Page 60 of Snow in Texas

“Baby,” he said, and she hated that one word could hold her in place like that. Just as weak as she’d always been. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, wiping the shampoo from his eyes. “Really, I didn’t mean…”

Jenny sighed and sagged against the counter. “You know what? Riley always used to say that. Right after he blacked my eyes. ‘I didn’t mean it.’ ‘Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ And then a week later, I was spitting blood again.”

His face paled beneath its golden tan. Water sluiced down off his body and landed on the bathmat, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Jen.”

“Is it not okay that I had sex with a friend? Should I have just sat around with my legs crossed until you showed up?”

“Jen,” he repeated, and stepped fully out of the shower, dripping all over the place.

“You’re ruining my bathroom. You’re gonna have to mop all of this up.”

He reached her in one long stride and took her hand in his slippery wet one, turning it palm-up so he could see the already-darkening finger marks along her pulse point.

A hard shiver stole through her, and she fought the urge to pull away.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, staring down at the damage he’d inflicted. “Jenny, I’m so sorry.” His dark eyes lifted, red-rimmed and full of helplessness and regret.

She had to dampen her lips before she could get them to work. “You know why I picked Fox?”

His brows knitted together.

“Because he’s not very big. I’m taller than he is.”

Hesitantly, he said, “You said you’d never slept with anyone you didn’t care about.”

“That’s true. I care about Fox as a friend. As a member of this club. He’s like a brother. And I knew, the night I was with him, that he was probably the least likely to put me in the hospital, if he got angry with me.”

He let go of her wrist and reached for her waist, tried to draw her toward him.

Her eyes filled with tears and she hated it. “I didn’t want to be with somebody as big as you,” she said, voice threatening to crack. “I knew you’d just beat me up–” She cut herself off before she started sobbing, ashamed to her core.

“Jenny.” Colin wrapped both arms around her and pulled her flush against his wet, slippery chest. She felt him kiss the top of her head.

She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek to his slick skin, felt the hard throb of his heartbeat. “I need some time away from you,” she whispered. “Please. Just let go of me.”

~*~

Colin

He ground out his smoke on the sole of his boot and lit another one. His stomach growled, but the idea of food made him sick.

Please. Just let go of me.

Two bikes turned in from the street and pulled up in front of him. Candy and Jinx.

“How’d it go?” Candy asked as he dismounted, and there was an edge to his voice that told Colin he already knew.

Colin shrugged. “Dusty wasn’t there, but his roommate said he’d seen Riley around talking to the guy. Safe to say the kid’s part of his crew.”

Candy nodded, gaze level and assessing. “You and Fox – how’d that go?”

“I threw him into a puddle of shit,” Colin said, honestly.

“Threw him?”

“Picked him up. Threw him.” He mimed the action. “He landed like this.” He mimed that too, and Jinx let out an amused snort.

Candy ducked his head, and looked like he hid a grin. “Take it you heard the history, then.”

---