Page 57 of Marked
Markus holds up a hand to stop my retort. “The human is a weakness, Ruin. One you–we–cannot afford right now. Whatever is between you, work through it and get your head back in the game, boy.”
It’s such a mirror to Gage’s words, that my hands curl into fists. “Yes, my lord.” I start to stalk away.
“And, Ruin?” Raina calls. I stop and face them. “If you don’t take her soon, she’ll find someone who will do what you won’t.” I blink, sure I misheard. She beams. “Good night now.”
The door closes in my face.
I am left staring at it, fatigue and confusion warring through my insides. Stumbling away, I half lean, half bang my head on Tanner’s door. It opens on his slack face, hair in a chestnut halo around his head. The black-eye I gave him is already fading to a sickly green that matches the ridiculous skull-faced woman tattoo across his left pec. At least the bruise will be gone completely in a few more hours.
“Fuck you and whatever mission you want help with,” he mutters, good eye partially open.
I shove past him.
“Oi, prick,” he calls after me.
Gage’s door opens, and he peers out. “What the hell?”
“I need to crash here tonight.”
Don’t ask. Don’t fucking ask...
“Why?” Tanner grumbles.
I growl. “Because Lilah is passed out in my bed.”
In my shirt and nothing fucking else.
They look at each other and burst out laughing. My Glock innocently finds its way into my hand. Gage sobers quickly and rubs at his busted lip.
“Sure thing, Cap.” He points to the long sofa that doubles as a bed. “Tan-Man, grab him some blankets.”
I help him move the coffee table and tug out the mattress. And then promptly fall face first on it, gun within reach. They both chuckle. Tanner drops a clean pillow from the linen closet and a blanket next to my head. I wave him off.
Someone pats me on the back of the leg. “Good night, Cap.”
“‘Night,” I call, voice muffled by the bed.
The doors to their rooms close, and I snag the pillow with one hand. Shoving it under my head, I’m asleep before I ever stop moving.
Chapter 26
Lilah
I scrub down the bar top at Underground, needlessly polishing the glass top. Again.
“Would you calm down?” Raina asks, sweet laughter coloring her voice. Today she wears a simple pant suit and a robin’s-egg-blue silk shirt.
I groan all over again and sag atop the bar. “I can’t.”
Ruin was all but nonexistent for the early evening before we left. He wasn’t in the colony house. Wasn’t in the manor at all, it seemed. My desire to talk to him quickly faded to embarrassment.
Raina found me pacing in the foyer an hour before we were set to leave. She decided my abundance of energy could be better served getting ready for the first rush.
So far, she isn’t wrong. But even though my body got the memo by working through every task she has thrown at me, my mind has been a mess of chaos and heat.
Raina pats me on the shoulder, smile almost devious as she takes in my expression. “Honey, you’re smudging my glass,” she teases.
I push myself back up. “He’s avoiding me. He has to be.” I know she put me in his room for a reason. And though he didn’t seem overly angry I was there, he hasn’t made any attempts to seek me out again either.
