Because It's You (Carolina Rebels Book 2)

by Lindsay Paige

  “Marco?”

  Turning, I see Elizabeth with the window rolled down. “Polo,” I sigh, going over and leaning into the truck to hug her.

  “We’re both okay,” she reminds me.

  “Not so sure about that.”

  “Marc?”

  I release her at the sound of Noah’s voice. His eyes widen as he takes in Elizabeth and me, his gaze zeroing in on my hands. I walk over to him, grab his arm, and usher him to Elizabeth’s car. “No questions,” I remind him.

  “What the fuck, Marc?”

  Handing him the keys, I push him toward the door. “We’ll meet you at the house.” I wave to Meredith, who is parked on the other side of Elizabeth’s car, and then turn to walk to my truck.

  “Did you tell him what happened?” Elizabeth asks as I pull onto the road.

  “Not yet. You probably don’t want to, but you need to tell Scott. I have to call the team because I’m not going to the game tomorrow, so he’s going to know something’s up.”

  “What? Why aren’t you?”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “You can go, Marc. You should go. Nothing major happened and if it’s not tomorrow, it’ll be the next game.”

  I scoff. “Nothing major happened? You were kidnapped and—”

  “I know what happened!” she interrupts with a shout. “I was there! You’re still going. I don’t want you to stay.”

  What in the hell? Why wouldn’t she? I sure as hell wouldn’t want her to leave me after what happened. That’s half of the reason why I want to stay. Whether she needs me or not, I need her. She honestly doesn’t want me to miss a game? She doesn’t want me to stay. Those are the words that repeat in my head over and over like a mantra.

  When we get to the house, I hand Elizabeth the keys, so she can go on inside. Both Noah and Meredith get out of the vehicles they’re driving, but I hope they don’t want to come inside because that’s not happening.

  “Tomorrow,” I tell Noah before he can ask me to explain myself once again, holding my hand out for the keys to Elizabeth’s car, which he hands over. “Thank you both for coming to help us.”

  “No problem,” Meredith replies. “Do you guys need anything?”

  “No, we’re good. Thanks. I should get inside and check on her. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I nod to Noah.

  Meredith steps forward to hug me while Noah slaps me on the shoulder. Once they’re in the car, I turn toward the house. Elizabeth is sitting on the couch when I walk inside.

  “I need to call the team. Give me a few.” She nods, so I head to my room. There’s no need for her to relive it all over again. The call takes longer than I expected, and I start to worry that Elizabeth will be upset over it. My job is still a priority, even if I don’t want it to be the priority. When they ask me if I want to miss tomorrow’s game, I hate that I tell them no.

  It doesn’t look like Elizabeth has moved an inch.

  “Elizabeth?”

  She jumps, and I feel like shit for startling her. “Everything okay with the team?”

  “Yeah.” I sit next to her, hooking an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to me. “Are you okay?”

  “As okay as you are.”

  “Well that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  She laughs a little. “Sorry.”

  “Are you sure you want me to leave?”

  “Yes. I’ll spend the day with Sylvia and the girls. I would love for you to stay, but I want things to be semi-normal, too. You missing a game is not normal. So, you have tonight to make me feel better before you leave. And don’t feel bad about leaving or anything. It’s one game.”

  “Okay. Promise you’ll call Sylvia or Meredith if you don’t want to be alone?”

  “Promise.”

  “Good. I’m going to cook us dinner. Go shower and then find us something to watch on TV.” She nods and I feel a little bit better about things. We seem to be okay. I hope we stay that way and that we overcome this because the thought of anything else is unbearable.

  “WILL YOU TELL Scott for me?” I lift my head to look at Marc. We’re lying on the couch. I’m comfortably on Marc, but I’m not sure how he’s comfortable. His head is on the throw pillow against the arm of the couch, but his feet are hanging off the other end. His feet are bothering me. It’s such an odd thing to be bothered by, but who wants their feet to hang off the couch like that?

  “You don’t want to do it? He’s going to want to talk to you anyway.”

  Right. Back to the topic at hand. “Not if I don’t have to. Please?”

  His rough hands slip under my T-shirt to rub my back. “Yeah, I’ll tell him for you. Maybe you should hang with Meredith tomorrow. She won’t be as nosy as Sylvia if you don’t want to talk about it yet.”

  “Thanks, but I want to spend time with the twins; I can handle Sylvia.”

  Marc nods and I rest my head on his chest again. He clears his throat. “I’m proud of you for fighting back. I didn’t say that earlier.”

  I shrug. “He said he liked it, so I hoped he’d be cocky and relaxed. Either way, he wasn’t expecting me to knee him in the balls. I had some advantage after that.” Thinking about it causes me to reach behind me for his hands and pull his arms around me. No wonder Marc wanted me as far away from his father as possible, and he didn’t even know about him being a rapist. “Do I really look like your mom?” I ask, remembering that Francis seemed enamored with me. My skin crawls just thinking about it.

  “Not at all. I don’t understand why he said that. She had short, spiky red hair, green eyes, freckles, lots of piercings in her ears, and she was a very thin woman.”

  “Are you calling me fat?” I don’t want to think about today anymore. Marc came for me. It’s over for now.

  Marc laughs. “There’s junk in the trunk, your body compliments it, and everyone likes that.”

  I lift my head with wide eyes. “Did you just say I have a big butt?”

  “You say it like it’s a bad thing. I have a big butt, too.”

  “Yeah, because you play hockey. I have no such excuse.”

  His hands slide down and underneath my pajama bottoms. “You don’t need one,” he says, squeezing me. His cock seems to transform, hardening and twitching beneath me.

  I pull myself up his body to kiss him. Marc’s touch always works wonders and I want to be with him tonight. Marc breaks away to trail kisses down my neck when I feel his lips do that thing where they move without him speaking.

  “What are you doing when you do that? Tell me. I want to know now. No more waiting.”

  Marc looks at me, those baby blues almost looking conflicted, which makes me worry.

  “Tell me, Marc,” I push. Keeping my voice soft instead of demanding is a complete failure.

  “There should be a better day for this.”

  “I don’t want a better day for whatever it is. I just want you to tell me.”

  He leans forward, presses a kiss to my forehead, and with his lips brushing against my skin, he says, “I love you.”

  Holy shit.

  He lets it sink in for a moment before leaning back with his head against the pillow. “Didn’t think you were ready to hear it before, but I needed to get it out, so I said it without saying it. I’ve actually said it before, but you were half-asleep; you said it back, actually, but—”

  “I love you too,” I blurt out, not paying attention to what he said because I just need to get it out.

  Marc’s eyes widen, like he can’t believe I actually said it. I wait for him to say something, but he seems stunned.

  “What?”

  “I. Love. You. I think it’s te amo in Spanish and je t’aime in French. I love you. Te amo. Je t’aime. That’s three languages, but if that’s not enough, I can literally spell it out for you: I l-o-v-e y-o-u. Now, if you don’t stop staring at me like you’re in shock and kiss me, damn it, then—” He kisses me before I can finish my threat, which is good because I don’t know what I would�
��ve done.

  His mouth and tongue move fast. His hands grab my hips with a strong grip. He rolls us and before I can break away to remind him we’re on the couch, my back hits the floor and Marc’s big body crushes me.

  “Fuck. Sorry. Wasn’t thinking. You okay?”

  “Ow.” I shake my head because my back hurts, I knocked my head pretty good, and Marc stole my breath when he landed on me. Somehow, laughter escapes me. This is ridiculous. “Get off me, Marc. You’re heavy and I can’t breathe.”

  “Right.” He stands and then pulls me up, gently massaging my head. “Let’s go to the bedroom and I’ll give you a massage to make up for it.”

  “Then you’ll go back to kissing me and this time you won’t injure me?” Another chuckle comes from me.

  “Stop laughing. You’re making me feel worse,” he says as he leads me to his room.

  “Why? That should make you feel better because I’m able to laugh about it. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.”

  “Because you’re laughing at me and because I could’ve hurt you. Strip down and lie on your stomach; I’ll be right back.”

  “Naked?” I call after him.

  “Yep!”

  “You sure aren’t working for it today!” I laugh again to myself, but I start removing my clothes. All of a sudden, I’m giddy and I know exactly why. Marc loves me. He loves me! Can I skip around the house? I should text Sylvia and let her know. Maybe Meredith too since we’re basically friends. But my phone is in the living room, so I get onto the bed, and get comfortable, though it feels awkward to lie naked on top of the covers, waiting for Marc to come back. “You’re naked already?”

  He grins as he walks to the bed and crawls over my body, straddling my hips. “It’ll save time later.”

  Maybe so, but he’s hot and he’s touching me and he’s sliding against me as he moves, drizzling oil I didn’t realize he had in his hand because I was so distracted by his nakedness and on top of all of that, those large, callused hands of his are gliding over my skin. I moan. This is just what I needed. Why hasn’t he given me massages before? We should’ve fallen off the couch a long time ago!

  “If you had’ve done this the day we met, I might’ve told you I loved you. Oh, right there,” I say partly through another moan.

  Marc chuckles. “I’ll remember that for when you’re mad at me. A little massage should make you all gooey eyed and in love with me again.”

  I hum in agreement. Soon, my eyes begin to droop from the long day and how I’m finally starting to relax. I’m in a light doze when my hips are jerked up into the air. Marc’s cock is pressed against me, his torso flat against my back and his mouth by my ear.

  “I know you’re not about to fall asleep on me, Elizabeth.” He enters me with a push that wakes me right up, and I groan. The massage and those hands running over my body had me fully prepared to take him.

  “Well, not now.”

  He laughs. “Good, because I’m not tired at all.” Marc begins to move within me, and I’m suddenly not tired at all either.

  When I get to Sylvia’s, it’s around noon, and one look at her is all I need to see she’s already talked to Scott, so she’s been informed of what happened. She squeezes me tightly with her hug before I can say a word.

  “I’m okay,” I wheeze. “I won’t be if you crack a rib, though.”

  She releases me, but keeps her hands on my shoulders as she looks me over. Her eyes keep dropping to my scarf. The red marks on my neck are clear bruises today. Marc’s jaw clenched every time he looked at me early this morning because his eyes kept straying down to them. I had to buy a scarf before I came here since I didn’t own one, something Sylvia is well aware of, but neither she nor the girls need to see what’s hidden beneath it.

  “How did you even stay at his house last night?”

  “Marc was there,” I answer simply. I did pause for a moment on my way into the house, remembering the moment his father flashed the gun, but a glance over my shoulder to see that Marc was only feet away in the driveway helped scurry the panic away. Once I was inside, I was fine as long as I didn’t think about what happened. My shower made me feel so much better, too.

  “I just don’t understand.”

  “Sylvia,” I cut in before she can get going good. “Marc and I talked about all we needed to talk about. I’d really rather not discuss it anymore. You know it happened. I’m unharmed and fine. Can we move on?”

  “I’m just surprised, I guess. I’d still be freaked the hell out. Why aren’t you? Maybe that’s odd. Maybe you should be freaked out still.”

  “Because it’s Marc. If it wasn’t for him and if he wasn’t with me last night, and since things didn’t go any further than they did, that’s how I’m fine. What frayed nerves I had, Marc calmed them all, and if they come back, then he’ll do it again. He’s more bothered by it than I am.”

  “I bet,” she murmurs.

  “Aunt Lizzy!” a pair of voices sing.

  I crouch just in time to be tackled by Stephanie and Stella. Okay, maybe I’m not as fine as I think I am because when their little arms go around me, I burst into tears and hug them tighter. Their fingers start playing with my hair.

  “Why are you crying?” Stella asks.

  “I just missed y’all so much. I need bear hugs like Daddy gives you.” Their arms overlap around my neck, squeezing as tight as they can squeeze and they grunt from the effort. We release one another at the same time. “Thank you.”

  Stephanie wipes the tears off my cheeks. “Are you going to play with us?”

  “That’s what I’m here for, but first, I need to talk to your mommy for a few more minutes. As soon as I’m done, I’ll come find you in your room to play.”

  “Yay!” she shouts, and then she grabs Stella’s hand and they run off to their room.

  “We should sit,” I say as I stand up and face Sylvia. We pull out the wooden chairs and take a seat. Sylvia is on the edge of her seat. It’s like she knows juicy gossip is coming.

  “Just tell me. Am I the first to know whatever it is you’re going to say?”

  “Yes.”

  She grins and squeals a little. “Okay. Proceed.”

  “I told Marc the truth about the girls yesterday.” It’s hard to believe that it was just yesterday considering all that happened in that time span. Part of me wants to tell her the full truth, but she’ll tell Scott, and I’m not sure I want him to know. When Marc and I were lying in bed together last night before we fell asleep, he said I should tell Scott because he knew it was unusual for Roger to behave as he did in the game that day. But then, will Scott put some blame on me for agitating Roger? Marc seems to think it’ll soothe Scott’s mind to know the why, but I’m not so sure about that.

  “He took it well, didn’t he?”

  “Don’t sound so smug, but yes, he did. He also told me he loves me.”

  Sylvia screams and launches out of her seat to pull me up and hug me. “Oh my god! That’s so exciting! I feel like he just asked you to marry him or something!” She starts jumping up and down and dancing us around the kitchen, making me laugh. We suddenly stop and she holds me at arm’s length. “Wait. Did you say it back? Please, dear lord above, tell me you said it back!”

  “Yes, and he was speechless, so that was nice.”

  “I must tell Meredith, so we can place a bet on how long it’ll be before he proposes.”

  “Sylvia!” I exclaim. “Stop it. He’s not going to propose to me.” I walk away and plop down into my seat. “Goodness, I haven’t even thought about being married again.” It doesn’t seem like it’s been all that long since I stopped wearing the ring Roger put on my finger and his own wedding band, which I wore on a necklace after he died. It’s been two years, though.

  Sylvia places her hand on mine to get my attention. “Don’t make me pretend you’re a child and I have to give you a talk. When two people love each other and they want to spend their lives together, they get married, Lizzy. Then,
if they want, they’ll have kids. Are you trying to tell me that you seriously don’t think Marc wants it all with you? That you can’t see those things with him?”

  Images start to appear in my mind. A super small wedding with the white dress and the black tux and only our close friends and family in attendance. Me pregnant with Marc doting on me and then later, holding little blond-haired babies. Us living together and growing old. I’d have to decorate that plain jane house of his, for sure. God, I want it all so badly with Marc it steals my breath.

  “Ask him to move in with you.”

  “What?”

  “I can see it all over your face that you see all those things with him. Let that be the first step. Then you can keep the girls’ room like it is and you own the house, where he probably rents, so it makes sense to do that for now.”

  I tilt my head as I look at her. “How long have you been thinking about this?” Clearly, for much longer than I have.

  “Since I decided to set you two up and saw that there was indeed a spark. I also think you should reach out to your parents. It’s way past time, Lizzy.”

  Ugh. Marc told me the same thing. We spent too much time talking last night, I’ve decided. “Why should I reach out to them? They walked away from me. Not the other way around.”

  “Your entire family is stubborn and you got a double dose because you got it from each parent. If you want a relationship with them, you’re going to have to make the first step. You should do it to at least say you tried. It’s been six years, and,” Sylvia hesitates, “I think they would want to talk to you.”

  I narrow my eyes. “What have you done?”

  Sylvia puts her game face on, which means it’s going to piss me off. “Let me remind you,” she starts quietly, but firmly. “You have always made it clear that you wanted to be hands-off, have no input, because the day we first held them, they became ours completely. That means those are my children and I can do what I see fit.” All true, all things I’m perfectly fine with, but why is it a punch to the gut? “I’ve been sending your parents photos of them for years. Just to show how they’re growing up because I know that’s why they stopped talking to you.” She takes a deep breath. “They’ve even seen them a few times.”