Page 34 of Reckless Skye

Before she could say anything else, he leaned over and cleared up the takeout trash, putting it back in the to-go bag it had come in.

He was leaving. Shame suffused her, but beneath that dragging weight of shame, there was relief. She sat up and reached over to grab her phone from the tailgate.

But TJ threw her completely off-balance by taking her hand in his, raising it to his lips and kissing her palm. He linked his fingers with hers again and shimmied closer so that their thighs were bumping.

His hand was rough and callused but so warm. Strong. It wrapped around hers completely, like a shell.

The immensity of it made her shiver.

TJ felt it. ‘Is this okay?’ He gave her hand a squeeze.

‘Yes. Just new,’ she whispered.

‘I know. Which is why I won’t just take you, even though I want to.’ He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, sending a lick of sensation up her entire arm. ‘Do you understand?’

‘Yes.’

‘Those little gestures of interest are important, Skye. They’re how we … bond, I guess. And they make it better – when you have sex. The delayed gratification—’

‘Okay.’ She was so flustered and hot, so on edge that she couldn’t physically stand to have his attention this focused on her. ‘We’ll do it your way.’

TJ was going straight to hell. Here he was, sitting with Skye after she’d just told him she’d been routinely and systematically abused by her own father, and still, half of his brain was reeling over the fact that she wanted to have sex with him. All he could feel was the soft curve of her thigh and her small hand clasped in his.

The part of his brain that could function knew that there was no excuse on God’s green earth for what her father had done to her, his own child. In TJ’s mind, it was simple evidence of insanity. Of wrong. Of evil.

It was a revelation, even to him, that new knowledge, issued in a few short sentences, could so drastically impact someone with thirty-three years of living under his belt. Maybe it was just because it was the first time he’d interacted with someone who’d lived through that. Maybe it was because he cared about Skye.

It hit differently when it was personal.

‘My dad had a rough childhood,’ Skye began to explain. As if she needed to excuse him. As if anything could. ‘His dad was a veteran with untreated PTSD. According to my mom, it was really messed up—’

‘Yeah. I don’t give a fuck.’ He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. But because he’d heard the bite in his own voice and felt her hand tense in his, he forced himself to soften. ‘There’s no excuse for that, Skye. None. Plenty of people have rough childhoods without turning into monsters. And it sounds like that fucker,’ he said hotly, ‘had the resources to educate himself and to get professional help before he started taking it out on his family.’

Skye averted her gaze.

But TJ didn’t let her get away with the avoidance. ‘Hey … Look at me.’

When she didn’t – or maybe couldn’t – TJ used their joined hands to gently bump her chin up. But the moment their eyes met, hers welling, he was helpless to do anything but break his hold on her hand and raise both of his to her face. He used his thumbs to swipe her cheeks. ‘You can use that knowledge to understand why he was the way he was, why he was so damaged and weak, and why it was never about you. But you don’t make excuses for him. You hear me?’

She nodded silently.

‘What does he want from you?’ TJ asked. ‘I mean, I’m assuming that’s why you’re running?’

‘There’s some money involved,’ Skye replied cautiously. ‘My grandma made me trustee of her estate upon my twenty-fifth birthday. So, in just over two years’ time, I’m going to take control of my father’s primary source of income. And I’m going to cut him off. He’ll lose over half of what he needs to keep up his lifestyle. And that – his appearance – is everything to him.’

TJ heard the vehemence in her tone. And even though he didn’t want to pry, he had to ask, ‘What will he do – when you cut him off?’

‘I don’t know. I’ll revise the trust as soon as I’m in control, so that he gets nothing upon my death. I want to believe that murder is too risky,’ she said. ‘And Holden’s smart. He’s a criminal defence attorney. He has two years under State law to contest the will. Which he will. If that doesn’t work – which it won’t – he might try to have me declared legally incompetent. He’s done it before. And he’ll use that – my mental health history. But it’ll still be difficult to prove, considering I’m reasonably sane and given how much he has to gain.’

‘Fuck.’

Skye just laughed at that.

‘What are you gonna do?’

‘Wait.’ She sighed. ‘I have time.’

‘Yeah, no. You should have someone look over everything. Get legal advice. I mean, there has to be measures in place for this kind of thing, right?’