Monster: Made & Broken (A Mafia Bad Boy Romance) (9 page)

“
Thank you,” I said softly. “You didn’t have to do that.”

He didn’t respond, his face still disturbingly grim—an expression that completely contradicted the gentleness with which he’d tended to my damaged feet.

But despite his persistent anger with me, the fact that he had taken care of my wounds made something inside of me click into place. I might have seen him brutally slaughter another human being, but as I looked down at him from my perch on the chair, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

“
I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t want to lie to you, or steal. Brigs… I owe him a lot of money, so I…”

“
You’re a honey trap,” he said calmly, though his expression never changed.

“
Yeah.”

“
You’ve done this before.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but I doubted he cared about the differences between what I’d done in the past and what I’d done to him. “I didn’t want to do it to you too,” I said softly. “I know you probably don’t believe me, but… if I hadn’t, Brigs would have hurt me.”

“
He hurt you anyway,” he said, letting his eyes linger on my swollen eye.

“
Is that why you killed him?” I don’t know what made me brave enough to ask, but the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could reconsider.

Marcus looked at me for a long moment, but he didn’t reply. Instead he said, “You put yourself in harm’s way to protect me and my family. I am grateful. But I can’t let you leave. I hope you understand that.”

I gaped at him, caught between shock that he said he was
grateful
to me and worry over what he meant by not being able to let me leave. “Why not?”

“
You saw what was on the video. I can’t risk Brigs or anyone else catching you again,” Marcus said as he got up from his kneeling position. He began to pace back and forth in the small cell like a lion in a cage.

“
I promise, I won’t ever use it against you. I won’t tell anyone. Just let me leave, please,” I begged him. “I won’t ever return to England.”

“
Perhaps you are telling the truth. Perhaps not. But that doesn’t make the threat to my family any less. Brigs could find you. Or someone else could. We have many enemies and no room to take chances.”

“
What if…” I looked up, an odd bolt of hope spreading in my stomach. It was an insane idea—he was a
killer
, and he had every reason not to want anything more to do with me, but… “What if we made a deal? You protect me from Brigs, and in return I stay with you.”

He stopped his pacing, arching an eyebrow at me, and I grimaced.

“
Not here, not like a prisoner. In your flat. I’ll… be your companion. I’ll make your food, do your laundry… share your bed.”

His brows furrowed as he stared me down, and some of my enthusiasm withered under his gray gaze.

“
Okay,” he said after what felt like several long minutes, surprising me.

“
Yeah?” I asked, relief slowly starting to seep through my battered body. It might technically be prostitution, but it didn’t feel like it. Not with him.

“
On one condition,” he continued, leveling me with an inscrutable stare. “You agree to have my child.”

* * * *

Chapter 10

Evelyn

“
Your
child?”
I repeated, not entirely sure I’d heard him right. “I… what?
Why?”

“
I want a family,” he said without a hint of emotion in his voice, as if that was all the explanation needed.

I gaped up at him, too stunned to even argue the insanity in his premise. If he thought I was going to agree to this, he was nuts. Sure, I was inexplicably happy enough to spend the foreseeable future as his pretend-girlfriend until Brigs was no longer a threat to either of us, but a
baby?
Nuh-uh. Not going to happen.

But… I could always pretend like I agreed. I was on birth control, after all. All I’d need was to find an excuse to get him to take me by my flat and I’d have three months’ supply of baby-nixing pills at my disposal.

And what was the alternative? Spend the next few weeks in this cell?

“
Okay,” I said, my voice a bit shaky even though I knew I wasn’t planning on following through with this part of our deal. Saying the words out loud still felt scary. “Okay, I’ll have your baby.”

* * *

The car ride to Marcus’ flat passed in silence, like it had the last time we took this journey together. Only this time, the electric silence in the car wasn’t so much sexual tension as it was… I didn’t even know what the hell it was. I glanced at Marcus by my side, whose focus was purely on the road ahead of us. The moment I’d agreed to his crazy arrangement, it was as if a switch flipped behind his dark gaze and most of the resentment disappeared. He had even carried me to the car so I wouldn’t have to walk on my bandaged feet.

For all intents and purposes, Marcus seemed to be completely over my betrayal and everything that had followed.

I wasn’t anywhere near over any of the things that had happened in the past day, but as I sat with my head leaned against the car window and watched the darkened city rush past us, I felt inexplicably calm. Whatever else Marcus was, there was not a bone in my body that didn’t believe he could keep me safe from Brigs. He might be a thousand times more terrifying than Gerald Brigs, but in the depths of my soul I knew he wasn’t going to unleash the terrifying darkness he carried around on me. In fact, sitting next to him as we drove through the dark streets made me feel more safe than I had in a very long time.

I frowned into the darkness. I’d seen him literally shred another human being, seen the all-consuming rage in his eyes where no shred of humanity remained. Not to mention, he basically wanted to use me as a broodmare—not something a sane guy would suggest. But still… it felt better than I could put into words knowing that no one would hurt me ever again, as long as Marcus was around.

When he pulled into the parking basement underneath the fancy high-rise his penthouse was located in some twenty minutes later, I had given up trying to sort through any of the day’s events. I was too exhausted, both physically and emotionally, to even begin processing everything, and when Marcus walked around to the passenger side and picked me up as if I was no heavier than a child, I simply rested my head against his arm and let him carry me to the elevator.

He didn’t put me down until we were inside his flat, easily disposing of me on the kitchen island before he shrugged out of his woolen coat and headed over to look into the fridge.

I looked around the familiar space and let my hands slide over the countertop. It seemed like an eternity ago he had had me up against this very counter. The memory of his lips on my throat sent a ghost of warmth through my battered body. I had been able to lose myself completely in the sensation of joining with him then, and right now, forgetting about everything for a couple of hours seemed like the perfect idea. Tomorrow was plenty early enough to start thinking again.

“
Marcus,” I called softly.

He looked back over his shoulder at me, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly in question.

“
Come.”

He obeyed, somewhat to my relief—I was way too sore everywhere to climb off the counter and walk over to him myself. Now that the last of my adrenaline had left my system I was all too keenly aware of the dull throbbing in every part of my body from Leo’s abuse.

When Marcus was within reach, I put my hand on his chest and slid my palm up to his shoulder in a gentle caress before I curved it around his neck and pulled him down to me.

He let me guide him, though from the faint resistance in his body, I could tell he wasn’t sure what I was doing. When our lips connected, however, it seemed to click.

His hands came up to rest around my back, and he brushed his lips gently against mine once, twice, three times until I arched my neck back to lead him to the sensitive spots there.

Marcus hesitated for just a moment, then obliged me.

His lips on my throat sent sharper tendrils of arousal down my spine and into my thighs, causing my muscles to contract and pain from my many bruises to bloom up through them. I winced, and Marcus paused, his lips hovering just above my skin.

“
Where does it hurt?”

“
Everywhere,” I said, sliding my hand up to his jaw to try to pull him back. “It doesn’t matter.”

He made a rumbling sound deep in his throat and drew away from me. “It matters.”

Irritation washed over me, dampening my growing arousal. “Why? You want a baby—this is how they’re made. Let’s just… get started.”

Gently, he raised a hand to skim the tips of his fingers over my eye and cheekbone where Leo had hit me. “Take off your clothes.”

Finally, we were getting somewhere. I shrugged out of my jacket, undid the buttons on my shirt, and pulled it off a little stiffly. The pants were harder, but I managed without aggravating any of my bruises too much, and after a few minutes I sat in just my bra and panties in front of him.

Marcus reached out for me again, and I thought he was going to slip my bra straps off my shoulders—until he gently pressed two fingers against a bruise on my clavicle.

“
Ow,”
I whimpered, flinching from the unexpected touch. “What are you doing?”

“
Seeing if you need a doctor,” he said calmly, his eyes fixed on my body—but there was no fire in them, just clinical focus.

“
I don’t need a doctor!” I snapped, though I wasn’t sure how true that was. I hadn’t taken much time to look over the damage Leo had done, but I figured that since I hadn’t collapsed yet, I probably wasn’t going to die.

Marcus ignored my anger and trailed his fingers down my body, testing every inch of it with light pressure.

I groaned in pain when he got to my stomach and hips where Leo had taken out most of his fury, but despite the discomfort, my frustration slowly began to wither. It had been a long time since anyone had taken the time to care for me like this, and there was something very soothing about letting Marcus tend to me so thoroughly. My mind wandered back to how he had painstakingly pulled every shard of glass from my raw feet when he saw the blood on my sock. Who would have thought the man capable of utter carnage, whose sheer presence spoke of danger and violence, would be so gentle with me?

“
Do you do this to all the girls you get naked?” I asked when he was hunched down looking over my shins and calves. “Because someone should have told you you’re playing doctor wrong. Just saying.”

Unsurprisingly, he ignored me. Only when he had checked every inch of my body did he finally return his gaze to mine, straightening as he rose. “You’re very tough.”

“
Thanks?” I arched an eyebrow at him. If there was one thing I didn’t feel after today, it was tough.

“
I’ll make some food,” he said, ignoring my questioning tone. I assumed that meant I didn’t need a doctor.

“
I just want to sleep,” I said, frowning at his back as he returned to the fridge. After his thorough, but kinda detached examination, I was no longer feeling particularly amorous, but his attentiveness had soothed me so much the exhaustion finally overwhelmed my mind, numbing out all the horrors almost as efficiently as a dose of endorphins could have. All I wanted was to pass out in a soft bed and sleep for as long as humanly possible.

“
When did you eat last?” he asked without looking away from the fridge.

“
This morning. But I’m really not hungry. Could you please just help me down? I don’t want to land on my feet.”

Without looking at me Marcus pulled an assortment of food from the fridge and then proceeded to retrieve crockery from the cabinets.

Apparently, I was eating whether I wanted to or not.

* * * *

Chapter 11

Marcus

“
Marcus.”

My cocoon of all-encompassing darkness rippled at the sound of the female voice, calling from somewhere beyond the monsters circling me.

I spun, searching frantically for the source of it, but all I saw were bloody entrails and brain matter. I looked down at my hands, already knowing what I’d find. They were soaked in blood, a knife clutched in one of them.

I am the monster.

Terror lanced through me and I roared in anguish, my voice no longer human. I was changing, becoming part of the monsters lurking in the shadows around me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“
Marcus! Wake up. It’s just a dream. Wake up!”
The darkness rippled again, more violently this time, and then a pair of warm arms closed around me in a protective circle of light.
“
Wake up.”

I came to with a gasp as the nightmare’s death grip finally released me. Unexpected brightness made me squint, my eyes struggling to adjust even as I scrambled to sit up. Breathing deeply through my nose to try and calm my racing pulse, I buried my face in my hands and let the horrors of the dream slip away.