sure what happened next. Either I twisted the knob or Lex hit it just right with her hip or Marlin just got lucky because the door cracks open and his foot is suddenly wedged inside.
“Oh my God!” Lex jumps away from the door as if it morphed into a snake. And just like that, Marlin spills into the room clad in blue. The shiny silver badge on his chest proves that he’s the real deal. Jepson PD. Who would have thought that after all these years he and I were just a hair away from meeting up again? And, unfortunately, it wasn’t some run-of-the-mill speeding ticket that reconnected our paths. It’s the fact Lex overslept in my bed.
Marlin is basically Lex in male skin, far more aggressive, both arms riddled with tats, his biceps bulging as if silently promising me a broken nose, leg, and arm before he takes off.
His eyes ride up and down his sister in disappointment. “Go get some clothes on,” he growls as he refocuses his attention back on me. “I’m probably going to kill you,” he says it flat like a fact. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it look like an accident. No reason to embarrass either Lex or me in the situation.” A menacing smile flinches on his lips. “The only decision I need to make is whether or not I want to make it quick and painless or slow and agonizing as hell. I vote for the latter.”
He lunges at me, and I pull him in by the shirt, launching him across the room.
“Marlin—mind your weapon!” Lex shrills so loud the veins in her neck jump like livewires.
“You’re right.” He takes off his belt, dumping it along with his gun onto the coffee table before pouncing on me like a wild tiger.
This isn’t your standard Jepson PD procedure. This is fist in your face, knee up your ass personal.
He bashes my head into the wood floor like bouncing a ball. “You piece of crap!” He offers up a couple of kidney punches, and Lex screams and threatens to break a vase over his head. And instead of fighting back, I try to figure out where the hell Lex will get a vase because I’m one hundred percent certain I don’t own one. But in the truth, I don’t want to be the bad guy here. I just crawled back into Lex’s life. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Marlin boot me out. And if I fracture his skull like I’m leaning toward, it might just do that.
He lands hard over my back, his heavy breathing clotting up my ear. “I’m going to make sure you never screw another living thing again.”
I can feel his knee retract.
“That’s it.” I twist out of range and land my fist over his jaw, connecting time after time as if he were a punching bag. My foot digs into his gut, and I kick him across the floor until he butts against the sofa with an ugh expelling from him.
I’m slow to look up and meet with Lex’s beautiful eyes, half-afraid it’ll be the last time I see them.
Her fists are balled into her hips, and she’s shaking her head at me.
“It’s about time you grew a pair.” She reaches down and offers me a hand as I get up on my feet. “For a second there, I thought you were enjoying it.”
“I didn’t want to hurt your brother.” I pull her in and bury my face in her neck a moment, still struggling to catch my breath.
Marlin crawls to his feet, using the couch for support. “You didn’t hurt me.” He looks to Lex, and a thick moment of silence bounces between them. “But he will hurt you. I can’t believe you’re going back for seconds. Wasn’t once enough?” He’s speaking tenderly, the way you would a distraught soul about to take a fatal plunge. “Don’t do it, Lex. You deserve better than this. You’re special, and he has a habit of forgetting that.”
My stomach clenches. With everything in me, I know that’s not true, but I don’t want to fall into Marlin’s bear trap and have to chew my way out with a bunch of truths I’m not sure Lex is ready to believe. That’s a conversation we need to have in private. For sure not with her brother in the peanut gallery ready to refute any and everything I have to say. Nope. Not going there.
Her arm tightens around my waist. “This isn’t anything,” she