Branded

by Scarlett Finn

  “I have no idea,” she said, rolling over to climb on top of him. “But it’s not the last time we’re doing it.”

  ten

  Sliding a hand around the bedroom door frame as she came out of it, Nya yawned and moseyed up the hallway. Archer was in the kitchen with his back to her, wearing only his briefs.

  Going to him, she stroked a hand down his forearm and pressed a kiss to each side of his spine as she went by into the corner where the counters met. “You let me sleep,” she said, raising herself on her hands to sit atop the counter.

  “Wasn’t going to kick you out of bed,” he muttered, spreading mustard onto his ham sandwich. He put the bread lid on, then began to tidy things away, taking them back to the fridge. “You dropped out fast.”

  “I haven’t slept well the past couple of nights,” she said. “Tag’s bed isn’t that comfortable and he hogs the blankets.”

  Her smile died when he slammed the fridge and spun to glare at her. “You’re screwing both of us? What the fuck are you—”

  “I’m not having sex with Tag, I slept with him. There’s not much space in that apartment, we’ve shared a bed a bunch of times. It’s no big deal.”

  “It stops now,” he said, returning to his sandwich.

  “Are you telling me you’ve never slept in a bed with a woman without having sex with her?”

  Gathering up his sandwich, he took a large bite. “Just my mom and that’s only to make sure other dudes don’t slide in there.”

  Interesting, his mom, so he did come from somewhere and he was protective of the woman who’d created him. “See much of her?”

  “She floats in and out,” he said, swallowing his food. “I don’t want you sleeping with Taggert again.”

  Overbearing and possessive. Sleeping with Archer was either the start of her great love affair or the end of life as she knew it, maybe it could be both. “Tag is a good friend,” she said, bending to stroke his bare shoulder as far as she could reach toward his neck. “But he’s no threat to us. No one decides who I share my body with except me.”

  For a brief moment she recalled Archer’s threat to make those decisions for her so he could recoup Tag’s debt to him. Archer might have been thinking the same thing because he discarded his sandwich as though he was going to close the distance between them to console her, except there was a knock at his door and he stopped.

  Both of them looked at it and while she was wondering if Jonno might have returned with some of his pals, Archer went toward the gap at the end of the breakfast bar. Their clothes were in separate piles there and he grabbed his tee shirt.

  Without looking, he tossed it back toward her. “You shouldn’t walk around naked,” he said. “It can get busy in here.”

  That wasn’t promising. Sliding off the counter, she threw his tee shirt back at him. “I don’t want to…”

  “What?” he asked, stopping despite the knock coming again. Resting his hand on the breakfast bar, he twisted in her direction. “Be seen here?”

  No, she wasn’t saying she was embarrassed to be with him. Archer was quick to jump on the defensive; she’d have to remember that as she reminded him of something else. “Your friends and I don’t get along,” she said, moving over to curl a hand around his oblique. “Did you forget?”

  Before she could back away, he grabbed her chin and hauled her close. The intensity in his gaze softened her fear and she knew what he was trying to say without him saying it. He’d saved her from injury before and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. No one but him.

  “Stay in the bedroom,” he commanded. “No matter what you hear out here.”

  Laying an arm over her clothes and purse on the counter beside them, she scooped it all up and began to reverse until he freed her chin. With a third knock, she picked up speed and slipped into his bedroom again.

  Dumping her stuff on the bed, she left the door open a crack so that she could still hear what was going on. If it was Jonno, he might expect her to be here as a prisoner or he might want Archer to reveal where Taggert was. This would be the test to see if Archer was going to keep her confidence, or confess the truth of what he knew.

  For the last two days, she’d been at her friend’s apartment and she didn’t know if Archer had set in motion his slander campaign or not, which was something she probably should’ve checked before sleeping with him.

  “Gio!” Archer declared and she sank to her haunches by the door to cover her mouth with her fingers. She had been so caught up worrying that the guest may be one of Archer’s criminal friends, she hadn’t stopped to consider that it might be one of hers. “And a nameless goon, can I call you ‘Goon’ are you cool with that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “This is a nice surprise.”

  She smiled, Archer used condescension to put people in their place. It would be annoying as hell to be on the receiving end. But it was kind of funny when she wasn’t. She guessed it would piss Gio off no end, but it served him right for chasing after her like she was a teenage runaway—if that was why they were here.

  “Step aside,” Gio responded, and from the distance of his voice, she’d assume they were still on the outside of the door.

  “I’d invite you in, but the place is a mess,” Archer said.

  She could picture him sliding his hand up the doorframe to narrow Gio’s view inside, just as he’d done with Jonno. The lie wasn’t meant to be sincere and the apartment wasn’t untidy. Now that she thought about it, she’d never seen anything out of place for long.

  “It’s about Nya.”

  About her. Archer had to have hesitated and she was guilty of craning even closer to the gap by shifting silently onto her hands and knees and tipping her head. Except it wasn’t voices she heard, it was movement. The men came inside and Archer closed the door. Did he invite them in because he assumed she’d go with them if they deduced that she was here? Except he didn’t call out for her, so she didn’t know if she should stay here or go and join them.

  “I don’t got all day,” Archer said with an edge in his voice that made her curious.

  “We think she’ll be coming here,” Gio said. “Sometime soon.”

  “Why would she come here?” Archer asked.

  Nya was as interested in the answer to that question as he was. She’d told Tag that she would take the money owed to Archer, and if he’d found it missing, he had to know she was the perpetrator. But that didn’t explain why he didn’t just call her and ask about it.

  “She’s bringing you money that she took from Tag without his permission.”

  “Ah, you mean my money?” Archer asked. “She’s a good girl; I knew I liked her for a reason.”

  Being unable to see what they were doing was infuriating. Sitting on the carpet, she leaned against the wall and let the sound carry to her ear through the space between the door and the frame.

  “We want you to tell her to go to hell.”

  “With my money?” Archer asked almost sounding like he was going to laugh, and she could understand why, given how he felt about being paid what he was owed.

  “You’re going to refuse the money and you’ll tell her to get lost.”

  “Her? She doesn’t have a name?”

  Gio took a breath loud enough that she heard it. “Taggert thinks you’ve got your eye on her and we won’t let you screw with her.”

  “Let me get this straight, you’re telling me not to take thousands of dollars that are owed to me and I’m supposed to tell a woman who’s hot for me to take a hike because your buddy asked so nicely?” Archer asked. It did seem a bit extreme to ask him to do them a favor when they hadn’t accommodated him at all. Suggesting she was hot for him was a bit extreme too, except, well, she had come over here and fallen into bed with him. “Thanks for the offer, boys, but I think I’ll pass.”

  Gio got more aggressive. “Don’t play with her, Archer. Taggert has no sense of humor when it comes to Nya. He’s protective of her.”

  “You mean he’s hot for
her,” Archer said. “I figured that out on my own. And I don’t think your boy has a sense of humor, full stop.”

  With a hand flat on the wall behind her, Nya pushed up. Archer was misinterpreting this and Gio probably had orders to hurt him if he refused Tag’s requests. She couldn’t let this become a fight, not over her and a few bucks. Hiding in here was supposed to protect her from Archer’s crazy friends. Except it was her crazy friends who were out there and she didn’t have to hide from them.

  Grabbing her underwear from the bed, she tugged it on and paused to make sure the men weren’t fighting. “If you take that money, we’ll come and take it back,” Gio said. “And if you touch Nya, being broke will be the least of your problems.”

  “If you get the money and the girl, what do I get?” Archer said. “That’s no kinda fair deal. If I give you one, can I have the other?”

  There was a long silence. Sliding her hand onto the dresser, she got closer. Would they agree to that? She wasn’t property to be bartered, but it would be interesting to know if she was worth twenty grand to either side of the equation.

  “Taggert said you’d say something like that,” Gio said. Tag did like to try and get in people’s heads. “You keep your mouth shut about this to everyone and… you can keep the money. But you can’t see Nya again.”

  So she and silence were worth twenty grand to Tag. Somehow she’d known that. Nya would never steal from a friend under any normal circumstances, not one she held as dear as Tag. But Archer had been owed that money and he’d become a friend, maybe more than that. Stealing wasn’t the right word anyway; she’d relocated the funds to settle an invoice, nothing more sinister than that.

  “No deal.” Well that surprised her. Archer’s refusal made her reassess. Returning her focus to the dresser, she pulled open the drawer that she’d seen him use before and took out a tee shirt. Pulling it over her head, she was taking her long locks from the back when Gio spoke.

  “You’ll return the money if Taggert lets you screw around with Nya?” Gio asked.

  Nya couldn’t decipher if that was a proposition or if there was incredulity in Tag’s number two. “I haven’t known her long, but Nya’s pretty adamant that she’s no one’s whore. I don’t think she’d appreciate you selling her to me for twenty Gs.”

  “That’s what you’re suggesting,” Gio said. “You’re saying you’ll return the money if we let you have Nya.”

  “I’m not returning any money and what I do with my dick is my call. It wasn’t a fair question; I just wanted to see what you’d say.”

  Gio got forceful again. “You don’t want to get between Taggert and Nya, their relationship is complicated. It’s deep and way more important to both of them than you’ll ever be.

  Her relationship with Tag was deep, but it wasn’t complicated, not in her eyes. She knew exactly who he was to her and how they’d reached this point. It wasn’t Gio’s business to explain anything about her life to anyone.

  “Then you got nothing to worry about, huh?” Archer said.

  She closed the drawer harder than she’d intended to and it made a noise that must have carried up the hall.

  “What was that?” Gio asked.

  “Pussy,” Archer said in flat syllables.

  “You have a cat back there?” Gio asked, sounding like he didn’t believe it, which he shouldn’t because Nya had never seen a pet around here.

  “Pussy,” Archer said. “Subtle, but important difference.”

  “Quit playing,” Gio snapped. “You don’t have a girl in there. It’s the middle of the afternoon, and you’re eating a fucking sandwich.”

  “Believe anything you want,” Archer said. “You asked.” Something must have happened that she didn’t see because it was Archer that spoke again. “If you want to fight and win, goon, you came to the wrong apartment. If you want to lose, this is the place for you. Think about that before you make your first move because it will also be your last.”

  Were they threatening Archer? She couldn’t stay in here and do nothing if they were getting physical out there. Grabbing the bedroom door, she went into the hall to head for the kitchen. Except Archer was blocking the head of the hallway. With Gio and the goon beside the table a few feet away, she only saw them when she peeked around Archer’s broad arm.

  Gio’s surprise made him blink; she’d never seen him so immediately dumbstruck. She didn’t know the goon he was with, so he was less interested in her identity than he was in her bare legs. “What’s going on out here?” she asked, like she hadn’t been listening this whole time.

  “I got this, Squirm. Go back to bed,” Archer said, turning his head, but keeping his focus on the men.

  “Back to—” Gio’s horror flashed to her and an odd spike of shame made her consider retreating. “You’re not fucking him. You told Tag—”

  “If Tag wants to fight with me about the money, tell him to call me,” Nya said with her head high. “But we both know the only reason he didn’t do that already is because he’s not gonna ask me for it back. He knows he’s supposed to pay it. You came here to scare Archer into returning it.”

  “We didn’t think you’d be here yet,” Gio said and she didn’t like his scowl because it didn’t fit his face. Gio was relaxed, always her friend, now he was dark and pissed, and she pushed aside her shame as she tried to push away Archer.

  Frustration made her angry at Gio’s judgement and Tag’s too. “Every time Tag tries to tell me what to do with my body we end up fighting. It’s been that way for fifteen years, he has to learn to butt out.”

  Archer caught her wrist and pulled her back before she could get too close to Gio. She didn’t mind, though she didn’t expect it. He didn’t try to touch or coddle her, just held her wrist and kept her near to him.

  “I told him he was crazy,” Gio argued. “I said you’d never go near this piece of trash, why the fuck would you—”

  “Don’t come into his house and talk about him like that,” she said and tried to walk, but bounced back to Archer when he gave her another tug.

  “I got this, Squirm,” Archer said.

  But she was on a roll. “This is none of your business, Gio. Tag can have a problem if he wants, I’ll tell him to mind his business and—”

  Archer snapped his fingers right next to her ear so loud that she ducked to avoid the sound. Her train of thought was lost as she turned to meet his eye. The intensity of his long gaze was expectant, not that she should say something specific, but that she should say nothing at all.

  It was ironic that he’d brought her here in the first place because he wanted her to talk and now all he wanted her to do was shut up. This was his house and he didn’t need her to defend him from anyone.

  His gentle pressure on her arm made her move to where he wanted her to be, behind him, then he stepped up to talk to his guests. “You come to my place uninvited, make unreasonable demands, insult me and now you disrespect my lady,” Archer said to Gio. “How do you think this is going to end for you?”

  “If she’s your lady, you won’t hurt us, she won’t let you,” Gio said.

  Although he was being so cocky that she wanted to slap him, he was right. Gio might be talking out of line, but she wouldn’t want to see him hurt for being an idiot, especially because he was being an idiot under Tag’s orders.

  “Archer,” she whispered, curling a hand around his wrist as she linked her other fingers between his and it suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t know his first name.

  Archer relented, but didn’t stand down. “You’re right I won’t. But you’ve gotta know I’ve got a long memory, boys. Your friend fucked me over and he only got away with it ‘cause this girl saved your asses. Next time, he won’t get a pass. And next time, she won’t be here to bail you out either. Take your insults back to your leader. Get the fuck out of my house.”

  Nothing happened for a second, then when Archer picked up a foot as if to move forward, causing the two men to spin around and dash for t
he door to get out.

  Breathing into silence in sync with Archer, Nya didn’t know if she should speak or if she should let him take the lead. “If you want to go with them, you better run,” he said.

  “I don’t want to go with them,” she murmured and let her hands slide away from him, which made his body grow rigid. But she didn’t retreat as he probably thought she was going to, she slunk around his body to position herself in front of him. His height made it difficult for her to look into his eyes. “What’s your first name?” His chin dropped so he could look at her, but he didn’t answer. “You called me your lady. No one’s ever called me a lady before. But if you meant it, we’ve got a lot of getting to know each other to do.”

  “Chase,” he responded. “But no one calls me that except my mom.”

  She liked it, not that it mattered. Wrapping her hands around his biceps, she raised onto her tiptoes. “When they offered you the money or me…”

  “You thought I was going to take the money?”

  She nodded and he curled a hand around her chin. “I wouldn’t have blamed you, we hardly know each other and—”

  “You could’ve hid in that room. You could’ve denied that we fucked. You could’ve told them I was holding you here against your will. But you came out. You stood beside me.”

  And that meant something to him; she could see it from the way he peered into her. “I can only be with a man who has integrity,” she said. “And loyalty—”

  “I remember,” he said. “I should demand it from you and guarantee it in return.” She nodded because if they were going to start this, whatever it was, they had to get the rules clear up front. “And I’m supposed to protect you from other guys.”

  “You’ve already done that,” she said, skimming her hands over to his pecs. “You protected me by taking me away from Jonno and the others in Sizzle. Protected me from Bryant and his buddies. I know what kind of man you are, even when you hide from me.”

  “Get dressed,” he said, stooping to rasp his teeth over her cheekbone in a primal kiss.