Vaughn Morris survives on denial and hope. He spends his days permanently marking others’ skin and his nights trying to forget the scars embedded in his soul. No longer the defenseless teenager he used to be, he returns to his home town, never expecting to fall for a woman who is just as complicated as he is. 

Rayne Garner hasn’t truly lived in years. When she was too young to know better, she made a promise to a man who didn’t deserve her loyalty. Nobody has made her question that decision, until Vaughn—a man whose pain is well hidden beneath his cocky exterior and dark, mysterious eyes. But in order to heal him, Rayne must face the brutal reality she’s been trying to deny.

A friendship they didn’t need turns into a love neither thought they wanted. Rayne and Vaughn not only have to fight for each other, they must survive threats from a past they’re both trying to overcome.