Marked (Marked #3) (13 page)

Tatt boy grunted beside me. “Speak for yourself.”

“Shut it.” I smacked his arm and then turned back to look over at a clearly unhappy Luke. “Janice needs to learn that for every action, there is a reaction. For the most part, I do understand that she was in some delusional trance where I’d done her wrong, but many times we’d explained to her the reality of the situation. There is no way for me to decide without all the facts and time to think things through.”

“Thank you, Maya—”

“Stop right there,” I interjected. “Holding a grudge is part of my nature, and she won’t get off just as you wish. Get me the facts, and I’ll decide along with Talan on how
we
will proceed.”

“That’s all I can ask.”

“Kiss ass.” Talan walked around me and opened the front door roughly. “Thank you for stopping by, but I think it’s time you leave.” Taking the not-so-subtle cue, Luke gave me a nod and walked past me and through the door. He’d just put his foot past the threshold when my boyfriend pulled him back by the upper arm and spoke low. “Come back here again without being invited, and they will carry you out in a stretcher. You aren’t welcomed. When you have what my Bitty asked for, contact my shop. Never come to our home.”

Slamming my laptop closed, I sat back in my chair and rubbed my tired eyes. Feeling drained would be putting lightly how exhausted and fed up—worried—about Maya I was. How much I was still stuck on that night this all began and the havoc Janice had created.

Bitty had been home, my home, for two weeks now, and we still had no idea if Janice was set to stay at the hospital. Would she ever be sent to a prison in order to wait out her trial? Detective Marquez assured us on his last visit that she couldn’t physically get within a hundred yards of us. Impossible, he claimed. That was their bullshit reassurance.

Dr. Luke Taylor never convinced me. That asshole seemed too invested—attached to Janice—to see past her lies. It was all in the way he looked at us; Maya he watched with pity in his eyes and I—I was the unforgivable jerk-off responsible for it all.

Blinded by her smile, he took her words for gold. Fuck the victims.

My girl took it in stride, though, when in their presence, but I saw the concern in her eyes. Calmed her at night when she became restless and my touch would assuage her fear. They toyed with us and quite frankly, I was ready to choke the next motherfucker out that fed us crap.

Answers, that’s what I needed.

“You okay there, boss?”  Lance stuck his head inside my office, and in his hand he carried a tray filled with coffee cups. It was late; the day had run away from us with nonstop consultations and for me, all the office duties I’d put off. They’d held down the fort in my absence, but I was needed.

People had to be paid.

Books updated.

Clients booked before they found another shop to start what I couldn’t two weeks ago.

“Not really.” What else could I say? Lying wouldn’t work on him. He knew me too well to fall for a forced smile and a nod.

Taking that as his cue that I needed an ear, Lance placed two coffee cups on my desk and walked out to deliver the others. It took him two minutes tops, before he was back and taking a seat across from me. And then he waited.

Silence encompassed the room while we each sipped our hot beverages. No words were exchanged. Just a minute to let myself enjoy my coffee without any added pressure or the million and one things that needed to be done.

“How’s Bitts?” Instead of answering, I just raised a brow at the ridiculous name. “Get off your shit, old man…she likes the name.” His defense made me grunt low. “You know I give everyone I love a name. Well, everyone but your grumpy-man ass. Too cool to take one for the team.”

“Still sore about that, I see.” His mature reply, fucker threw his empty Styrofoam cup at me. Ducking out of the way, I returned the favor, plopping him dead center against his forehead. “Fuck, I’m good.” A small chuckle escaped me, and the room felt lighter.

With his hand over his heart, Lance batted his eyes at me. “No, you’re an egotistical asshole, but I say that with love.”

Even with all the craziness that surrounded me, this, a simple joke with a friend, was what I needed to see past the clusterfuck. Enjoy life’s little joys. I would always be a simple guy that loved three things in this fucked-up world above all else: family, my shop, and my Bitty. And because of Janice, I’d been filled with so much rage lately that I’ve been directing it toward the wrong people.

“Love you too, fucker.” He opened his mouth; I could see the smartass reply sitting on the tip of his tongue. “I’m not hugging this out.”

“Always ruining the fun.” His pout was as genuine as my desire to wear a tutu down South Beach during 4
th
of July weekend. Bullshit.

Leaning back in my chair, I titled my head to the side and appraised him. “What’s up? Got something to say?”

“Why do you say that?” Again, he fidgeted and looked past me.

“Spit it out.” Beyond tired of bad news, I tensed and waited for him to speak up.

“I fucked up, bro. It’s my fault that Janice attacked Maya.” If it weren’t for the fact that I knew Lance—trusted him with my life—I’d have him on the floor with my hand wrapped tightly around his neck. Nevertheless, it was how well I knew the man that saved him. Now that I looked at him closer, I could see that he’d been carrying whatever he thought he did, on his shoulders. Weighing him down.

“How are you involved?” At my gruff demand he stood, pushed the chair back roughly, and fisted his hair.

“Fuck…I’m so sorry.” Pacing the length of the room, he took in a few deep breaths and turned to face me with moisture in his eyes. “I went to see her about a week before it happened—warn her the fuck away from you two. She was wild, lost…scared me half to death how fast she flipped through emotions. One minute she was fine and the next, I was the evil she needed to be rid of.”

“Keep talking.” Just talking about the bitch brought a bout of rage through me once more. Every single molecule within me sizzled—stretched into a painful jolt that caused me to slam both hands atop my desk.

With a quick nod, he began to pace again. “When Janice realized that I wouldn’t budge, things got weird. Look, you knew when I met her years back that I was attracted. Fuck, you tried to hook us up—”

“It would’ve been a win-
win
,” I interrupted. “Would’ve gotten her off my dick and onto yours.”

“Crude much?” The smile he tried hard to fight sneaked through.

“Prude much?” Picking up a rubber band from my desk, I flicked it at him, hitting his arm. “Get on with the story.”

Lance glared at me while he rubbed at the spot. “After realizing I wasn’t fucking around, she turned on the charm. Drunk, smudged makeup, and her apartment destroyed, Janice shimmied over to me and rubbed her body against mine. Tried and failed miserably to make me fuck her. I didn’t—couldn’t. Still, she took off her top, and I pushed her away. Told her the why, and she flipped.”

“Veronica?” At my question, he nodded.

“All of a sudden…in the blink of an eye, I was the enemy. She threw shit and yelled. Screamed at the top of her lungs that she wasn’t good enough, and it got bad.”

Dragging an agitated hand down my face, I let out a deep exhale. “Still don’t see how this is your fault, Lance.”

“When I threatened her, Talan, I threw in her face everything she’d confided in me years ago.”  Pain danced across his eyes and his posture grew stiff, as if waiting for me to throw a punch. I let him continue, but I knew the end of his confession would hurt. “Things I comforted her for when I tried to win her over. When it all came to a halt…”

Light bulb moment if I’ve ever had one.

“You fucking knew?” Wasn’t necessary for me to be specific; the haunted look in his eyes confirmed everything I needed to know.

“Yes,” he answered anyways, and I had to step out of the room for a moment. Leave so I could get a hold of my raging emotions—the anger that now tried to swallow me. “Motherfucker!” Kicking the back door open, I stepped through and toward my car. Opening the door, I took out the pack of smokes from the glove compartment and lit one up.

Nicotine filled my lungs and the menthol taste soothed my frazzled nerves. A part of me, miniscule and torn, wanted to go back in and break Lance’s face. Coming to me could’ve stopped this all from happening.

The door behind me closed softly. “Go ahead and take a swing.”

Taking in another drag, I held the smoke in my chest and released through my nose. “How could you not tell me? Dammit, dude, Maya’s an innocent bystander.”

“To be honest, at the time, I wanted to protect Janice. Help her.” His facial expression held the pain I felt. I couldn’t be too mad at him because he was trying to help her in his own way.

Problem now was that his loyalty to me had been tested in a very important moment. She wasn’t his responsibility, yet he chose her.

“A week ago you went to warn her away?” His response was a barely visible nod. “Why not tell me then? In her delusional and manic state, it could’ve been Esther or Veronica.”

“I know!” he yelled, voice thundering through the empty back alley. Tortured, he’d carried this for so long and now it hurt us all, Maya, more than anyone. “Fuck, I know.”

“Do you really? Because by hiding that shit, you helped in her demise.” My fist flew forward and connected with the small window a few feet over from the door. It belonged to our bathroom, and I demolished it with the one blow. Tiny shards of glass flew everywhere, and blood dripped down my fingers. “How do I tell my girl that a man she considers a brother hid something so huge? Her physical pain won’t compare to a broken heart.”

“And it’s eating me inside.” His tone carried the torment of a man who’d lost too much. “If you want me to quit—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Asshole had gone insane too, or maybe I was too soft. “While I am mad as all fuck about you keeping important shit from me, Janice’s condition isn’t your fault. Nor was she ever your responsibility. I hired her. You fell for her. We both fucked up.”

“I’m sorry.” Grabbing the pack of Newport’s I’d left on the hood of my car, Lance pulled out a smoke and lit up.

Nodding in acceptance, I tipped my head at the lit cigarette in his hand. “When did you start again?”

“After the Halloween party, boss. Stress is a bitch.” His answer left me perplexed.

“Explain.” Another drag, and then I tossed the butt on the asphalt beneath my feet.

“Seeing her like that brought back memories of all the nights I spent consoling her…trying to get her into a program. Even went as far once as to try to get her on a seventy-two-hour hold. Nothing I did worked, but after the last episode I witnessed before Halloween, she’d calmed.”

“How long ago was that?” Something in my gut told me that I wouldn’t like the answer.

“After you slept with her.”
Son of a motherfucking bitch
. “Exactly. And no…” Lance let out a humorless laugh, placed a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed “…you didn’t say that out loud. Your facial expression said it all.”

“I’m an asshole.”

“None of us are responsible, Talan. You said so yourself.” Patting my back twice, he turned and leaned against the wall next to me. “We were all played in a sense. Using our friendships—doesn’t matter how different our intentions were—to her advantage.”

“This is beyond fucked up. I knew this, felt it deep within my bones that something was wrong with her, but I ignored the symptoms.” Leaning my bloodied hand on the concrete wall, I flexed my fingers and welcomed the pain. Kept me grounded when all I wanted to do was hunt down Janice, and the assclown she called her doctor. “Mom warned me.”

“She’s played us all.” What the fuck was he doing here? “I’d like to talk to you...both of you please.”

Lance lip curled, his face contorting into an angry scowl. “Get the fuck out of here. You’re not welcomed.”

Rolling his eyes, he turned away from Lance and faced me. “I have the answers you’re looking for.”

“Speak.”