Dignity — Jay Crownover

Looks can be deceiving. I knew that most people took one look at the ink and the impossibly big and strong body it covered and decided I was a brawler…a bruiser…a beast. However, I was hardwired to be a thinker, not a fighter. I should have chosen to use my brain and talents to be one of the good guys, a hero, a man with dignity and worth. I turned my back on dignity and sold my soul to the highest bidder, deciding to dance with the devil, instead. I couldn't figure out how to help myself, so there was zero chance I knew how to save someone else. That someone else was Noe Lee. She was the unkempt, unruly thief who was just as smart as I was and twice as street savvy. She was annoyingly adorable beneath the dirt and grime, and she was in trouble. In way over her head, I told myself it wasn't my job to keep her from drowning. In the Point, it was sink or swim, and I wasn't the designated lifeguard on duty. I shut the door in her face, but now she's gone…vanished…disappeared without a trace. It took less than a second for me to realize that I wanted her back. When a woman comes along that melts all the frozen, hard things you're made of; you'll do anything you have to, to bring her home. What you see is not always what you get…and with a man like me there is more than anyone ever bargained for.