Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1) (37 page)

“Then one day,” he continues, “my friends came back to tell me that some guy made you ‘his’ and you were suddenly untouchable at the mansion. Well, the first thing I think is that this guy has taken you by force and is making you do things to him; with him. I couldn’t get to the mansion fast enough that night. And when I got there, I found you in one of the living rooms with Parker; the very infamous, one and only, Parker Michelson. You two were cuddled up close to each other, both laughing and just looking so… in love. I watched the way he looked at you and the way you looked back at him. It was… beautiful.”

I take a deep drag of my cigarette and exhale the smoke above me, flicking the ashes into an ashtray on the end table beside the chair. “You saw all that?” I ask, unable to hide my embarrassment.

“I did. But I knew he was trouble. I knew all about Tris and Adrienne. About the drugs… and the sex. All I could think was that he had an agenda with you. Like they wanted you for their fourth or something.”

I can’t help but chuckle in spite of how uneasy I’m feeling. “What happened between Tris, Adrienne, and him was well before he and I got together. It ended when he met me.”

“Yeah, I know that, but he has a reputation. You can’t blame me for thinking that he’s a bad guy.”

“So?” I counter. “I have a reputation and you know I’m not a bad person.”

“That’s not the same. I knew you before your reputation.”

I shrug. “If you say so. I think it’s the same, though.”

He rolls his eyes and continues on with his story. “So knowing what I knew about his BDSM sexcapades with Adrienne and Tris, I had no problem believing that he raped you that night. Even after you told me it wasn’t true, I still couldn’t be sure.”

“Did Adrienne tell you it was BDSM? I would hardly call it that,” I scoff.

“This was well before I became friends with Adrienne, and everyone knows what was going on in that room. It was the talk of the mansion as much as
The Goddess
was, maybe even more. Who’s to say he told you the truth?”

“He had no reason to lie to me. They fucked and it was kinky, sure, but he was totally honest with me about it and it ended way before we moved our relationship out of the friend zone and into something romantic anyway.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, his eyes narrowing.

“Of course I’m sure. And besides if you think he got with me because he’s some sort of sex freak who thought he’d have an easy ticket with me, you’re sadly mistaken. Parker and I have never slept together. Not even once.”

He looks me over in disbelief. “You’re kidding me,” he says, standing and reaching for my cigarette.

I take a quick drag and hand it to him as I shake my head and smile proudly. “Cross my heart. He actually stopped my advances last night because I was wasted. He’s a good guy. You would probably like him if you got to know him.”

Spencer raises his eyebrows skeptically, “I don’t know, what about his scary life? The reason you pushed him away to begin with.”

“It’s still scary,” I admit. “But at least this time I’m not walking into it blind, you know?”

There is no rational reason for me getting back with Parker and yet I know that I want to. This is all happening so fast. Outwardly, I’m confused and hesitant about continuing things with him, but inwardly I feel like I need him as much as the air that I breathe.

“See what I mean?” Spencer says, handing my cigarette back to me. “Inevitable. I can’t even get you to change your mind about him right now and you haven’t even had sex with him yet!”

“I like him.”

“You
love
him,” he says with a groan, obviously exasperated with my refusal to admit the fact. He’s been saying it all along and only now am I finally seeing why.

“It’s hard to say,” I confess with a sigh. “The way I feel about Parker is very different from the way I feel about Bree. I don’t know, I’ve only allowed myself to really feel feelings toward him for, like, twelve hours now, so it’s still pretty fresh. I haven’t sorted through it all yet.”

“But you are back with him, right?”

I nod. “I think so.”

“You don’t seem sure, though.”

“I was drunk and it all seems like a dream yet. I need to have the sober talk with him first before I know exactly where we stand.”

A knock sounds at the door and I jump, startled. I look at the clock on the cable box atop the TV. It’s only 9:20 am. It can’t be Parker yet.

“Come in,” I call out, butting out the cigarette and getting up from the chair to meet whoever it is at the door.

Parker walks in slowly, unassuming. He’s looking to the ground as he quietly slips into the apartment and closes the door behind him. Once his boots are off and he looks up, our eyes meet. He smiles.

My heart skips a beat, my breath catches, and I smile back at him. Suddenly, there are no reservations about last night. No need to worry, no need to be unsure; everything is written and understood in the moment we are sharing right now.

“Hey you,” I say.

“Hey you,” he says back. He leans in and kisses me on the lips softly before heading toward the living room. Once he sees Spencer on the couch, however, he stops abruptly. He looks at me questioningly. After a short moment, he decidedly sits in the big chair across from Spencer, the one I had been sitting in before I got up to answer the door.

“Hey,” he mumbles in Spencer’s direction without making eyes contact. He’s trying, which, to be honest, is certainly more than I had expected from him.

Spencer’s eyebrows raise, he looks at me as if to ask, ‘did you have any idea he was coming over?’ I shrug.

“Hey,” he says to Parker with no amount of kindness or enthusiasm in his voice.

I cringe. This just might get very uncomfortable.

I shoot Parker a pleading look, wanting him to lower that wall and, as difficult as that might be, let Spencer see the good in him that I know he has. I can tell that Parker knows what it is I’m asking of him, but he seems to be apprehensive about it. He closes his eyes and exhales loudly. I bet he wasn’t expecting to have to deal with this first thing in the morning. “I’m sorry about last night,” he says finally.

Spencer looks over to me, bemused. I need him to be nice and I know that he knows that, but I can also tell that he really doesn’t want to. “What exactly about last night is it that you’re sorry about?” he demands.

Parker keeps his composure in check. “I’m sorry I didn’t open the door,” he tells my friend.

“You should be,” Spencer spits, attempting to hold back the anger that I can see creeping into him as he undoubtedly thinks about how scary it had been believing that Parker could have been hurting me, and how Parker had played on that fear and tormented him with it.

“I would never hurt Skylar. Ever. I love her,” Parker confesses quietly, almost shyly, and I can see the surprise emerge in Spencer’s eyes. He goes on, “and I know she’s your girl and you want to keep her safe. Believe me when I tell you, that’s all I want too.”

I’m surprised as to how open he’s being with Spencer and it leaves me completely in awe. This is not an easy task for him, and I know it. A small smile creeps on my lips.

Spencer doesn’t reply right away. I think Parker’s words or sincerity, or possibly both, have left him in an unusual state of shock. “Just because you love her, doesn’t make you good enough for her,” he says finally.

I shake my head. He just had to. I know he means well, but I wish he wouldn’t have. Why can’t he see that Parker’s trying?

“I know that.”

“Good. So you know that the shit that happened to her last year while she was yours to take care of is all on you then.”

“Spencer!” I interject angrily. “What the hell? That wasn’t his fault.”

Parker motions for me to take a step back. “It’s fine, Sky. I deserve that, especially coming from him. He takes care of you, and he loves you, and the minute he let me take that place from him, I fucked up royally. That’s all on me.” He looks Spencer right in the eyes with the piercing gaze he knows people can’t turn away from. “But that will never happen again. I swear to you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I have control over that situation now,” he replies confidently.

Spencer shakes his head. “I don’t even know what that means,” he says, irritated with the vagueness of Parker’s reply.

Parker sits in silence for a moment, seeming to contemplate what he should say next. He glances at me and I think he’s silently asking if he can trust Spencer. I nod because I honestly believe that he can.

“Well,” he says, “Markson Grove is my district now. I call the shots; I control the deals, the collectors, and the clientele. She’s no longer in danger by my side.”

Spencer narrows his eyes. I know he knew about Parker’s connections with the local drug business, but I don’t think he had any idea that Parker
is
the local drug business. “It’s a dangerous business, there’s always going to be danger,” he manages finally through gritted teeth.

Parker nods in agreement. “You’re completely right. I live in an unsafe world, but I will do everything I can to keep her as safe as possible in it if she decides to be with me. That’s a promise. To her
and
to you.”

Spencer sighs loudly, undoubtedly overwhelmed by all of this. He leans back into the couch and motions for me to take a seat next to him. Once I do, he takes my hand into his. “Is this what you want?”

I nod.

“I don’t like it,” he says, still glaring at Parker. “Skylar likes to see the good in people. I on the other hand, need it proven to me. You’ve never shown me a good side of yourself till this morning and your history at the mansion with Tris and Adrienne… well, it’s unnerving, to say the least. And now I find out that you run the drug industry in our area! I don’t know what your intentions are with Skylar but—”

“Ok, wait,” Parkers interjects. “What happened at the mansion between me, Tris, and Adrienne shouldn’t have anything to do with how I feel about Skylar. First of all, that was two years ago. And second, it was a private
Misfit
agreement that no one else was ever supposed to know about. I’m not some sort of sex freak, I’m not going to do that stuff with Sky, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

I can feel my face flush red. I can’t believe Spencer would bring that up! “Spencer’s not even allowed to be talking about that anyway, right Spenc? What happens at the mansion stays at the mansion, you know that,” I snap angrily.

“It’s the biggest reason I don’t trust him so I think it needs to be talked about,” he returns.

“Hold up,” Parker says in disbelief. “Your biggest issue with me is that I had kinky sex with a guy and a girl two years ago?”

Spencer crosses his arms over his chest. “You make it sound ridiculous when you say it like that. I spent a long time thinking that you raped Skylar last year, ok? And all I knew about you at the time was your history with Adrienne and Tris. It’s an issue for me.”

Parker sighs. He roughly rubs the temples on either side of his head with his middle and index fingers. He seems irritated and flabbergasted, and overall insulted. “Well now that you know that I didn’t rape her and I have no intention of going all
‘dominating sadist’
on her, do you think you could maybe give me the benefit of the doubt and cut me some slack? I thought this was about my drug ties, I would have never guessed your issues were about my sexual past.”

“Your drug ties piss me off too,” Spencer returns. I squeeze his hand reassuringly and after a few moments he squeezes mine back. He goes on, “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Skylar says you’re a good guy and I should give you a chance. So, I’ll give you a chance.”

“I’ll be good to her, I promise,” Parker replies simply.

“You damn well better,” he mumbles.

Parker smiles in spite of how serious Spencer is being. Spencer knows that Parker could beat him to a bloody pulp if he wanted to, his undefeated fights at the mansion pretty well prove that. But that’s not stopping Spencer from being mouthy and protective of me, and I think that impresses Parker.

Another knock sounds at the door and all three of us turn to look at it. “Come in,” I call out, not really thinking about who it could be. It isn’t until a moment later when I see her blond curls enter into the kitchen that my heart skips a beat.

It’s Bree.

Bree

“What’s he doing here?” I say the moment I turn the corner into the living room and see Parker sitting in the chair across from Skylar and Spencer. I shoot him a dirty look and a little half smile begins to form on his lips.

Asshole.

Skylar doesn’t attempt to hide her continued resentment toward me. “Well, you see Bree,” she begins, “after I left with him last night, I brought him back here where we proceeded to fuck like bunnies till the sun came up. And it was real good. Wasn’t it good, baby?” She turns to Parker questioningly.

He smirks. “The best I’ve ever had,” he says, staring right at me.
Cocky little prick.

I stand there quietly, holding my ground, refusing to turn away from his stare. He’s challenging me to say something and I refuse to give him what he wants.