Page 4 of Scars of Silk
“Stop calling me that.”
“Whatever.” I don’t plan to see her again. I doubt Faith and I will be hanging out again any time soon. Not now she’s doing that thing with him. My stomach tightens again.
“Do you and Faith row a lot?” She keeps her gaze on the traffic, every so often flicking the indicator to switch lanes. Her long legs press down on the pedals when she changes gears.
“Yeah, course. We're like family.”
“Family who sleep together?” Her cheeks colour a little. “I didn’t mean it that way.” She sighs and glares out of the windscreen.
I watch her carefully. She obviously knows that Faith and I slipped over the friendship boundary on one night of loserville over the summer. That‘s not what worries me. My need to protect Faith outweighs everything else at every turn. “You know about what happened to her?”
She nods tight. “Yeah, I know she was abused. Elijah has asked me to help with the investigation for the lawyer.”
“So you know why I want to protect her? Why I think that idiot is bad news?”
She snorts and it jingles in my head. “You don’t need to protect her from Elijah. He’d give up everything for her. And I can tell you straight up, he’d never hurt her the way that Aiden guy did. What he did to her as a child was despicable.” Her fingers grip the steering wheel tighter. “Men like that should be locked up.”
“Or dead,” I add without thinking. I’d happily put Aiden into a grave myself and I’d take whatever punishment was given for the pleasure.
She watches me carefully until the traffic moves another inch; then letting the clutch go with her foot she edges us forward.
While she’s distracted, I get a better look at her. Aren’t there pictures of her with Elijah on the internet. Weren’t they engaged once for real? I could have sworn that’s what Faith told me when she was home.
“Tell me, would he give you up for Faith? Or are you still going to be his bit on the side?” If my dad could hear me talking to a woman like this, I’d get a smack around the head.
She turns a fraction, lifting that damn eyebrow again, cool as a fucking cucumber. “Don’t judge what you don’t understand.”
“You’re judging me. Looking at my tats and bruises, trying to work me out. Thinking that I’m a thug.”
Her face scrunches. “No, I’m not. You are a self-obsessed idiot. I asked about your bruises because I wondered how they got there. Your tats I quite like, but you’re probably half a dozen over the sexy ink mark.”
“Over the sexy ink mark? Darling, you’ve got no idea.”
My lips do this weird thing where they begin to curl of their own accord. I lick them, nibbling on the lower one as I wait for her comeback.
“Believe me, it’s not something I plan on investigating.”
Ooh, shot down. I clutch at my chest.
“I thought investigating was what you did?”
She shrugs. I want her to turn and look at me. “Sometimes. Depends how I feel.” The skin around her eyes scrunches as she squints at a sign we drive past. Brighton. We are here already. That seemed faster than I was expecting. “Where to?”
“Uh, follow the signs for the front and then I’ll show you the turning.”
She does as I instruct without a word until we park outside my dad’s place. She looks up at the house. “That’s nice.”
“It’s my dad’s.”
She nods but doesn’t say anything and waits for me to get out.
“Thanks for the ride.” I lick my lips as I try to find something to say. I’m reluctant to get out of the car. It’s warm in here and it smells nice. The same can’t be said for the house. “That was generous of you, to go out of your way like that.”
Generous of you? Shoot me.
“You're welcome. I’ll see you about.” Her foot taps on the accelerator. I guess that’s my final cue.
“Sure.” I know I won’t though. My life is separate from Faith’s now. I can’t come back from the past I dragged into the surface of her bedroom and I know she won’t forgive me any time this side of forever—I’ve broken a longstanding code with my jealous outburst.
