by Kasey Krane
He sat back in his chair with a smile.
“Let me guess, candy? Beers?”
I blushed deeply and stared down at my hands.
“Something even more ridiculous.”
“Cigarettes?”
“Coffee.”
“Are you serious?” he laughed with a snort.
“I wasn’t allowed to drink coffee and it gave me a buzz. So I started stealing packs of coffee and then drinking them in secret in my room when nobody was at the house.” I didn’t mention how I did it as an idiotic act of rebellion against what was happening with my parents.
“Of all the things you could have stolen…”
“I chose coffee because I was addicted to it.”
“And did you ever get caught?”
I shook my head. Colin laughed some more.
“That’s pretty badass of you, Marley.”
“I told you, you wouldn’t want to know.”
“Did you have a whole stash of coffee hidden under your bed?”
I nodded, smiling too. “Some pretty exotic stuff that I’d never even heard of. I had quite the collection. While other kids were smoking pot in secret, I was making strong coffee and drinking them like shots of tequila.”
“That’s your big secret?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“My mother died when I was a kid,” he said.
The tone of his voice shifted suddenly and a darkness fell on him again.
The smile disappeared from my face too. I didn’t know as much of the history of his family as I should have—another reminder of how under qualified I was for this task I’d set for myself.
But at least my reaction to this news was genuine.
“Colin…I’m sorry…”
“You don’t have to be. It was a long time ago, and our family has put ourselves through enough to avenge her death.”
“Avenge? She didn’t die of natural causes?”
“She was murdered,” he replied.
A chill ran through me.
“In her sleep. While the rest of us were asleep in the house. Our father was away for work, so she was alone in her bedroom. None of us heard anything. We discovered her the next morning.”
“That must have been so traumatic for all of you…”
“That’s one way to describe it,” he said in a hollow voice, then drained the rest of the beer down his throat. “Another word would be, insane. It drove us fucking insane.”
“Did you ever find out who killed her?” I dared to ask.
Colin stared into space and spoke like I wasn’t even in the room.
“Yes and we made them pay for it.”
“Pay for it? How?”
I wanted names. Any detail I could use.
Colin blinked rapidly, like he was trying to force himself out of a memory of something.
“The only way we knew it would make us feel an ounce of satisfaction.”
I gulped nervously. I knew what that meant. He glared at me with a thick vein throbbing in the center of his forehead. I wanted to know the names of the people his family had killed in vengeance.
“But it didn’t bring her back,” he continued. “Nothing we do will ever bring her back.”
I didn’t have to say anything more. The floodgates had opened and everything he wanted to say was gushing out at an unstoppable rate.
“And we did things…my family…my father and brothers, me, we got involved in it.”
“Involved in what?”
“The business we had been avoiding. The business our mother never wanted us to get involved in.”
“What business?” I asked and he snapped out of it again.
“All you need to know is that my family has the kind of power in New York that you don’t come by easily.”
“Colin…are you involved in…something…criminal?” I had to tread carefully, but I had to know the truth. I wanted him to say the actual words, but he wasn’t going to.
He smiled at me sheepishly, standing up again.
“More beer?” he asked, walking over to the fridge.
“It’s just a simple question, Colin.”
He slammed the fridge door shut and whipped around to face me.
“And how would it make you feel if I told you I am who you think I am? What did you call me? A criminal?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
I shook my head. “I didn’t call you anything, I’m just asking you what you did to avenge your mother’s death. I want to know what your family’s business is.”
“And why the fuck should I tell you, Marley? So you can leave in a few days and go straight to the cops with it?”
I felt brave enough to stand up and square my shoulders at him. I didn’t know where that courage was coming from. Maybe I didn’t care anymore. I had a feeling I was already doomed. Maybe he already knew exactly who I was and this was all a game.
“You said your family is powerful. Who would I go to with this information? What can the cops do to you?”
Colin cracked open another can of beer and held it to his lips with a smile.
“Nothing. They can’t do shit to us,” he replied.
We stood glaring at each other—almost like he challenged me to do something.
In a way, he had just admitted to me how dangerous he was, that his family was capable of doing things I couldn’t even fathom. Maybe he was right about everything—my goal of gathering information about him and his family was a dead end.
Maybe there was nothing I could single handedly do against them. Maybe Chief was right too. I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Colin watched me intently, like he was waiting to see my next move.
I went up to him, bringing myself as close to him as possible without touching him.
“I’m sorry you lost your mother, I’m sorry she was murdered. I’m sure whatever you and your family did to avenge her death, they deserved it.” I kept my eyes focused on him, my chin up.
I wanted him to see that I supported him. I wasn’t going to squirm and run away like a pussy. I wanted Colin to trust me.
He waited a few beats before placing his hands on my hips and pulling me to him.
“There is nothing more important to us than family,” he continued. Our faces were just inches apart and his hot breath fell on my face. “I would do anything for my brothers, my sister and my father. He remarried a few years later, and because he loves my stepmother, she is family too. We will protect her with our lives.”
My throat felt raw while I stared at him, refusing to blink.
Nobody had spoken about me like that. My father had never vowed to protect us this way. I didn’t know what it felt like to have someone dedicated to me like that. To rely and trust somebody completely.
I had nobody.
“Your family is very lucky to have you,” I whispered hoarsely.
Colin stroked my hips lightly while he held me.
“I don’t have anything else to give, other than my loyalty,” he continued.
My nostrils flared as I tried to keep my emotions in check. Hot tears struggled to fill my eyes while I held them back. I wanted this. I wanted to be part of a family that would fight for each other to death. I wanted Colin’s loyalty—and I knew I would never have any of it. I’d never experienced it and I never would.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day, and now I want you to take me to bed,” I hissed.
I didn’t want to think about my fractures anymore because I knew I’d burst into tears. The last thing I wanted to do was show him my tears. I wanted him to keep thinking how little this affected me. That I’d be gone in a few days and never give him or this a second thought.
He smiled and grabbed my ass tightly, then pulled me up so he could kiss my lips.
“You’re such a good little wifey,” he groaned as he lifted me up in his arms, throwing me over his shoulder.
Twenty
Colin
I woke up another morning without a hangover
fogging my brain.
It was strange that Marley and I had found ourselves in this mess because of our mutual unaddressed drinking problem—but ever since we started spending time together, we weren’t actually drinking as much.
I didn’t feel the need to numb my thoughts with alcohol as much anymore. And once she left and returned to her life? What then? Would I want it more?
What other destruction would I bring into my life once Marley was gone? Was it possible she was holding me together?
She woke up purring softly beside me and I grabbed her, pulling her on top of me. She giggled, pushing her long dark hair back and out of her eyes. She looked beautiful as she sat naked on top of me, her long smooth legs stretched out on either side.
I stroked her buttery pale skin, rubbing her knees and massaging her tiny feet.
She bit down on her lip and rolled her hips, making her big juicy tits bounce over me.
I had her in my bed all night, I was inside her, I possessed her over and over again and still, I wanted more. I couldn’t get enough of her and I was finally glad that she suggested coming to New York with me.
My wife.
This was the woman I ended up marrying.
“Do you have a busy day ahead of you?” she asked, stroking my chest with her fingertips.
I held on to her hips as she positioned herself on top of me, guiding herself down. When my cock thrust into her, we both groaned and she settled down.
“Or can I convince you to stay with me today?” she asked, her eyes narrowing seductively as she started moving.
I was rock-hard inside her, fucking her deep.
“You’ve convinced me,” I replied.
She laughed as she bounced, her hair flew everywhere over her shoulders. She started rocking harder, faster, grabbing her tits and tugging on her nipples. She rode me expertly, and it was like she already knew what moves that would make me come.
Within minutes I was close to coming.
Marley was the first to come and she shuddered and cried out my name, still riding me hard. Then I shot into her, my cum shooting deep inside her while I grabbed her tits and squeezed hard.
Our groans matched each other’s. She had complete control over me right then and I didn’t care. She could have everything.
I’d already told her more than I should have last night…what the fuck was I thinking?
I wasn’t thinking. That was the problem.
Sex with her was the only thought in my head.
“Colin!”
We both heard a female voice outside the bedroom door. Marley gasped and rolled off me, pulling the sheets up around her.
“Is he even home?” Another muffled female voice was heard outside. There was more than one person in my apartment?
At nine AM?
“What’s going on?” Marley murmured beside me.
“It’s just my sister,” I replied.
My stepsister, Isabelle, had decided to let herself into the apartment and she’d brought Reese and Leah along with her.
They were standing in my kitchen, smiling and staring at Marley who had managed to hurriedly dress herself.
“We heard about your…adventure,” Isabelle said with rounded eyes.
“And we wanted to see for ourselves,” Reese added.
“Not see! We wanted to meet your…dearly beloved,” Leah chimed in, and they all laughed at that like little schoolgirls.
I clenched my jaws with irritation.
“What is this? Some kinda circus show?” I growled.
Isabelle rolled her eyes while Reese started pulling stuff out from the drawers. I still didn’t know what was going on—what were they trying to achieve?
“Hi, I’m Marley.”
Marley seemed less perturbed by the crowd we had found in the kitchen. She stepped up to them with her hand extended.
Isabelle and Leah shook her hand while Reese smiled. Apparently, she was making pancake batter.
“Can I help you with anything?” Marley asked.
“No, you can’t, because they’re not staying,” I snapped.
Isabelle glared at me.
“Did we interrupt something, Colin?”
Reese tried to suppress a giggle and Leah smiled at Marley harder.
“Yes, you interrupted my life, so get out,” I growled.
This time it was Marley who looked over at me questioningly. Was it really that hard to see why this was a nuisance? Isabelle, Reese and Leah together were like a gaggle of teenage girls. That was the last thing we needed when we should have been back in bed. Specifically, I wanted to be on top of Marley right then.
“We’re just here for breakfast, I mean…you’ll have to stop to eat, right?” Reese said as she continued with the batter.
“That’s great, I’m starving. Aren’t you starving, Colin?” Marley asked, glaring at me meaningfully.
Was this what wives were supposed to do? Force us to behave?
I didn’t have to stand there, in my own kitchen, and accept this treatment from a bunch of girls who were trying to rule my life.
I dug in my heels and crossed my arms over my chest.
Marley was already making the coffee. Leah was cutting fruit. Isabelle was getting started on the eggs.
I spent my mornings alone. I enjoyed my coffee and a piece of toast in peace. All of a sudden, my apartment had been transformed into a family home and I didn’t have any control over it.
“So, Marley, tell us everything. This is the story of the century!” Isabelle exclaimed.
Marley blushed and threw me a look. She could see the resignation on my face. I already gave up. I knew I had lost this battle against my sister and sisters-in-law.
“I was dancing with someone else at a bar and he didn’t like that,” Marley replied.
It was an accurate description of what happened.
Before I knew what was happening, we were all sitting around my kitchen table eating pancakes and drinking coffees.
In fact, nobody seemed to be very interested in speaking to me or hearing what I had to say about anything. It was like they had taken Marley into their fold within minutes of meeting her, and she was the only thing that held their attention.
Isabelle and Marley seemed to have hit it off especially well and they were discussing all the common spots in New York City they were familiar with.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing unfolding in front of my eyes—Marley was one of them.
Eventually, I met Leah’s eyes who smiled at me and shrugged. In the past few weeks, ever since Leah and Aidan started seeing each other again, we became friends too.
I knew how much Leah meant to my brother and I tried to include her in the family. Maybe she thought she was returning the favor by trying to include Marley?
I wanted to stand up and command them to stop.
If they thought welcoming Marley into their clique was something they were doing for my sake—they were thoroughly mistaken. They didn’t have to do this. Marley wasn’t going to be a permanent fixture in our lives.
Didn’t they get the memo that our marriage happened by accident? That I was going to get the lawyers involved any day now?
When I snapped out of my thoughts, I saw them laughing at something together. I wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t know what it was…until it finally sank in. They were discussing the ‘Doherty men’. Exchanging common war stories apparently.
Marley blushed, because obviously, she knew what I was thinking—that she didn’t actually belong in this group.
Reese complained about how Killian could go an entire day without uttering a single word if he had to, but if she tried to climb up to their cabin’s attic to fetch something important, he’d be shouting at her for putting herself in danger.
Leah admitted that Aidan was like that as well, and that he was also surprisingly sweet and tender when he wanted to be.
When they turned to Marley for her input, she glanced at me with her cheeks ruddy and hot.
She clung to her mug of coffee like she was clinging to it for life, then she shrugged.
“I guess I just don’t know Colin well enough to have seen his Doherty side,” she said with a smile.
Isabelle laughed and the others laughed too.
I caught Marley’s eyes and she almost looked sad. Like there was a part of her that wanted what these women had.
Did she?
Was I just imagining it?
Was I just fooling myself into fantasizing a future for us?
Twenty-One
Marley
By the time the girls left, Colin had already changed and was ready to leave too.
“I thought you said I’d managed to change your mind and you were going to spend the day with me,” I protested when he emerged from the bathroom in fresh clothes and clean-shaven.
“That was a joke,” he said gruffly and left the bedroom. I followed him out to the living room, starting to feel a little anxious. I could sense he was unhappy about something. Was it the girls?
“So I’m just going to spend the day by myself again?” I asked and undid a few buttons of the shirt I was wearing, suggestively. It was one of his that I’d managed to grab when we heard voices in the kitchen earlier.
Colin gave me a glaring look.
“You said you wouldn’t need to be babysat,” he replied, raising his brows.
“No, I don’t need you to babysit me, I just hoped to spend some time with you today.” I was all jumbled up in my head by now and didn’t know if I wanted him to stay for my sake or for the information.
“Marley, I have shit to do, I told you this already. And do I need to remind you that this isn’t real? We’re not playing house together.” He sounded snappy, and the way he spoke cut through me sharply.
Even though it was the truth.
I put my hands on my hips. “No, you don’t have to keep reminding me of that, Colin. I am aware of how little I actually mean to you.”
“You’re twisting my words,” he said in a deep growl.