“Taylor, I can’t …”
“Do you think I don’t deserve to know?” I question with a frown.
“It’s not that you’re not worth it.” He sighs heavily.
“Then tell me. Please,” I beg giving him my puppy eyes. “Tell me who you are.” His eyes search mine, and I add, “You can trust me. I haven’t given you a reason not to.”
For a few long moments, he just stares at me. His dark blue eyes searching mine. “I trust you,” he finally whispers.
I lean in and softly kiss the tip of his lips. When I pull away, he looks down. I hold my breath when I see he is looking at the tattoo Nicole on his wrist. I wanna know who she is.
“What do you want to know?” he asks with a growl as if this is gonna be hard for him.
“Have you been arrested before?” I ask curiously. I know Nicole is a very sore subject. She meant something to him, that’s obvious. I wanna know the things that make him look so dark. The things that make him seem so dangerous. Anyone can fall in love; I wanna know what makes him so special. So mysterious.
He actually throws his head back and laughs. A deep, sexy laugh that makes his muscles flex. “What?” I ask as I slap his hard chest playfully. “It’s a serious question,” I snap at him as he continues to laugh. “Can’t take anything serious,” I say as I get up from straddling him. He grabs my arm and pulls me down to the bed as he straddles me.
He continues to laugh, but it has softened. “Yes, to answer your question, I have been arrested before.”
“For what?” I don’t know what it is about him admitting that, but it makes him even hotter. All I can do now is imagine his hands cuffed behind his back allowing me to have my way with him. What has happened to me?
“Drugs,” he replies with no shame.
“What were you doing with the drugs?” I dig deeper.
He runs his hand down his chin; the sound of it rubbing against his facial hair makes me smile. I love that sound. “A friend gave me a number to a man who I was told had what I was looking for. Everything was going fine until I found out it had been a setup. Cops swarmed the place, and I got arrested.” He shrugs carelessly.
“Case, I’m sure it was much more intense than you just made it sound,” I inform him.
He sighs. “What do you want me to say, Taylor? I answered your question. I got arrested. It was a setup. I spent some time in jail.”
“Was that the only time you’ve been arrested?”
“No,” he answers flatly.
I sigh. “Did you fight the cops?” Savannah had said she heard that he had beat up a cop once.
He rolls his eyes but answers my question. “Yes.” He points up at the scar above his right eye. “That’s how I got this. And several other scars.” His eyes drop down to his hands as he fists them.
“All because of drugs?” I whisper.
He closes his eyes for a long second as he takes in a deep breath. When he opens them and looks down at me, his voice is hard. “Yes.”
“Why do you still do it?” I ask confused.
He lifts his hands and places them on his head as he arches it back and lets out a frustrated sigh. “Because it’s what I do,” he says through clenched teeth. “I can’t change who I am, Taylor. Not even for you.”
I feel like he just stabbed me in the chest. “I’m not trying to change you,” I say softly. “I just don’t get why you choose to do something that could end your life.”
He laughs at that. “End my life?” he repeats. “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?”
“No.” I push myself up on my elbows and look up at him. “I know I have never been a part of your world but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the effects it can have on people. My father …”
“Your father has an addiction,” he interrupts me. “He let it take over his life. He allowed it to eat at him until he willingly gave up everything for one more hit.”
“How do you know you won’t be at that point someday?” I ask sadly. “Don’t you want to have a future? Don’t you want to one day live somewhere else besides in a club?” He just stares at me, that mask of emotion over his face. “Do you ever see yourself settling down and having a family?”
“No,” he says immediately. No thought needed. Just plain and simple no.
