Coming Home (The Surrender Trilogy 3)

you can find another cause.” Pivoting, she walked off.

He grabbed her arm, and that was mistake number one. She turned on him and a beast emerged from

within her. “Don’t touch me!”

He flinched and immediately let go of her arm. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She laughed bitterly. “Sorry? You’re sorry? Oh, well, doesn’t that just fix everything. How’s this,

Parker? Fuck you! ”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

She’d had just about enough of men and their crap. “Hurt me? You didn’t hurt me. I’m not the one

standing here covered in bruises.”

“You know what I mean.”

She stepped into his space and shoved a finger in his face. “Let me clear something up for you. It

takes more than some self-serving asshole to hurt me. If I was hurt, I’d have to care and I don’t! I don’t care about you. I don’t care about our past. I don’t care about anything you may think I do. Your arrogance is what got you into this mess, so I’m going to do you a favor and tell you your intuition

sucks. You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about the person I am or the things that hold

meaning to me. You. Are. Nothing. So go play your games with someone who gives a shit.”

His shoulders drooped, his expression dejected. “I did it to protect you.”

Emotion bit at her throat, and tears burned her eyes.

“Protect me?” she barked. “Since when do I need someone to protect me? I was the one looking out

for your dumb ass all those years! You may know how to read and sell stocks, but you don’t know shit

about surviving. You know and I know this ambitious act you’ve been putting on is all bullshit. I’m

not buying it, and I regret the day I ever trusted anything out of your mouth. Now, leave me alone.”

The blood rushed from his battered face. “You don’t mean that.”

“I mean every word,” she growled.

“Scout . . . I love you.”

Rage choked her, but she shoved it down. Shutting her eyes, she growled. His proclamation did

nothing for his case. It merely irritated her a hundred times more. “Love, Parker? Really? Let me tell

you something about love. People write about it because it’s harder than any war and greater than any

epic. It’s vast and cold and empty and usually unrequited. That’s what love is. It’s misery and if you love me I’m glad, because I’ll never love you back and that is exactly what you deserve.”

She turned and walked away. He didn’t follow. Fuck the DMV. She was going home and if she

ventured anywhere it was going to be to a liquor store. When she saw the insurance office below her

apartment relief set in. Almost home.

As Scout rounded the alleyway to her apartment door, she came up short. Nerves pinched at the

back of her neck as she intruded on two unkempt men passing money and drugs. They jumped at her

sudden appearance. Great. They were blocking the few steps separating her from her home, and there

was no way she was letting them see this was where she lived.

“You need something, girlie?” the man with a gap in his teeth asked.

“Uh, no. Just made a wrong turn.” She turned away to exit the alley.

“Well, now wait a minute. Maybe we can help you find what you’re looking for,” the other man

said.

She kept walking. “No. I’m set.”

Gap-tooth skipped alongside her and cut her off before she could reach the sidewalk. “Pretty thing

like you shouldn’t be walking around by yourself. Young too. Bet you aren’t even eighteen. What do

you think, Kev?”

She scowled at the scumbag. This wasn’t necessarily a bad section, but there was crime everywhere.

It wasn’t late, but the alley was narrow and dark. While “Kev” was behind her, Gap-tooth was

blocking her escape. Other than anyone who might be visiting the insurance agency beneath her

apartment, there wasn’t much foot traffic going by.

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said impatiently.

Gravel crunched behind her and her lungs seized. Fuck.

“Looks about sixteen to me,” Kev said.

Gap-tooth’s gap was slowly displayed in a lascivious reptilian grin. “She sure does.”

His hand lifted and without thought, Scout reacted. Something tired and outraged snapped inside

her. Her fist connected with his nose, and he folded like a cheap metal chair. Her knee slammed into

his face, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground. Goddamn men!

The other man shouted and grabbed hold of her arms.

A scream high enough to curdle blood ripped from her lungs. “Don’t touch me! Fire! Fire!”

He shoved her against the brick wall, her hair catching on the rough, porous surface, and she shoved

her knee into his crotch. He grunted and she nearly vomited when spit came out of his mouth. “You

fucking cunt!”

His grip tightened and she clocked him right in the ear. He howled and grabbed his head, stepping

back. She kicked him in the nuts as hard as she could, and he dropped to writhe beside his partner in