“Mother,” I chastise her, and hope she shuts up sometime soon.
I try to pull my hand free, but Marcus doesn’t let go until we sit, and then his hand goes to my thigh. This whole thing makes me angry that Marcus thinks we can go back to where we once were.
No, we fucking can’t.
As I push his hand away under the table, Kat starts speaking, “So, you like my sister?”
“Yes,” he says, as she looks to me as if to say ‘thank you.’
“But why do you like her?”
Marcus’ hand goes to my thigh again. “Why is the sky blue?” he answers, and Kat smiles, then nods.
Annabelle starts crying in her highchair and Kat grabs her. She sees me and tries to leave her mother’s arms to get to me. Kat giggles as Annabelle reaches for Marcus because he’s in the middle, and I watch as he freezes. His hand leaves my thigh, and he takes her as if she’s fire, carefully holding her away from his body and passing her to me as quickly as he can. She claps my cheeks when I have hold of her, then I turn her around and sit her on my lap.
Protection from his wandering hand.
“Annabelle loves Rochelle. Do you want kids one day?” Kat asks him.
All eyes go to Marcus while we wait for him to answer.
He looks at me when he answers, “I never really thought about kids. My childhood wasn’t great, and it was certainly one where kids should never have been raised in.”
“Oh, hunny.” My mother’s hand goes to her heart.
I look at him and see his eyes are on Annabelle and me. It’s like he’s trying to work something else out in his mind while I sit here shocked that I just learned something about him that I didn’t know.
“I’m sorry you were brought up that way. You must have some cake.”
I look back at my mother. How she manages a conversation is beyond me. Cake? Really? Marcus only smirks at her words, and, thankfully, my sister changes the subject direction.
Dinner goes smoothly. Annabelle climbs back over to Kat halfway through, making Marcus go tight and causing me to laugh. His hand stays on his own lap, and he answers questions that are thrown at him. All the questions are very basic, asking him if he’s from here and if he has any family. He tells them it’s just him and his brother.
I know about Blaze, but I also didn’t know that’s the only family he has left.
When we leave, my mother grabs me and whispers in my ear, “I like him. He looks at you like you’re special.”
I scoff at her words and don’t say anything.
“Goodnight, Marcus. Please get my daughter home safely,” my father says, shaking his hand as they leave.
When I turn to face him, he’s already watching me.
Marcus has his hands in his pockets, standing tall and refined. There’s a smile on his lips.
“They like me,” he boasts, and it’s as if he can’t believe it. “No one likes me,” he says as if I needed to know that.
“I like you,” I say.
Marcus slides his hands from his pockets and steps to me, touching my hip. “You like the idea of me, but not the real me?”
“And what’s the idea of you?” I argue back, leaning into his touch. Why, I don’t even know. I should be angry, but I can’t be because it’s my fault too. If I wanted to reach out to him, I could have. I was the one who chose not to.
“The one where you don’t really like what I do. The one where I am normal. I’m not normal, though. My demons are huge and my pain is worse.” His hazel eyes lock onto my blue ones.
“That’s the most you have ever shared with me.”
“I don’t like sharing,” he says, pressing closer to me, so our bodies are now touching. “Come back to mine,” he asks, almost pleading.
“I can’t,” I say, shaking my head.
I can, but it’s not the smartest thing to do right now.
“Come back to mine,” he asks again, more demanding this time. Leaning down, he kisses my neck and trails to my ear. “Come back to mine,” he says again. This time it’s whispered and breathy.
I’m as helpless as the girl who went down that rabbit hole.
As crazy as that cat that talks in riddles.
And as lucid as the red queen.
I look up at him. “Okay.” The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it, and he smirks before his lips drop to touch mine tenderly.
Damn it all to hell. My resistance didn’t last long. All it took was a touch and a few words, and I’m literally about to climb back in his bed.
“Why did you tell my mother you’re my boyfriend?” I ask as he touches me.
“I wanted to see how it sounded on my lips.” He kisses my lips again.
“And how did it sound?” I ask between touches and soft kisses that make me lose my train of thought.
“I’ll let you know.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rochelle
Marcus doesn’t stop at my house to get my things before heading to his place. When we arrive, I see a light out front.
“Fuck,” Marcus curses, then comes to a stop. It’s then that I see it’s Blaze leaning against his bike with his light on. When we get closer, he turns it off, kicks off his bike, and walks toward us.
Marcus turns to me. “Just wait in the car.”
Words fail me as Marcus gets out. The light comes on in the truck and Blaze looks at me, his eyes narrowing as he walks over to Marcus.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” he asks.
Marcus’ window is down slightly, so I can hear what they’re saying.
“You don’t get to tell me who the fuck I can bring to my house. Now, what the fuck do you want?”
Blaze’s angry eyes turn to me. “Your friend is back on the drugs. Did you even know that?”
What the fuck!
I open the door and walk around to him. “I saw her yesterday. She’s fine,” I say defensively.
He scoffs. “No, she isn’t. But it’s sweet of you to think so.” His lips turn up into a sinister smile.
“She’s been good,” I say back to him, clearly confused. I know she has. I’ve made a point of going to see her as often as possible. Tanika even said she was coming around tomorrow.
“She avoided me until she no longer could. The boys said she came over last night to get high.” My hand covers my mouth. “Of course, they said no and kicked her out.”
“Well, she isn’t high, then.”
“There are other places to get drugs, good girl.”
Ignoring his words, I call her. Tanika answers straight away. Her voice sounds happy as she answers. I look back to Blaze, wondering if I should believe him or not.
But why would he lie about this?
“Tan.”
“Yeah, babe.”
“I have to ask you something.”
“Umm…” She laughs. “Okay.”
“Are you using again?”
Silence greets me, and my heart drops so hard in my chest I wonder if it will ever come back up to beat again.
“I tried. I was going to. But I didn’t. I promise.” Tanika starts crying into the phone, and I feel bad, but I’m so happy she’s told me the truth, and even happier that she refrained.