Page 61 of Wicked Flirt
His eyes were hard, his expression stone. “She doesn’t need your kind of help. So…don’t come around here anymore. She’s not your responsibility.”
“Marcus, I’m really sorry this happened. There were no bad intentions on my part. Honest.”
His lip curled. “As I learned with you, sometimes it doesn’t matter what your intentions are. What matters is the outcome. Now she’s battered and bruised, and it’s set her back. She thinks this was all a sign she should’ve stayed inside.”
That was an excuse. “She needs professional help.”
He turned and went inside, shutting the door behind him.
She stared at the door. Now what?
She sat on the porch steps. Her only thought was that she should apologize to Lia. She hadn’t meant to cause harm. She wanted to make sure Lia knew that. Maybe she could leave a note, but would Marcus let his mom see it? He might just throw it away. Maybe if she waited for a bit, Lia would wake up, and then she could text her to let her know she was here—
The door opened again suddenly and Marcus barked, “Go home!”
She jumped, her heart pounding. “What is your problem? I apologized.”
He set his jaw. “Apologies mean nothing.” His words were harsh, but his dark eyes reflected pain. He was hurting for his mom and probably hurting over her too.
She stood and took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry about your mom. And I-I want to work things out with you. I think if we could just talk, sort of clear the air…” She trailed off at the expression on his face, immovable, closed to her. She gulped and summoned every ounce of courage to put her heart out there. “Marcus, I love you.”
“Love isn’t enough,” he muttered. “Not your love and definitely not mine. Pointless words.” He went back inside.
Her jaw went slack. A thousand daggers couldn’t have hurt more than those words. She whirled, tears blurring her vision, and rushed back to her car. Her eyes stung; her chest was tight, all of her cold, so cold.
She sat in the driver’s seat, rested her head on her arms against the steering wheel, and broke down in tears. Time seemed to slow down as sobs racked her body, her heart breaking, hopeless despair swamping her. He’d turned against her. The one man she’d risked opening her heart to completely. Gone.
Finally, she had nothing left. No more tears, no energy, no heart.
~ ~ ~
Somewhere between her breakdown and her trip to the city for the Red Arrow Marketing event, Lexi drew on her last reserve of sheer grit and told herself there had to be a solution to the problem with Marcus. She was a problem solver. She just had to find a way to get through to him. That thin thread of hope was the only thing that kept her going.
The event went very well. Mostly because it was a party full of creatives looking to let off steam at the end of the work week. They were all pumped about their company’s one-year anniversary too. There had been one embarrassing incident when she’d accidentally walked in on the female CFO giving a guy a blow job in the men’s room, but Lexi had handled it very professionally, if she did say so herself.
The gender signs on the restrooms had been confusing or Lexi never would’ve stepped into the men’s room. One had a unicorn sign and the other had a stick figure wearing a cape. Lexi had assumed the unicorn’s horn was a phallic symbol and the other was likely Wonder Woman. Major tactical error. The CFO, Gina, approached Lexi later, asking for her discretion. Lexi swore up and down she could count on it. She was never one to spread gossip. Hell, it was a party. What went on behind closed doors between consenting adults was no concern of hers, and she made sure Gina knew that.
She stopped by Nate’s office at the end of the party, where he was seated at his desk. “Hi, Nate, where would you like the decorations? You could probably use them for another party.” The decorations were mostly large laminated red arrows on the walls and shiny metallic squiggles hanging from the ceiling.
He smiled. “Leave ’em up. It’s festive.”
“Okay, well, I cleaned up all the food and drink stuff. There’s leftovers in the staff refrigerator.”
“Excellent. I couldn’t be happier with your work.”
She smiled warmly. “Thank you so much. It was a pleasure working with you.”
He took an envelope from his desk drawer and handed it over. “Here you go.”
She reached for it, and he held on. She met his eyes in question.
His blue eyes bored into hers. “Would you like to have dinner tonight?”
She tensed, sure that the only reason Nate was asking her out was revenge against Marcus. Nate had been pleasant toward her at the party, but she hadn’t gotten the sense that he was interested in her at all. Plus he seemed a little unstable.
She gave the envelope a tug, and he let go. She tucked it into her small purse. “Thanks, but I’m with someone.” At least she wanted to be with Marcus.
Nate appeared at her side, surprising her with the quick move. “Marcus?” he spat.
