Marked (Marked #3) (23 page)

“What about it? I’m assuming you want to go and expect me to be okay with it?” Seemed I’d hit the nail on the proverbial head with how she looked away from me and bit into her bottom lip. “Maya,” I called softly, yet she continued to look away. “Look at me, please.”

“No.” While her stubbornness was cute most times, it wasn’t today.

“Why?”

“Because you will make me forget what I need to say,” Bitty huffed out, and I smirked. “So, in the interest of fairness, I am going to ignore you until this conversation is over.” Take it back; she’s freaking adorable.

“Understood, and the metaphorical floor is yours.” Slim fingers began to run through my hair, massaging my scalp and causing me to close my eyes. Relaxing against her, I gave her the time she needed to gather her thoughts—to express herself while I listened on with as much of an open mind as I could muster.

“Thank you, baby.” Taking in a deep breath, she held it in for a second and then let it out slowly. “There’s no denying or hiding from what happened, Talan. In hurting me, she hurt you. Took a bit of my security, and I hate the feeling of fear that sometimes comes over me when we are out. Tensing when I sense anyone behind me that’s not you or anyone from our family. You might not understand my need to see her, or why the closure means so much, but I can’t live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. Refuse to run from this.”

Pride. Goddamned feeling took over my chest and made it clench. Maya was a warrior, not afraid of anything and needed me to be the same. To let her face the small amount of fear Janice had instilled in her through the events from more than a month and a half ago.

What kind of an asshole would I be to deny her that? Not me.

“Done.” I kissed the area below her belly button and the nuzzled the soft skin. “I’ll make the appointment for us. We’ll face this together.”

“Really?” The elation in her tone cemented the decision.

“Yes, Bitty.” Then I paused and measured my next words with care. “But keep in mind that if Dr. Assclown pushes—”

“You’ll break his fucking face. Agreed.”
Fuck, I loved her.

“Morning, boss man,” Bitty cooed, her hips swaying from side to side as she made her way around the reception counter. It was her first day back on the clock, and four weeks since I’d pierced her flesh.

She was healing nicely under my care. Today I’d be changing the bar of her Monroe for a smaller one. The swelling had all but gone down, and if it didn’t hurt, I had a beautiful little diamond I wanted to see on the corner of her lip.

“Reporting for late afternoon duty? Or...” Not a single hard inch of me would mine her coming in for a quick suck or fuck.

“Work, you perv.” Then the saucy beauty winked; a wicked gleam in her eyes.

Yeah, she was back. Back to tormenting me for hours on end while I had to pretend to be the responsible—professional—owner people thought I was.

In other words, my dick would be hard all day. She would be all smiles, and I’d spend my time between clients trying to lock her inside my office.

Let the sexual frustration begin.

“You’re no fun today.” Her smile grew, and my cock head leaked. “Come give me a quick kiss before you clock in.”

Mirth danced through her eyes at the petulance in my tone. “Don’t be crabby.”

“Bitty.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up and get over here.” A giggle burst from between her glossed lips. Maya cat-walked across the room and stopped next to the stool I was sitting in. In the chair next to my stool sat a client. I was drawing a design he wanted freehand. “Give.”

“So demanding.” Bending at the waist, she complied and kissed my lips. Soft and sweet. Motherfucking peaches and cream.

I’d missed her gloss. A scent I associated with her.

Since the accident she’d kept her face natural. Except for the night we’d gone to Crave, no makeup. Nada.

Moreover, while I loved her fresh faced and sweet, I yearned for the taste of peaches on my lips when I took hers.

Someone cleared his or her throat, and I looked over toward the person sitting in my chair. The customer I’d been talking to eyed her with lust. Loyal client/friend or not, he had two fucking seconds to quit looking at her tits.

“Eyes off her, Marcus,” I hissed out and punched him in the shoulder.

“What?” Asshole had the nerve to look upset.

“Don’t make me hurt you. Eyes the fuck off my girl.” My glare had him looking down, anywhere but at me. Marcus had known me for years, knew I had no problem laying any motherfucker out that wanted to test my patience. We’d hung out enough times over the years for him to witness this a time or two.

He held his hands out in surrender. “No disrespect meant.”

“Baby, no growling at the customers.” Swear to God that hint of sass in her tone was going to get her thrown over my shoulder and carried off toward my office. There was a reason why I added that couch in there.

Our eyes met, and the want I saw in them mirrored my own. Then I let them wander lower. Mother of fuck, what was she wearing?

While I wore my everyday all-white T-shirt, faded jeans, and converse sneakers...she was dressed like an innocent sin.

Small—and
Jesus,
do I mean small—pair of daisy-duke shorts with a frilly, see-through cream and red-colored tank. All I knew was that it had roses on it, and I could make out her flesh-toned bra underneath.

The mounds of her breasts looked so perky, almost spilling from the cups. Her slightly tanned skin looked soft and contrasted against the color of the flowers in such a pretty way.

I wanted to bite each tit and then run my tongue up the center of her chest. Give the sexy piercing a bit of love before I ripped everything off her body.

Loved the look, but so would every other motherfucker that’d come in here.

Not going to work.

“Get a shirt from my office.” What she wore never bothered me, but as busy as my day was going to be, I wouldn’t be anywhere near her for half of it.

Hand on hip, she stared me down in challenge. “Say please, Talan.”

“Please,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. Her challenge didn’t anger me, just reminded me of what happened the last time she played this game. How tight her pussy felt surrounding my cock as I took her hard and fast inside our pool. “Go and change.”

“You do realize anything I put on back there will look just as good.” I did.

“Bitty…”

“Fine,” she pouted.

“My friend, she has you by the balls.” Marcus waited until she was out of hearing range to laugh. Loud and deep guffaws that had me squeezing the pen in my hand so hard it broke. Asshole. “You’re fucked.”

“Don’t I know it, fucker.” Taking a few wipes with a bit of cleansing solution, I wiped my hands clean of the mess I’d made. After tossing everything in the trash, I grabbed another pen and placed his leg back into position to finish. “She owns me. Point blank, owns me.”

Giggles met my ears as I turned the corner and came into view of the reception area. The shop had calmed down a bit and for the first time since I opened today, I had some free time. Enough to take my girl out for a quick dinner at the diner down the block.

So engrossed were the girls in what was on the computer screen that they’d failed to notice me watching. Maya’s eyes were wide but her breathing labored, and a beautiful tinge of pink caressed the apple of her cheeks.

She was aroused by whatever they were looking at.

“Bitty.” At the sound of her name she jumped, a small squeak escaping her. Bright grey eyes looked up at me, and they widened at the close proximity. Whatever it was she had been watching had her nervous. Scared. “What’re you doing?”

“Nothing.” Then she turned bright red while trying to turn the computer monitor off.

I raised a brow and placed my palms face down on the raised countertop. “Nothing?”

“Yup.” Shifty-eyed Bitty tried to signal a laughing Esther beside her.

“Don’t look at her for help. What. Are. You. Doing?”

“Nothing,” she croaked, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek hard in order not to laugh. Whatever it was that they were up to was going to be trouble. Bitty gulped when I leaned over to take a peek at the screen. “Don’t be nosy, tatt boy.” With the hand not on my computer, she grabbed her bottle of water and took a few sips. Emptied the plastic container and then tossed it aside.

No woman who ever said the word “nothing” meant the exact meaning. Everything but the vast emptiness applied. More often than not, it meant you fucked up or they were pissed. You had to decipher that shit as if it were a bomb and you were the lead tech sent to dismantle it before it went BOOM.

“Esther,” I called out while my eyes remained on the blushing beauty that was my girl.

“Yeah.” From the corner of my eye, I could make out the way her shoulders shook while her eyes pin-ponged back and forth between us.

“Erase the history while I take my little sneak out for dinner. I don’t want to see a single dick pic on that screen when I come back. Understood.”

“Talan, I…we…no dick.” Maya’s facial expression was comical, a mixture of relief and then horror. Poor girl.

“Say goodbye, Bitty.” With that, I marched around the counter, both girls reached to cover the screen instead of shutting it off. Jesus. From what I could see it was a website, adult in nature, with a
‘Buy Now’
page open. Bad girl. “Let’s go.”

“Wait for me by the door.” A plea, a hint of hysterics coming through her tone. “Please, baby.”

“Make it quick.” Nodding, I turned around and walked toward the door. “You have two minutes.”

“Fuck me,” I heard her low exhale from where I stood. “Do you think he noticed?”

“No, but it was close.” Esther laughed.

“Son of a—”

“Thirty seconds, and I come get you.” Another squeak, and then the sound of footsteps coming closer met my ears. Whatever she was hiding would be good. Wonder how long it would take me to get the information out of her?

“Hey, babe?” I called through our bathroom door. We’d gotten home not that long ago. The after-dinner hours at the shop had been swamped. Packed with two consultations and I managed to finish a back piece I’d been working on with one of the city’s favorite basketball players. His business, even though most happened after hours, was huge for the shop.

Meant a lot of money and celebrity customers sent my way.

“Yeah.” The soft sound of water hitting my tiled walls met my ears before another more enticing one did. A low moan. Throaty. She was inside, wet, naked, and I was hard.

“Are you going to be long?” I’d taken a shower the moment we walked through the doors while she called her parents. They’d flown back home weeks ago, but this came with the promise of two calls a week and a Skype session.

Tonight had been the latter. Too tired to chat, I waved and excused myself to take an almost scalding shower. Muscles sore and body drained, it was just what I needed at that moment.

“Nope, just give me a few. Go ahead and find something to watch on Netflix…there’s that murder show thing I wanted to watch.” So I was told to find, but she already chose. Funny little thing.

“Gotcha. Anything else?” Knew her well enough to know she’d want something to drink.

“Vitamin Water or apple juice...you pick. Thanks!” That
pick
meant that she wanted to see how well I knew her. Vitamin Water dragon fruit here I come.

Making my way to the kitchen, I paused just outside the entrance and looked out toward the backyard. The night was dark, not a single star outside could be seen. The only illumination came from the quarter moon up above, and even that was minimal at best.

Our pool looked still, eerie in a sense.

Just like the stilled water, my mind was dark. Plagued with so many conflicting thoughts surrounding the court case the state had yet to settle on.

Time was flying by us at warp speed.

It’d been three months since Maya’s attack, and life had gone on relatively quiet. A plea bargain had been put on the table by the District Attorney, but Janice’s lawyers were pushing for the charges to be dropped due to her emotional and mental state. That, or they let her serve while undergoing treatment at the hospital she resided in.

My humble opinion? It was all bullshit.

Two subpoenas had come to the house by personal sheriff’s office escorts and both dates had come and gone without a thing happening. Janice was still at Jackson Crisis, and her doctor was still an assclown in my eyes.