may lack social skills, but he doesn’t bring shame.”
Dane’s eyes met his uncle’s to see something close to hate sweep his face. He moved from his spot near the fireplace to loom over Dane. His uncle cut an imposing figure, but it was the violence behind his eyes that always stirred fear in Dane. “Your latest stunt came back on me. You want to screw up your life, that’s your business, but I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to have it taken away because of a little worthless shit like you. These two are more forgiving than I. You fuck with me again, boy, and they won’t find you, ever.”
Dane stifled his gulp—his uncle meant every word. The encounter they were referring to was not something he liked to think about. Ember Walsh, a year ago. He didn’t know how it had gotten so out of control. His friend Todd had promised him a good time. Dane had spent the evening just thinking about her wrapped around him, and when he was denied, yeah, he was pissed, but he’d been so high he didn’t really even remember the night he attacked her. He didn’t expect to get his face rearranged by her Neanderthal boyfriend, or their gangster friend to get all up into his family’s business. Replaying the scene sober, it wasn’t his proudest moment. His head started to pound.
“Enough, Horace. No point in having the boy shit his pants. Lydia has enough work to do around here.” His grandfather stood and moved from behind his desk.
“Boys will be boys, but be more discreet.”
And then he was dismissed and the three of them filed out of the room. Did they not see how contradictory they were? One minute he’s a complete degenerate and the next it’s “boys will be boys.” It was no wonder that he was so fucked up—raised by that group of narcissistic sociopaths. It took a few minutes for his legs to steady before he moved across the room to the bar and poured himself a stiff drink. The alcohol calmed his wildly beating heart, but he needed to get high and then laid. He walked with determined strides from the study to do just that.
Trace moved quietly through the apartment, stopping when he reached their bedroom. Ember lay curled up into a ball, sleeping. She was working too hard—juggling writing her second book, which kept her up late most nights, and working for In Step, the online periodical she wrote a column for. The long hours were definitely taking a toll on her. Telling her to slow down was pointless since she acted much like a dog with a bone when she wanted something. Obstacles be damned. She had proven her tenacity with him, fighting for him, for them, even when he was doing everything he could to push her away.
He walked over to her and settled on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers lightly up and down her bare arm.
“Ember, sweetheart.”
She turned and those guileless brown eyes opened; when she saw him, a smile spread over her face. It was like a sucker punch every time and he fucking craved it.
“Trace, hi.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy.”
“I have one more class tonight, but I can have Carlos take it if you want me to stay home.”
“No, you should go.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
She looked so soft and sweet that he was seriously tempted to ditch class, strip her out of those pajamas, wrap her legs around his waist, and sink himself deep into her. Yeah, the more he thought about it, the better and better it sounded, but when he really looked at her, she looked more than tired.
Knowing him as well as she did, she reached for his hand to entwine his fingers with her own. “Really, I just need sleep. Don’t worry about me. Maybe later when you get home again you’ll tell me, or better yet show me, whatever it was you were just thinking about.”
A grin cracked over his face as he brushed his finger along her jaw. It was stupid, but the thought of something happening to her, of losing her, was his greatest fear. “You know me so well.”
“Um.” She settled more deeply into the blankets. “Wake me up when you get home.”
He brushed his lips over hers and watched as her heavy lids closed over her eyes. “Sweet dreams, beautiful.”
Later in the evening, Ember stirred awake as soon as he climbed into bed. She turned into him