Marked (Branded Book 3)

by Scarlett Finn

  “Then why are you getting that wet look again, Squirm?” he asked.

  Holding her head in both hands around her ears, he brushed his thumbs over her cheeks as if in anticipation of tears he’d want to wipe away.

  “You said it meant nothing.” When the words came out of her, ice clenched around her heart. Her lungs swelled and her throat closed. “I don’t ever want to hear that I mean nothing to you, Fella.”

  “You’re the only thing that means anything,” he said, without breaking eye contact. “I love you.” His voice was clear and deep, conveying his certainty. He wanted the words to resonate through her to wipe away any sorrow. “I thought I was protecting you. You were so cute when you were pissed about Ella, ‘cause I knew it wasn’t true. But I saw that I’d hurt you before you walked out and I couldn’t let you hate me for kissing you, or be so cruel as to let you think I’d moved on, and not with just anyone, but someone you’d have to see every day. I mean, think about it, Ny, if I’d been screwing her, you’d be watching me come in and out of her apartment all the time.”

  Her shoulders quaked at that disgusting thought, but he smiled. “Don’t,” she croaked.

  “You got that same look of sickness outside my apartment that day.”

  “When you started asking about my meds,” she said. “I was thinking about you with another woman.”

  “And that made you feel sick?”

  “Hey, buddy, you told another guy if he thought about seeing me naked you were going to stab him in the gut, I mean, really? Couldn’t you be more subtle than that?”

  “When it comes to warning guys away from my pussy, I don’t want to be subtle.”

  “Can we just promise it’ll never happen again?”

  He’d already told her that he wouldn’t be dumping her. But Nya wasn’t quite secure enough to forget what losing him was like, not yet. “You’re the one who walked out on me this morning.”

  “Because you had my best friend attached to your floor. Is he really still there?”

  Archer nodded. “And he will be for the next few days.”

  “Why? Are you going to tell me that you’re protecting him from himself? You said that Gio was brave to be walking these streets, but that means Tag is too.”

  “Tag doesn’t walk the streets,” Archer said. “He goes from his apartment to where he’s going and back again. The only people he sees these days are his coke dealers who come to his apartment, sometimes two or three times a day.”

  Nya didn’t want to confront that, it was seedy. If he was allowing dealers to come to his door to do business, he had more of a problem than she’d realized. “Oh, God, Arch,” she murmured.

  “Nothing I was gonna say was gonna stop him last night. It was take him back to my place and chain him down or put a knife in his throat. I picked the one I thought you’d prefer. ‘Cause even if he’d found Gio and tried to kill him, he’d never have done it. Your boy’s not a killer and I wasn’t joking about his state of mind. He was ranting and raving in the streets, waving his arms about, paranoid like a crazy motherfucker, making a scene. He didn’t even have a fucking weapon and he’d have fucked up the crime scene. He has no experience with this shit. He’d have got himself arrested and what does that mean for the rest of us? You might not give a fuck about going down, but I do and I know you don’t want your boy in a cell either. And then there’s the other thing…”

  “What other thing?” she asked, kind of liking how she could look Archer straight in the eye because standing on this low couch elevated her almost to his eye level.

  “You asked me to get him clean.”

  Nya didn’t remember making that request of him. “I did?” She squinted. Archer had a way of interpreting things she said as requests, like when he’d paid her rent to her last landlord after a brief exchange at the bar downstairs. “When did I do that?”

  “You asked how the fuck to get him off it, when we were in the office downstairs.”

  It took her a few seconds to recall what he was talking about. “The night you were going to fight in the street? We weren’t even together then.”

  “I still heard you.” And he still kept his eyes open for an opportunity to fix her friend for her. “Long as he stays on my floor, he’s clean. That shit never goes away once you have a serious problem and he’s right on the verge of a serious fucking problem, I don’t know if you’ve fucking noticed. So you do it now, while it’s still a recreational habit, or you let it go for a couple of months and then getting him off the shit’s not so easy.”

  He was right and Nya recognized that she’d been lazy about taking action. It was typical that Archer should be the one to leap in and fix her problem before she had really even accepted that she had one.

  But this was going to cause more animosity between the men. “He won’t think you’re doing him a favor. He’s a terrible houseguest. I saw what he was like when he was locked up in that other apartment, hiding from Hex. Sure, he knew he had to be there to protect himself. But, he hates having people in his ear telling him what to do. Hates having them around all the time, watching him. It will only be worse now that he’s paranoid and anxious.”

  Her love was pragmatic. “Ny, we’ve got three choices. One, we keep him where he is against his will, but we get him clean. Two, we pay for some high-end yuppie-boy program, an in-patient deal to have it done professionally with all the counseling shit.” Which wouldn’t work because Tag couldn’t confess half the shit that was going on in his life. “Or three, we cut him loose and let him deal with his own crap.”

  “Which will probably mean watching him die,” she said. “He has nothing to pull him out. It’s sad, Arch, if you think about it. He feels like he doesn’t have anything to fight for. Farrah’s left him. His business has gone to shit. His best friend’s stolen money from him. And I’m with a guy who won’t give him the time of day.”

  “Yeah, well the dude is in my fucking apartment,” Archer said. “That’s a lot of fucking time out of my day, Squirm.”

  “You don’t usually leave people alone in your place. Why does Tag get a pass?”

  “Derren’s there.”

  That didn’t make Nya feel better. “Does he know not to hurt him?”

  “Yeah, he’s just babysitting,” Archer said and if he trusted his mentor then so did she.

  Nya had bonded with him during their drink here and she was pretty confident that Derren would leave Tag alone as long as he didn’t make too much noise.

  “Is that wise? Having Derren there when Ester’s staying?” she asked. “And with that big bottle of chloroform you have stashed somewhere in your apartment…”

  Her grin made her words come out as an almost-laugh.

  But Archer remained deadpan. “You know it’s twisted that my mother talks about her fantasies in front of me, right?” Nya nodded. “Why do you encourage her?”

  “I don’t,” she said, leaning forward, except Archer didn’t move so he just ended up supporting more of her weight. Though he didn’t seem to mind. He squeezed her ass again. “It’s weird, she always does most of the talking and I like hearing her talk about stuff like that. It’s almost like watching a cartoon, you know? When things are so extreme that you almost can’t believe that they’re true, but it’s entertaining anyway.”

  “Yeah? Well for me it’s more like a car wreck, when bodies are strewn across the street and everyone is slowing down to try and catch a glimpse of the carnage except all they’re doing is holding me up. I want to keep my head down and drive right through without seeing any of that shit… What kind of sick, fucking woman would want a guy to take advantage of her while she was out of it anyway?”

  He heard the description of the sex act and made assumptions, he didn’t see the root of where it came from. “It’s not about being out of it,” Nya said. “It’s a fantasy, not reality. It’s about handing over control to someone, trusting them that much. You know, your mom makes these comments and I believe she’s probably one of th
e most sexually liberated people I know. But”—Nya caught his face when he tried to look away and brought it back—“I think she’s looking for something that she just hasn’t found yet. She wants to be loved. I mean, she was so young when she met your father and she was so besotted with him that she’d have done anything to keep him happy. I think it really messed with her head when he left. You know, since then she’s always believed she wasn’t good enough.

  “And I think that’s why she tried so hard with you for the first few years, she probably thought he’d come back and wanted to prove to him how good a job she was doing and how together she was. She wanted to be like his wife, you know? Together and sophisticated. And that all fell apart when—” His smirk made her stop rambling. “I guess you don’t want my psychobabble, huh?”

  “I think someone’s been taking lessons,” he said. His arms drifted higher so he could encircle them around her waist, squeezing her so tight that she couldn’t take a deep breath. “When’d you turn into Miss Detective? Have you been gathering intel on me, Squirm?”

  Instead of being pissed off, he was impressed. Archer didn’t want to hide the dark parts of his past from her. He may not share them, but he wasn’t offended that she’d ferreted them out for herself.

  “I might have asked a question or two,” she said, grazing a fingernail down his jaw. “Someone once told me that it’s not always about being mean, sometimes all it takes is a conversation.”

  “I guess you’ve got a lot of sources,” he said.

  That was accurate. She’d spent time with Ester, with Derren, even Kristof had come to her old place and these were three people who’d known Archer longer than anyone else. And Derren had said she was family. “I’m kind of disappointed that Ester will get to screw in your bed before I do,” she said, and he grimaced again.

  “I sent her out shopping before Derren got to my place and they don’t fuck every time they see each other. Far as I figure, they can go months or years without touching each other. But I know it happens, always has, once in a while they get hot and heavy again, then remember they can’t fucking stand each other.”

  Nya couldn’t believe that there was any hatred between the couple who kept coming together. “Do you think Derren loves her?” she asked. The romantic in her wanted to believe he did. “Ester told me he showed up on her last wedding day, and she didn’t get married. So something he said must have—”

  “Derren doesn’t say anything. He shouts at her or he screws her. Why do you think she’s so nuts for him?”

  Ester was as complicated as any woman Nya had ever met. “So you think that she loves him and he was right that it’s all attention seeking?”

  “Maybe. I gave up trying to figure out their relationship years ago. Sometimes I think they deserve each other, you know? Most of the time I just want them to leave each other the fuck alone.”

  “I like him,” she said. “He’s a really straightforward guy and he cares a helluva lot for you.”

  “Because he won’t fuck you?”

  Although she was sure her cheeks reddened, she gasped as her face fell forward into the crook of his neck. “I was testing a theory!”

  Kissing the skin she found beneath her lips, she inhaled the scent of her man and her whole body relaxed.

  “And what would you have done if he’d have kissed you, hmm?” he asked, rubbing his face against her.

  “I would never have kissed him,” she said. “There was an entire bar between us. If I thought he wasn’t going to back off I’d have done it. It’s not like I put myself in a corner with a stranger.”

  “Next time, no testing theories,” he murmured right in her ear.

  A zing of enlivened hormones fired down her spine. “Damn,” she said, trying to hide the smile of her tease. “And the first chance I got, I was gonna test how much Kristof cared about you.”

  “See, now, that’s a different ballgame,” Archer said. “Kris would’ve fucked you.”

  She leaned back, tilting her head. “You think?” It wasn’t that she wanted to have sex with the man, but there was something sad about his willingness to betray the fraternal relationship. “I thought you guys were close.”

  “He wouldn’t have done it to spite me. He’d have done it to protect me,” Archer said. “Same as I’d do for him. Hos aren’t worth our time.”

  That made her blink and after her surprise went away, she bowed forward to snag his bottom lip with her teeth. “You won’t be fucking any of his girlfriends. I don’t give a damn what scheme you two cooked up to test the women you care about, your dick belongs to me.”

  He kissed her. “I meant before you.”

  “He’d have done it to prove what a slut you’d fallen in love with?”

  “Sure, ‘cause if you’d let Derren go there or let any part of Kristof touch you, you know you’d never have got near me again,” he said.

  “Shame I don’t have a sister who can test you. I guess your sex show in Vegas will have to do as my reassurance.”

  “Two redheads,” he said. “I’d be fucking reassured if I was you.”

  Someone was coming up the stairs, deliberately stomping their feet, presumably to announce themselves. Archer twisted, but kept an arm around her, which allowed her to keep leaning on him. The cushion on the couch was soft, and made her footing unstable, so she needed his support.

  Robbo appeared a second later. “Do I need protective gear?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, but read his smile.

  The couple was relaxed and in each other’s embrace; the fight was over. “We don’t know what to do with the tables,” Robbo said. “They’re bolted onto the floor. I don’t have a fucking clue how to get them up. They’re covered with that metal sheeting stuff; we can’t even see the screw.”

  Archer kissed her and then with his single arm around her waist, he lifted her off the couch to put her on her feet. “Nya doesn’t even own a screwdriver, Rob. Don’t ask her for advice. Show me what the problem is.”

  Archer went after Robbo who was going down the stairs. He paused at the top to wink at her and she mouthed, “Thank you.”

  This was her man’s rightful place, leading the men he’d recruited to protect her and this establishment. Robbo had said he would make calls to the guys who hadn’t bothered their butts to show up. Nya would bet that they’d show up as soon as they heard Archer’s voice on their phone. The work that was supposed to take a week would probably take half that time if she had Archer at her side whipping the guys into line.

  They had to clear the office, she had paperwork to deal with and files to organize, as well as documents to shred. All the stock had to be inventoried and packed away. The bar had to be cleared, glassware needed to be wrapped and boxed. The flooring had to be taken up and the sound system was on the list to be dismantled. Storing the electricals would have to be done carefully because the equipment was expensive and most of it would be installed again.

  The to-do list was immense and it would have to be done before the re-fitting began.

  Sizzle had been the same way for as long as she could remember, changing things up was a big decision and one that Nya hoped not to regret. With the money Hexam had put into the club account at Archer’s urging, she had enough wiggle room in her budget to put in some of the high-tech gear that would protect her staff. Tag and Hexam had been reluctant to go too far with security, but this was her place now.

  Nya couldn’t stay up here all day, there was work to do, and Tag was still in Archer’s apartment; they’d have to get back to him. So, heading for the office, she was pleased she could bury herself in the management work while Archer took care of delegating the physical tasks. They were a great team.

  thirteen

  “Derren went to get food,” Archer said as they began to ascend the stairs of their apartment building.

  He’d hung around at Sizzle much longer than she’d thought he would. Maybe he still thought he had some groveling to do, but he’d stayed wi
th her the whole day, putting in a full shift without complaining. Getting a ride home with him had been a bonus being that it was after dark.

  Nya was tired and her eyes were sore from all the reading she’d done. But she was pleased with the headway they’d made. “Sounds like a good plan,” she said and swung around the bannister onto her own floor to stride toward her apartment.

  But Archer caught her hand and began to draw her up to his floor. “He won’t be back for a while,” he said, taking her along to his place.

  “So you want company?”

  Archer liked to be on his own and had no problem entertaining himself. But they hadn’t been alone all day, so Nya wasn’t going to refuse his unstated offer to go with him.

  They went inside and she wondered what was in his fridge to drink. But Archer didn’t go into the kitchen, he didn’t even let go of her hand. Guiding her down the hallway and into the bedroom, Nya guessed his appetite was for something other than food.

  “What are we doing in here?” she asked, playing it coy.

  Archer was already pushing her skirt from her hips, stripping her off without finesse or patience. “You said you wanted to be here.”

  He shunted her backwards and she dropped onto her ass on his bed. Nya was pleased to stay right where she was, watching him getting naked with the same haste he’d used with her. Tossing his clothes to the floor, Archer opened his legs on either side of hers to get right up close to the edge of the bed.

  When she was about to lean back to look up at him and make a quip, he cupped the back of her head and grabbed his dick. Pushing the bulging head against her lips, he clenched his jaw. “Open for me, Squirm. Take it.”

  He wasn’t in the mood to play. His eyes were so dark and intent that the urge to be casual left her too. Opening her mouth, she let him push into her. Thick and hard his cock occupied all of her mouth. But Nya thought less about how he stretched her ability when she registered the bliss spreading over his face.