“Amy, fucking Christ!”
“That’s not my name.” I’m drunk and pouty, and I almost wish something bad would happen to me. That would show him.
Just then, the guy I dropped a fifty on steps out right in front of me. “I take it back!” I scream, and my phone hits the pavement.
The greasy, mop-headed man’s brow lines and he seems confused. “I figured you made a mistake.” He holds the large bill out to me. “Did you mean to give me something smaller?”
I’m not sure if this is a test or if I’m going crazy. “N-No. I mean... I don’t know. Just keep it.”
Tears flood my eyes again, and I can’t tell if I’m terrified or heartbroken or some mixture of both. He reaches for my arm, and I almost fall in my effort to get away.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “You seem like you’re not okay.”
A screech of tires, and my foggy brain registers Marcus’s voice yelling my name. Next thing I know, he’s throwing the beggar back against the wall. Their voices are raised and the man keeps holding up the money insisting he wanted to give it back.
I lean down to pick up my phone. Miraculously it’s not broken, then I collapse against the wall of a shop, waiting for what’s to come. Finally, Marcus seems to relent. He releases the man and the exchange words before the guy shuffles away.
His hands are on his hips, and he’s breathing hard when he turns to face me, fire blazing in his eyes. I can’t help it. I love the way he looks at me. I love how protective he is. My chest aches for him.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” His eyes flash.
My chin drops. “I was going to call a car...” I can’t talk anymore. I’m too weak and spent.
As if he can sense it, he steps forward, pulling me to his chest and wrapping me in his arms. It takes every ounce of strength I possess not to break down completely. Still, I know he feels me trembling.
“Stop now,” he soothes. “You’re okay.”
His hand is at the back of my head, fingers threading in my hair, and I want to bury my face in his neck and never stop breathing his crisp linen scent.
“Come on.” He leads me to his waiting Audi, opening the door, and helping me inside.
It’s been weeks since I sat in this seat, that night we went to Paul and Kitty’s. It seems so long ago, but it wasn’t. He’s in the driver’s seat, steering us toward Sylvia’s condo.
“What were you doing walking home alone? I thought you were at the bar with your friend.” His eyes never leave the road, and his jaw is tight. I watch the lights flicker across his stony expression.
I don’t answer him. I can’t. We pass through a few traffic signals, and I see Mom’s building rising ahead of us. “This is my stop.”
Exhaling a frustrated noise, he pulls into a parallel space. “I’ll walk you up.”
“That’s not necessary.” I pull the handle and step out of his car.
Slamming the door, I’m headed fast for the glass doors of the front entrance, where a doorman stands looking out. In a swirl of heat, Marcus is at my side, catching my arm.
“Don’t make me put you over my shoulder.” His stern tone fills my mind with this weekend, and like Pavlov’s fucking dog, my mouth waters. Fight that.
My brain is slowly emerging from the fog of too much alcohol, and I find my fight. “Shouldn’t you be with Paige?”
Anger lines his handsome face, and his eyes move from my mouth to my eyes in a slow sweep, feeling almost as good as the kiss I know he wants to give me.
“I told her I needed to check on a friend.”
“So I’m a friend now.” I try to push past, to go inside, but he grabs my arm and jerks me back. We’re in the shadows, my back against the wall.
He leans in close, and the heat of his body clouds my brain. “You know you’re more than that.”
His words flip my stomach. I’m so messed up. I asked him for space, and he gave it to me. I wanted him, and he’s here in front of me. Only, he was with someone else tonight. Is it cheating if he was mine first? Mine? Did I actually think that word?
“Oh, god.” I sigh, turning away from his confusing heat. “You humiliated me in front of Karen.”