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“Let’s go,” Tav murmured.
“Fuck you, Dailey!” Chaz shouted as I walked away with Tav. I didn’t remember the trip to the car, and when I got there, I realized I must’ve dropped the pastries I’d bought for us. Tav put me in the passenger seat and strapped me in. My eyes were aching and I rested my hands over them as he started the engine and began driving us home. The silence in the car was tense and absolute.
After a while, Tav rested his hand on my thigh. “I’m sorry.”
“Why the hell is this anything you would apologize for?” I asked hotly, lowering my hands. I blinked against the invasion of light and a dull headache started up behind my eyes.
He slouched in his seat. “If I were like your friends, this wouldn’t’ve happened. None of it, from the beginnin’. We would’ve just been together all this time, and no one would’ve cared.” He ended on a whisper I barely heard. “How much of this will you want to take?”
Sitting up straight, I studied his serious face, watching his jaw tic. “There’s nothing any friend of mine can say that’s going to make me think twice about you, but I sure as hell will dump them! I don’t want you to be like my friends.” I swiped my hand through my hair. “If Chaz was being a dick, why didn’t you tell me?” He opened his mouth, but I was on a roll. “Do you really think I want to hang out with anyone who would treat you that way?”
Tav closed his mouth and shrugged.
Sighing, I shut my eyes again because they both hurt, and I could already feel the left one swelling. “What will I have to do to get you to trust me?” Pain that had nothing to do with my beaten face swarmed through me like a thousand biting insects. “I’ve never cared what anyone thought about us.”
I almost choked on the silence in the car.
18
TAV
As soon as we got back to Judah’s home, I dragged him toward the ground-floor bathroom. The voices upstairs floated down to us, but I ignored them, hoping Hilton and Ellis wouldn’t come to see what we were doing. We couldn’t avoid them knowing what happened, especially not with the shiners that Judah was going to have, but I wanted to focus on trying to stop as much of the swelling as I could.
I pushed Judah to sit on the edge of the bathtub, and he did as I directed, watching me carefully, even though both of his eyes were ballooning to the point that he could probably barely see out of them.
“Fuck.” I shook my head, guilt festering inside me as I opened the cabinet beneath the basin and grabbed the first aid kit out of it. Thankfully, Judah hadn’t changed the habits he’d grown up with. There had been one in his parents’ guest bathroom. “I never wanted this to happen. Shep’s protective of the people he loves.”
“He loves you?” Judah bit out, some of the anger from when we’d first run into each other returning. I didn’t blame him. It was my fault that he was in this situation to begin with. His mother. His friends. Shep. The Kings. They were all consequences of our relationship.
I sighed as I sat the box on the gray marble counter. “It isn’t like that.”
“You have a lot of people who love you, a lot of people you let into your life. What about me, Tav?” His tone hardened and a vulnerability weaved its way through his words. “Why won’t you trust me?”
“I do,” I argued, smiling sadly over my shoulder at him as I opened the box, then pulled out the antiseptic cream. He had a cut under his left eye from a ring that Shep had been wearing, and I didn’t want it to become infected. Once I’d made sure that was dealt with, I’d go to the freezer and find an ice pack, or if he didn’t have one of those, some frozen vegetables.
“Then why didn’t you tell me about Chaz? What did he say to you?”
I closed my eyes for a moment as I unscrewed the lid on the ointment, then opened them again as I squeezed the cream onto my fingers. I coated under his eye, careful not to put too much pressure on it. “I can handle some insults. I’m used to them. Shep only knew because he overheard Chaz.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” His hand snapped up and he grasped my wrist, holding my arm still. He leaned forward, mouth tugging into a serious frown. “What did he say to you?”
“I need to put ice on your eyes to stop the swelling.”
“No.” He shoved off the side of the bathtub and stood, towering over me. He leaned in closer, and I didn’t move away. “I’ll ask again, and I want a real answer. What did he say to you?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Which time? Last night or today?”
His eyes widened, and then he winced in pain. “Fuck. He said something last night, too?”
“I’m a big boy, I can handle myself. What Shep did was out of bounds, but he’s always been rash and violent. I guess him being a Kings’ prospect makes sense.” I shrugged.
Judah gave me a pointed look.
Fine. If he wanted a proper answer, I’d give him one. “Last night, Chaz and Brett made fun of my clothes. Today, he insinuated I was there because I needed charity, and then asked me....” I cursed under my breath and ran a hand over the back of my neck. “He asked me how much I was worth. In a sexual way.”
“What?” Judah’s hands curled into fists and his jaw went tight. Despite the bruising, he glared. “I’m going to kill him.” He moved to stride past me, but I grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
“Stop it. I’m not a child, Jude. It’s just words, and I can handle him. I wasn’t goin’ to make anythin’ of it, but then Shep overheard and.... Bloody hell. It all went to shite, didn’t it?” I ran a palm over my cheek. “After today, I don’t think Chaz will be sayin’ much else to me.”
