Jordy took Laurel’s feet and put them on his lap. He began massaging them with utmost focus. The tattoos on his arms seemed to swirl as he moved.
“Once you asked me how I ended up in Beauville. I didn’t lie, but I didn’t tell you the truth either.”
“There’s no pressure.” The brittle sound of Laurel’s voice undermined his words. Jordy must have noticed.
“I want to get it out.”
Laurel shifted in my arms. “Does it have to do with how you got arrested on your first night in Beauville?”
Jordy nodded and glanced at me. I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging smile. In my opinion, he had nothing to be ashamed of, and I’d been telling him that for years. Not that he’d ever really listened.
“I grew up in the city, in foster care among humans,” he said, kneading the arch of Laurel’s left foot. “My foster parents did their best, but they had five other kids, and me being the only shifter… I didn’t really fit in. I caused trouble at schooland did some stupid shit. Nothing too bad, but enough to be a headache.”
I should have sat by his side, but something told me Jordy wouldn’t want that. I held Laurel to my chest and stroked his bare torso, tracing the cushion on his underbelly, and struggled to keep my mouth shut.
“When I was seventeen, I got arrested for armed robbery.” Jordy’s voice rose and hardened. “As a shifter, I was deemed more dangerous, so they gave me three years. They let me out after twenty-eight months, with nine years’ probation.”
Laurel grew stiff like a plank in my arms.Uh-oh.
Jordy must have felt the tension in our omega. He curled into himself, as if making himself smaller. He stared at his hands, which had stilled cradling Laurel’s foot. He recited the story flatly, without a speck of emotion, like the weather forecast on the radio.
“When I got out, I couldn’t find steady work in the city, and I was terrified I’d end up on the street. I figured maybe if I went somewhere with more shifters, I’d have a chance to lead a decent life. The probation officer said he would allow me to move if I had a job lined up, so I applied at the Beauville lumber mill. They told me to come in person for an interview.”
When Jordy paused, the room was eerily silent. Laurel waited, barely breathing. It had started raining, and a gust of wind drove the rain against the front facade. The room whispered with the pitter-patter of drops on the glass wall.
Jordy looked at the rain and sighed, caressing Laurel’s ankle.
“I arrived a day early, thinking I’d sleep in the forest in fur. I just wanted to grab a meal before I went to hide for the night. It was in the middle of the summer, and the pub was full of tourists. I overheard this creepy guy saying something to his boyfriend, a tiny slip of an omega. One thing led to another, and I got into a fight with the alpha.”
“You defended someone from an abusive jerk.” I hadn’t planned on butting in, but Jordy made it sound as if he were some kind of outlaw.
He shot me a warning look, and I bit my tongue.
“Monty dragged me off the alpha,” he said. “The boyfriend must have gotten scared because when the cavalry arrived, he said I’d attacked them. Chickie put me in jail overnight.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said. He was leaving out so many important details. “The guy didn’t press charges. He knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on…”
Jordy lifted a hand to stop me. His gaze warmed as he looked at me, and I exhaled.
“In the morning, you came to pick me up,” he said, not taking his eyes off me. “You explained everything to Chickie, and then you took me to the diner and fed me waffles. Sleep-deprived and still freaking out, I spilled my pathetic life story. You listened, then asked me if I knew how to pour a beer. I said that I’d never done anything like that. And you said that you’d teach me. I’ve never understood why you would hire a convicted felon on the spot like that.”
“You were hot,” I joked, and winked.
Jordy shook his head, chuckling humorlessly.
“The armed robbery,” Laurel murmured. “You were just a kid, weren’t you?”
Jordy’s expression hardened again. “I knew it was stupid, but I did it anyway.”
“Except the gun wasn’t yours,” I protested. “Why are you determined to make yourself into a criminal?”
He glared at me. “Because I am? I served time, remember? Laurel should know who he’s mated to.”
Laurel sat up and watched us like a tennis match.
I rolled my eyes. “Tell him about the gun, Jordy.”
Jordy grimaced.
