Page 80 of Born to Scar

Indy has taken over cooking from Cam. He is out on the patio with Ken and Asher. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, I ask, “What can I do to help?”

She shakes her head. “I’m good, thanks.” She gives me her sweetest smile and a peck before turning back. I walk out the sliding door to the men sitting outside.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” Ken teases.

“Listen, I will choose being in her over everything else,” I retort. They chuckle, sipping their coffees. “Besides, Cam was right, she needed the distraction.”

Cam nods, looking worried, more worried than usual. “She can be pretty destructive when she’s overwhelmed. The last thirty-six hours have been brutal on her.”

“I can only imagine. I looked at some of those journals. That’s some incredibly heavy shit,” Ken says.

Heavy is an understatement, even for the small passage I read. If one good thing comes out of this, it’s that I understand her so much better because of it, and it makes me love her more. I’ve never met someone who was forced to endure so much and can still manage to enjoy life the way she does. It’s not always easy for her, but she tries.

I grunt, “Have you gotten to the part where her tone changed? Like she was being forced to write the entries?” Cam’s eyebrows shoot to the top of his head, and I nod. “She showed me two entries yesterday. Cam, the first one, the real one”—I shake my head—“you can’t fathom what they went through. He had Jenny and her dancing…” My voice cracks, and I clench my jaw, throwing my mug at the side of the house and dropping my head into my hands. “Fuck!” My anger echoes around us.

She’s never once shamed or devalued women who dance. In fact, she’s been known to frequent T&G with our friends. But she’s never done it. Until…I made her. My fingers dig into my skin. She told me she doesn’t dance, and I made her anyway. I’m a fucking asshole.

Did she pick that entry on purpose? To shove it down my throat? To show how much of a piece of shit I am?

No. That’s not her. She probably didn’t realize that she did it. She was so engrossed in her reading. And exhausted.

I shake my head, trying to shake off the anger at myself, at what she went through—hell, at the world, too, for that matter. “But then Indy showed me another book where the entry was different. Same handwriting, different tone. She asked me if she was crazy.”

The door slides open, and Indy looks out. “Everything okay? I just heard⁠—”

“A coffee mug shattering against the house,” Cam finishes for her. “Looks like Jay likes to throw things when he’s upset, too.”

I roll my eyes, but Indy stares at me, concern etched deep on her face. I shake my head, trying to show her that I’m okay. “I’m fine, sweet girl.” Her eyes dart to Cam, her lips form a thin line, but she nods and shuts the door.

I glare at him, and I want to slap the smirk off his face.

“A mug, a fist. I mean, you don’t exactly hide it,” Cam jokes.

“A fist?” Ken asks.

“He clocked me straight on the jaw, the Saturday night before all the shit went down with my parents in the office.”

Ken chuckles. “You hit him? You are the most laid-back person I know.”

“Not when it comes to that woman in there, he isn’t.”

I nod, agreeing with Cam. “Not about her.”

Never about her.

CHAPTER 34

CAM

Asher sighs heavily, grabbing all of our attention. “He changed his routine this morning. He hasn’t changed his routine since we’ve been following him. He’s up to something. My contact noted everything. I’m keeping a team on him full-time until we get this done.”

My head spins with the possibilities of what the motherfucker is up to. Indy told us. She warned us he would do something, and he is certainly living up to her expectations.

“What do you think he’s doing?”

Asher shrugs. “Hard to tell right now, just make sure—” He’s cut off by Bik opening the door and taking a seat with us. He gives a nod and sips his coffee. “Make sure to keep an eye on her until I can confirm it’s safe,” he finishes.

I tilt my head toward Bik. “She needs more than Mik at the bar if you’re expecting her to work while we take care of this.”