Starting with the Unexpected (22 page)

“And you love me for it,” he said, the smirk still firmly in place.

“I don’t know if it’s okay for you to have a cheeseburger or not,” I said. “I mean, you kind of just had surgery.”

“Sweetheart? I want food. Real food, not green gelatin. And would you do one other favor for me?”

“Maybe?” I said, a little worried about what he was going to demand. I could tell the next few weeks were going to be interesting, while he stayed in bed, and I waited on him.

“Go home,” he told me. I started to protest, and he shook his head to cut off my words. “Honey, you stink. Go home, take a shower, and change your clothes. Go to the diner, have them do a takeout order for you, and bring it back here. Have you eaten?”

On cue, my stomach growled. “Umm, no.”

Marcus sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Seriously, I’ll be okay. Go home, do what needs to be done, and come back. Got it? I’ll still be here when you get back, and we can eat.”

“Fine,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, bring me some sweats or something,” Marcus said. “The hospital gown sucks. And maybe some books. Or your tablet, since I can watch movies on that too.”

“Yes dear,” I said, grabbed my crutches, and stood up. “If you need anything else, call me.”

“Bring Jordan back with you,” he said. “I want more of my family here.”

I smiled and felt a warm glow at his talk of family. “Of course,” I said, leaning over to kiss his forehead. “Maybe try to get a little more sleep before I get back.”

“Sure,” he answered. “Hey Ollie?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” I gave him another kiss and headed for the door. For the first time since our fight the night before, I honestly felt everything was going to be okay, and it was a fantastic feeling.

“Y
OU
SHOULD
be in bed.” I frowned at Marcus, who’d made me help him shuffle down the hallway to the kitchen table. He’d wanted to be with me while I fixed him something to eat, but I wasn’t happy about it. It had only been a few days since he left the hospital, and he was still falling asleep wherever he sat. We’d been warned it was normal for him to tire easily after the kind of injuries he’d sustained, but that didn’t keep me from worrying.

“I should be here with you,” he corrected, mirroring my frown. “I’m tired of being in bed, Ollie. I want to be out here with you for a while.”

“Stubborn,” I growled. “If you start to get sleepy, I’m making you head straight back to bed.”

Marcus smiled at me and nodded. “Of course.”

I stared at him for a bit longer, then sighed and turned to the fridge. “What do you want to eat?”

“Food would be good,” Marcus said. He laughed when I glared at him. “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s be original and actually have breakfast.”

“At nine in the morning?” I asked with a feigned gasp. “We should be having lunch.” I grinned as he laughed harder.

Then he shrugged. “Sure, why not. Omelets sound good?”

“Me too.” Jordan yelled from the living room.

I rolled my eyes. “If I’m cooking for you too, you could get in here and help.”

The doorbell rang, and Jordan yelled “Or I could answer the door.”

No one ever stopped by our place that early, but I assumed it was either my mom or my brother, who had apparently adopted my boyfriend as his new best friend. I was good with that, considering how much I felt he deserved a friend like Marcus after the shit his previous best friend had pulled. Either way it meant I was cooking for four, not for three. On the plus side, if it was my mom she’d likely take over the cooking.

I’d just started chopping the ham I found in the fridge when Jordan stood in the doorway and cleared his throat. “Uh, Marcus, someone’s here to see you.”

“Okay,” Marcus said slowly. “Then send them in. I’m not moving.”

Jordan grimaced. “Um, well, it’s Davis.”

If it were possible for me to spontaneously combust with rage, that would have been the moment. My knuckles went white as I gripped the knife in my hand much harder than I needed to, and I turned my head to look at Jordan. “What the fuck is he doing here?” I growled.

Marcus rolled his eyes, and turned his attention to Jordan. “Send him in.”

“What?” I shouted. “You have a fucking restraining order against the fuckhead.”

“What is it with you and the word fuck when you get mad?” he asked. “You and Jordan will both be right here. It’s obviously something important, or he wouldn’t risk coming by. He pisses me off, you call the cops.”

“He pisses you off, we’ll need to find a place to hide the body,” I snarled.

“Sweetheart, I love you, but you’re so not intimidating.” Marcus looked at Jordan again, and gave him a small smile. “Send him in.”

Davis looked terrified when he stepped into the kitchen, which was exactly how I felt he should look. He glanced at me, saw the look on my face and the knife in my hand, and all color drained from his face.

“Davis,” Marcus said in greeting. “You’ve got sixty seconds before I call the cops and tell them you’re going against the restraining order. But first, thank you for calling in and reporting Delilah.”

“I just….” Davis glanced at me again and swallowed hard. Apparently I
could
intimidate him. “I wanted to say I was sorry. For, you know, everything. And your sister, man. I didn’t know she was doing that shit. If I’d known what she was up to I would have told someone, but I dumped her when she tried to tell me she was pregnant.”

“She’s not, then?” I asked. We hoped that might be the case, but no one had confirmed it. All I knew was that she was sitting in jail, awaiting trial. In light of her actions, she’d been refused bail. Marcus’s mother was probably still screaming about how it was his fault, but considering he’d blocked their numbers and they didn’t know where he lived, we weren’t likely to have to hear it in person.

“No way. I refused to fuck her without a condom, and I made her take a pregnancy test in front of me. She’s not pregnant.”

“Well thank God for small favors. We don’t need to increase the population at the shallow end of the gene pool.”

Davis gave me a confused look like he had no idea what I was talking about, and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, the guy wasn’t the brightest bulb.

“Well, I appreciate the apology,” Marcus said. “I don’t think we’ll ever be friends, because quite frankly, you have too many issues for me to want to be anywhere near you. And I’m not going to have the restraining order rescinded. Besides, just having you near my boyfriend makes me want to scratch your face off for the black eye you gave him. So thanks, but I think you need to leave now.”

Davis glanced at me again—well, all right, he glanced directly at the knife I was still holding—then looked at Marcus and nodded. “I’m sorry,” he repeated and stood up. Jordan followed him out, and I dropped the knife onto the countertop.

“Come here,” Marcus waved a hand at me. “I’d come to you, but you’d growl at me if I tried to stand without assistance, you overprotective bastard.”

“My parents were married when I was born, thank you very much,” I scoffed as I joined him at the table. “I’m going to tell my mother that you suggested otherwise.”

Marcus laughed and tugged me into the chair next to him so he could lean against me. “She’d forgive me, because I’m her new favorite,” he teased.

“Who’s a new favorite?” Jordan came back in, pulled out a chair and swung it around to straddle it backward.

“I’m Linda’s new favorite,” Marcus told him. “Sorry, but you’re only second best now.”

“What?” Jordan screeched. “That’s just not right. I’m
supposed to be the favorite son.”

I laughed, gave Marcus a one-armed hug, and left them to argue while I made food. As the first of the omelets cooked, I turned to lean against the counter and watch them. Along with my parents and Bran, these two were my family, and I couldn’t do without either of them. Thank God they liked each other. But then, if an abusive ex and a psychotic sister didn’t split us up, maybe we would have been fine even if they didn’t get along.

The thought made me laugh, which made Jordan and Marcus stop midargument to look at me. “What’s so funny?” Marcus asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “Everything.”

“Wow, that’s kind of vague,” Jordan snorted.

“Random string of thoughts,” I told them. “I was thinking I was glad that you two like each other, because otherwise Marcus and I would have been doomed. And then I started to think about all the shit that’s happened since we got together.”

Marcus smiled. The look of love in his eyes warmed me to my toes. “Well, we may have started this whole thing with a long string of unexpected events, but maybe that was the best way for us to start off, you know?”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” I said, returning his smile with one of my own.

That afternoon, as I lay in bed curled up against Marcus’s back, I couldn’t help but smile. Sure, what we had might have started with the unexpected, but it was only the beginning. I couldn’t wait to see what the future held.

I
REFLECTED
on the evening as I drove back from my parents’ house in the rain. Instead of staying at home where I could have been worrying over Marcus, I’d been guilted into waking up early to attend a Friday night family dinner, which had turned into family dinner, board game, and movie night. My parents were great, of course, and Brandon had made serious strides toward repairing the damage done by his issues over the previous few years, but I would have preferred to make sure my boyfriend remained breathing and in one piece.

Unfortunately said boyfriend was still recovering from the accident his messed-up sister had caused, and he agreed that he probably couldn’t handle a car trip just yet. Not only did he tire easily, but he was still nervous about the idea of getting into a moving vehicle. He was getting better about it, but it still made him jumpy, and he didn’t need that while he was recovering. On the plus side, he hadn’t spent the evening alone. Jordan adored Marcus in that same brotherly way he adored me, and he’d said they were going to catch up on movies I wouldn’t watch.

Of course, Jordan had probably left for work already, given that it was officially Saturday and nearly one in the morning. And Marcus was probably curled up in bed, sleeping off the painkillers he was still taking. That was okay. I’d be able to join Marcus in bed and enjoy the warmth, if nothing else. The man was like an octopus, even asleep, and he invariably latched onto me, even as he snored.

When I pulled into the driveway, I was grateful they’d left the lights on. I had to run (well, okay, hobble) for the front door in the pouring rain. When I hurried inside and pulled off my soaked hoodie, I discovered Marcus was neither in bed nor asleep. He was sitting on the couch, watching a movie with a blanket wrapped around him. He had a jar of what looked like chocolate sauce in one hand and was licking an oozing mass of the stuff off of his free index finger.

Dear. Fucking. God. All I could do was stare.

“Welcome home, Ollie,” he said, not looking away from the television.

I tried to gather some semblance of intelligence. All blood had left my brain. “Chocolate sauce at this hour?” I asked, trying to sound more amused than turned on. I’m not sure how well I did with that, but I let it go. I dropped my keys on the coffee table and leaned in to kiss Marcus’s sticky mouth.

“It was cold and I wanted chocolate, so I warmed it up.” Marcus shrugged and gave me another swift peck on the lips. “Viki apparently made it yesterday. She gave it to me before she and Jordan went to her place.”

That was one silver lining of the whole thing with his sister. As Marcus recovered from his ordeal—with me hovering over him—Jordan had been getting to know the adorable yoga instructor he met outside the hospital. It turned out she was single. She had a wicked sense of humor and a sweet tooth rivaling Marcus’s that had driven her to learn to make some insanely delicious, sugary treats. I figured, with her sweet tooth, it was a good thing she was a yoga instructor. She was as attracted to Jordan as he was to her when they met, and I had a feeling she could end up being around on a permanent basis. But it was early days yet.

It also turned out she loved to feed us and kept my boyfriend stocked with enough sugary stuff for an army. That, in itself, would have been enough to make me love her, because anyone who made Marcus happy was awesome in my book.

I frowned. “Wait, Jordan left you by yourself all evening? Why wasn’t he here with you?”

Marcus snorted. He stuck his finger in the jar and brought his finger to his lips. I watched him lick the finger clean and found myself distracted again. “Because I’m fine. I just get tired quicker than usual, and I’m still a little bruised. There’s no need for him to babysit me. How was your visit?”

He licked his finger again, and my eyes were focused firmly on the sight of his tongue moving slowly up his long, slender digit. When I realized I’d lost track of the conversation, I gave myself a shake. “What did you say?”

“Your visit,” Marcus repeated. “How was it?”

I let out a huff and settled onto the couch next to him. “Same old story. Brandon was awkward and said something he shouldn’t have, and I told him to go perform improbable carnal acts upon himself because, if I’d told him to go fuck himself, Mom would have been upset. He laughed, though. So, we’re okay. Mom reminded me that gay marriage is legal in this state, at which point I reminded her, for what was probably the thousandth time, that we’d get around to it when we were both ready. Dad told me to pass on an invitation for you to go fishing with him weekend after next, if you were up to it. And I told him you’d say yes, but that I’d have you call him.”

“I love your family,” Marcus said. He smiled as he used his finger to stir the contents of the jar. “Brandon’s coming along nicely, and your parents are awesome.” He pulled his finger from the chocolate and held it out to offer me a taste. “Want some?”