Marked Heart (Marked Heart #3)

by M. Sembera

  Watching his mom immediately start picking up on her way to the kitchen, Braden hurried to his room to take a quick shower.

  He was still a bit hungover but having his apartment cleaned up and possibly a home cooked breakfast was already making him feel better.

  Rounding the corner into the kitchen, he asked, "Were ya missing your favorite son?"

  Without looking up from the dishes, she replied, "I'm worried about your sister."

  "And seeing me makes you feel better?" Braden joked with a wide smile.

  Giving him a sideways glance, Sarah stated, "I think there's something wrong with her. She should be pregnant by now."

  "Mom..." he started before hearing a knock at his door.

  As he made his way to see who was at the door, his mom continued, "I'm not sure they're trying hard enough. Or they're not doing it right."

  Braden swung the door open in hopes someone was there to save him from a conversation, he did not want to have.

  "Hi." Mina cheered, causing him to regret opening it.

  This was going to be worse than the Penny fertility conversation.

  Braden pulled the door closed until only his head was sticking out of the doorway.

  "Can you come back later?" he urged with a weak smile.

  Just as she started to pout, they both heard Sarah gripe, "Son, are you listening?"

  Mina's face instantly lit up as she blurted, "Son? Your mom's here?"

  As the idea of shutting the door in her face started sounding better and better, Sarah walked up beside him and pulled it open.

  "Girlfriend?"

  Stepping into his apartment, Mina replied, "Yes, ma'am. I'm Mina."

  Sarah eyed her suspiciously before acknowledging, "The nurse, right?"

  Glancing back at Braden with a smile of wonder, like he was the one that shared information about her with his mom, she nodded.

  "Shouldn't Penny already be pregnant?"

  Caught off guard, Mina questioned, "Ma'am?

  "You're a nurse." Sarah stated, putting her on the spot.

  Stepping to the side Braden smiled to himself thinking, bet your real excited to meet her now.

  Mina was quiet for a moment before replying, "Well, Mrs. Caffrey, there are many factors that can delay conception for couples that are trying to conceive."

  Pleasantly surprised, Sarah led her to the kitchen table. As they both sat and started discussing birth control and menstrual cycles Braden wondered if he would ever be able to eat at his table again.

  Five minutes into hearing things he never wanted to and could never un-hear, Braden had to get out of there.

  "I'll be right back."

  Before either of them had a chance to look up, he was out of the door and in front of his apartment.

  "What's up, punk?" Liv greeted as she walked up.

  Braden couldn't believe his luck as he replied, "You're awesome!"

  "Yeah," she agreed with a smirk before saying, "You wanna go get your car or what?"

  "Yes!" he exclaimed almost jumping up and down.

  Liv gave him a strange look as he motioned for her to follow him.

  "Who's in there?"

  Biting the side of his tongue, he smiled before confessing, "Mina and my mom."

  "Ha!"

  "Don't laugh. They're in there talking about Penny's cycles and ovaries."

  Letting out a loud breath of air, Liv walked past him and into his apartment.

  Stepping in as if she owned the room, Liv pulled out the chair in between Mina and Sarah.

  Batting her eyes, she gave a wide smile almost singing, "Hi, Sarah," then turned to Mina and saying, "Hello."

  Sarah sighed as she replied, "Liv."

  "So what's the kitchen table convo?"

  Mina perked up, smiling as she shared, "I was just telling Mrs. Caffrey, Penny's trouble with getting pregnant..."

  Braden noticed his mom give Mina a 'shut your mouth' glare as Liv asked, "You and Penny are good friends?"

  Nodding, Mina replied, "She's super sweet."

  "So, she asked you to talk to her mom about her troubles?"

  Mina appeared confused as she stuttered, "No... Well... I..."

  With a quick nod, Liv turned to Sarah, saying, "I see, Penny asked you to ask her brother's girlfriend why she wasn't pregnant yet?"

  "She was being helpful." Sarah snapped as Liv stood back up.

  "That's good 'cause something that private could really hurt someone's feelings, ya know."

  Mina looked down at the table with an embarrassed expression.

  "Why are you here, Liv?" Sarah griped, clearly feeling the sting of Liv's insinuation also.

  "This one was too drunk to drive home last night," she replied, pointing at Braden.

  Throwing his hands out in front of him, Braden was shocked.

  "Braden Hagen Caffrey!" Sarah yelled directly at him before Liv added, "It's cool, he got laid-off so it's not like he has anything else to do."

  Sarah looked like she was about to jump out of her chair and smack Braden, as he stood there with his mouth hanging open.

  "We still gettin' your car?" Liv asked, glancing at Braden as she turned and walked out.

  Braden knew his mom was about to let him have it. Weighing his options, he rushed out of his apartment after Liv.

  Swiftly following her to her car, Braden knew she was mad but didn't understand why he had fallen into the line of her fire.

  He slid into the passenger seat griping, "What the hell?" As Liv started her car, revving the engine, and drowning out the sound of his voice.

  Liv backed out of the parking spot, shifted into drive, and took off, assuring, "You're lucky I didn't leave your ass there."

  "What did I do?"

  Slamming on her breaks, jerking them both forward at the stop sign, she fussed, "You know damn good and well Penny's feelings would be hurt if she knew they were talking about her. She's had your back so many times, you should've never let that conversation happen."

  "'Cause my mom's gonna listen to anything I have to say?" he snapped back at her.

  "No, but your girlfriend would have."

  Her words made him feel uneasy as he argued, "Mina's a nurse. She was just tryin' to be helpful."

  "Yeah? Or was she tryin' to get in good with Sarah?"

  Liv's question instantly silenced Braden as he realized, he wasn't sure.

  After rolling through the stop sign, neither said a word until Liv pulled beside Braden's El Camino in front of The Dog House.

  "Sorry."

  Shifting into park, Liv turned to him.

  "Ha! Your dumbass sure will be when you get back."

  Braden stared at her for a minute.

  Shaking his head at himself as he realized he left his overly eager girlfriend sitting with his mom at his apartment, he mumbled, "What was I thinking?"

  Liv took a moment to laugh at him before questioning, "What's your deal with her anyway?"

  "What do you mean?"

  Giving him a look of 'you know exactly what I mean,' Liv sat there waiting for his answer.

  Shrugging, Braden leaned his head back against the headrest, saying, "She's easy to be with."

  "If you say so."

  Opening the passenger door, he gave her a questioning look.

  With an air of wisdom, Liv stated, "For something you claim is so easy, it sure comes off as forced."

  "What about you and Pat?" Braden asked, trying to take the focus off of how her advice made him feel.

  Liv frowned, sharing, "I'm not with him."

  "Do you wanna be?"

  With a slight smirk, she replied, "Not a conversation I'm gonna have with you."

  "Why? I'll tell you anything you want to know about me and Mina."

  Liv quickly shifted her car into reverse, assuring, "No thanks. I've got Charlotte if I wanna have a sex talk."

  Shaking his head with a laugh, Braden got out of her car and closed the door.

  Driving back to his apartment,
it took a little while for what Liv said to register. He almost had to pull over on the side of the road when it hit him that she wasn't interested in dating Pat. Suddenly the things he'd read on her kindle bombarded his mind. It wasn't like he thought she should go join a convent or even abstain from anything, he just didn't really think about her having sex. Now he was. Braden was thinking about Liv having sex, and with Pat of all people.

  M6H

  Wiping off a storage bin as she set it on the dolly, Liv forgot how much of her belongings she stored out in the old shed when she first moved into the farmhouse with Kieran. She had already managed to get three of the plastic tubs into the house. One was on her dolly, and there were still four stacked in the corner of the shed. Looking at her dusty rag, she tossed it down and wiped her forehead off with the back of her hand. Ten thirty in the morning was definitely too early to break a sweat. Hearing Braden's car pull onto her gravel driveway, Liv blew out a loud breath. She twisted her hair into a knot above her head and walked out of the shed.

  Liv stood in front of his car as it came to a stop.

  "Can you believe how hot it is," she griped as Braden got out of his car.

  Shaking his head with a laugh, he replied, "It's only eighty."

  Continuing to hold her hair on the top of her head, Liv wiped down the side of her face and neck with her free hand, saying, "At ten in the morning, in December."

  "What were you doing?"

  Turning to walk back to the shed, she replied, "Digging my stuff out."

  "You couldn't wait for me?"

  Liv picked up her pace, saying, "There's more than I remembered."

  She dropped her hair, feeling as though holding onto it was slowing her down. When Braden caught up with her, she increased her pace a little more.

  "Hey," he said with humor in his voice.

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you trying to beat me to the shed?"

  "Ha!" she blurted before taking three long strides and stepping past the doors, assuring, "There was no trying to it."

  "You have issues," he laughed before picking the storage bin up off of the dolly and carrying it out of the shed.

  Dusting off the last four bins, Liv couldn't help watching Braden from the corner of her eye as he lifted each one and carried it out of the shed. This may have been a bad idea. Thursday nights were sacred, but outside the sanctity of that one night a week, they were never alone together. Aside from the next morning, and car ride here and there, Liv had kept it that way on purpose. As much as she wanted to deny it, it was never Pat that she thought about, even when she was letting him feel her up.

  Liv turned as Braden carried the last bin out of the shed. Following him into the house she needed to give him the list of things she wanted done, shower and go to work.

  Placing the storage bin he was carrying with the others in the old marking room, Braden complained, "What the hell is in these?"

  Standing in the doorway, Liv replied, "Mostly books."

  Wiping his forearm across his forehead, he said, "Damn they were heavy." Before adding, "Now I'm sweatin'," as he started to pull his shirt off.

  Liv's stomach instantly lurched in panic as she held out her hand and blurted, "Don't."

  With his arms crossed in front of his torso, he held the sides of his shirt and smiled.

  "Worried Pat might get jealous?"

  "I just don't wanna see your badge of honor that's all," she replied with a smirk.

  Liv knew what the lily her husband tattooed on the left side of Braden's chest looked like, she didn't need or want to see it permanently marked on his skin.

  "What's the matter? It's just a little ink," he teased with a hint of irritation.

  That mark, the one Kieran betrayed his legacy with, had already caused enough hurt and done enough damage for her to know that wasn't true.

  Before she knew it, the words, "Don't start talking shit because you were too much of a dumbass to realize she never loved you," flew form her mouth.

  Braden froze. There was so much hurt in his eyes, it wounded her at the same time.

  "Screw you, Liv." Braden grumbled, brushing past her as he walked out of the room.

  Closing her eyes, she balled her fists, blew out a loud breath, and followed him.

  Braden was pouring himself a glass of water when she walked into the kitchen. This was another reason why spending extra time with him was a bad idea. There were things that would eventually come up that had no business being discussed. Regardless, at the moment, this was on her. While what she said was true, it never should have been said, especially by her.

  Stepping in front of him, Liv assured, "That was an asshole thing to say."

  "Yeah, it was," he replied with anger in his voice as he continued to drink his water.

  Knowing she was in the wrong by allowing the hurt someone else had caused her to backlash onto him, as if the situation hadn't hurt him enough all on its own. Liv waited until he set his glass down. Allowing her guard to slip just enough to be sincere, she stepped closer, and covered his fist that was clinched on the counter with her hand. Staring into his brown eyes, that she always thought should have been green, Liv let her eyes emphasize the sorry her words could not express.

  Braden was silent as he wrinkled his brow in response. He searched her eyes before relenting to her unspoken apology. Liv continued to stare at him as he broke eye contact and looked down at their hands. She felt his fist loosen under her hand and flatten against the counter. Watching his expression carefully, the moment his hand slid back far enough for his fingers to make their way in between hers, she pulled away.

  "Your to-do list is on the table," she shared, turning her back on him.

  ~

  While Liv was in the back getting ready to go to the shop, Braden sat on the couch looking over the list in his hand without reading it. She touched him. Liv wasn't a toucher. She was more of a smack you on the arm, nudge you with her elbow kind of a girl. Even the night she allowed him to hold her she grabbed his shirt, and never touched him. She was apologizing and he got that, but her touch did more than emphasize how sorry she was for what she said. It made him curious.

  Braden stood as soon as Liv stepped back into the living room. Her black hair was completely straight with the sides pinned back away from her face so you could see her black, diamond hoop earrings sway against her jaw. She had on a black t-shirt that read 'BLACK HEART, BLACK SHOES, AND TATTOOS', with black and white plaid slacks. As she continued to the door he followed, noticing the way the plaid pattern stretched wider across her backside and hips as it clung to her, hugging the curve of her thighs.

  "Do I got somethin' on me?" she snapped, causing him to look up and see her looking back at him with a slight scowl on her face.

  As luck would have it, she did. Braden walked up and peeled a small sticker off of the back of her pants.

  Sticking it to the tip of his index finger, he smiled, sharing, "Your ass is 'special'," as he showed her the red and yellow sticker.

  With a laugh she assured, "Damn right," before informing, "I made you lunch, it's in the fridge. You'll probably be done before I get back so I'll see you in the morning."

  "Cool, thanks."

  Liv made a clicking sound with her mouth and winked at him before opening the front door and walking out.

  Closing the door behind her, Braden looked at the list still in his hand, but all he could think was, Pat is one lucky bastard and Kieran was a damn fool.

  M7H

  As Braden's mind worked overtime, trying to forget how Liv placing her hand on his made him feel, every other part of him seemed to react to the moment making it hard not to give in to his thoughts of her. It was an unnecessary complication that he neither needed nor wanted. To say, which he had many times, that he never thought of her that way, was in fact a lie. The truth was when he did have an inappropriate thought it was quickly replaced by the knowledge of what they meant to each other. Their bond was too pure to be clouded with immorality.
Whether it was right or wrong, that's what he had Mina for. Liv was beyond simple thoughts of lust for him. There were boundaries to their relationship, but lately, the foundation of those boundaries had begun to crack and it all started with what he'd read on her kindle.

  Spending most of his week tending to Liv's to-do lists, he did everything he could think of to occupy the rest of his time, in an effort to avoid alone time with Mina. That was until her usual pout over not getting her way had turned into a full blown huff causing Braden to give in when she showed up at his apartment Wednesday night with movies in hand suggesting they spend the evening on his couch.

  Mina remained snuggled up next to him on the couch while the sappy love story she brought over seemed never ending. In the back of his mind, he couldn't stop himself from tallying the differences between her and Liv. Mina was definitely warm in every sense of the word. Liv on the other hand was the epitome of cool. Mina always came off as subdued, most of the time it was hard for him to tell how she truly felt about something. If Liv had a problem, she let everyone know and if happened to be him that she was mad at, a smack to the back of the head could definitely be expected. Smiling to himself, Braden recalled the time she was so mad at him she wacked him with a broom, repeatedly.

  Just as his mind started to wander to the physical differences between the two, Mina broke his train of thought.

  "What are you thinking about?"

  Braden's smile faded as he glanced at her.

  Pushing up at his side, she repeated, "What are you thinking about?"

  "Nothin'."

  Mina frowned for a second before a cheery smile took over.

  "I was thinking, since I met your mom Sunday, it's only fair that you get to meet my parents."

  Leaning away from her, he blurted, "How is that fair?"

  "You don't want to meet my parents?" She questioned as if she were in shock.

  Braden scooted farther away from her, asking, "What makes you think I would want to?"

  "We have been dating for almost a year," she snapped at him before instantly calming herself and saying, "It's okay. We can talk about it another time. I know you have a lot on your mind."

  He did have a lot on his mind but he would bet his life she had no idea what she was talking about.