Marked (Branded Book 3)

by Scarlett Finn

  A knock on the door didn’t slow Ester’s chattering down. Nya tried her best to listen past the woman who was talking about her big day as Archer went toward the door. He opened it but not all the way, so she couldn’t see who was on the other side. Archer was there for a while and she got more and more worried the longer he stayed in the doorway. If it was a friend he’d have invited them in. If it was an enemy, he’d have sent them away.

  Phasing Ester out of her consciousness, Nya watched the back of her lover and tried to read his thoughts, although that was impossible when she couldn’t see his eyes or any of his expressions.

  “So I think the most important thing is just to get it done,” Ester said. “That’s why we’re not waiting and why it was so important to get the marriage license today. It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Ester lunged forward to grab for Nya. “You and Archer should get yours when we’re at the courthouse tomorrow!”

  Nya’s concern was still on her man in the doorway blocking her view of the hallway as she muttered her response. “Archer hasn’t proposed.”

  “He will. He can do it tonight or in the morning. Maybe you could get the certificate, you know, just in case. You want to marry Archer, right?”

  “Just in case?”

  That actually made Nya smile and for half a second she forgot about Archer. Of course, that was the second he came back in and he didn’t come in alone. Shaw was with him, looking a bit more frazzled than he had the last time he’d seen them, but just as silent as the first time he’d entered.

  Archer closed the door and turned his back to it. Nya could see now that his mind was filled with a thousand thoughts. He focused on the floor like he was trying to sort them through and make decisions. Nya put her wine glass on the table and rose. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Archer looked up like he’d forgotten anyone else was here. “Shaw, he… yeah…”

  That didn’t even make sense and it worried her as she crept closer. Her concern only grew when Shaw refused to look at her. “He, um, yeah, what? What’s going on? Someone talk.”

  “Who’s she?” Shaw asked, nodding at Ester who had her mouth around her wine glass.

  “Little me?” Ester asked, extending her body as she stretched to put her glass on the table. Slinking off the couch, she began to strut toward Shaw. “Sugar, for a big, handsome hunk like you, I’m anyone you want me to be.” Draping herself against Shaw, Ester stroked a hand up his arm and gave his bicep a squeeze. “Mmm, you are a strong one, aren’t you?”

  “Ester, fuck off,” Archer said.

  Ester huffed, but Nya was a bit disappointed in her friend that her default had been to flirt with the man in the room when she was supposed to be getting married tomorrow. She fooled herself that Ester wouldn’t have followed through if given the chance—flirting wasn’t the same as cheating. But while Archer and Shaw looked so alert, Nya’s concern became less about Ester’s marriage and more about Tag.

  “I’ll just take myself off to the bedroom then,” Ester said, flouncing over to the table to grab her glass and the wine bottle. “Nya, come on, daughter, we’ll—”

  “Nya stays,” Shaw said.

  That Archer didn’t argue made Nya worry more. Even Ester lost some of her glow as she observed everyone. “If you need me, daughter, just shout,” Ester said and scurried off into the bedroom.

  “Loyalty,” Archer said, making eye contact with Nya when she turned back to the men in expectation of an explanation. “Everyone going on the job has to prove their loyalty. Lucas only wants half the men on his crew.”

  “I’m not one of them,” Shaw said. “And neither are your boys, Taggert and Gio.”

  Nya panicked. “I don’t understand what that means.”

  “They’re gonna kill him,” Archer said. “They asked Shaw to do it after the job went down tonight. If Shaw told them to go to hell, he’d be on the block too so he told Lucas he was still down for the job, but he won’t be showing up.”

  “I’m gonna lay low,” Shaw said. “Thought I’d warn you about your boy first though. If he shows tonight, Lucas’ men will take him down.”

  Nya rushed forward to grab hold of Archer. “Kill him? Kill Tag? How can that… Why would they…”

  Tag hated her right now and their friendship was in tatters, and now she was being told that he could lose his life tonight. They had to warn him, had to pull him back. Her mind was going too fast, she couldn’t figure anything out and her breathing got shallower.

  “Lucas asked Shaw to put a bullet in Tag to show his loyalty. Shaw failed the test. Lucas says he’ll give him another chance tonight, Shaw doesn’t plan to hang around and find out if that’s true, he’s in serious fucking trouble.”

  “I thought you worked alone,” Nya said to Shaw.

  “I never wanted to be on his damn crew,” Shaw said. “I was going on that job for my own reasons. They need me to get them in, that’s what I do, I get people in, get people out. There’s something in that warehouse I want that’s nothing to do with those bastards. But I needed back-up, and Lucas’ men came along right on time, least so I thought.”

  Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Nya couldn’t follow. “You get…”

  Archer pulled her against him, giving her a physical support. “Locks, breaking and entering, that’s Shaw’s thing, he’s a thief, a burglar.”

  “Do we have to put labels on it?” Shaw asked. “I like to think of myself as more of an… opportunist.”

  “He was joining forces with Lucas’ crew temporarily; Lucas thought Shaw would jump at the chance to sign on.”

  “I didn’t.”

  It was tough for the big guys to understand why some guys wanted to maintain their independence. Archer often got similar offers that he always refused too. “Lucas needs a guy of his skill; Shaw has a rep, he’s the best in his field.”

  “Gee, am I blushing?” Shaw asked, digging his hands in his pockets and turning his back.

  Archer kept on with the explanation. “Lucas told Shaw, if he took down Tag, he was in. Shaw wasn’t interested in being part of the crew and he’s no murderer, far as I know.”

  “But why, I… why would Lucas want Tag dead?”

  Archer was thinking about this and she could tell he had been since Shaw revealed the truth. “I know he had business with Hex a couple of years back, could be Tag’s chickens coming home. Hex couldn’t be direct or he’d know you’d tug on my leash to take him down. This way looks like an accident.”

  “But Shaw said no,” Nya said.

  “Yeah,” Archer said. “And Shaw has his own tail to worry about. But I guarantee there will be a team of guys ready to step up and do the job.”

  “So if this Lucas guy is after Shaw, why did he come here?”

  Shaw turned slowly to narrow his focus on her. “Loyalty,” he said. “You told me to start somewhere… I’m starting here.”

  Her words had an effect on the man she’d written off as a lowlife. For a second, Nya was touched. But Archer was in action mode and didn’t give her much time to reflect. “Tag won’t make it through the night if he goes on this job,” Archer said. “Lucas and his guys will take him down.”

  “Then we have to tell him not to go!”

  “Will he listen?” Archer asked. “He’s sure he’s important in this, he’s got his mojo back, right? You know what an arrogant fuck he is.”

  Yes, Tag might believe he could stand up for himself, but he was still smart enough not to go on a suicide mission. “He doesn’t want to die,” she said. “We’ll make him listen.”

  “Shaw’s already not showing up tonight,” Archer said. “If we pull Tag too, we have to do it quietly.”

  “He can’t go!” she said. “I don’t care that you don’t like him and probably would love to see him dead! Tag can’t go do this job.”

  “Fuck that,” Archer said and grabbed his jacket. “Where’s your phone?”

  Nya ran to her purse that was on the breakfast bar to pull it out. “He
re, why? What are you going to do?”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to ask this,” Archer said, as he pulled on his jacket. “But I need to know where your buddy Taggert is.”

  That was one of the first questions he’d asked her and the reason they’d come together, the reason she’d spent those days chained to his floor and wore the brand on her wrist, because she was the only one with the power to get in touch with Tag and locate him. Archer needed to find him now. But there was no time to be nostalgic about symmetry.

  Nya dialed Tag’s number and listened to it ring. Her relationship with Tag wasn’t on a great footing and he wouldn’t want to be distracted this close to a job, so he may not pick up, he may not want to be found. But if they didn’t get in touch with him to warn him of what was going to happen tonight, she would lose her oldest friend, permanently.

  twenty

  Tag had picked up the phone but he’d been cagey in trying to get her off the line. Nya didn’t know what he and Gio were doing, but she certainly got the impression that she was interrupting something.

  When she told him it was important, life or death, he did get a little bit cocky and accused her of being dramatic, but Tag knew her well enough to recognize that her tone was serious and he eventually gave her an address, which she gave to Archer. He and Shaw disappeared out of the apartment and she was told to stay with Ester. Archer also drummed into her the need to stay put and told her that she shouldn’t open the door to anyone under any circumstances.

  As she had before, she’d followed his instructions, but it was a sleepless night. For her at least. It got into the wee hours and Nya kept telling herself not to look at the clock, but the seconds were torturous. More than once she checked the devices to make sure they weren’t faulty because the minutes didn’t seem to be passing at all.

  Her phone didn’t even complete its first ring before she grabbed it up off the nightstand and pressed receive. “Archer?” she said, the desperation apparent in her tone. “Where are you? What’s happening? What’s going on?”

  “Well, hi,” Archer said.

  “Please don’t do that, I’m not in the mood to play,” she said, scrambling off the bed. Clutching the phone with two hands, she tiptoed out of his bedroom to leave Ester behind sleeping in the sheets. “I can’t believe it took you this long to call me.”

  “I thought you’d be asleep,” he said.

  “Asleep?” He actually meant it, he sounded sincere. “How in the hell could I sleep when you’re out there? There’s people who want to…” Nya didn’t even want to say the words. “Archer, please tell me you’re ok.”

  “I’m ok.”

  “Thank God,” she said, sinking down onto the couch and hooking her elbows around her knees as she drew them up to her chest. “And Tag? Is Tag ok? I know you don’t really care, but I—”

  “He’s ok. Everybody’s ok,” Archer said, maybe he’d caught on now to her level of stress because his voice became soothing.

  Nya took a deep breath and the biggest sigh of relief she’d ever exhaled came next. “Oh, Archer, I love you so much. I’m so sorry about all this. I know you’re doing it for me—”

  “Calm down, Ny,” he said. “Have you been this wound up all night? Don’t you trust me? You know I take care of our business.”

  “I know you do, Fella, I do,” she said, closing her eyes and holding the phone closer to her mouth like it somehow brought her closer to him. “I know you do, baby, but I feel so helpless. I hate feeling useless sitting here; I can’t do anything to help you. I just went through this same thing the other night when you and Tag went away for your meetings with Gio and Lucas. I feel like all I do is sit here waiting for you.”

  He didn’t say anything and she knew that she was being unreasonable. It wasn’t Archer’s fault that she felt powerless as she paced and sat and stood and walked and tried to occupy herself. But that didn’t stop her rambling, she kept on going. “And it’s different when you’re out there with Tag. I can trust you to look after yourself; I know you can do that. But you like watching your own ass, not worrying about anyone else’s.”

  “I don’t mind watching yours,” he said. It was obvious that he was trying to flirt with her to make her feel better and relax her, but Nya still felt itchy and tense.

  Her heart was still going too fast for her to think about relaxing. “I love you.”

  “You really have been worried. Usually you only say that this much when my dick’s inside you.”

  Still with the flirting. “What would you rather I say?” she asked. “Would you rather I beg you to come home to me?”

  “I can’t, Sweets. I want to, but I’ve got to hang here for a while.”

  “Where are you?” she asked. “I can come to you. Wherever you are in the city—”

  “No.”

  “Please,” she said. “Please, wherever it is, I’ll be safe if you’re there.”

  Funny how quickly he forgot about the flirting. “Taggert’s a loose cannon, and I don’t trust Gio. And you expect me to keep my eyes on your tail too? You know I’ll sacrifice your buddies and every guy here if I think you’re in danger. Don’t you think it’s best you stay where you are? You stay safe.”

  Yes, she knew what he was saying, if Archer felt like there was even a chance she could get hurt, he’d pull them both out leaving Tag and Gio to their fate, whatever it may be. But she still wanted to be close to her love.

  “My tail is always safer when it’s next to yours. If I was with you—”

  “No,” he said, “don’t start making promises about what you’ll do to my dick. I’m in a room full of guys, I can’t…”

  He didn’t finish his sentence and she saw an opportunity to tease him while she held this power. But it wouldn’t be right to torment him, not while there were so many variables. Nya didn’t know who was in that room with him or what their motivations were or even if they knew that she existed.

  The fact that Archer was calling a woman at all at this time of night to reassure her, showed those in the room with him that he had a vulnerability, which he’d be hating every second of. If she started prodding him to make intimate declarations they might pique the wrong people’s interest.

  So if she couldn’t go to him, Nya tried for the better option. “Why can’t you come home to me, Fella? Bring Tag here and—”

  “Not a chance,” Archer said. “And you don’t open that fucking door for anyone. I don’t care if the Pope shows up, or the President, you keep that door locked, and if anyone knocks, you call me, you understand?”

  Why was he so worried? Archer didn’t say he was, but when he issued those commands in the way he did, it was his way of saying that she was on his mind. Nya knew he didn’t like to be separated from her any more than she liked to be separated from him. And what she’d said about her being safer when he was nearby was true.

  Guaranteed, Archer would rather be with her right now than wherever he was. “You keep bailing my friends out,” she said. “Doesn’t it get old?”

  “All the time,” he said. “At times like this, I start to question how the hell I end up in these situations so often, and I always figure it started happening when I met you.”

  “Question?” she asked and although it was subtle, she picked up on the teasing in his voice. “Question enough to want your independence?”

  “Yeah, I question it until I walk into the apartment get a look at your tits and then I remember how worth it you are.”

  Archer was worth this worry too. “I don’t want to lose you. I know I’m a pain in the ass when you call and I’m emotional. But it’s only because I’m worried that you’re hurt. What would I do if you were? I realized the other day, I can’t get in touch with Derren or Kristof.”

  “We’ll take care of that soon as I’m home,” he said. “If anything happens to me, one of them will always find you.”

  But how long would that take? Nya didn’t even want to think about it. Days? Her heart wouldn’t co
pe if she had to pace and wonder for hours and days. “Can you tell me what happened?” she asked. “Tonight. Who’s there? Is Shaw with you? Did Lucas find you?”

  “I can’t talk about that,” he said. “Everybody’s safe and we’re in a safe place. But I can’t leave Tag and Gio here alone. The guys around don’t trust your friends and I can’t trust them to act right, you know?”

  He couldn’t trust Tag not to start an argument and Gio not to start a fight. Wherever they were, if the people around didn’t know Tag and Gio then they were Archer’s friends, well, his associates. Her man didn’t really have friends. How Tag and Gio acted was a reflection on Archer, so he had to be there to make sure they didn’t step out of line.

  “Will you come home to me tonight?” she asked.

  “Listen, Sweets, I just called to let you know that everyone was safe, ok? I’ve got to go. I’ll see you at the courthouse tomorrow.”

  And then there was a silence and the phone line died in her ear. He’d called her ‘Sweets’ which meant there were outsiders nearby. He hadn’t told her he loved her even though she’d said it to him more than once and that told her that the men who were there may be enemies.

  They were safe, for now, but that didn’t mean they would be safe all night.

  Nya had to try to sleep and she felt a little bit better now that she’d heard from Archer, but she slept better with him at her side. So while she returned to bed, she kept her phone close, praying that he’d call again. It probably wouldn’t happen, but if it did, she’d be ready.

  Despite her attempts to keep him on the line for as long as possible, their conversation had been brief. Too brief. Nya kept herself awake with thoughts of things she should’ve said to her love. He’d hung up and that was the last she’d heard from him, though she jumped every time she thought maybe the phone had vibrated.

  It was so Archer that his final words were about seeing her at the courthouse. Whatever he was going through, whatever trauma he’d endured with Tag that night, he was still aware of everything including his mother’s upcoming nuptials.