Chapter 15: Chapter 15

The valet brings Theo’s car around for us quickly after we step outside, and we all pile in.

Theo gets behind the wheel as usual, while Ryland and I climb into the back seat with Marcus. It would be less crowded if one of us took the front, but that instinct to stay close, to band together, feels even stronger now than it did when Marcus was missing. I have a feeling that if Theo didn’t have to drive, he’d find a way to cram into the back seat too, just to be near us.

Marcus’s body seems to deflate as soon as the car door closes behind us. As soon as Theo starts to roll around the curved driveway, his shoulders slump, and he leans back against the leather seat.

“What happened?” Ryland asks, his voice low.

Marcus repeats what he told me in the laundry room, filling in more details of the story now that we’re all together.

“After we split up at the warehouses, Carson tracked me and Ayla down. I took three bullets in the back, and we went down. After that, shit gets a little fuzzy. I was barely fucking conscious. But I remember hearing Carson’s voice. He was standing right over us. Gloating. About to put bullets in our heads to finish the job.”

He clenches his jaw, reaching over to rest a hand on my leg, as if to remind himself I’m still here.

“I heard a shot,” he continues, “and for a second, I was sure that’s what it was. The last shot, the one that would kill me. Then Carson’s body fell next to us, and a second later, I was being hauled away. Victoria dragged me to her car, got me in the backseat. She told me she’d get me medical attention if I agreed to her terms. If I agreed to marry her.”

“Motherfucker,” Theo breathes, shooting us a look through the rearview mirror. “That’s who was working with Carson. She knew where he was, and she took him out.”

“What?” Marcus’s voice is sharp, a little strength returning to it as he sits up straighter.

Ryland shakes his head. “That bitch Natalie told us that Carson was working with someone else besides Dominic on this, although we never found out exactly what that person’s involvement was or how much they knew about the plan. But it’s pretty likely that person was Victoria. Unless she just lucked into discovering Carson’s whereabouts.”

Marcus’s features turn hard, his grip on my leg tightening. “So she played fucking everyone.”

“Yeah.” Theo sounds pissed.

Victoria killed Carson and threatened to let Marcus die if he didn’t agree to marry her, but it occurs to me suddenly that she didn’t kill me. She could have. Easily. I was unconscious on the ground, the easiest target she’d ever have. But she let me live.

I almost point that out, but I don’t particularly feel like defending Victoria at all right now, so I close my lips around the words.

“What happened after that?” I say instead, turning my head to catch Marcus’s gaze. He told me Victoria offered to save him, but I don’t have any idea where he’s even been for the past two weeks.

“She took me back to her place. She’s got a doctor on call just like we do.” Marcus runs his free hand through his hair, wincing slightly at the movement. “One bullet hit my lung, but the other two didn’t hit anything vital. I’d lost a lot of blood, but her guy is good. He patched me up and has been monitoring my recovery daily.” He grimaces. “One of Victoria’s terms was that I couldn’t let anyone know I was alive until Luca’s party.”

“She always did have a flair for the dramatic,” Theo scoffs.

“Well, it fucking works.” Ryland shifts in his seat. I’m sandwiched between him and Marcus, and I glance at him as he speaks. “I guarantee you everyone at Luca’s party is talking about this right now. She just changed the entire game.”

I can feel Marcus’s muscles tense again, anger knotting his muscles. But there’s nothing we can do about it at the moment, and he needs to rest. To heal.

Placing my hand over his on my thigh, I thread our fingers together lightly, reminding him without words that I’m still here. That we’re together.

His body relaxes a little, and we all lapse into silence for the rest of the drive.

I don’t even blink when Theo pulls into his garage. This has become our home base over the past two weeks, and now that Marcus is back, I hope and assume that he’ll stay here too.

His steps are a little stronger as we head into the house, making me think that the time off his feet in the car was good for him. I’m sure he has recovery instructions from the doctor, and I make a mental note to find out what those are so I can make sure he follows them exactly.

Without even discussing it, Theo leads us into the living room. He, Ryland, and I often gather in the kitchen, but I know he chose this room because these chairs are more comfortable than the barstools that line the kitchen island. It’ll be easier for Marcus to sit in here.

The thoughtfulness of that small gesture makes something in my chest ache a little.

These men love each other.

Unreservedly and unabashedly.

Fiercely.

They love each other in a way that makes me want to be a part of that bond. In a way that makes me think there might be hope for humanity after all.

Marcus takes a seat in a large easy chair, and I linger close by for a second, wanting to make sure he’s okay without making it look like I’m hovering. When I turn to go sit on the couch, though, he catches my hand, tugging me back toward him and settling me on his lap.

My immediate thought is fear that I’ll hurt him, and I try to get up quickly. But he wraps his arms around my waist with a low growl, trapping me against him.

Ryland chuckles, settling onto another chair nearby while Theo takes a seat on the couch. “Give it up, Ayla. He could be bleeding out all over again, and he still wouldn’t let you go. In case you haven’t noticed, he can be a little fucking stubborn.”

Marcus chuckles, a deep, warm sound, and I feel the vibrations of it in my own body.

Ryland’s right. And the truth is, I don’t want to get up. I want to stay right here for as long as possible, absorbing every bit of Marcus that I can.

I tug against his hold just a little though, craning my neck to look at his face. “How’s your back? Am I hurting you?”

Marcus smiles, releasing his hold on me with one arm to reach up and run his fingers through my hair. “Never, angel. You couldn’t fucking hurt me if you tried. Not as long as you let me hold you like this.”

He sounds so sincere, so content, that I can’t help myself. I lean forward to press my lips to his, stealing a soft kiss.

He’s back.

How many more times will I have to repeat that to myself before I actually believe it? Before the knot of tension that’s lived in my stomach since the day he was shot finally disappears?

And now that he’s back… what does it mean?

In the two weeks since Marcus went missing, as Theo, Ryland, and I tried to hold on to hope that he was still alive and searched for clues to his whereabouts, things changed between the three of us. Emotions that had existed under the surface already spilled out into the light, and my feelings for both men deepened and grew into something… real.

When the three of us were focused on avenging Marcus, it was easy enough not to question what was going on between us, not to try to make our unconventional relationship fit into any kind of box.

But now that Marcus is back and our little group is whole again, it’s impossible not to look at the complete picture and wonder what the fuck it all means.

As if he can pick up on the thoughts spinning inside my head, Marcus tucks me a little closer to him, brushing his fingertips over my damaged arm. I’m sitting sideways on his lap, and I can feel his steady heartbeat in his chest.

“Carson double-crossed Dominic, Victoria double-crossed Carson, and Dom would’ve killed either one of them if he’d gotten the chance,” he tells me in a low voice. “This game makes it impossible to trust anyone. Families that used to get along, that used to be true allies, look at each other with suspicion now. That’s what Luca’s done to us.”

He wraps a few strands of my hair around his fingers, tugging lightly on the strands as he turns his head to gaze at me.

“It’s not like that with the three of us, angel.” He tilts his head toward Ryland and Theo, indicating the two other men. “We were brothers long before this fucking game started, and we’ll be brothers long after it ends. We won’t use each other or turn on each other or betray each other. We’ll always have each other’s backs. Do you understand?”

I nod.

Because I do understand. I’ve seen the truth of what he’s saying too many times to doubt it for even a second.

“That’s why I’m glad as fuck that you had Theo and Ry here with you when I couldn’t be.” His eyes burn with intensity. “There is no one else in the world I would trust you with besides the two of them. No one else I trust to take care of you.”

My breath catches in my throat. I can’t look away from him—from the serious, knowing expression on his face. I can feel Theo and Ryland watching us too, and something seems to hover in the air between all of us, making my heart beat a little harder.

“Angel.” Marcus’s fingers release my hair, trailing down the side of my cheek as he watches my face carefully. “Do you care about them?”

I can’t lie.

No one would believe it anyway. Not even me.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“Do you want them?”

My pussy clenches at his words, and I nod, swallowing hard.

“Have you fucked them?”

My heart is slamming against my ribs now, heat and cold seeming to flood through me at the same time. Despite everything that’s happened between the four of us, I have a moment of pure terror that I’ve gotten this all wrong.

That I’ve misread every sign, every signal.

That Marcus would never even consider sharing me.

That when I answer his question, he’ll throw me off his lap and go after the other two men the same way he went after Greg Pruitt that night outside the bar. With single-minded determination and only one goal—to end them.

But I can’t lie about this either.

“Yes.”

The word slips from my lips and seems to hang suspended in the space between me and Marcus. I watch him as intently as he’s watching me, desperate to get inside his head, to know what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling.

He nods, and I let out a shaky breath.

The light blue and rich brown of his eyes seem peaceful and calm for once, the colors clear and bright. He tugs his full bottom lip between his teeth slowly, seeming to consider something. Then he grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, a smile curving the corners of his lips.

“Show me.”

I blink at him, my eyebrows shooting up. “What?”

His smile widens a little, and now I see something else in his expression. Something almost like a challenge.

“Show me, angel.”

He brushes his thumb over my bottom lip, then slips the thick digit into my mouth. Unconsciously, my tongue darts forward to taste it, and he makes a noise low in his throat as my lips close around his thumb. His gaze flicks up to meet mine, loaded with more emotions than I can identify.

“Show me how you feel about my brothers,” he repeats quietly. “Because I already know how they feel about you.”