He lunges at me, and I pull him in by the shirt, launching him across theroom.
“Marlin—mind your weapon!” Lex shrills so loud the veins in her neck jump likelivewires.
“You’re right.” He takes off his belt, dumping it along with his gun onto the coffee table before pouncing on me like a wildtiger.
This isn’t your standard Jepson PD procedure. This is fist in your face, knee up your asspersonal.
He bashes my head into the wood floor like bouncing a ball. “You piece of shit!” He offers up a couple of kidney punches, and Lex screams and threatens to break a vase over his head. And instead of fighting back, I try to figure out where the hell Lex will get a vase because I’m one hundred percent certain I don’t own one. But in the truth, I don’t want to be the bad guy here. I just crawled back into Lex’s life. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Marlin boot me out. And if I fracture his skull like I’m leaning toward, it might just dothat.
He lands hard over my back, his heavy breathing clotting up my ear. “I’m going to make sure you never screw another living thingagain.”
I can feel his kneeretract.
“That’s it.” I twist out of range and land my fist over his jaw, connecting time after time as if he were a punching bag. My foot digs into his gut, and I kick him across the floor until he butts against the sofa with anughexpelling fromhim.
I’m slow to look up and meet with Lex’s beautiful eyes, half-afraid it’ll be the last time I seethem.
Her fists are balled into her hips, and she’s shaking her head atme.
“It’s about time you grew a pair.” She reaches down and offers me a hand as I get up on my feet. “For a second there, I thought you were enjoyingit.”
“I didn’t want to hurt your brother.” I pull her in and bury my face in her neck a moment, still struggling to catch mybreath.
Marlin crawls to his feet, using the couch for support. “You didn’t hurt me.” He looks to Lex, and a thick moment of silence bounces between them. “Buthewill hurt you. I can’t believe you’re going back for seconds. Wasn’t once enough?” He’s speaking tenderly, the way you would a distraught soul about to take a fatal plunge. “Don’t do it, Lex. You deserve better than this. You’re special, and he has a habit of forgettingthat.”
My stomach clenches. With everything in me, I know that’s not true, but I don’t want to fall into Marlin’s bear trap and have to chew my way out with a bunch of truths I’m not sure Lex is ready to believe. That’s a conversation we need to have in private. For sure not with her brother in the peanut gallery ready to refute any and everything I have to say. Nope. Not goingthere.
Her arm tightens around my waist. “This isn’t anything,” she barks it out so convincingly my stomach is right back to tensing up in a knot for far more nefarious reasons. “We’re not serious.” Her hand floats to that triple X necklace I just gifted her, and she fingers it as if it were a life raft. “I’m in control, Marlin. And what the heck is this, I’ll huff and puff and blow your doors down routine? I’m not amused. Yes, I missed meeting you for coffee. Yes, you probably sent a million text messages I didn’t see, but does that really justify what went on here? How the heck did you find me,anyway?”
His eyes enlarge with rage. “That roommate of yours made it real easy. And since when did you get a roommate, anyway? How many more things about your life don’t I know about, Lex? Anything else you’d like to spring on me while dressed in last night’s clothes? Hell, it’s not even yourshirt.”
Her mouth opens and closes, and she clenches her knees together as if just remembering her scantily cladstate.
“We’ll do lunch this week. I promise.” She scuttles up and presses a quick kiss to his cheek, but he turns his head slightly as if repulsed from any physical contact with her in this less than chastestate.
“Make it dinner. I’m on days all week. And yes, I know you work nights at that—that ridiculous bar this twerp owns.” He darts an accusing finger at me. Twerp? He’s lucky I don’t shove him out the window and call him a twerp all the way down. “That new roommate of yours sang like a canary.” He heads for his belt and straps his weaponry back into place. “And why the hell didn’t you tell me you had some nut job orchestrating a PETA protest in front of yourhome?”
Lex groans. “Son of a motherless goat, why did Stumpy have to drag PETA into this?” She rolls her head back and moans as she walks Marlin to the door. “Don’t call me. I’ll callyou.”
“Too bad, I’m calling,” he snaps as he crests the threshold. “We need to talk about Serena. Or have you forgotten that family comesfirst?”
Her spine straightens as she stiffens. Ever since Lex’s mother ran out on them, she’s taken on the role of primary caretaker. Her father passed a while back, and she’s been mothering not only her sister and Marlin—even though he’s too much of a douche to admit it, but she had taken her cousins, Rush and Sunday, under her wing. Nolan, their brother, is about my age. I’ve known him for a while. Good guy. But in the last six years, I’m sure Rush and Sunday have grown up. I figure they’re in college themselves about now. This is the first time in Lex’s life that she gets to focus on herself—and hopefully, she’ll make a little room for me in theequation.
“Family comes first,” she repeats as she starts to shut thedoor.
“Hey, Collins!” Marlin shouts as she proceeds to entomb us inside. “I know where you live now. You better watch yourback.”
“Nice,” I say, twisting the lock as soon as Lex seals the door shut. “Which one of us ordered a beating for brunch?” I tease, peppering her neck withkisses.
Lex pulls me back, tears glittering in her eyes, and my gut coils right back into that knotagain.
“Hey”—my arms steady her by the shoulders—“I’m sorry I hurt your brother. I had no intention of doing so. Things just got out of hand. In no way didI—”
“Stop.” Her finger bounces over my lips, and I pull her in close again. “Marlin is right. What am I doing here?” She holds out her hands, confused as if she just materialized into the room. “I’m not the girl who sleeps with guys on a whim. I should never have had a drop of wine last night. I’m so stupid to think we could do what we did and there not be any repercussions. It’s going to be awkward now.” She drops her face in her hands and takes a hard sniff before coming back up for air. “I’ll try to get another waitressing position somewhereelse.”
“No.” A rife panic sets in, and suddenly it’s as if my feet were to the flames. I’ve had Lex in my life for less than five minutes, and already she’s anxious to slip away. I can’t lose her twice. I couldn’t bear the torment. I almost didn’t survive the first time. I sure as hell won’t the second. “I’ll go somewhere else. You keep your job at The Sloppy Pelican.” I wince because I just so happened to rig it that I can’t be anywhere else. “Or you can simply go back to giving me the cold shoulder. But what I’m really hoping for is that we can have a sit-down. It doesn’t have to be now. I just—Ineed—”
“Closure.” She gives a curt nod as if demanding that I agree withher.
