Singe (Guardian Protection #1)

“That’s fine. You don’t have to talk. But you gotta listen to me for a minute. You know I’d never tell you to disrespect your mother. But there are certain times where I am gonna tell you to ignore her.” I cupped her jaw and tipped her head back. “This is one of those times, baby. She says stupid shit sometimes. But that’s on her—not you. Your mom’s spent her entire life trying to make you just like her, and the older you get, the clearer it’s becoming that you aren’t her mini me. You’re better.”

“Psssh. Yeah, right,” she scoffed, trying to look away.

I tightened my hold and forced her gaze to remain on me. “Trust me, baby. I’m a man. Women are my specialty. And I’m telling you right here, right now. Your mom is wrong. You’re one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. And, if anyone ever tries to tell you differently, they’re gonna have to deal with me.”

Her lips disappeared as she sucked them into her mouth and fought tears back.

“Tell me you understand, Val,” I pushed.

She didn’t say anything, but she nodded and lifted her hand to cover mine at her jaw.

“Good,” I soothed. “Now, I’m gonna have a talk with your mom tonight. I don’t want you worrying about that, either.”

“No! What if she—”

“She’s not going to take you away from me. It’ll be fine. Trust me.”

A tear finally escaped her eye as she said, “Okay.”

I grinned and shifted my hand down to her neck. “Now, quit cryin’, crazy. You’re on vacation.”

She sniffled and repeated, “Okay.”

I touched my lips to her forehead before swinging my door open and folding out. After grabbing her messenger bag out of the backseat, she met me at the bumper.

“Thanks, Jude,” she whispered, looping an arm around my hips.

I draped mine over her shoulders and smarted, “Oh, don’t try being polite now. I was getting used to you ignoring me.”

She giggled, and together, we strolled to the elevator.

“Hey, Jude,” she said softly as I pressed the button to the third floor.

“Yeah, baby?”

“You, umm…think, maybe…um…we could go shopping while I’m here? It’s just I hate going with Mom.”

I smirked and looked down at her. “I don’t shop, Val.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” She tipped her head at the ground and became enthralled with her shoes.

“But, if my girl wants to go shopping, I’m gonna take her shopping.”

Her head snapped up, her round face beaming at me. “Really?”

I chuckled. “I’m offended by how surprised you look right now.”

When the doors to the elevator opened, we both stepped off.

“Good. I need some new bras. We can get those, right?” she asked.

I nearly choked on my tongue as we walked to Rhion’s door. “Uh…”

I wasn’t much of a shopper. But I really wasn’t much of a shopper when it came to buying bras for my preteen daughter.

She giggled. “I’m kidding.”

I blew a ragged breath out, which made her laugh louder.

While knocking on the door, I attempted to silence her with a glower, but I could feel the smile pulling at my lips.

It wasn’t until the door opened that I realized I’d never had that talk with Val about Rhion.

“Holy crap!” she gasped.

Rhion was wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved, v-neck T-shirt, exposing not only the tattoos on her arms, but also the ones across her chest, which stopped slightly under her collarbone. My eyes were instantly drawn to the subtle cleavage.

But that’s not what Val saw.

“She has scars like you, Jude.”

My lips thinned and I flashed a pair of wide eyes at Rhion in apology.

She shot a pair right back in my direction, but a smile split her face.

After Rhion had left the office the day before, I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind. In my nightmares, I’d always thought of her as that broken butterfly teetering on the edge of death. But, after ten minutes with that crazy woman, I knew I couldn’t have been more wrong. She was very much alive. Her laugh. Her smile. Her sense of humor. Anyone would tell you Rhion Park was gorgeous. But, when she opened her mouth, it was a different kind of beauty. The kind that had a way of working under a man’s skin.

Later that night, Rhion and I had exchanged a very formal thread of text messages. It was strange. It seemed, for a woman who talked in paragraphs, she typed in single syllables. Yes. No. Fine. I think the longest thing I got from her was, Okay. See you then. She could be as short as she wanted to be though; I wasn’t going to back down.

Rational thought had died in that stairwell. The moment I’d lost sight of her out the door, I knew I’d follow her. The second I’d seen Johnson standing there, I had known I’d fight for her. And the moment she’d smiled up at me, I had known I’d run a mile through broken glass to keep it aimed at me.

Long story short: I was fucked.

I wanted her. And not just with my hands and my mouth—though I couldn’t deny that was part of it. My body came alive for that woman. But, with Rhion, I wanted more. I wanted to know what she’d been up to for the last four years. Was she happy? What was she doing in Chicago? What did she actually do for a living? Why was she so private? Did that night haunt her dreams too? And, most of all, had she thought about me even a fraction of how often I had her over the years?

On one hand, I was worried that pursuing anything with her was astronomically stupid. On the other hand, I couldn’t stop myself.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to… Crap.” Val looked up at me apologetically. “That was probably rude.”

I opened my mouth to tell her it absolutely was, but Rhion got there first.

“Nah, it wasn’t rude.” She stepped out of the way and motioned for us to come inside. “If I were ashamed, I’d cover them. But I don’t believe in long-sleeve shirts. I paid way too much money for this ink to hide it.” She shoved a colorful arm in Val’s direction.

Val dragged a finger down one of the skillfully hidden seams of puckered flesh on Rhion’s forearm.

The memory slammed into my brain as so many had over the last week. They were soft.

Not at all like the hard, raised flesh at the back of my head. But, then again, she’d probably worn her compression garments as the doctor had recommended.

Meanwhile, for the first year, I’d grown my hair out and done anything and everything I could to forget.

“How’d you get them?” Val asked.

Rhion’s gaze bounced to mine.

I shook my head.

Valerie knew all about my nightmares—probably more than April did. She knew about my Butterfly. But she didn’t know about my failures that had earned us both those scars. And I was nowhere near ready to cop to those in front of the little girl who thought I’d hung the moon.

“Well…” Rhion started, glancing back down to Val. “A few years ago, I got into a fight with a bear. He was a real jerk who thought he could walk up to my campsite and steal my picnic basket. Clearly, he underestimated how much I like to eat. I walked away with these. But he’s now the world’s first hairless bear. Don’t worry. I gave him the name of my tattoo artist and she inked him on some pants.”

Her gaze drifted back up to me, a gorgeous grin pulling at her lips, a light dancing in her eyes, which nearly knocked me back a step.

Fuck. This woman.