I spun around to see Micah standing there, watching me.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “My room.”

  His room? My eyes scanned the area again, paying more attention to details. The king-size bed didn’t take up even half the space. The room was twice the size, if not three times bigger, than the other room I had seen. A massive flat screen covered the wall across from the bed. A black dresser sat below it. There was a guitar in a stand in the left corner of the room, a pair of jeans thrown over a brown leather chair. And the scent, it was as if I had shoved my face in Micah’s chest.

  “Why did you bring me here?” I asked him, finally turning my gaze back to his.

  “All the rooms are full. My bed is the only available one,” he replied, then began to shrug off his leather vest as he made his way over to the dresser. “It’s a big bed, Tink. You’ll have plenty of room.”

  Was he being serious? He was planning on us both sleeping in the same bed? My hands fisted at my sides. Did he think this was funny?

  “I won’t sleep in that bed,” I said, staring at it with loathing. Knowing what he’d been doing up here just a few minutes ago.

  He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Is that so? Interesting since you were ready to let me fuck you just a few hours ago.”

  The humiliation from his words hit me, and I closed my eyes and tried to focus on not showing any emotion. When I looked at him again, I felt all the anger, rejection, and betrayal rise up inside me.

  “I had a moment of insanity,” I snapped. “Let’s blame it on my being…slow.”

  Micah took three long strides until he was standing so close that I could feel the heat from his body.

  “Don’t ever,” he said through clenched teeth, “say shit like that about yourself again.”

  I tilted back my head and glared up at him. “I’m sorry. I was unaware only you were allowed to insult and demean me.”

  His nostrils flared as he stared down at me. The flash of regret I saw in his pale blue eyes wasn’t enough for me to feel any sympathy for him.

  “Dolly, I…” His gaze dropped then, and his entire body tensed. “What the fuck happened to your leg?” he demanded angrily, then went down on one knee and pushed my skirt up further to see the smeared blood from where my nails had broken my skin. “Who did this?!” The threat in his voice made me shiver. But his touch probably also had something to do with that.

  “I did,” I bit out, pulling my leg free from his hold as I stepped back.

  He stayed there on the floor, staring at me as if he didn’t know me. Confusion softened his expression, but his jawline told me he was still clenching his teeth. “You did this? On purpose?”

  I didn’t have to answer him. He deserved nothing from me. Yet it seemed impossible to say nothing when he was looking at me like that. As if he was physically in pain himself.

  “I didn’t mean to. I was dealing, internally. It happened,” I explained, then turned around so he couldn’t see my face or the damage I had done to my thigh. “Just leave me alone. Please. I just want to be alone.” So I could curl up and cry without an audience.

  I heard his footsteps on the hardwood floor, but he wasn’t leaving. I closed my eyes just as his hands wrapped around my upper arms.

  “I don’t want to leave. I want to be here. With you.”

  No, no, no. He would not do this to me. I couldn’t ride the roller coaster of emotions that Micah Abe could send me spiraling on and come out intact.

  “You made it very clear you didn’t want me.”

  His grip on my arms tightened. “You think my leaving was not wanting you?” He let out a sigh. “Tink, that was the opposite. That was me saving you from me. You deserve better.”

  Of course he’d make himself out to be the hero. Soften the blow so I wouldn’t hate him. Micah was an expert at manipulating women and men alike.

  “I’m sure that was the reason you stared at me as if I were a freak of nature, then bolted from the room,” I replied and tried to free myself from his grasp. My attempt was done in vain.

  Micah pulled me back against his chest with ease, as if I hadn’t been pulling in the opposite direction. “Nothing,” he whispered, his mouth close to my ear, “about you is a freak of nature.” His right hand slid up and over my shoulder, then brushed my hair back. His thumb began to caress my neck in a small, circular movement. “You’re beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, kind, charming. I can’t think of a man that is good enough for you. That deserves to have the privilege to touch you.” His lips pressed against my temple. “I sure as fuck don’t. But I want to. So bad that it’s eating me alive inside. The smell of you on my fingers is driving me crazy. I’ve almost sucked your taste completely off, trying to get more of it.”

  My body rebelled against my brain as it trembled and seemed to melt back against his hard chest. His words held power over my good sense.

  “Sit down on the bed and let me get something to clean up your leg. I don’t like seeing you hurt,” he said as his hands moved to my waist, and he moved me forward until I had no choice but to turn and sit down, like he had instructed.

  My eyes slowly traveled up his jean-clad thighs and stopped at the bulge in his crotch. Surprised, I snapped my eyes up to his face. I felt my own cheeks heating as a devilish grin tugged at his lips.

  “Stay here,” he said simply, then made his way to the bathroom door that stood open on the other side of his room.

  When he was out of sight, I dropped my focus to my thigh.

  The marks from my nails were clearly visible, even with the smeared blood surrounding them. Shame began to unfurl in my chest. It had been years since I had taken a knife to myself. Once, it had been a need so strong that I couldn’t control it. Memories of locking myself in the attic with my dad’s pocketknife haunted me.

  “Tell me why.” Micah’s urge wasn’t harsh, but it felt as if it was a demand. He knelt down in front of me again and took a damp cloth to wipe away the blood. He looked up at me once he had it clean. “Your nails?”

  I nodded, but as to telling him the why, I wasn’t ready for that yet. The why was a part of my past that only Pepper knew about.

  He ran the pad of his thumb just under the broken flesh. I wanted to cover it up, hide it. Especially from him. It revealed too much. More than I was capable of sharing. Micah wasn’t someone that others ignored. He always got what he wanted. But this wasn’t something I could give him. The reason why was mine. It had to stay there, locked away. I feared talking about it would bring it back. The dark draw to cause pain that had once held me.

  “This might sting a little,” he warned me as he took the antibiotic ointment and squeezed some on his fingertip, then coated the marks I’d left.

  The coating didn’t hurt, but there was a warm tingling with it that I couldn’t be sure was the cream or just my body’s reaction to Micah’s touch.

  He cleaned the excess from his finger, then opened a bandage and placed it over my wounds. He took my hand and found the blood under my fingernails, then cleaned it with the cloth. Once he was done, I expected him to stand up, but instead, he bent his head and kissed right below the bandage, then lifted his gaze to mine.

  “Never hurt any part of this beautiful body again,” he told me with a fierceness in his expression. “If you need to hurt something, then hurt me. Not you. Never you.”

  I’d never hurt another person in my life, but his request—or rather demand—felt as if he had managed to reach inside me where I was the most damaged and soothe it, the way he had my visible marks. My head knew that allowing Micah to have any hold on me was asking for future agony, but the rest of me wanted nothing more but to beg him to hold me. Even if for a moment. It was foolish, but he made me feel safe. I’d had very little of that in my life.

  “These heels you wear are sexy as hell, but they can’t be comfortable.” His tone was softer, slightly teasing. He slipped my shoes off my feet and ran his hand over them, massaging the ache before letting them go.

  When he began to stand back up, I knew it was over. I’d be alone again, and the torment of the past would seep in. I’d handle it the best way I could and hope that my will was stronger than my urge.

  He nodded his head toward the other end of the bed. “Get up there and lie down. I swear the sheets are clean. No one has been in them but me.”

  Sinking into his scent might be the worst idea for my current mental state, but I wanted it. If I had to be left with my demons to battle, then at least I could pull the covers over me and soak in where his body had been. I was done arguing or trying to save myself from the future misery this would bring me. I scooted back and pulled down the blankets to slide underneath. The soft warmth gave me little comfort, but it was better than nothing.

  Micah bent down and began to unlace his boots. I watched him in silence, unsure what to make of it. When he stood back up and made his way over to the bed, hope slowly began to unfurl inside my chest. He pulled back the covers, and still wearing his jeans, he slid in beside me.

  “Roll over,” he said in a husky whisper.

  I was facing him, and I wanted to keep looking at him, but I did as he had asked. Once I was turned, his arm came around me, and he pulled me back until I was pressed against his chest.

  “You’re staying with me?” I asked, surprised and almost giddy at the thought of being held like this by Micah Abe.

  “Seems there is no place else I’d rather be,” he replied. He pressed his face into my hair, then inhaled deeply. “Go to sleep, Tink. I’ll be here.”

  19

  Micah

  I didn’t normally drink before noon, but I’d barely slept. The deep-seated need to punish someone had slowly built inside me until I felt as if I was going to explode. The only thing that had kept me sane was holding Dolly. Her body tucked against me, safe where no one could hurt her.

  “What? It’s too damn early for phone calls,” Pepper grumbled into the phone as I gripped the glass of whiskey in my hand, glaring at shelves of books in front of me.

  “Tell me why Dolly would hurt herself,” I demanded, knowing that if anyone knew the answer to what had happened last night, it would be my sister.

  She’d known Dolly since they had been seven years old. All I knew of her was the little girl who would come over to play when I was visiting. I realized last night that I was clueless to her past. I knew she had a momma who was overprotective, but that was it.

  “Shit.” Pepper’s muttered curse made my chest tighten. “What did she do?” she asked.

  The anxiousness in her tone wasn’t lost on me. She knew. She was worried.

  “Dug her nails so fucking deep into her thigh that she’s gonna have scars. She bled, Pepper. And she didn’t even wince when I cleaned it. She seemed almost numb.”

  And it was fucked up. Something in her eyes last night had hit me so deep that it was hard to control myself. I’d wanted to go destroy whatever it was that had caused this. I hated seeing the misery in her amber depths. Dolly was all that was good in this world, and knowing there was something that dark that had gotten to her once enraged me.

  “Where is she now?” Pepper asked.

  “In my bed.”

  “WHAT?! Please tell me that is a fucking joke. I swear to God, Micah, I will cut off your damn dick if you fucked her. I trusted you—”

  “Calm down. I didn’t fuck her. I held her. She was…she was broken. I can’t…” I stopped, unable to explain to my sister just how unstable I felt, seeing her like that. It was more than she or anyone needed to know.

  Pepper let out a long, relieved sigh. “That’s probably going to be an issue, too, but not as devastating,” she said. “I’m getting dressed and heading over there if I can. I don’t know what the roads look like yet. Have you seen the news?”

  I hadn’t done anything but remove myself from the bed before my raging hard-on scared the shit out of Dolly. Then, I’d come in the library to drink.

  “Tell me what happened to her.”

  I didn’t need Pepper coming to the rescue, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to allow her to take Dolly from me. She was staying her ass in my room. Under my protection.

  “I can’t. It’s…it’s not my story to tell,” Pepper replied. “Just please, Micah, don’t mess with her head. This bullshit with Canyon clearly affected her more than she let on. I should have known. She’s a pro at hiding her shit and internalizing her pain.”

  Fury rolled through me as I slammed the glass in my hand onto the table. “This is because of Canyon?”

  “What else could it be? Dolly has come a long way. She’s overcome so much, and I let myself believe that the past was finally behind her. Canyon has messed with her head, and she isn’t strong enough to deal with that.”

  I was going to kill him.

  “The roads aren’t safe yet. Stay there. I’ll take care of Dolly.”

  “Micah, you have no idea what—”

  “I will take care of Dolly. I don’t need to know what happened in the past to take care of her.”

  “Micah—”

  I ended the call before my sister could say one more word about fucking Canyon Acree. I’d never hated anyone more than I did that man right now. If he came near Dolly again, I would need Blaise Hughes’s pull to keep me out of prison.

  I stalked toward the door. I was going back to my room. Back to Tink. Leaving her there in my bed, curled up and alone, had been painful, but I’d needed to know why last night had happened. If I wasn’t going to know the why, then I was going to be the one to stop it. I wasn’t sure I could breathe normally again until I knew my Tink was happy and secure.

  Tex was leaving his room and headed for the stairs when I walked back into the hallway.

  “Tree is down right outside the gate. We’re heading out to cut it up and remove it. You coming?” he asked as I walked past him without a glance.

  “No,” I snapped as the clawing urgency to get back to Dolly grew stronger.

  “I see. Well, all right then,” Tex drawled behind me.

  He didn’t see shit, but I wasn’t going to explain myself to him or anyone. I didn’t even fucking understand me right now anyway. How could anyone else?

  Jerking my door back open, I walked inside to see Dolly still sleeping in the middle of my bed. The sight eased me some, but not completely. There was still that unknown monster I had to slay for her. I just needed to be pointed in the right direction, and I’d fix it. She would never be tormented by it again.

  The door clicked shut, and I locked it, then went to the bed to climb back in beside her. Holding her would help. I just needed her back against me again.

  She began to turn as I slid under the covers. I watched as she blinked several times while she stared at my neck and chest. A grin tugged at my lips. Damn, she was sweet.

  “Morning,” I said, drawing those pretty eyes up to mine.

  She studied me for a moment, and then a small smile touched her lips. “Good morning.”

  The sleepy thickness in her voice made my dick twitch. The desire to spread her legs and bury my face between them was almost impossible to resist. Knowing she had a darkness haunting her, defeating her, and she was fragile were the only things keeping me from giving in to my lust.

  “Did you sleep well?” she asked me.

  “Yeah,” I lied.

  I watched as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it nervously. Did she know how enticing that was? That mouth of hers had been teasing me since I’d walked into the bar and found her with Canyon. Jesus Christ, she had to stop that.

  I reached over and pulled her plump lip free, then brushed my thumb over it, wishing I could taste it. Lick it. Suck on it. “That’s a little more than I can handle, Tink.”

  A frown puckered her brow. “What?”

  God, she was innocent. She had no clue the tempting little package she was.

  “Biting your lip, sweetheart. You’ve got the perfect mouth, and that only makes me think about all the things I’d like to do to it.”

  Her eyes widened, and she sucked in a quick breath. I let her mind work through my words and enjoyed seeing the different emotions that flashed across her face as she did so.

  “What…” She started, then paused and swallowed. “What do you want to do to it?” The slight quaver in her voice just about broke me.

  It had taken a lot for her to ask me that. She wasn’t the kind of girl who teased men or used her power over them to get what she wanted. She had no fucking clue she had any power.

  I slid my hand to cup the side of her face. I should get up. Stop this before I couldn’t. I should do a lot of things, but I wasn’t getting out of this bed. There was no point in telling myself it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t that strong.

  Leaning down, I brushed my lips against hers and moved my hand down to her neck until my thumb was over the pulse there. The quickening of it made me feel like a damn king. I ran the tip of my tongue over the swollen bottom lip just as she opened for me. Taking full advantage of the invitation, I managed to tamp down my desire to climb on top of her and crush my mouth against hers.