Chapter 17

“They went for Dixon first, probably because he was an easier target. It wasn’t hard to take him down. They had knives.” His screams had haunted me for months. “I was able to turn it around on one of the guys, but the other two pinned me down and went to town on my hand so I wouldn’t be a threat. They only ran off when we heard sirens. Some good Samaritan did his civic duty and called in about the noise.”

Judah was fixated on my scars, running his fingers along the edges of the tattoos. “Is that why you always have a blade in your boot?”

I jerked. “You know about that?” My heart hammered. I thought I’d been so careful.

His tone remained gentle. “You’re not nearly as good at hiding as you think you are. I didn’t say anything because it was none of my business.” He squeezed my hand once and then let it go. “Besides, I wasn’t about to give you a reason to throw up even more walls. I wanted this to work, but I knew from the start it was going to be on your schedule, not mine.”