“That was when…that was when my dad’s older sister, Naola, came to stay with us. She was stern and even more religious than Momma.”

  Dolly stopped talking again and shifted in my lap. The faraway look in her expression as she continued to stare at our hands was breaking my heart.

  “Aunt Naola had never come around much when my daddy was alive. I found out soon enough it was because she didn’t approve of my momma…and, by extension, me. While Momma stayed locked in her room, Aunt Naola decided to right the evil in me—or that is what she called it. She…she told me my daddy had hung himself because he saw no other way out of the life he had. That he was stuck with me and Momma and he preferred eternal hell over us.”

  “She would tell me my momma was crazy, mental, and that I had her disease. We had a devil in us, and he’d eventually kill us, the way we had killed my daddy.” She inhaled deeply and let it out. “She would get me out of bed at night and tell me the demons had come for me. Then, she’d push me out onto the back porch and lock the door. Leaving me there with the demons. They never came, of course, but I was terrified nonetheless.”

  She shook her head and pressed her lips together before turning to look at me. “That’s all I can talk about right now,” she whispered. “I don’t want to talk about the rest.”

  Fuck. I wasn’t sure I could take much more of it. I pulled her against my chest, and she let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around my neck.

  “A month after Aunt Naola came to stay with us, I started cutting myself with my daddy’s pocketknife I had found in his workbench.”

  I kissed her head and didn’t press for more. She’d told me more than my sister, and I knew letting me into her dark past had been hard.

  “People commit suicide because of mental instability, things they struggle with, a sickness they lose control over. Your dad didn’t kill himself because of you,” I told her, needing her to believe me.

  She nodded. “I know.”

  So then, that hadn’t made her want to harm her body today. “Why did you cut yourself today, Tink?” I asked, brushing her hair back so I could see her face.

  “To get the pain out,” she replied.

  “What pain?”

  She closed her eyes. “Of never being enough.”

  Fucking hell.

  24

  Dolly

  I opened my eyes and looked around my bedroom. It was then I heard the voices. Sitting up, I winced at the sting between my thighs, then looked down to see the bandage Micah had put there after he doctored it. He had made me swear to never do it again. That I was to call him if I ever had the urge to do it and he’d come running. After that, he laid me on the bed and curled up behind me. The emotional morning had exhausted me, and I’d fallen asleep.

  “You promised you would leave her alone!” Pepper’s voice carried through the closed door.

  “No, I didn’t. Think back on that conversation. I had no intentions of leaving her alone. When you called, I was sitting on the fucking bench across the street, waiting on you to leave,” Micah replied.

  I stood up and moved closer to the door, not sure if I needed to go out there and stop this or not.

  “What part of she’s fragile do you not get? Stop being so…so selfish!”

  “Don’t.” Micah’s voice lowered. “You’re about to cross a line, sis. You need to step back. Dolly is dealing with shit. She’s been through a lot. I get it. I’m not here to fuck her. I’m here to take care of her. To help her. To make sure she doesn’t cut herself again.”

  “Since when do you take care of women?” Pepper snapped.

  “I’m not the bastard you seem to think I am.”

  “Micah, I don’t think you’re a bastard. I just know you can’t be what she needs.”

  “Yeah, the fuck I can.”

  “Is that so?” she replied. “You realize that Dolly needs—”

  I swung open the door to stop whatever was about to come out of Pepper’s mouth. Their heads turned at the same time, and both sets of eyes locked on me.

  I forced a smile. “Y’all mind if I decide what it is I do and do not need?”

  Pepper looked remorseful, but Micah continued to study me.

  “I’m sorry, Dolly,” Pepper said.

  Micah walked over to me. His eyes never leaving my face. “And what is it that you need, Tink?” he asked.

  That list could be interesting. I saw the teasing gleam in his eye, and I smiled.

  “Right now, I need a cheeseburger with extra pickles and fries. Maybe some caramel doughnuts.”

  He chuckled. “I can manage that.”

  “Great. You two just laugh and act like this isn’t a disaster waiting to happen. One I will have to clean up,” Pepper said, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at Micah, then looked at me with concern.

  “I am failing to see how my being here to help her and be her friend is a potential for disaster,” Micah told her.

  “Oh, let’s see. Two days ago, you took her virginity. That’s a friendship sure to blossom.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.

  My face warmed, and I looked down at the floor. I hadn’t expected her to go there.

  “Tink?” Micah slid a finger under my chin and lifted my face up to meet his. “Did you like sex? Did I make you feel good?”

  Now, my face was on fire. My eyes widened, and he grinned at me.

  “Come on. Tell her the truth.”

  “Micah!” Pepper scolded.

  “I enjoyed it,” I replied just above a whisper.

  “And today, did I try to do anything more than comfort you?”

  I shook my head.

  He looked back at Pepper. “See? I’m here to be whatever she needs. I left her with you for two days, and the moment you left, she was slicing up that pretty skin of hers. Not happening again. I won’t let it. You failed at helping her. I won’t.”

  “Shut up!” Pepper shouted, then pointed to the door. “Go. Just leave. I got this.”

  Micah didn’t budge. He shook his head. “No.”

  “Micah, so help me GOD!”

  Stepping between them, I held up my hands. “Both of you, stop,” I pleaded. “Right now, I should send you both away, but I can’t promise I won’t get weak and pathetic. I might cut myself because I’m not okay. I hate it. I hate it so much. The truth is, I want someone here until I know I have this under control. Should it be Micah?” I paused and looked at him. “Probably not.” Then, I looked at Pepper. “But you can’t be here all the time either. I have two jobs. I will try to get more shifts. Or a third job. I don’t know. I do know I hate feeling like I’m a burden, but I’m willing to admit I need help. And”—I dropped my shoulders and sighed—“I really don’t wanna go back to my momma’s.”

  Micah stepped toward me, and I held my hand up to stop him.

  “I will be here when you are home. I will be wherever you need me to be. You just call me.”

  God, I needed him to stop being so sweet. It was making this harder.

  “I am her best friend. I will be here. You go handle that cocksucker that started all this.”

  A knock at the door caused all our heads to turn in that direction. Walking past them both, I headed to open it.

  “Wait, Tink. I’ll get it,” Micah said, stepping around me to grab the knob.

  “I can open my own door,” I informed him.

  He winked at me. “Easy, tiger.”

  I was scowling at his back when he opened my door. The large bouquet of bright pink, blue, yellow, and orange flowers almost completely hid the delivery boy’s head.

  “These are for Dolly Dixon,” he said, holding them out.

  Micah was glaring at him as if the boy himself had sent me flowers.

  I moved around Micah and reached for them. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied nervously before hurrying to get away from Micah.

  “Who are they from?” Pepper demanded.

  I walked over and set them on the table beside the door. Micah reached for the small envelope before I could and started opening it.

  When he jerked the card out, he read it, and his jaw clenched tightly. “Motherfucker.”

  “Canyon,” Pepper said matter-of-factly.

  Micah barely nodded as he wadded the card up into his fist. “I’ll take them to the dumpster,” he said, reaching for them.

  I liked flowers, and it felt like a waste. They’d been cut, and they should at least be enjoyed. But Canyon had hurt Pepper, and I agreed they had to go.

  “Wait. Can I give them to Mrs. Mildred? She’d enjoy them.”

  Micah stared at me as if he wanted to argue.

  “If the flowers are gonna die, I just hate for their life to have been cut in vain. Let them brighten up someone’s life while they still can,” I explained.

  He nodded and then smirked.

  “I’ll take them to her,” Pepper offered. “Dolly is right.”

  Relieved, I was glad that I didn’t have to fight about that.

  “Back to the current situation,” Pepper said. “I need to get back to the bar. Micah, you need to go find Canyon and deal with him. Make him a nonissue.”

  “I will. But not right now. I’m not leaving Tink alone.”

  Pepper looked at me, then finally seemed to give in. “Fine. Stay with her. I’ll come back tonight.”

  I was starting to feel like a child being tossed back and forth between bickering parents.

  “You said you couldn’t stay tonight when we talked on the phone earlier,” Micah said pointedly.

  She shot him a look I couldn’t see, and he smirked.

  “That was when I thought you’d send someone other than yourself to stay with her.” Pepper walked over to me and hugged me. “Be careful,” she whispered and kissed my cheek.

  I knew she meant, Don’t get emotionally attached to my brother.

  I nodded.

  She glared at Micah. “Be good.”

  He saluted her, then went and opened the door for her. “Bye.”

  Pepper paused and gave him one last warning look before taking the flowers and leaving.

  When he closed the door, he turned back to me. “Go brush your hair so it doesn’t look like I just fucked you, and let’s go get some burgers.”

  I reached up and felt my hair. It was messy from my nap. “Okay,” I agreed.

  Getting out of this apartment was probably a good thing.

  25

  Micah

  “I wish you’d let me drive,” I said, not liking the idea of Dolly walking so much with her thigh sliced the way it was.

  “It was just around the corner, and you only have your bike here, and my battery is dead from not being driven. I probably need a new one anyway.”

  “Tink, it wasn’t just around the corner. It’s almost a mile there and back. Besides, was your experience on the back of Tex’s ride that bad that you don’t want to try it again?”

  She flashed those almond-shaped amber eyes at me, then turned her attention straight ahead again. “Last I heard, you don’t let bitches on the back of your bike. I was unaware it was an option.”

  I slapped her ass with a firm pop, causing her to jump and squeal, then level me with a glare.

  “I’d had a bad day, Tink. Don’t go throwing stupid shit in my face that I might have said when my temper was up. You’re not a bitch, and you’re an exception to my rule.”

  The way the corners of her mouth twitched, I could tell she wanted to smile.

  “You never told me I’d graduated from bitch to exception.” She paused then and pointed across the street. “We gotta go back that way.”

  It added at least eight hundred more feet. I was worried the bandage she had on wasn’t enough, and I didn’t want her leg bleeding anymore.

  “Give me a good reason before I toss you over my shoulder and take you back the shorter way.”

  She pointed, then waved with a bright smile on her face before looking back at me and holding up the bag with an extra burger and fries she had ordered. “That’s where Harold is tonight. I gotta take him his supper.”

  When she had asked for one to go, I’d assumed she was going to take it home for tomorrow. I should have figured out this was her feeding the homeless again. Nodding, I waved a hand for her to lead the way, and I fell into step just far enough behind her to have a good view of her ass.

  Being with Dolly was unique experience for me. For starters, I fucking enjoyed it. She made things seem…brighter. Watching the animated way she talked when she told me a story and listening to her laugh when I cracked a joke…I was starting to need it. I’d thought I only liked women for one thing. Once that need was met, I didn’t require them. But with Dolly, it was more than what her tight little cunt did for me. I just simply wanted to be near her. It was intriguing as hell.

  When I’d been seventeen, I had been in love. The only time. But I always figured it was because I’d been young and stupid. That I hadn’t known the drama attached to a woman yet. Calista and I had been friends for years before it became more. I mean, I was a guy, and she was gorgeous. Our friendship became an issue. At least for me. I wanted her. Maybe it was more teenage lust than anything, but the connection we’d had growing up made it more. When she had left, I’d been fucking pathetic.

  Dolly wasn’t the first female since Calista that I enjoyed being around. There had been Fawn. She’d been older than me and drama free. At least until she caught me cheating on her and left me. Now, she was married to the fucking Mafia boss. Or former boss. His son was the official boss now.

  “What do you have for me there?” the older man asked, standing up from the crate he had been sitting on with a rolled-up newspaper in his hand, smiling at Dolly.

  “Cheeseburger and fries. Still nice and warm,” she informed him, handing him the bag. “I’m sorry I haven’t been out to check on you. Did your things survive the storm?”

  The man opened the paper bag and inhaled deeply. “Sure did. I ain’t got much, and what I did have, I stored away ’fore I went on to the shelter. They fed me up right. Didn’t go without. I rationed it up like I do and made it work up till I finished the rest of this mornin’. You came just in time.”

  I could see the relief shining in Dolly’s eyes as he spoke.

  “Harold, this is my friend Micah,” Dolly began, and my eyes met Harold’s.

  “I know ’im already. He’s the one that took me to the shelter. Nice one it was. I ain’t ever stayed somewhere that took such good care of folks like us.” He nodded his head at me. “Thank ye for that.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied, feeling Dolly’s eyes now locked on me.

  “Well, uh…I’m, uh, glad they were so good to you,” Dolly said slowly. I could tell her mind was working a mile a minute with the way she was struggling with what to say. “Enjoy that burger then. All of it. I’ll have something for you out here tomorrow.”

  “I’ll do it, Miss Dolly,” he replied.

  I finally met Dolly’s expressive eyes, and I could see the gratitude in them. I hadn’t done it for her to be grateful to me. I did it because she cared about the man. I hadn’t really thought about why I was helping him when I gone to find him. Looking at her face now, I was really fucking glad I had.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  She nodded her head, then looked back at Harold and said her goodbyes before we headed toward the apartment.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said softly.

  “You could thank me,” I teased lightly.

  “Thank you. I mean, of course I am thankful. I just feel like that isn’t enough.”

  “It is, Tink,” I assured her.

  26

  Dolly

  Strong arms cradled me and lifted me up from the sofa, where I’d fallen asleep, watching a movie with Micah. The living room was dark, but I could still see Micah’s jawline and muscular neck with the moonlight shining through the windows.

  “I was trying not to wake you,” he said as he walked me back to the bedroom.

  “I’m sorry I fell asleep,” I replied.

  “Don’t be. You’re cute when you sleep. I enjoyed it.”

  There was the cute word again, except this time, I wasn’t as annoyed with it. Not when he was carrying me to my bed. He set me down on and looked around the room, and then his eyes swung back to me.

  “Where can I find your pajamas?” he asked.

  I was still in my sundress from today. Was he going to get the pajamas and step out of the room or watch me change? Did it matter? He’d seen me naked already. Yes, it mattered. That had been different. He would be really seeing me, not distracted with sex this time.

  “I can get them,” I said, starting to get up.

  Placing his hands on my shoulders, he stopped me. “No, Tink. I’ll get them. Where are they?”

  Tonight had been…perfect. We didn’t argue once. He made me laugh and was attentive. I’d never felt like I was annoying him or that he wanted to be somewhere else. The thought of messing that up by refusing to let him help me get changed for bed kept me from arguing.

  “Top drawer of the dresser, on the left,” I replied, giving in as my stomach began to flutter with nerves.

  He turned and walked over to open it.

  “The pink one on top will be fine,” I told him when he didn’t move to take a nightgown out.

  “You sleep in this?” he asked, reaching in to take out the first satin gown, then held it up with both hands to inspect it.

  My face heated, and I felt more exposed than I had thought I would. I liked pretty nighties. I always had. It made me happy. Even if there was no one to see them on me.