Chapter 26 #2
“No more. You’re going to turn into a fucking marijuana leaf soon. No point being sober if you’re just going to smoke pot all the damn time. You’re close to me chaining you up somewhere to detox you again,” Hunter bit out, making Marco roll his eyes.
“I’m fine. You’re the one that needs rehab. She kissed your neck and you almost fucked her in front of everyone.”
“Eat shit.”
“I’d rather not,” he grinned, nudging Tyler. “You’ll let me eat your girl for dinner, right?”
“And breakfast, if you ask nicely,” Tyler joked, earning a sharp swat from me. “I was kidding! Sort of.”
“I think you should just come back to the house tonight,” Caden muttered, and Marco snorted.
“Bad idea. If your mom sees those bruises, cops will be all over it. Your mom cares, and I’m glad she does, but it makes things hard for the rest of us. You guys are known associates of ours now, so they’d start nosing into our business.”
“Why should we care about that?” Caden asked dryly.
“Because if they start digging into our business, they’ll start finding things about Aurora that will get her in trouble. She’s my new murder sidekick,” he said brightly, his arm coming around me as he smacked a kiss on my cheek. “Right, babe?”
I made a strangling motion with my hands and Tyler winced.
“Too soon to make strangling jokes.”
“You’re still on the clock,” Hunter reminded him, turning as a girl called out to him as she approached. She was pretty, her body covered in tattoos and a leather mini dress on with insane heels.
She stopped beside him, her eyes finding Marco beside me. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“I’m surprised the boss let you off for the night,” Marco chuckled, making her shrug.
“Violet’s training a newbie and gave her center stage tonight. She’s doing pretty good,” she answered, flicking her eyes to me before looking back at him. “Did you want company tonight?”
I didn’t mean to tense, but I did. She had no idea who I was, but it was obvious she was trying to brush me off and thought she held some kind of possession over Marco.
“Sorry, babe. I have my hands full tonight. Ocean, Rory. Rory, Ocean,” he introduced us, Ocean’s entire attitude changing towards me in an instant.
“Oh, you’re Rory? Lexi talks highly about you,” she smiled.
“You’re friends with Lexi?” I asked, and Marco chuckled.
“Ocean’s a stripper at Wet Dreams.”
Ocean giggled like it was funny, and I realized girls really did trip over their feet for a piece of Marco. He was hot, sure, but I wasn’t going to fake giggle at him to get his attention.
“One you regularly pay, I bet,” I muttered, making Ocean huff.
“He’s a tight-ass. He only likes to fuck me off the clock.”
I rolled my eyes, not really wanting to picture them in bed together.
“If you’re happy to stick around until late, you can keep me company,” Faris offered, Ocean moving towards him with a smile.
“I’d like that.”
We stuck around for a few more hours, Tyler almost passed out as he made it his mission to drink the damn house dry, and Marco sighed as he helped me carry him out to his car.
“There goes the three-way I was hoping for,” he stated, earning a dirty look from Caden.
“Keep dreaming.”
“Hey, I probably have a better chance than you, asshole,” Marco scoffed, and I opened the back door so Marco could put Tyler inside, buckling him in. I motioned for them to stop arguing, my throat really hurting and telling me I’d overdone it tonight.
“Don’t take advantage of her. She’s drunk too,” Caden bit out defensively, and I groaned.
“Mind your own business. I’m fine.” That just made me cough, and Marco huffed.
“Seriously, shut up. You’re icing your throat when we get back to mine.”
Caden looked unsure about letting us leave with Marco, but he didn’t argue when I climbed into the passenger seat and buckled myself in. I was definitely not sober, but I wasn’t stumbling or anything. Not like Tyler.
Caden went back inside to Hunter, and Marco got behind the wheel and started driving towards Mount Mercer, the hum of the car putting me to sleep.
I didn’t wake up until someone lifted me, my eyes flying open in a panic.
Was someone in my cell?
“Whoa, sorry. I was trying not to wake you,” Marco murmured, pushing the car door shut with his foot as he cradled me to his chest more. Tyler wasn’t in the back seat, and that made the panic worse.
“Where’s—”
“I helped his drunk ass inside already. He’s passed out in bed,” he chuckled, the living room light almost blinding me as he carried me inside to the couch. “You stay there. You need water, ibuprofen, and ice.”
I yawned but nodded as he placed me down and took my shoes off for me, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around me before he vanished into the kitchen. Diesel’s jacket was draped over the back of the couch already, so he must have brought that in when he helped Tyler inside.
I was falling asleep again when he returned, sitting beside me and pressing the pills to my lips.
“Here. Open.” I did as I was told, the glass of water appearing at my lips next as he made me take a sip to swallow them.
The cool water felt good on my throat, so I took a few more sips before humoring him and lying down, placing my head on his lap as he put the ice packs on my throat.
My eyes fluttered closed, and we didn’t talk as his fingers toyed with my hair. When I shivered slightly from the ice, he reached out to pull the blanket over me more, his arm draping across my stomach as if that would warm me up.
“You hungry?” he asked after a while, and I shook my head. “You want to go to bed then? It’s almost two in the morning.”
I didn’t want to move, but I’d wreck my neck sleeping like this, and he probably wanted to go to bed too.
He took the ice packs off and helped me sit up, chuckling as I stumbled slightly once I was on my feet. His arm slid around me to guide me to his spare bedroom where Tyler was snoring, and I crawled under the covers fully dressed.
“Babe, you can’t sleep in jeans,” Marco stated. “Don’t kick me, I’m helping.”
A grumble left me as he tugged my legs back out from under the warm blanket, a tingle racing through me as I peered at him as he unbuttoned my jeans and pulled the zipper down.
This was a damn good angle.
He was careful not to accidentally tug my panties off with them as he slid my jeans down my legs, and goosebumps broke out across my skin as he literally stared at me.
“I’ll get you a shirt,” he said quickly before leaving the room, coming back to find me exactly where he’d left me. “Shirt and bra off.”
“You just want me naked,” I said and waggled a finger at him, earning a grin.
“Trust me, if my goal was getting you naked, I’d have put you in my bed instead.” When I didn’t move, he sighed like I was annoying him before grabbing the bottom of my shirt to pull it over my head, reaching around to unclasp my bra next.
He was so close, my fingers slipping up the front of his shirt to feel his skin. Why was he so warm? I was freezing.