Page 20 of Guarded

His very naked chest.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asks, removing himself from my embrace while looking around the room.

The winged beast flies at us again, and I jump onto Nero. He huffs out a breath. Unwrapping me from him again. He examines the room and then looks me over. I point at the intruder. Walking toward the bed, he catches it in his hand and turns toward me.

“It’s a fucking moth.” He growls.

I reach for my neck desperately to stop the red from creeping up on my face. It’s then that I realize how very naked Nero is standing in front of me. He’s wearing a towel.

That’s it.

A white towel wrapped around his waist.

The material folding into itself right below his hard abs and the very prominent v-line leading down to his- my eyes race to the side.

He releases the beast out my window and turns to face me. Standing there, I smile awkwardly, unsure what to do with my hands. What the hell do I do with my hands?

“You good now?” he asks, but I can’t focus on anything he says.

Fear has left the building, and some foreign emotion has taken its place. The height difference puts me at eye level with his chest, where I notice the thickened tissue tightened around the skin on his upper chest.

The pigment of the scar is lighter than the dark pigment of his skin. A gasp escapes me, and I reach out to touch the scar. My eyes shoot to his, and he grabs my hand before I can touch him.

We stand there in an uncomfortable silence. Our eyes locked on each other. I can’t read him. The words don’t come out despite desperately wanting to ask him what happened. There’s a challenge in his gaze. Like he’s waiting for me to ask, but then it’s over. He releases my hand and walks to the door. Shutting me out from whatever was hiding behind the void in his eyes.

Chapter 7

Nero

11 YEARS OLD

“Dime la verdad.” Mrs. Rivera says.

“I told you. I fell.” I protest.

I fell, a dog bit me, and I got in a fight with one of the kids in our apartment complex. It was the lies Evangeline had coached me to say. Most of the adults I met turned their cheeks to the bruises I came to school with. I was a lot of paperwork they’d rather not deal with. Mrs. Rivera, however, was not letting up on the lies.

Her persistent attempts to save me, however, only made matters worse. I take the long way home. I don’t know what’s waiting for me there, but it’s a four-day weekend, and Evangeline won’t be happy the school interrupted her day.

My hands tremble as I turn the knob. The smell of stale smoke and molding food hits my nose, and I wince. Home Sweet Home. I inch through the small apartment, but I don’t see her. Holding my breath, I debate whether I should call out to her or not. I was always damned either way. If I called out and she was sleeping, I’d be locked in the kennel all weekend. If I didn’t call out to let her know I was here, I’d go the whole weekend without food.

Thankfully, Charlie sees me and lets out an excited bark that alerts her I’m there.

“Nero, is that you?” she calls out.

“Yes, ma, I just got home.”

“Come back here.” She commands.

Her voice sounds kind, but I already know Evangeline. When she speaks with a kind tone, that is when she’s the scariest. The bad thing was coming out to play.

Since Tala had escaped and set the old house on fire, Evangeline and I had been on the run. She had cut her long hair and dyed it dark black. She enrolled me under her maiden name, and we were living off the money she stole from her and Benigo’s joint bank accounts. Money that was running scarce.

I walk toward the light streaming out of the back bathroom. Evangeline stands there smoking a cigarette. The smile she gives me makes my heart tighten inside my chest.

“Bath time mijito.” The bad thing says.

My eyes bounce from the empty tub to the mess covering the bathroom counter: a half-empty bottle of Jose Cuervo, scissors, and small hairs covering the sink. Evangeline compulsively cut her hair daily. The long hair she once had now barely grazed the end of her earlobe. She’s stopped caring about her appearance in the three years since we left Texas.

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