Marked (Marked #3)
Read Marked (Marked #3) Online
Authors: Elena M. Reyes
By: Elena M. Reyes
Summary:
“With everything I am. I’ll always be by your side.”
It was his truth.
A vow Talan made to the woman who owned him. Because that is what Maya did to him; she held his entire life in her hands. He lived for her smile…her happiness, and now someone has dimmed that light in her eyes with their malice.
His love for his Bitty has taken him past the breaking point, and he’s determined to make those that hurt her—pay. Blood. He wanted his hands on those that wronged—almost took her away from him.
Because if one thing was certain, it was that he breathed for her. It was her warmth and love that gave him a home—a purpose and desire for more, but now that had been threatened. Maya was in pain, and that for him was unbearable.
It was his fault. A fault that he would right no matter what he had to go through.
How does a man so completely in love with his female react to seeing her in a hospital bed and broken?
He fights. Goes against all logic and seeks vengeance.
Copyright © 2016 by Elena M. Reyes
Malfunction Erotica
(The House of Malfunction)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Edited By: Marti Lynch
Cover Art By: Coquette Graphics
Photo credit: 123RF/ @Piotr Stryjewski
Acknowledgement’s:
I want to thank everyone who has followed me on this journey. Day in and day out, you encourage me to chase this wild dream that has fulfilled my life in ways you could never imagine. Thank you for letting me be creative. For loving these characters as much as I do. For believing in this crazy, little Latina, who loves what she does with every fiber of her being.
In my world…YOU ARE MY ROCKSTARS.
Elena M. Reyes
xoxo
1
“I swear to God, Bitty.” My voice thundered inside her sterile hospital room. Angry. At the sound, Maya paused mid-step with her hand shakily holding onto the IV machine. She faced the bathroom—only a few feet away from her final goal, stubborn fucking woman. “Get back in that bed—right now.”
The hospital gown she’d been forced to wear opened a bit with the trembling of her exhausted limbs. Purple, discolored flesh stared back at me, and my ire grew. I knew she was miserable—hated the fact that she, for an undetermined amount of time, depended on her family and friends for the most mundane of things. Tough shit.
“But—”
“Now!” Her slender body shook, shoulders sagging while she gripped the IV machine tighter. Her knuckles turned white as she leaned a bit of her weight on her left leg. “You have three minutes to get your ass back in that bed before I make you.”
Turning her tired face toward me, her eyes met mine. Those lips I loved to kiss trembled. “Help me.”
My feet carried me toward her before the last syllable passed her lips. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled most of her weight on me. The relief was palpable as she sagged against me.
Exhausted.
Drained.
“What were you thinking, Bitty? You could’ve hurt yourself.” Kissing the top of her head, I breathed her in and once again reminded myself that she was okay and in my arms. Safe. “Why didn’t you call the nurse?”
A tired sigh passed through her pursed lips. “All I wanted was a fucking shower. I feel utterly disgusting, Talan.” Maya took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And no one that works here came to help.”
With utmost care, I pulled her against me. Closer. Holding her. Trying to give her just a tiny bit of the comfort my girl needed. After a few seconds and a gentle kiss on her lips, I helped her toward the bed and sat her down on the edge. Slowly, keeping in mind that her ribs were very bruised and the gentlest of bumps could bring her enormous amounts of pain, I let her go and stood over her.
With all the love I possessed for this tiny woman, I caged her face in my hands and opened my mouth to rip her a new one. Her watery eyes met mine—my mouth opened and closed several time, but nothing came out.
How could I admonish her with the amount of pure sadness and frustration that seeped out of her every pore? This, her being here, was Janice’s fault and she should be the only person to receive my ire.
“I know I shouldn’t have, but...” A lone tear fell from her eye and she looked away—turned her face toward the wall to my left. My heart broke for her. “All I wanted to do was to clean up. Get some of that night’s smell off me.”
Maya was very independent. Prided herself on being able to take care of herself, and before me, she did it all by herself. But now...
“Hey,” I called out softly, tipping those sad grey eyes back toward my own. “I get it. I’m not mad, baby; I just wish you would’ve called the nurse in to help. You could have been hurt. The doctor told you you’d feel a little dizziness—”
Another tired sigh, but this time her posture turned stiff. Her frustration was mounting. “Did that, but she told me I had to wait until tonight.
‘Doctor’s orders,’”
she hissed from between clenched teeth
.
“Not even a wet rag to wipe my face!”
“Why do you have to wait?” Maya had been awake for two days now. Her last scan had come back clean, just some minor swelling at the site, which was to be expected. She was awake and had responded well to all the testing they’d put her through. This bullshit made no sense.
“Don’t know. Nothing’s being explained to me anymore. Fuck the patient.” Ah. Her anger. Since she’d awoken, it had been a roller coaster ride of emotion: sadness, fear, frustration, and then extreme anger.
“Maya, it’s not like that.”
Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned out. “Then how the hell is it? Explain it to me?”
“Bitty, I’m sorry…” And just like that, those hard eyes lost their edge and the woman who stood before me crumbled.
“Please.”
“Fuck, baby.” Pulling her into my body, I cradled her shaking form and gave her what she needed. Understanding. Love. Answers.
“When Janice,” I began, only to stop. Saying her filthy fucking name created a reaction within us that was anything but beneficial to her well-being and my mental state. Maya burrowed her head into my neck, hiding from me.
It didn’t work; I heard her sniffle. Felt the small ripple of fear that coursed through her battered body. Everything she was living through broke me in two; we were one. Her pain was my own.
“I love you,” I cooed into her hair before placing a tiny kiss at the crown. More than anything, she needed to know that we would get through this. “Look at me, Bitty.” She shook her head. “Please.”
Still nothing.
“I...”
Pulling back enough so I could see her face, I waited patiently for her to gather herself. Just a few minutes at the most before I touched her again. Before I tried to finish having the conversation we needed to have.
With the tip of my finger, I caressed her cheek before tipping her sad face toward mine.
“Please don’t hide from me.” Leaning forward, I rested my forehead against hers—breathed in her every exhale. “I love you,” I repeated once again, this time against her lips. Lips that now pressed themselves against my own with fervor.
“Love you too,” she mumbled, mouth tightly pressed against mine.
“Better?”
“Yeah.” Another kiss. “I’m better, I promise.”
With a brow raised, I stared her down. “Don’t bullshit me.”
This time I got an eye roll and an annoyed huff. At the very least, her sass was still there. “Promise, I am. Now, quit being a pain in my injured ass and talk.”
Women.
I bit her lip for the smart-ass remark before talking.
“Baby, when you were brought in, it was bad. We didn’t know anything, just that you were attacked and had lost a lot of blood at the scene.” I had to pause there and rein in my emotions. The resentment I held for the bitch and the piece of shit rich kid that helped her. Irritation with the lack of answers at that point—the fear I dealt with nearly bowled me over.
Maya didn’t need to see that.
“Please continue.”
Running the tips of my fingers through her loose curls, I found my center again. “It was bad, baby,” I whispered, voice thick with emotion. “You received a hairline fracture on the temporal bone after being hit repeatedly with a wooden—”
“Baseball bat,” she finished for me. “I remember that. I’d been at my car, on my phone with a friend when…”
Nodding, I reached up and, with the gentlest of touches, caressed her bandages. “Seeing you lying in that bed, unconscious, was one of the worst moments of my life. Pure fucking torture, not knowing when you’d wake up or what shape you’d be in. Head trauma, no matter how tiny, is dangerous. And you…fuck, Bitty.”
“Hey,” Maya breathed, wrapping her arms around my neck. The movement caused her to let out a low hiss, but before I could pull her off and check her out, she spoke. “I’m okay.”
It had the opposite effect. I hated those words with a passion.
“Stop. Don’t fucking placate me.”
“I’m not, Talan. Look at me.” Our eyes connected for a few seconds before I looked away and over toward the opposite wall. “I’m not broken. Hurt, yes, but not broken.”
Ignoring her words, I continued to talk as if on auto pilot. “Then, when you opened those beautiful grey eyes and with fear told me it was Janice, I...I want her blood on my hands for what she’s done to you.”
“That’s not a past-tense threat.”
“For as long as my heart beats inside my chest, I will protect you with every single breath I take.”
“I’ve never doubted that, but please, let the cops handle it. She’s not worth you dirtying your hands, baby.” While her pleading broke down my resolve for the briefest of seconds, looking at our surroundings brought it back. I wanted those two assholes dead. “I can see it on your face...no, Talan. Let them handle it.”
“I will.”
“Promise.”
“I do.”
For now.
“Love you.”
“I know,” I replied cockily. “Now…” She let out a tiny giggle when I leaned in close and nipped her chin. “How about that shower?”
“Are we interrupting something?” A tall man dressed in a stained dress shirt addressed us. Next to him stood another man, dressed just the same, but this one had a badge around his neck. No emotions on their face. Stoic. Almost looked bored.
Beside me, Maya fisted my shirt and held on. “Who are they?” she whispered low enough so only I heard. With a subtle shake of my head, I answered her before turning my attention back to the two silent observers in the room.
After laying a kiss on my girl’s forehead, I stood to my full height and appraised them. “Who the hell are you? And why are you in this room?”
“Sorry,” the Hispanic male began, only to be cut off by his partner’s huff.
“Does he have an issue?” Two against one wouldn’t be hard to handle. Fuck that. They were both older than I was, and I had at least a foot on the white male.
Buddy didn’t like my tone and took another step into the room. “Watch the tone.” He glared, but I was unaffected by his type. Yeah, they were cops. Detectives, if I wasn’t wrong. And while I’ve never had an issue with Miami’s finest before, I took offense to his lack of professionalism.
“Baby, please get them out.” At her whispered plea, I turned to look at her. Her face was ashen. The hands fisted in my shirt were trembling and her knuckles white under the exertion.
With one hand, I ran my fingertips through her long hair, caressing her scalp. This kind of bullshit wasn’t healthy for her. What kind of asshole shows up at the victim’s hospital room and scares them?
They eyed our interaction, one with understanding while the other fumed.
“Get the fuck out, and don’t come back until your partner has learned some fucking manners.”
“Sir, let’s try this again. I’m Detective Martinez, and this…” he pointed toward his unhappy friend “…is my partner Detective Gulver. I—”
“We spoke the day of my girlfriend’s attack.” While he hadn’t been a dick to me or us, I wasn’t about to pull out the welcome wagon for either of the two. “Now, mind explaining why the two of you barged in, no knock on the door? Were less than empathetic to what she’s suffered, and how uncomfortable she might feel around people she doesn’t know?”
“Talan, right?” I nodded at Martinez. “We never meant to make the victim uncomfortable. What she’s been through is something every woman fears, and the last thing I want is to hinder her in any way. All we wanted to do is talk to her about the night in question.”
Kneeling down, I became eye level with Bitty. “You up to talking, babe? Or would you rather shower, eat, and then deal with those two? Up to you.”
“That’s not how this works,” Gulver snapped, making my girl squeak.
“Get the fuck out.”
“Talan, Ms. Owens…please, forgive my partner. It’s been a very long day—”
“Get him out.” This time it was Maya that spoke, her voice strong and unwavering. “You, Detective Martinez, are welcomed to come back, but not him. In fact, get someone else to work with you, because I refuse to deal with his kind.”