Claiming Marcus (Lords of Discord 1)

Clearing his throat, Marcus violently shoved that line of thought away. He was not touching Ethan. Never touching in any way beyond shaking his hand. There was nothing. He was simply making his employee feel welcome and safe as he worked.

Marcus was going to tap the image of his favorite Mediterranean restaurant, but just as his fingertip hit the screen, a text notification from Rafe popped up. The screen went black for a second as the phone changed from the food delivery app to the messaging program.

Rafe had sent a quick message of:

The ONLY way to start the day.

And attached was a picture of him naked in bed. Only he wasn’t alone. Of course Rafe wasn’t alone. On his left was a naked woman on her side, lying pressed against his brother. And on his right was an equally naked man stretched out on his stomach. One ass cheek even looked like it had a bite mark—without fangs. Rafe, in the center, was looking thoroughly debauched and smug, as if the bastard could sense that he was sending the image at just the worst moment.

“Whoa,” Ethan breathed softly, snapping Marcus from his frozen horror.

“Fuck,” Marcus snarled, trying like hell to get the image off his phone and return to the damn ordering app. He tried tapping away from it, but as soon as he’d make progress, one of his other brothers would respond and Marcus would hit it, sending him right to the message program and that picture.

Ethan wrapped his fingers around Marcus’s wrist and Marcus froze. “Look. No judgment. I swear.”

“No, this isn’t me,” Marcus said quickly. “This is my damn brother.”

“Really? Which one?”

For a moment, he thought Ethan was asking which brother had sent the text, but Ethan didn’t know about his brothers. Marcus looked over to see that Ethan’s head was cocked slightly to the side as he stared at Marcus’s phone. Marcus glanced down again to find that the fucking picture was once again on the screen followed by a couple of texts going back and forth between Winter and Rafe. Naturally, Winter was egging Rafe on.

“Totally the one in the middle. I can see the family resemblance,” Ethan continued.

Marcus’s mouth fell opened and he watched as Ethan’s face turned bright red. He could actually see the moment when Ethan realized what he was saying.

“Oh God,” Ethan whispered in a pained voice.

Marcus laughed so hard he dropped on his ass. Ethan snorted once and started laughing as well, falling onto his back and rolling to his side so that he was nearly in the fetal position.

It took more than a minute for them to catch their breaths. Marcus looked over at Ethan to find him reclining on his hip while propping himself on his elbow. He grinned broadly at Marcus, a beautiful flush painting his cheeks. His hair was a little wild and disheveled, but his vibrant glow threatened to steal Marcus’s breath away.

Deep down, he knew he should never have come looking for Ethan. Should never have stepped into the room. Nothing good waited in a future that included Ethan, but he still couldn’t force himself to climb to his feet and walk away. He was happy. Happy for the first time in too long.

An impish smile rose on Ethan’s lips and Marcus had to ask.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m suddenly wondering if you or your brother is the serious one.”

Marcus snorted and slowly pushed to his feet. “I am. Though Bel comes in a very close second most of the time.” Standing over Ethan, he held out his hand, offering to help Ethan to his feet. “I think we both need a drink before we try again to order food.”

Ethan placed his hand in his, and Marcus tried not to react to the tingle of electricity that sizzled along his palm at his touch. It happened whenever he clasped Ethan’s hand. It was like a circuit was suddenly being connected, and the energy flowed freely between them.

“Are you sure my boss won’t mind?” Ethan teased as soon as he released Marcus’s hand.

“I think your boss is praying you don’t sue him right now.”

Ethan chuckled. “I don’t think either of us would come out smelling like a rose in that lawsuit, so let’s just call it even.”

Marcus led the way to the library, where he had several bottles of very good whiskey, scotch, and other liquors to help smooth over the memory of Rafe’s ill-timed text. With a couple of shots in them, they managed to pull up the food delivery app again and decide on some food without any more unfortunate texts popping up.

“How many brothers do you have?” Ethan asked as they moved into the kitchen to get what they’d need before the food arrived. “You mentioned someone called Belle, but I’m assuming you didn’t mean the person in the photo.”