“Well, I got it,” I snapped.
“And he’ll get his.”
“Right, with youputtin’ a bulletin his brain?”
“Precisely.”
I cocked my head to the side, feeling my hair move with me,and ground out, “You barely know me and you got that muchfeelin’for me you’rewillin’ to take that on your soul?”
“Yes.”
At that, the firmness of it, the simplicity,Irocked back likehe’dshovedme.
“You don’t want me to do that, he didn’t rape me.That’syour call,” he stated.“I’ll have him brought to the police.You don’t give afuck about that asshole, he’s dead.At my hand.And I won’t take pleasure fromit.But it cannot be denied, when it’s done, it won’t give me satisfaction.”
“Now youaretryin’ toscare me,” I accused.
“No.”He shook his head.“In my world, actions haveconsequences.You are far from dumb, Daisy.You know the world I live in.Youmight not know the rules but you know there are rules.And no one breaks them.If they do, they suffer retribution as decreed by the laws of the street.Heviolated my turf and I mean that in the sense I own part of Smithie’s.But heviolated something that’s just plainmineand for that, he suffers theultimate reckoning.”
Lord.
He was killing me.
“I’m not yours,” I whispered.
“Honey, please start paying attention.”
At that, I shut up.
Marcus didn’t do the same.
“That’s the man I am, Daisy,” he declared.“And that’s goingto happen regardless of what I say next.Which is, right now, you have onechance.If what I just shared scares you.If it turns your stomach.If it’ssomething that you don’t want in your life, I’ll walk away.You can have allthe bacon and you’ll never see me again.But if you don’t say…right now…that’ssomething you can’t take, then we’re sharing the bacon, the eggs I’m going tomake, and a whole lot more when the time is right.”
At the thought of never seeing him again, I wrapped my armsaround my stomach and kept my eyes glued to him.
Marcus didn’t move.He kept watching me.He did it silently.
And as he did it, something settled in him, in his frame andin his face.
It was a sight to see.A thing of beauty.
And it scared me spitless.
After a while, he spoke, his voice just as firm but a wholelot more gentle.
“In terms I hope you’ll understand, darling, in fairytales,the prince vanquishes the wicked queen.The evil stepmother.The maliciousgoblin.In real life, Daisy, to avenge wrong done to his princess, if the needarises, the prince puts a bullet in somebody’s brain.”
Yes.
Killing me.
Without me telling it to do it, my mouth whispered, “Why?”
“I just explained why.”
“No.”I shook my head.“Why me?”
I asked and Marcus didn’t hesitate even a second to answer.
