Starting with the Unexpected (11 page)

“You know you’re always welcome,” I told him. And he was. He was so incredibly welcome. “You don’t even have to sleep on the couch anymore, if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t know. It’s a pretty freaking comfortable couch,” Marcus teased and glanced away. “You didn’t deny it, you know.”

My brow wrinkled. I unlocked my car and got in. “Didn’t deny what?” I asked, confused, as I waited for him to shut his door.

“When your friend Christophe came to the table to say hi,” Marcus said, giving me that look people give when they’re hoping someone will remember on their own.

That meant that whatever it was Christophe had said was important to him, which in turn meant it was important to me that I figure out what he was talking about.

Marcus sighed at my silence. “He said he wanted to say hi and—”

“And wanted to introduce himself to my boyfriend,” I finished. Oh. Oh wow. He
had
said that, hadn’t he? And it seemed right. “You’re right. I didn’t deny it.”

“How do you feel about it?” Marcus asked quietly.

“Well, we’ve been hanging out for weeks. And we’ve actually had a date. And we’re pretty fond of each other. Neither of us does the casual thing, so….”

“So it makes sense,” Marcus finished for me.

“Yeah,” I agreed and took a deep breath. “Yeah, it does.”

We settled into silence again as I drove toward Marcus’s place. After a few minutes, I felt his hand find my knee and squeeze gently. “Jordan is never going to let us live this down.”

I grinned. He was right. Jordan was going to take a perverse delight in giving us the “I told you so” talk. “At least we waited until after the first date.” We pulled up to Marcus’s apartment complex then, and I frowned. There were a couple of police cars in the parking lot. “What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know,” Marcus said, worry evident in his tone. “I hope everyone’s okay.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said. I turned off the car and got out before he could argue. I was still jumpy after what had happened with his ex, and I wasn’t about to leave him alone in case he had another confrontation waiting for him.

As we headed up the stairs, the cops were headed down, bringing an obviously irate young woman in handcuffs with them. I heard Marcus suck in a surprised inhalation as the young woman looked right at him and shrieked. “
You
,” she snarled as she lunged at him. “This is all your fault.”

She struggled to get away from the cops holding her, but they continued to lead her down the stairs. One of the officers stayed behind and looked at us. “Is one of you Marcus Edwards?”

“Yeah,” Marcus said with a sigh. “That was my sister. What’s she done now?”

“From what we can tell, she egged the hell out of your door and threw a rock through your front window,” the officer told him. “Your neighbor caught her at it and called us.”

“Someone actually physically detained my sister until the cops could get here?” Marcus asked, his eyes wide. “God. They’re on my Christmas card list for life now.”

“Is he going to be able to get into his apartment?” I asked the officer.

“Once we’ve cleared the scene. It shouldn’t take too long.”

I nodded and pulled out my phone. Jordan was going to kill me for waking him up, but I didn’t care.

When he picked up, he actually growled at me. “Somebody better be dead.”

“Marcus’s sister paid his apartment a visit with eggs and a large rock,” I told him.

I could hear the rustle of sheets in the background. “Fuck,” Jordan spat, all vestiges of fatigue gone from his voice. “Are you guys okay?”

“We were gone when she was here,” I explained. “Look, I need a favor. A big one.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he answered. “How many boxes?”

As much as I sometimes bitched that I hated Jordan knowing me as well as he did, most of the time I was extremely grateful. That particular moment was one of those times. “As many as you can fit, for now.”

“Good thing Russell graduated. Right. See you.”

I hung up and turned to Marcus. “Jordan will be here shortly. We’re going to pack up your stuff and move you.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I had a feeling I was in for a lecture. I was aware I was kind of taking over the guy’s life, but I would have been like this with any of my close friends. “You don’t think you’re jumping the gun a bit?”

“It’s not safe here,” I insisted. “Your ex has been harassing you, and now your sister is doing actual property damage. You can’t stay here.”

He snorted and waved a hand at me, which surprised me enough to shut me up. “I’m not talking about that,” he said. “Where am I going to be moving? Because it’s kind of early to be moving me in with you, don’t you think?”

Oh, well, having him wonder about that made sense. I nodded and smiled sheepishly. “I wasn’t actually talking about moving you in with us. Well, not really. Sort of.” I took a breath and rubbed the back of my neck. “Let me try that again.”

“In English this time, please,” Marcus suggested, raising an eyebrow at me.

I flipped him off and started over. “There’s a studio apartment above the garage. The guy who was renting it graduated last semester, and Jordan hasn’t rented it out again, yet. He’s super picky about who rents it because we live on the same property. It’s bigger than your current place, and neither Davis nor Delilah knows where it is.”

“And if things go south for us?”

I opened my mouth to tell him that wouldn’t happen but shut it again before I could say the words. It was a legitimate concern, after all. “I’d like to think you and I are the kind of people who’d take care that the parting wasn’t bitter,” I said slowly. “And our schedules are just different enough that we wouldn’t run into each other much unless we wanted to. But I’d also like to think it won’t ever be a concern.”

The look on Marcus’s face softened, and he brushed a hand against my cheek. “Me too,” he said. “But I had to ask.”

“I get it,” I said with a nod. “Really, I do. I kind of just bulldozed you with the whole thing, but it’s not safe for you to stay here anymore. Even if you’re only there until you can find another place, I’d feel better. I just really don’t want you to stay here another day.”

“I actually agree with you on that,” Marcus admitted as he leaned against me. “I was already thinking that I needed to find a new place before you got that black eye. Today’s brouhaha clinched it, that’s all.”

The sigh of relief I let out was probably over-the-top, considering it made Marcus laugh, but I just let us lean against each other as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you.”

M
OVING
M
ARCUS
turned out to be pretty easy. He didn’t have much in the way of general “stuff,” and he’d rented his place furnished. Once the police had finished whatever it was they were doing, Jordan and I grabbed boxes out of Jordan’s SUV and started packing up while Marcus went to go discuss move-out details with his landlord.

It took maybe an hour from start to finish, and by the time we pulled into the driveway, Marcus and Jordan had already ironed out details with rent. Marcus argued that Jordan wasn’t charging him enough, and Jordan argued back that it was the same amount he’d charged Russell, the previous tenant—which was true.

“You want help unpacking?” I asked hesitantly. We had unloaded the boxes and dragged them all up the stairs to the apartment.

Marcus sighed. “I need to go hit up IKEA and get a bed or a futon couch or something. And some bookshelves.”

“And swedish meatballs,” I added with a nod.

He snorted a laugh in response and sighed again. “Honestly? I don’t want to deal with it today.”

“Then come over to the house,” Jordan said. “Just hang out and chill. You can either sleep on our couch or in Zach’s room, and tomorrow the two of you can go shopping.”

“You mean the three of us,” I said, giving Jordan a sweet smile that always meant trouble. “It’ll go quicker if you’re with us.”

“Staying with you guys tonight would be fantastic,” Marcus said with a nod, ignoring my needling Jordan. “Tomorrow’s soon enough to do the shopping thing. And the nice part is that I can afford to do that now, since my new landlord is an insane man who doesn’t realize he’s charging me less than half of my old rent. And who didn’t want a security deposit.”

Jordan shrugged at the jibe. “I rent to college students who meet my very strict criteria. They deserve a break.
You
deserve a break, and you already promised the security deposit when you get back the one from your previous place.”

“You’ll notice he didn’t deny that he’s insane,” I remarked. I leaned into Marcus’s side and rested my head against his shoulder.

“Well, I’m not going to lie,” Jordan countered, sounding scandalized.

I grinned and planted a kiss against Marcus’s neck. “Come on,” I said softly. “Let’s go into the house and get comfy. I’ll probably pass out soon, but we can go browse the web on your laptop and see what you might like to buy tomorrow until I do.”

“For a little while,” Marcus agreed. “Remember, I still have a paper to write before I go to work tonight. You know, responsible adult stuff.” His lips met mine. As we reveled in the contact, I noted the sound of the door closing. Jordan had apparently realized that we needed a little alone time.

“Are you all right?” I asked, my voice still quiet. “You’ve had kind of a shitty day.”

“I haven’t,” he protested immediately. “I had my first real date with my new boyfriend. My sister having some kind of psycho temper tantrum can’t ruin that.”

It was just the right thing to say, and I smiled smugly. He must have caught the look on my face, because he grinned as he squeezed me tightly. “Yes, you rate above psychotic temper tantrums.”

“Good to know,” I said. “Do naps rate for you too? Because as nice as this is, I really am going to drop soon.”

He laughed and a joyous smile lit up his face. I felt like I fell a little further every time I saw that look. Honestly the entire concept of being so far gone on someone was kind of scary for me, but I had a feeling I’d have to get used to it. I doubted I was anywhere near done falling for him.

“Yeah,” he said. He gave me another squeeze and let me go long enough to take my hand and lead me from the room. “Come on. Let’s take you to bed. We can do our window shopping from there while you fall asleep.”

That sounded just about perfect to me, and I followed willingly as we went into the house and paused long enough to let Marcus grab his laptop case. Jordan snickered as we passed him in the living room. I gave him the finger without comment and we disappeared down the hallway and into my room.

“Strip and get into bed,” Marcus ordered once we had the door shut behind us. When he saw the lascivious smirk on my face, he sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re too tired,” he pointed out. “We’ll revisit that tomorrow.”

“Promise?” I asked. I pulled off my sweater and tossed it toward the closet, not really caring where it landed.

“I promise,” Marcus replied, his eyes firmly fixed on me as I continued to undress. He looked like he wanted to eat me alive, and I would have gladly served myself up for him. “Once we’ve managed to assemble whatever bed I end up with tomorrow, we can test it for stability. As an added benefit, we won’t have to worry about Jordan hearing us if we’re in my room.”

“Point made,” I agreed. I tossed my pants with the rest of the clothes on the floor and pulled back my covers.

I remembered Marcus pulling out his laptop and bringing up the website, but that was the last thing before I woke up later than usual that night to an empty bed. I paused long enough to throw on a pair of sweatpants before staggering to the kitchen. It was going to be one of those days that would require multiple cups of tea before I was sociable. I was more than pleased to see Marcus already heating water for me when I entered the room. I plastered myself against his back and buried my face against the side of his neck.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked, and I felt him reach back to smooth a hand over my hair.

I mumbled something that hopefully sounded like an affirmative, but it was the best I could manage.

Apparently Marcus spoke whatever language it is that blue-haired zombies named Zach speak, because he patted my arm and shuffled me to the table, still attached to his back. “I think maybe you got too much sleep,” he said. “You’ll feel better once you’ve had your tea and something to eat.”

I made a vague rumble that may or may not have been an agreement, but I wasn’t awake enough to converse. I let him nudge me into a chair and watched him for a moment. Then I noticed his laptop and some books I didn’t recognize on the table. “Homework?” I mumbled. Go me, I’d managed an intelligible word.

“Yeah,” Marcus turned away to start prepping my tea. “We’re studying mythology surrounding death right now. Did you know there’s a story about the origin of death that involves a vagina?”

“That’s disturbing and not likely to get me to eat breakfast,” I said, making a face. “I’ve officially lost my appetite.”

“Don’t be a drama queen,” Marcus scolded as he popped an english muffin into the toaster. “If you’re going to be like that, I’ll find the pictures of the sculptures based on the story and really gross you out.”

“Bully,” I grunted, not meaning it in the least.

“Yeah, I know. I’m a horrible boyfriend,” Marcus said, and I could have sworn he was holding back a laugh. “That’s why I’m making your tea and getting you something to eat.”

I sighed and let my head fall back until I was staring at the ceiling, only to discover that we’d forgotten the cobwebs last time we cleaned the house. “Fine. I forgive you. But only if there’s strawberry jam on that english muffin.”

“And if you don’t have strawberry jam?”

I turned my head just enough to give him a groggy half-grin. “Then I’d have to kick Jordan’s ass, because that would mean he finished off the jar that my mom gave me last time she spent the weekend making jam.”

“I’ll try and remember that eating your jam is punishable by death,” Marcus promised. He started my tea steeping and looked over at me with a smile.