Rock Me Deeper (Licks of Leather #5) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,7

the brutality she’d endured. The notion of dropping her off, unprotected, sent anxiety spiking and panic squeezing my heart.

I can’t leave her again. Not like this.

Brushing the hair off her neck, I leaned in close to her ear and fought the urge to press my lips to her warm flesh. “Stay with me tonight, Caris. I’ve got a suite at the Beverly Wilshire. I’ll get you some clothes, then take you to the hospital, where—”

“Are you out of your mind?” she hissed. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Monica probably thinks I’m dead. We were supposed to fly back home yesterday—”

“Where is home now?”

“Same place it’s always been. Diamond City.”

“You never left Arkansas?”

“No. Unlike you, I didn’t get the chance to leave.” With a singeing glare, she mulishly pressed her lips in a thin line.

Clearly, she wasn’t going to say more. But a huge part of me ached to know about her life, about the life we’d once planned to share until I fucked everything up and left her behind.

“Okay, we’re at Wilshire and Doheny. Where do I go from here?” Ross asked.

Her tone of voice and expression softened exponentially as she directed the drummer down a couple of side streets.

“There,” Caris pointed. “The dark gray clapboard with the white picket fence.”

Cocking my head, I sized up the house. It looked nice enough, but there wasn’t a single light on, inside or out. As Ross swung the SUV into the driveway, I noticed a piece of paper taped to the front door.

“Thanks for saving me from that madman and dropping me off. It was nice to meet you guys even if the circumstances weren’t ideal,” Caris said to the others. “I hope the restart of your tour goes without any more wrecks.”

“You know about that?”

“The whole world knows,” she said with a tight smile.

It only matters that you know, angel.

“Maybe, but that means you’ve been keeping tabs on me all these years.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I simply like the way Burk sings.”

Ouch. Her insult stung, but I knew when she quickly looked away that Caris was lying her ass off.

“Why, thank you, darlin’,” Burk preened.

After Ross put the SUV in park, Caris reached down, gripped the door handle, and paused. An awkward pall we hadn’t shared when we were young, filled the air, and made me itch. My heart was screaming, Don’t let her go, but I had no right to try and make her stay.

She tucked the sheet around her tighter, opened the door, and sent me a weak smile. “Take care, Syd.”

Before I could stop her, Caris bolted off my lap, closed the door behind her, and scurried up the porch steps.

Burk leaned forward and arched his brows. “Time to start talking, Syd.”

“Later,” I mumbled, turning my focus back on Caris.

My brain was spooling with a hundred reasons I should let her go, but none of them seemed important enough. I watched her pluck the note off the door, step out from under the porch, and tilt the paper toward the streetlight. As she read the note, Caris’s eyes grew wide and she paled. When she looked up at our SUV, a look of panic skipped over her face.

“Something’s wrong.” I launched out of the SUV and sprinted toward her. “Caris?”

“She left me. Monica packed my bags, took them with her, and flew back home.” A fat tear slid down her cheek. Caris angrily swiped it away, then wadded up the note and threw it on the ground. She raised her head toward the night sky and sucked in a deep breath, then let out a furious growl. “Why the fuck does everyone always leave me?”

I knew she’d probably kick me in the balls, but I was willing to take the risk and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m not leaving you this time, angel.”

Caris didn’t try and fight me. Instead she buried her face against my chest and quietly sobbed. Panic spiked. In all the years we’d spent together as kids, she’d never thrown in the towel or surrendered. Maybe she’d simply reached the end of her rope tonight. Or maybe Zattman had actually broken her spirit. Either way, I intended to do what I should have done long ago—take her with me.

Chapter 2

Caris

I tried to stop the tears but couldn’t pull myself together.

After all this time, after all I’d endured for Syd, his protective embrace, familiar spicy scent, and the decadent heat of his body spilled warmth and light into the empty, dark recesses of my soul.