Chapter Five
“How is this thing even alive?” Dame touched one of the shriveled-up leaves and the dry thing fell off of Veronica, her pitiful money tree.
“Don’t touch her. She’s fragile.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s really bad luck to kill a money tree.”
“Oh, you know what Veronica is?” she asked, peeking out from the bathroom. She’d just cleaned the marks on her arm and was putting gauze on it now to keep it clean. She wanted this one to heal prettier than the jagged one Stellan had made.
Good Lord today had turned out weird. Oh, just cleaning her tiger mark from a man who fucked the hell out of her twice, after they took a shower to wash off the gore from their newly injured lovemaking.
And it wasn’t even awkward. He’d washed her body like they had no first-date jitters at all.
She had never been this comfortable with anyone in her entire life. She would never forget what they had just done, and there wasn’t an ounce of regret or confusion around it.
Just a feeling of rightness.
“I’m pretty sure Veronica has root rot. You’re watering her too much. We need to cut off the rot and repot her. You don’t need bad luck, and killing this thing feels risky.”
“Two orgasms and repotting my plant. Sir, I’m going to need you to slow down before I ask you out on a second date.”
“Pretty sure sewing me up doesn’t count as a first date.”
“Potato, pototo.”
“I don’t think you used that correctly.”
She offered him a grin. “Tomato, tomoto.”
He closed his eyes and laughed. “When are you going to realize how messed up that was and freak out?”
“You mean the seven-minute bone-fest in the back of my car under a tarp in a barn?”
He licked his lips and tucked his chin to his chest, then lifted those gold eyes to her. Misty’s insides nearly melted. “You know what I mean.”
“Mmm, I want to do it again so I’m pretty sure the freak out will be delayed for a while longer.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “It was the dust mote speech that seduced you, wasn’t it?”
He laughed as he said, “Shut up,” and closed the distance between them. He gripped her hips and pulled her against him. He leaned down and kissed her lips. “You’re a fun little human.”
“Thank you,” she said, her body humming under his able touch.
She’d never done drugs, but if she had to guess, kissing Dame was probably what drugs felt like.
She’d driven him to her apartment after leaving a goodbye note for Uncle Tim. So far, he seemed to like her place. Well, other than her plants. She did try, but she didn’t have a green thumb like her uncle.
Dame’s phone vibrated on the coffee table, and he eased out of her kiss, then tossed it a look, and released her. He picked up his phone and checked the screen. He answered it fast.
“Hey. Where are you?”
There was a pause as he put a finger up, like one minute. He made his way into the kitchen and for a few moments, she thought he was getting away from her. Before she could get her feelings hurt though, he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and brought it to her.
Aww. Her heart.
“I asked you first,” he gritted out. “No. I don’t want to know. Mars, I need a favor. I need a car cleaned.”
She could barely hear the gritty voice on the other end. Mars. Marsden? His brother? The non murderous one?
“It’s the one I was in last night. I bled all over the back seat. My truck isn’t here. Can you bring me supplies and help me get it fixed up?” Dame, tensed and then sighed as he looked at the screen of the phone as it faded to black.
“He hung up?” Misty guessed.
“It’s his way. I’ll send him a location and he may show up, maybe not. He’s not exactly reliable.”
“We could ask Stellan.”
His gold eyes darted to her and all of the humor was gone.
“Joke,” she told him.
“Fuck, woman, my heart is beating out of my freaking chest, just imagining him coming here.”
“Maybe he would like me if he met me.”
“He would like you,” Dame agreed. “To eat.”
“Eek.”
She had seen Stellan’s work on Dame’s stomach, and chills rippled up her spine. Okay, it wasn’t fun to joke about him anymore. She liked survival.
“I’m going to do as much as I can. I’ll give Mars half an hour, and if he doesn’t show, we will go get the right stuff to clean it.”
“Why do we need Mars to do it?”
“He details cars for a living. He’s the best at it. He can get out any stain.”
Hmm, she would believe it when she saw it. Blood was a different beast. She was probably going to have to reupholster her car. She had plenty in savings, so it was okay. No use crying over spilled milk, as her Uncle Tim said.
“Hey, Marsden won’t tell Stellan where I live, will he?”
“Hell no. I wouldn’t invite him if I thought it was a risk. They hate each other. Marsden moved away just to get away from Stellan. They don’t talk.”
“And you’re triplets? That lack of communication seems so weird.”
“We were close as humans. Really close. Then the tigers were born right after our twenty-first birthdays and everything got messed up. The animals complicate everything,” he finished quietly. “No one signs up for this shit.”
“It seems lonely?”
“Very,” he said immediately, tossing her a serious glance.
“You can hang out with me,” she said, shrugging up her shoulders.
His face was closed off now. “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”
Uh oh. That sounded like the beginnings of a breakup speech if ever she’d heard one.
Something inside of her shrank, and she grew protective of her little heart. The joking was done, and now she couldn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t want him to go back to the shadows. She wanted him to stay in the sunrays, with the dust motes and her.
He approached her and gripped her hip with one hand, pressed a fast kiss to her forehead, and told her, “Everything will be all right.”
And as she watched him leave her apartment with whatever cleaning supplies she’d had here, she kind of wished she was a Cat, so she could hear if there was a lie in his voice or not. Would everything be all right? Would it really?
Misty made her way to the front window and looked out to see Dame jogging down the last of her apartment stairs. He made his way directly to her car, parked up front, and he opened the back door, and was partially hidden from view. Pity.
With a sigh, she made her way to the bathroom and dried and curled her hair, and by the time she made her way back to the window, there was a shiny black Ram truck pulled up behind her car and another man standing near Dame, talking to him.
They mirrored each other with their hands on their hips.
He looked similar to Dame but not identical.
Mars.
She checked herself in the mirror because she wanted to make a good first impression on his brother and then grabbed her keys and made her way down the stairs.
Marsden did a double take when he saw her. His eyes filled with sparks of fire, and they brightened from a dark brown to a bright gold. He slid an angry glare to Dame. “Are you fucking serious man?”
Dame chewed the corner of his lip and lowered his head.
“Is that who I think it is?” Mars demanded.
“H-hi,” she said, offering her hand. “I’m Misty.”
“I know who you are,” he gritted out, ignoring her hand.
“I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?”
“Yes,” Mars said at the exact same time Dame said, “No.”
“You exist,” Mars spat out. “You’re the fuckin’ Rabbit.”
“Mars,” Dame warned in a snarl.
“She doesn’t know?” he asked. He let off a cruel laugh as he paced away, running his hands through his hair. He shook his head and walked back to them. “You’re dead.”
“Enough!” Dame barked, stepping between them.
“What do you think he’s going to do when he smells her on you?” Mars asked. He tossed her a furious look, and then his eyes dropped to her arm where the bandage was.
“Mars,” Dame gritted out.
His brother stepped forward and in one smooth, blurred motion, he ripped the bandage off.
“Ow,” she yelped, and Dame grabbed him and drove him straight back into his truck with a huge bang.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch her again, do you hear me?”
Marsden’s eyes were glued to the marks on her arm as she peeled the bandage off completely. She would need a clean one.
He dragged his glare to Dame and lifted his arms in the air in surrender.
Dame shoved him and released him, then backed off.
“You marked her?” Mars asked in a shocked tone.
It was Dame’s turn to run his hand through his hair. “I messed up.”
“That’s all you’ve been doing since I got here—”
“No, you don’t get to do that. I’m allowed to make mistakes, Mars.
You owe me grace. Good God, you owe me so much grace.
I’m always on. I have to be perfect because my own fucking brother abandoned me to take care of Stellan.
And I do! And I never complain, do I? It’s hard and my whole life revolves around it, so if I want a mistake or two to slip when you’re here to help me, I think it’s fair. ”
“I’m not a mistake,” she murmured softly. She hated this conversation.
Dame cast her a glance but then focused on Mars again.
“Did she mark you back?”
“No!” Dame shook his head and said it again. “No, she didn’t.”
“What’s the move then, brother?” Marsden asked. “She’s pretty muchly yours now. You claimed the Rabbit. Of all the women in the world, you looked at the Rabbit and said that’s the one. What are you going to do about Stellan?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“How? You can’t hide her scent. You’ll wake up his tiger the second he smells her on you. You can’t carry this long-term. I give it a week and she’s dead in your arms—”
“Mars—”
“No, Dame! You killed her. You promised to protect her all this time, and you did this instead.” Mars shook his head.
“You signed her death certificate, and it’ll be a fast thing.
Stellan will have a bounty on his head within a week.
” He looked at Misty. “And you! Do you have any idea what your death will do to Dame’s tiger? Now that he’s marked you?”
She shook her head slightly, so confused. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”
His eyes flashed brighter. “I just lost both of my brothers. Because of you!”
“Oh, like you give a fuck,” Dame spat out. “You abandoned us years ago. You lost us already.”
“Chh. Give me the keys.” He strode for Misty and held his hand out.
“I said don’t touch her,” Dame growled, and slid a terrifying look over his shoulder at Mars.
Chills rippled through her entire body at the promise of death in his eyes. Oh, he had hidden this side of himself from her today. This was his dangerous side.
She was in something deeper than she realized.
Marsden stopped a few feet in front of her. “Toss me the keys so he doesn’t gut me.”
Misty looked from Mars to Dame, and then back. She tossed him the keys, and he turned without another word and got into her car. He slammed the door shut so hard, her car rocked.
Dame shook his head as he got into Marsden’s truck and moved it out of the way. Mars peeled her car out of the parking spot and sped out of the lot, heading for the main road.
Dame backed the oversized pickup into a spot like a pro and rolled down the passenger’s side window. “I need a minute,” he said somberly as she stood on her tiptoes to see him.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Do you want me to cook you something for dinner?”
“No. I have to take care of you. I’m going to pick us up food.”
Confused by the heaviness coming off him, she nodded. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I did,” he said. “I did something wrong. Mars is an asshole, but he’s right. I messed up so bad.”
“With me?” she asked in a small voice.
He looked sick and nodded. “Yes.”
His admission felt like a slap to her face.
Hurt warred with anger inside of her. She clenched her jaw and backed away from the truck.
“You don’t have to bring me food. You don’t have to take care of me.
I’m fine on my own, same as yesterday. I don’t need you or anyone else.
Thanks for the fun afternoon, but you don’t owe me anything.
You’re off the hook, Dame. Go take a shower, get my scent off you, forget I exist. I’ll do the same. ”
She turned and blinked hard against the burning in her eyes.
She didn’t turn back on her way to the stairs, and she made herself not turn around when she heard the rev of the truck engine as he sped out of the parking lot.
Stupid boys. Stupid men.
I messed up.
Did I do something wrong? Yes. You exist.
I messed up so bad.
With me?
Yes.
Misty’s lip trembled as she shoved open the door of her apartment. She closed it behind her and pressed her shoulder blades against it as a sob escaped her.
She’d just had her heart broken by Chris a few months ago, and today was the first day she’d forgotten about him. Until now. This rejection felt so familiar. She dragged air into her lungs as she slid down the door and wrapped her arms around her bent knees as tears streamed down to her cheeks.
She didn’t want to be a mistake. This shouldn’t hurt like it did, because she’d only just met Dame again, but her chest burned like there was fire inside of her.
Today had been too much.
Today had been way too much.
Dame wasn’t the only one who had made mistakes.