12. Marcie
12
MARCIE
E xhaustion seeped into the marrow of my bones after Declan, Conrad, and Walker questioned me and Glenn. I understood why they wanted to talk to us, but it didn’t make answering question after question any easier. I’d never been on the witness stand, but I imagine it was much the same.
As Glenn and the others left the room, Declan hung back, casually leaning against the buffet. He was tall, just not as tall as Hayden, who soared to the ceiling. But even slouched as he was, Declan still towered over me. Not sure if I should stay or go, I sat still, waiting for directions of some sort. While I did so, my eyes roved over him.
He was so freaking beautiful.
From the scuffed leather boots that looked expensive despite the wear and tear to the denim jeans encasing his long, long legs and the button up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up just enough to highlight the forearm porn I’d glimpsed earlier, he was the picture of a cowboy. He even had one of those buckles that was nearly big enough to eat from. His sandy brown hair held highlights, but not from a bottle like so many of the men I knew from Nashville. Rhinestone cowboys through and through. For the most part. Some of them were the real deal, but so very few of them were as real as this guy. The guys in Nashville who wore those buckles and dressed as he did made my eyes roll, but something about Declan seemed genuine. As authentic as authentic could possibly be.
As I watched him, I couldn’t help but catch the melancholy aura that enveloped him. As if something had broken him and he didn’t know how to put the pieces back together again. I noticed a similar air surrounding Hayden when I first laid eyes on him, despite how taken I’d been with him.
I didn’t know why that vibe filled the atmosphere around them, but it called to me. Drew me to them and made me want to get to know them.
It didn’t hurt that they were both big, strong, sinfully sexy men who looked like they could make a girl cry in all the good ways.
“You don’t have to stay.”
Declan’s voice startled me, and I gasped.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t.”
His brow arched, silently calling me out. Heat swept through me, and I dropped my chin so my hair would hide the embarrassment.
“No need to lie to me, sweetness, or to hide.”
The chair Glenn sat in moments ago scraped as it pulled out.
“Can you tell me some more about why you called the guy creepy?”
“He watches me.”
“In what way?”
I glanced up at him. He leaned back in the chair, slouched down with his long, long legs stretched out in front of him. One arm tossed over the back of the chair beside him, and the elbow of the other rested on the tabletop. My eyes betrayed me, I was sure of it, because they couldn’t decide what to stare at. The slight bulge in his pants that hinted at what he was packing, the forearms with the light dusting of hair, covering veins, muscles, and tendons that popped and rippled under the skin,
Mesmerizing. That was the only way I could think to describe him. He was absolutely, breathtakingly mesmerizing.
As if the visual wasn’t enough, he had this intense vibe surrounding him that made you feel seen when he turned those blue-green eyes on you. Even when he wasn’t looking directly at you, like when he’d been leaning against the buffet while Jackson and Katie’s dads asked questions, I still felt seen and heard.
“Sweetness?”
“What? Oh! Umm. Sorry, what did you…” I took a deep breath to slow my heart rate before repeating the words that felt rushed. “What did you say?”
“You said he watches you. I asked in what way?”
“I dunno know.”
“Marcie, can you look at me?”
I raised my head and looked at him. Twin blazes caught fire in my cheeks, but I met his gaze.
“Good, sweetness… Now, how did he look at you?”
“Lewdly?”
“Like he wanted to woo you or take you?”
“The second, but sometimes darker than that. He doesn’t like me. He’s called me several not very nice words. Especially after I turned him down, but he still watches me.”
“And the darker looks are after you’ve pissed him off in someway?”
I nodded.
“Has he ever pushed you?”
“Physically? No. It’s just the creepy way he checks me out.”
“And Katie? What’s he like toward her?”
“He kisses her butt to her face, talks about her behind her back when he thinks neither of can hear.”
“So, he knows you’re loyal?”
“Oh, yeah. Everyone knows that. Katie gave me a break when she hired me as her PA. Changed my life.”
My eyes drifted closed, and my lips rolled into my mouth. The man was so easy to talk to once you got past staring at his stupidly gorgeous face.
“Tell me about Glenn.”
“What about him?”
“Well, I assume y’all work pretty close together?”
“Yes, and no. We’re together a lot when he’s traveling with Katie, but…”
“But… what, sweetness?”
“But, he’s…”
“You can tell me whatever it is. We need to know to protect you and Katie.”
“Me? But… I’m nobody.”
“That’s not true. You’re Katie’s gatekeeper. You have easy access to this guy’s target.”
Realization dawned, drawing my body up in the chair until I sat straight as an arrow. “Do you mean… I mean… You don’t think…”
“Yes, Marcie. I do think you could end up a target, too.”
“I’ve gotta go.”
I stood, the chair tilting back on two legs, as I rushed from the table as quickly as possible without actually running.
I made my way through the house toward the backyard.
“Marcie! There you are.”
I stopped, forcing a smile as I turned to look at my boss. “Hey, Katie,” I said, then spied Jackson and Evan sitting with her, and I sighed mentally.
Crap!
I walked over and sat down with them so we could map out Katie and Jackson’s schedules. Keeping track of one celebrity’s schedule was difficult enough, but trying to mesh a celebrity couple’s schedules together was more like merging four schedules, and with Jackson having the dealerships as well as the racing team, which he owned, and now Katie’s promo tour for the nominations, their busy lives bloomed into something like six different schedules. Then, when you added in their desire to be together as much as possible, scheduling became a mix of Jenga and Tetris, or that sorting kids game, only all the holes were round and all the pieces were square.
“Marcie, you’re a magician,” Evan said as he looked at the schedule we’d cobbled together.
“It’s nothing.”
I flushed under the praise, glancing at him, but it wasn’t Evan I saw. Oh, he was there in the periphery, but it was Hayden and Declan I saw. They were standing on the patio. By the look of things, they were arguing—like you would with a boyfriend.
Were they together?
Holy crap that would be hot!
I turned my attention back to Evan, Katie, and Jackson. The way Jackson looked at Katie was hashtag goals, and Katie looked at him the same way. The sun rose and set in the other for them.
No one has ever looked at me that way. Not even close.
Declan and Hayden’s faces flashed through my mind.
Well, maybe I should take that ever back?
Because, while Declan and Hayden didn’t look at me with the affection Jackson’s gaze held when he looked at Katie, the smoldering heat banked in his green eyes was similar to the way Hayden and then Declan both looked at me earlier. Declan’s blue-green eyes heated in the hall when I barreled into him as I raced to the bathroom. Then, there was Hayden’s molten, chocolate gaze when he smiled and winked at me before he taunted Jackson into that fight.
Before I came in my pants without even being touched?
Shushing the voice in my head, my eyes strayed back to the window to watch Hayden and Declan. They were still going at it. The frustration they both held was palpable. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was if they were together, why would they look at me the way they had?
Whatever the reason, whether they were just flirts or it was something much, much more to my liking, I’d take it. I was sure it was just innocent flirting and not something more. I wasn’t the type of girl guys like that looked at for the things I wanted a man, or two, to do to me.
“Marcie, I’m sorry to take you away from your dad.”
Katie’s voice pulled me from musing any further. She and I were alone in the room now.
Oh, gosh. How embarrassing.
And rude. I didn’t even say goodbye to Evan and Jackson.
“It’s alright. He doesn’t really know I’m there. He confuses me with my mom. It’s sad.”
“Is there anything more that they can do for him?”
“No. The dementia is getting progressively worse. Everything that the home can do has been done. They’ve tried it all.”
“If there is anything I can do to help…”
I smiled at her. “Thank you, but you’ve already done so much. Working with you on this job has been a lifesaver. The increased income helped me cover his care at a better facility. There’s no way I could ever thank you for all you’ve done.”
Katie got to her feet and pulled me into a hug. When she let me go, she headed for the door, only to pause and turn back. “Marion has made up the guest rooms upstairs. I still can’t believe my dad lives in a house this size. It won’t fit everyone, but the only people staying here are those of us that Hayden’s people and Jackson’s family want protected. Most everyone else is going over to Liam’s or Walker’s houses.”
I nodded, hoping the worry at being a possible target didn’t show. I didn’t want Katie to know how upset it made me.
“I’m sorry, by the way. I can’t believe…”
“It’s not your fault, songbird. The asshole’s delusional.”
Katie and I turned toward the voice. One of the men who came in with Hayden earlier stood in the doorway. I knew Conrad had introduced him, but I couldn’t remember his name.
“Thanks, Priest. I appreciate it, but…”
“No. No buts, Katie. You didn’t invite or encourage it, and you damn sure don’t deserve it. Remember that.”
He turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, “Jackson is looking for you by the way.”
“He’s a good egg.”
Katie cracked up, and I shrugged.
“Will you be able to stay for a bit?”
“Absolutely. Gavin can take care of himself.”
“How is Gavin?”
“Gavin’s Gavin. He will never change.”
When she walked away, I headed upstairs to call my best friend. Once in the room with the door closed, I checked his schedule and heaved a sigh when I realized he could talk.
I dialed his number, the phone ringing in my ear.
“Hey, squirt!”
“Hey.”
“Oh. That’s not like my bubbly bestie. What’s wrong?”
“Have you ever gotten off without help?”
A chorus of chortling behind him made me groan. “Please tell me you didn’t answer your phone in the locker room on speakerphone with the whole hockey team present?”
A long pause, followed by a shhing sound, came from him before he said, “I didn’t have you on speakerphone in the locker room with the whole team present.”
‘Hey Marcie!’ filled the breaks in the din of laughter in the background.
“So, just part of the team?”
“Well, Donetti and Swartz are in with the trainers, and a bunch of the guys are still in the showers.”
I groaned and smacked myself in the face.
“I’m moving. That’s all there is to it.”
“Awww, Marcie, there’s no need to run away. We won’t tell anyone about your spontaneous orgasms!”
“Machivelli, give me back my fucking phone.”
I added ‘moving to the moon’ to this week’s to-do list because there was no way I would set foot back in Nashville, or anywhere else I would run into someone from the Nighthawks.
“Sorry, squirt. Let me get to the car, and I’ll call you back.”
The phone disconnected, and I rolled over, burying my face in the pillows to muffle my screams. I was still impersonating an ostrich when the phone rang. I answered it and muttered, “Hello,” without moving.
The sound of his car starting filled the air before he said, “I’m sorry, Marcie.”
He sounded contrite, but that didn’t change a thing.
“I’m going to kill you when I get back to Nashville.”
He chuckled. “I’ll be sure to hide the knives.”
“I hate you.”
I didn’t, not really. Well, I did at the moment, but he was my closest friend. My only friend, other than Katie, and I worked for her. I guess I worked for Gavin, too, but… God, I had no life.
“I know. I love you too. Now, what’s this about getting off without help?”
I groaned and buried my face in the pillows again.
“I had an orgasm in the middle of a roomful of people.”
“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t catch that.”
The jerk. He heard me. I know he did.
“I’m not repeating it. You heard me, and if you didn’t, that’s on you.”
“Why were you touching yourself…”
“Gavin! It was a fantasy. A very vivid fantasy. I was not touching myself in front of people.”
“Damn. It’s been a while since I had a fantasy that good.”
“So, it’s happened to you?” I asked, hopeful I wasn’t the only one.
“Yeah.” I sighed only to groan when he continued, “When I was a teenage boy and a breezy day could make me hard.”
“Oh, my god,” I whined hard, my voice bouncing in a cry-free sob.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Well, there are these two guys.”
“Damn mama, get it.”
“I’m not getting anything. And I’m pretty sure they’re together.”
“That’s right up your alley. Depending on what they like, they might be right up my alley.”
Green tickled the edge of my vision, and I growled, “Can you please focus?”
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
“Anyway, they’re hot as the sun and the big one…”
“Wait, big how?”
“I was in the room with a bunch of Katie’s friends and family. No one was naked, so get your head out of the gutter.”
“And you had an orgasm because of a couple of hot guys? They must be the hottest fuckers ever to live.”
I groaned. “I never should have told you.”
“Probably not.” He laughed, the sound of the turn signal blending in. A moment later, he sighed, “Squirt, you never have any fun. You live your life to please and care for others. If these guys are interested, go for it.”
“I think they’re together,” I muttered.
“Doesn’t mean they’re monogamous. They could be just the right kind of non-monogamous kinky to tick off all the boxes on the Daddy checklist you have written down in that phone of yours…”
My eyes widened until they stretched at the corners, burning white hot. “Have you been going through my phone?”
Laughter filled the SUV he drove, echoing in the cavernous vehicle. “Nope, but you just admitted you have such a list.”
“I hate you. You are the absolute worst.”
“Love you, too, squirt. But to finish my thought, they could be what you dream of.”
“You should see them, Gavin, there’s no way…”
“You shut the fuck up with the body shaming shit. I’ve told you a million times you’re beautiful and sexy.”
“You’re…”
“Yes, I’m queer as a three dollar bill, but I can still look at a woman and see she’s sexy. It might not be my brand of sexy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not right. And to prove the point, there are plenty of guys on the team who beg for your number and a setup for me to know the straight guys think you’re hotter than shoe leather on a summer’s day.”
“Yeah. I’m not interested in a hockey player.”
“There are a few on the team who give off some hot and heavy Daddy vibes.”
His words teased, but I wanted someone who’d be around when I needed them and not halfway across the country.
“Okay, squirt. I’m home. I need to get some food in me before I keel over. I love you. You’re beautiful, sexy, sassy, and smart as fuck. Any man, or Daddy, would be lucky to have you.”
“Love you,” I whispered as he hung up.
I sat quietly with his words, trying to work them around so they fit in my head. I had the hardest time loving myself. The world targets the minds of young women, making anyone who doesn’t look like the models on the runways and in magazines question their attractiveness. Gavin had told me so many, many times that I was attractive. The men I played with at the club I belonged to made me feel that way, but no one seemed interested in more than one-off playtime. Which is why I had a hard time believing that Hayden and Declan, who both had given me looks that led me to believe they were interested, were genuinely interested.
There was also the fact that I sincerely believed they were together.
They were both so big and muscular. The idea of them together made my nipples pebble and my clit throb. Stifling a moan, I let my fingers drift to the areas taking interest in the two men. Areas I wanted them to touch and kiss, but I settled for taking care of things on my own.
One hand pinched and pulled at my nipple as the other drew circles around my clit, before sliding through the wet folds to my hole. I loved the way I felt and how easily I could bring myself to the brink. I plunged my fingers in and out as I twisted first one nipple, then the other. The closer I got, the more I focused on the bundle of nerves that sent electricity through me as if I’d just touched a live wire.
Closer and closer, I crept to the peak. My eyes fell shut, and Hayden and Declan were there, in my mind, naked and locked together in a sensual embrace. Their lips mashed together as they kissed, a glimpse of tongue flashing every so often. Declan dropped to his knees and pulled out Hayden’s dick and I lost it, coming so hard the top of my head felt like the mind-blown emoji. Biting down on my lip, I gasped, clenching my teeth to keep from screaming the house down.
My walls clamped down on my fingers, fluttering around them as the orgasm continued, leaving me limp and depleted.
Good grief, I’m hard up. The two best orgasms I’ve ever had were both about fantasy men.
The sound of Declan’s raised voice drifted in through the window I hadn’t realized was open.
Definitely not fantasy.
I just hoped the non-fantasy men who starred in my fantasies hadn’t heard me get off.