I looked at her.
She wasn’t scared. Chin lifted. Eyes clear. The only tell was the tension at her mouth, like she was holdin’ herself together on purpose.
For herself.
For me.
I released the man slow and shoved him back into his seat. “You so much as reach out again,” I told him, leanin’ close enough for him to smell trouble, “and I won’t be nearly this polite.”
He nodded fast, clutchin’ his wrist like it might snap clean off.
I turned back to her. “You alright?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Though you might’ve just cost yourself a customer.”
“Worth it,” I muttered.
Ruby snorted from the next table. “Hell, Chain. Guess we don’t need security anymore.”
Lark shot her a look, then turned back to me. “You can’t go threatening every idiot who gets handsy.”
“Didn’t threaten him,” I said, glancin’ over my shoulder. He was pale now, starin’ into his drink like it held answers. “Just educated him.”
She rolled her eyes, but there was warmth there. Trust, maybe. Gratitude. Somethin’ quiet and heavy that settled between us.
I wanted to pull her close. Wrap my hand around those fingers he’d dared to touch. Let her feel how solid I was.
Instead, she slipped past me, tray already back in place. Choosin’ the job. Choosin’ herself.
That mattered.
“Chain,” Devil said from the bar, voice low. “You’re gone.”
I didn’t answer.
I watched her walk back into the noise, light catchin’ the scar on her cheek and the marks on her hands she never hid. My chest ached in a way I didn’t have words for yet.
Gone?
Yeah. Maybe.
But I’d crossed harder lines for a hell of a lot less.
And she was worth every bruise I’d ever earn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
THE OFFICE DOORswung shut behind Chain and Devil,their voices fading, and I finally let myself breathe. The hum ofHigh Voltagedulled without him there—music low, laughter distant, the kind of quiet that left too much space for thought.
I swore I’d never do this again. Never fall into the orbit of another man. Not after everything the Flame burned out of me.
But here I was.
I don’t even know what we are—Chain and me—but I can feel it in the way he looks at me, unwavering and sure, like he’s already made up his mind. I keep telling myself to slow it down,to be careful. Then he touches me, or smiles that slow, crooked smile, and I forget every damn reason I had to be afraid.
“Hey, Lark!” Ruby’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Can you take the trash out? I’m running behind.”
“Sure,” I called back, forcing a small smile.
