12. Chapter 12
twelve
Bianca
“ W hy would you think I changed my mind?” I asked, noting his hesitation. Didn’t he understand how in love with him I was? I leaned my body close to him. He looked resigned as he shrugged, like he was waiting for the worst case scenario to happen. It was time to be bold. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything for you,” he said, hand resting on my knee.
I needed him to understand.
“Can you please kiss me again?”
He shook his head. “I think you’re confused, honey. I’d love to do a hell of a lot more than just kiss you, but I don’t want you to regret anything in the morning.” Was he being intentionally dense, or did he really have so little faith in himself?
“I’m not confused.” I made my choice when I smashed the damn watch. “My family is shit, so if they cut off contact and ostracize me for being with you that’s for the best, right?”
I would be loyal to the better man, and wouldn’t regret a minute of it.
“Your whole family isn’t bad, right?” Why was Mark playing devil’s advocate? “You don’t want to lose everyone. How about I just hold you close and you can tell me if you still feel the same way in the morning?”
I’ll always want you to kiss me, I wanted to tell him, but it was true that I’d been through a whole slew of emotions tonight. I didn’t fear regretting anything, but I wanted it to feel “right” so Mark wouldn’t have doubts about me and my intentions.
I rolled my eyes. Loving a good man wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“Do you want to stay here tonight? I’ll stay on the couch,” he offered, but someone pounded a hard knock on his apartment door before I could answer.
I turned toward the entrance out of curiosity, but Mark’s shoulders were tense. He stood up, but put his hand out to stop me when I made to follow him. I stayed on the couch but leaned over the side to watch him approach the door, pausing when a large manilla envelope was shoved underneath it. He ignored the envelope and approached the peephole, but moved away with a shrug after a couple of seconds. “Not a damn thing out there.”
He bent to pick up the envelope, pulling out a couple photos and a piece of paper. I watched Mark’s face pale as he looked the papers over, so I hurried to his side. “What is it?”
He handed the contents over to me. “Yeah, you’re not going anywhere without me tonight, honey. We’ve got to get you into protective custody.”
I looked at him in confusion before taking in the photos in my hands. Mark and I sitting on a bench outside his building waiting for a pizza. This was just yesterday. My heart beat harder. I flipped to the second photograph: Mark and the police officer who pulled us over, taking a selfie in front of my car not even two hours ago. Why would someone have pictures of these two moments together?
I turned to the note.
A man about to become a father should be careful about getting into dangerous situations.
“What?” I asked. I had to be missing something, so I gave the pictures a closer look.
Mark’s hand was on my stomach on the bench, and the police officer had assumed I was pregnant with morning sickness when he saw us. I could see the lower half of my body in that photo, hand on my stomach as I faked nausea.
Did someone really send Mark a note threatening his supposed family? I really did feel sick.
“Who would send this?” I asked, hand going to my stomach. Even if I wasn’t pregnant, that was disgustingly low.
“Honestly? Your dad’s enforcer sent notes like this a couple times before, but he’s kind of out of commission now. I dealt with the fallout at the warehouse crime scene myself. Not sure who’s doing the dirty work for him now.”
A warehouse. Uncle Leo—in actuality a second cousin, but old enough to be an uncle—was involved in some sort of standoff at a warehouse.
Of course Mark was there for that. He seemed to be everywhere in my family’s business. Did he audit their taxes, too?
“If they—” whoever they were “—know where you live, maybe I shouldn’t be here,” I said, glancing around for my tote bag. It was next to the couch by my shoes, mirroring where I left my belongings the first time I ran out of here.
“They’re threatening you , Bee. You can’t go out now. Someone could still be watching.”
I paused. “They’re not threatening me specifically. You can’t even see my face in either picture.” Thank goodness.
But oh god, if my family knew I was here at all…
A couple days ago, I wouldn’t have understood just how much danger Mark would be in if anyone found out. I knew in my gut they’d do far worse than send a threatening note, but I didn’t know how far they’d go. I didn’t really know anything about my family.
“If they’re watching the building and see you leave…”
I never should have agreed to talk to him when he called me. He wouldn’t be in so much danger now if I’d just hung up the phone.
I wasn’t going back to being ignorant of my family, but I couldn’t risk Mark’s life this way. If they would threaten an innocent woman, they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if they found out Mark was pursuing me. He was as good as dead if my father walked in and saw Mark’s hands on me.
But I still couldn’t leave yet.
“I’ll stay with you tonight.” We could have one more night together, pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.
“Good. When maintenance gets here in the morning they usually unlock the door heading into the back alley and we can get you out safely that way.”
I nodded. Mark slipped all three papers back into the envelope, putting it on the counter where he rested his wallet and badge. Then I watched as he took his gun out of the safe he’d already locked it away in and carefully placed it on the side table next to his side of the couch.
There was no pretending all was well.
“Just in case,” he said when he saw me eyeing the weapon.
I shivered. I didn’t want to be in a home with a gun. Then I remembered my father was involved in illegal things and I probably slept in the same house as a gun for years and never knew. I was so na?ve. I shivered again.
“Come here,” Mark said, sitting back down on the couch and patting the seat next to him. I did so, unable to resist being near Mark for any period of time, firearm or no. “Guns make you nervous?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. No confusion about that.
“This is a SIG P226,” he said, picking up the gun and holding it out in front of us. “This is my police issued firearm. It is a weapon and you don’t want to be on the business end of it, but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to get hurt unless I mean for them to. There are four separate safety features on this weapon to avoid accidents. Can I show you why it’s safe?”
This guy…
I nodded and leaned fully into his side, letting him teach me about the gun so I wouldn’t feel nervous in his home. That was enough to put me at ease, but Mark still talked me through the operation of the gun, putting his arms around me to show me how he aimed, what he would aim for, and everything else he could think of until he let out a long yawn. I glanced at my wrist to check the time, but then remembered there was no watch there.
Because my father was spying on me.
But I wouldn’t think about that. I just wanted to spend tonight cuddled in Mark’s arms.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” I said with a smile, pulling on his arm. I spied the clock above his stovetop, telling me it was almost midnight. He let me pull him up, his hand drifting down to mine, and walked with me back to the bedroom.
“I obviously don’t have girl clothes here, but I could find you some shorts or something to sleep in if you want,” he offered.
I elected not to tell him I’d never slept as well as I had when I was skin-to-skin beside him. There was no point. “Please. Thanks.”
He fumbled through his drawers, pulling up a plain black shirt and a pair of boxer briefs, an eyebrow raised in question. “Perfect,” I told him, taking the offered clothes.
I stared, curious what he slept in on a regular night, but he just turned around, walking out of the room without another word and closed the door behind him.
I hurried into my borrowed clothes, feeling a little miffed that Mark walked out without saying anything. I sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed modestly, toe tapping against the carpet as I waited for him to come back. The irritation didn’t fade the longer it took for Mark to return. After several minutes, I stood with a huff, stomping out to the living room to see what was taking him so long.
Mark was lying on the couch, curled up with the little blanket and playing with his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked, the annoyance fading into amusement. He dropped his phone to his chest in surprise. “I was waiting for you.”
“I told you I’d sleep on the couch and I meant it. I’m giving you space.”
“I don’t need space, silly man, I need you. Come sleep in your own bed.”
He hesitated for a moment before he stood. When I saw that he had stripped down to his boxers, naked chest on display, I wanted to roll my eyes again. Damn hot as heck man was practically naked and heading to bed with me. I remembered just how delicious that treasure trail under his bellybutton tasted and tried not to stare, especially when I saw his dick was half-hard.
But Mark pretended nothing was different, so I just followed behind him as he grabbed that dang gun and brought it into the bedroom with us. I watched him check to make sure the gun was safe once more before setting it on the nightstand.
“See? As long as you’re thorough it’s perfectly safe.” I nodded. I believed him, and I appreciated he normally kept it in a gun safe.
Tonight was just a different kind of night.
I wasted no time cuddling into Mark’s side. He hesitated only for a moment before wrapping me up tight, his hold on me solid and steady even as we both drifted off to sleep.