Page 41 of Scar

The only thing that she did have correct was that he was there to protect her. But protect her from what? If she learned who he was, his aim to end her father…? She would view him as the enemy.

“Let’s change the subject,” Tally suggested. Scar looked up to see her twirling her spaghettoni onto her fork like a professional Italian. “Since I doubt askingyoua question would be much of a conversation starter, I’ll talk. You,” she pointed her fork at him without dumping the perfectly twirled spaghetti off of it, “eat. You’re too skinny.

“Okay, let’s see…” She ate her pasta as she thought. “A lot of people wonder why I don’t have a Seeing Eye dog. I had one growing up. His name was Eyeballs.” She shrugged, her face crunched in that adorably sheepish way. Like she felt embarrassed but didn’t know how to form the standard expression. “I was four when I named him. Anyway, Eyeballs was an awesome dog. We went everywhere together. I had him from the time he was six months old and went through training with him to when he passed away at sixteen. He was long retired by then and living in luxury in my parents’ house. I still miss him. At first, I didn’t have the heart to replace him, and by then I was in culinary school. People might be able to accept a blind chef, but they’ll still have issues with a dog in the kitchen.”

She ate a couple more bites before continuing. “Here’s a fun fact: I can make akillercrème brûlée, but I have no idea what an elephant looks like.” She giggled at herself. “I had a book as a kid that had tactile images of animals so I have a basic picture in my head, but it’s not like I’ve ever been able to walk up to one and touch it to get a more exact idea.” Her voice turned conspiratorial as she added, “One day, I plan on bribing a zookeeper so I can touch an elephant.”

Her mischievous smile had Scar wanting to research where the nearest zoo was with an elephant exhibit.

Tally continued eating. “Have you ever thought about how cheese is made? Trust me, if you knew, you wouldn’t be so quick to eat it. If you don’t want to know, speak now or forever hold your peace, because I’m going to tell you.” She paused, as if waiting for Scar to ‘speak now’, and then shrugged. “Your loss, because trust me, I’m about to horrify you. But since I’m the one driving the conversation here, I get to choose the topic of conversation.

“So, first, you have to acidify the milk…”

Scar leaned his head back against the brick wall. Food forgotten, he sat as still as a statue, watching and listening as she explained how cheese was made.

She could have been reading the dictionary and he would have been just as enraptured.

* * *

[WiseWave620: Star’s cat is staring at me again. I swear he’s plotting my death.]

* * *

Scar blinked awake.He assessed where he was and how he’d gotten there in a strategic manner. Tally’s living room was dark. It usually was since she didn’t use the overhead lighting, but it was darker than normal. Nighttime. The heavy dinner rush had trickled down to a light lull, which had meant sections of the restaurant had been able to close early. After her executive chef insisted she head home, Tally had been able to walk out at quarter to eleven rather than after midnight.

She’d found him in the shadows of the alley next to her loading dock.“I’m walking home. You’re welcome to join me rather than lurk behind me like a stalker. Your choice.”

Scar had stepped under the streetlamp next to her. It had been…interesting to say the least. To walk beside her rather than feet or blocks behind her as she clicked along, swiping her walking cane in front of her. He hadn’t touched her, didn’t want to, but he kept thinking about his club brothers back in Pennsylvania. How if any one of them had been the one walking beside her, he would have been able to offer Tally his arm as if the two of them were just enjoying a summer night stroll. And how Tally wouldn’t need to use echolocation or her walking cane because she would trust him to guide her.

Then the image changed to Tally holdingScar’sarm as they walked beside each other.

It was such a stupid fantasy. They weren’t friends. All of Scar’s friends thought he was dead because he?—

Scar flinched. Because he was a bastard of the highest order, that’s why. He wanted to protect them from his past. Yet here he was, sitting on Tally’s couch. No,sleepingon Tally’s couch. He couldn’t ignore the distinction.

After they’d gotten back to her home the night before, it had been too early for Tally to sleep, even though she was exhausted. She’d gotten into some bad sleeping habits over the past year and was still a bit too wired. She’d suggested popcorn and an audiobook.

Tally didn’t have a television. She said she enjoyed movies with audio descriptions, but preferred audiobooks. Generally, she only listened to movies when she was with friends becausetheywere watching a movie. She didn’t like going to the theater because other patrons got mad when the audio descriptions were played. Only recently did certain theaters offer private devices that she wore like headphones. It wasn’t worth the hassle.

With an audiobook, she could immerse herself entirely in the story. Braille books weren’t as widely available as people thought and only certain publications offered them. More than not, kids’ books were readily available.

Of course, Tally didn’t eat bagged popcorn. She’d made stovetop popcorn with a garlic parmesan seasoning.

Once seated in the left corner, Tally had curled herself up in a blanket, put her phone and bowl of popcorn on the center cushion, and then patted the couch in open invitation.

Scar still wasn’t sure why he sat down. It was like she had a power over him, and he wasn’t sure he liked it or understood it.

He liked Tally. She was an amazing woman. With her disability, she could have had a very different woe-is-me outlook on life, but she didn’t. She chose to live her life asshewanted, to make her own stamp on the world. She never stopped to say,“No, I can’t do that. I’m blind.”Instead, she foundherway of doing it.

Scar admired her. He had from the start, and there was no denying that fact, but to fall asleep next to her while listening to an audiobook…

He didn’t have his night vision contacts in, but he didn’t need them to know that Tally was asleep on the couch beside him. Her phone was still playing the book, the low volume a constant murmur in the background. He turned the phone over, the screen providing the only light in the room. Tally was curled up over the opposite arm of the couch from where Scar was seated.

He had to hand it to her. The couch was extremely comfortable for the puke-orange color. He could understand why it was the perfect purchase for her though. As she’d said the day before, what did color matter to her? She cared about comfort and the feel of the couch. In that, Scar agreed she got the best one.

But it wasn’t the couch that had lulled him to sleep. Fuck, when was the last time he’dsleptlonger than ten minutes a stint in the past decade. Other than when Alpha’s medical team had forced him into a medically induced coma, that is.

The hardest part about sleeping for Scar was the feeling of vulnerability. Of not knowing what was happening in the real world while he was trapped in a dream simulation. He’d chosen to take a nap once before and his team had been ambushed.

---