Smoke Signals by Catherine Gayle Read Free Book Online Page B

and her head resting on them. She looked so damn vulnerable, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I didn’t know how to help her. I felt more helpless than I had when I’d been a kid who couldn’t do anything to protect my mom.
    I sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her to my side. She was stiff as a board.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry I hurt you, and I’m sorry I was short with you just now. You didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve any of it.”
    She sniffled again. And she pulled away from me. “Why won’t you let me help you finish? I make you come.”
    I did my best not to lose my temper, but it wasn’t easy. Not when every bone in my body was aching to wrap her up in my arms and hold her until she believed she had some value. “I told you. You don’t come, I don’t come. That’s how this is going to work between us. Got it? You’re not just a set of holes for me to fuck. Not me or any man.”
    She blinked at me a few times. “You’re wrong, Razor. You’re good man, but you’re wrong.” Then she got up and headed for the doorway.
    “Where are you going?” There was only a mild sense of panic edging my tone. Not anywhere near as much as I felt.
    She stopped, one hand on the door frame, and looked back over her shoulder. “Other bedroom. I can sleep there?”
    “You can sleep anywhere you want to.” But I wanted her to stay with me. So I could watch over her. So I could make sure she didn’t get up and take off in the middle of the night. So I could study her and try to solve her mysteries. So I could make sure no one else ever hurt her again in any of the ways she’d so clearly been hurt.
    But I couldn’t protect her if she wouldn’t let me.
    Tori gave me a solemn nod. “You’re good man, Razor.” Then she sniffled once more, walked out, and closed the door behind her.
    I lay in bed thinking for hours. I replayed everything that had happened between us since we’d walked off the casino floor. I pondered every possibility I could come up with for what might have been causing her physical pain. I debated how I could help her overcome all that she’d been through.
    The longer I thought, the more questions I had…and the fewer answers. It was enough to overwhelm me, and I wasn’t even the one who’d lived through all that she had.
    In the end, there was only one thing I could think to do—talk to my mother. That would have to wait, though. It was the middle of the night, and not a time I could call her.
    And tomorrow, I had to make sure Babs got hitched.

 

     
     

    “HOLY SHITBALLS,” KOZ said—loudly—when Tori and I walked into Red Rocks for the wedding. Every head in the outdoor space spun toward him. He was staring right at Tori, and the only way I could describe his expression was less than polite . Actually, way less than polite. He was staring at her like he’d seen her with her clothes off.
    Maybe he had.
    Then all those eyes landed on me and Tori. Fuck. I’d hoped to be able to slide her in under the radar until after the ceremony before having to explain things, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. I glanced at her to see if she was uncomfortable with the attention, but that didn’t get me anywhere. She’d been uncomfortable since I’d first met her. She was more wary than anything, her eyes darting from face to face.
    I turned back to the guys up front. 501 elbowed Koz in the side, which saved him from my fist finding its way through his nose. For now. I wasn’t making any promises about what I might do to him later, especially if he kept this shit up.
    I wasn’t embarrassed to be seen with Tori—everything I’d said last night about not giving a shit what anyone thought, I’d meant—but I didn’t want her to feel out of place in my life. Assholes like Koz could cause us problems, and I intended to do everything I could to minimize it.
    I found Tori a seat on the groom’s side of the aisle, not so close to