“It was a bad mistake,” I tell her.
“I warned her, over and over again,” he says. “But she never listened.”
Tanika looks at me with her eyebrows squeezed together as she takes in my reaction.
“Maybe she doesn’t want the Reap,” Snow says, laughing.
Tanika looks over to Marcus. “Why do they call you, Reap?” she asks.
I cringe.
“I own the crematorium,” he replies.
What? I look at him, surprised, having no idea. “You own it?” I question.
“You’ve never asked.” He shrugs, turning away.
“And sometimes Reap works for us,” the prospect says, which earns him a smack across the back of his head from Snow.
Everyone goes quiet after such a few words being exchanged. Tanika plays with her food on her plate as I stand. Marcus stands with me. I turn away and reach for my bag, pulling out my cover-up and sliding it over my arms. Marcus watches my every move.
“Do you want me to take you home?” he asks. I look back at Tanika to see her leaning on Blaze, and I know she won’t want to leave anytime soon.
“Yes, please.” Marcus smiles at my words, reaches for my bag, and starts to walk away. I head over and hug Tanika from the back. “I’m going home. You stay.” She turns, but I shake my head. “It’s okay. I’ll message you when I get back home.”
“You leaving, girl?” Snow calls out. I smile and nod my head. “Come back again, okay?”
“Will do.” Turning and walking away, butterflies fly freakishly in my belly as I walk toward him. Marcus is leaning on the passenger side with his door open and waiting for me to get in. My bag’s already inside.
“I never took you for a gentleman,” I say to him, climbing in.
The window is down, so when he shuts it, he leans inside. “I’m no gentleman, I can assure you. A man like me is not a man you take home to meet your parents, pretty girl. I’m the one you fuck in the back of your car and then go on your way.” He leaves me with those words as he pushes off, rounds the truck, and slides into the driver’s seat.
He takes off in silence, only a slight hum from the radio can be heard as he drives.
When we get closer to my house he speaks, and I turn to give him my full attention, “You shouldn’t be around them. You should stay away.”
“You’re around them.”
“You’re a good girl. Good girls get ruined.”
“There you are with that phrase again, good girl… you give me a headache.” I turn back and stare out the window as he drives down my street. As he comes to a stop, I climb out without thanking him, and he leans across but speaks from the driver side, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
I flip him off, not even looking as I go inside. Reaching for my cell, I text Tanika to let her know I’m home and she replies instantly.
Tomorrow, I expect to know the REAL details of you and Reap.
I laugh at her words.
His name is Marcus, and I will tell you everything over breakfast, your treat BTW.
Her reply is almost instant.
Marcus, shmarcus. Who cares? DEETS WOMAN!
Lying in bed, all I think about are his lips and the way his body makes me feel—more alive than I’ve ever felt in my life.
Chapter Seven
Rochelle
Tanika rocks up at my house before I’m even out of bed, a coffee in each hand and a smile that could light up the skies.
“You are way too happy for this early,” I say, rubbing my eyes while putting on the last of my clothes. Pulling my hair back into a high ponytail, I take the coffee and drink it as if it holds magical powers.
“I had a great night… and great sex,” she says, her eyes not quite meeting mine.
“Blaze?” I ask, she smiles. “What is the deal with you two? Snow said it’s been going on for about a month now?” Tanika’s face pulls some worry lines on her forehead, and she looks down. “Tell me, I want to know.”
“I kind of ran into them, at a bar. And, well, I just haven’t been able to stay away. We aren’t exclusive, and I told him whatever this is, is just sex. I don’t want anything more. I fall too hard and fast, you know this,” she says with an eye roll. Her last guy she was engaged to within a month, the one before that she let move in after a week. She loved them all, she tells me, but I am not so sure how true that is—lust maybe.
“So, you aren’t in love with this one?” I ask as we walk out and head for breakfast. We climb into her car and head to the café around the corner.
“No, don’t jinx me either. I like him. A lot. But he’s way too dangerous for me, too much for me.”
“How?”
“Blaze knows what he wants, that scares me.”
We walk into the café and order straight away, knowing exactly what we want—pancakes and berries for me, and waffles for Tanika.
“What about Marcus? And don’t tell me you don’t like him. I saw you two together. Fuck, we all saw it… it was fucking hot.” She fans her face. “The way he grabbed you, kissed you, tasted you.”
I smile at her words. “He’s trouble,” I say, sitting back, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Did you meet him at the funeral?” she asks, saying the last word in more of a whisper.
“No, before it, actually.”
Her eyebrows pinch together. “How?”
“He was there when Mom and Dad were organizing the proceedings.”
Tanika’s hand reaches for mine, covering it and giving it a gentle squeeze. She pulls back when the food arrives.
“You like him, don’t you?” Tanika takes a sip of her drink.
“No, of course not. He’s—”
“Oh, you suck at lying. Totally suck.” She laughs.
“No, I don’t.”
“Is it because he’s nothing like your exes? Not a surfer-looking dude who tells you everything you want to hear simply to sleep with you?”
Damn, this girl knows me well.
“I tried to sleep with him. Twice, actually. It failed both times.”
“Oh my God… well, that doesn’t explain yesterday, then.”
I shrug. “I don’t even understand yesterday. I didn’t even know Marcus was going to be there. I’ve avoided him for over a month.”
“Was that painful for you?” She chuckles, and I withstand the urge to throw my food at her head, but it’s a difficult internal battle to refrain.
“He’s, well, let’s just say… what he does, isn’t something I am all that comfortable with.”
“You mean in the crematorium?” I nod. “Okay, but you met him there. What did you expect?”
I place my fork on the plate, my appetite now completely gone. “He took me inside, to scare me off.”
“Okay, so…”
“He started cutting a hand off one of the dead bodies while I was there.” I watch as she puts her fork down too. Her elbows come to rest on the table as her head is placed on her hands, and I wait before she speaks again.