‘I thought I’d made it clear that I also find you . . . um . . . fuckable.’
‘Ah yes, and since you’re not attracted to every single hole you see, I guess I should be flattered. Something tells me you fall into the psychopath category.’
Marcus laughed for the first time that strange evening. ‘I take your point,’ he admitted.
‘Do you really like me . . . in that way?’
‘In the fuckable way? Sure. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna fuck you.’
‘Why ever not?’
‘Because it would be a trap.’
‘A trap?’
‘I can’t just fuck you and be done with it, and I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m already in one.’
‘But what if I swore to you that I’m not after any kind of relationship either? What if I just wanted to fuck you and be done with it?’
Marcus frowned. ‘Don’t make jokes like that, Penny.’
‘Who said I’m joking? Look, I’m twenty-two years old, not eight, and I’m made of flesh and blood, same as you. I’m not gonna do it behind the club, of course, but I could also use a . . . temporary and uncomplicated arrangement. So what do you think? We know each other well enough – but not too intimately. You wouldn’t be just anyone, but it wouldn’t have to be a big thing either. Somewhere in the middle.’
‘I said quit joking around, OK?’
‘The truth is you don’t like me. You’re just making excuses now.’
They had arrived home. The building stood out in the dark like a crumbling monolith. The light was out again, and Penny pulled her phone from her bag.
There were several calls from Marcus, then three from unknown numbers and as many texts. She read them by the door while Marcus paced up and down, chain-smoking like a madman.
The texts were from Igor.
How had he got her number?
Are you OK, Penny? Did you get home safe? It’s me, Igor.
Please, I’m worried about you. You were so upset.
If Marcus pisses you off one day, please reach out to me.
‘Look, you see? If you’re going to act like some precious virgin princess, I’ll go console myself with Igor.’
She held up her phone to show Marcus the messages. He didn’t look at them; he didn’t look at anything but her eyes. He threw his cigarette in a dramatic arc and it plopped into a distant puddle with a faint hiss. Then he grabbed Penny by the wrist and, with his face menacingly close to hers, said to her, ‘No one has ever called me a “virgin princess”. You win. Come on, I’ll show you what kind of princess I am.’
They’d been in the attic for ten minutes and Penny’s heart was in danger of choking her. Marcus had taken off his sweater and shoes and was walking around the apartment half-naked. In the dim light, his tattoos looked like dark warning signs. He was no longer wearing his leather necklace, and when he turned his back to her, Penny noticed another Maori stingray, this one larger than the one on his chest, spreading its wings all the way down to the base of his spine. She watched him, hypnotised; his every movement seemed to bring life to the markings on his beautiful bronze skin.
‘D’you want a coffee?’ he asked as he fumbled with an old coffee maker. ‘I do. I’m going to need a lot of energy tonight.’
Penny answered with a silent nod. She had followed suit and taken off his long coat and her shoes, but then had remained standing in the middle of the room like an empty hanger.
‘Make yourself comfortable,’ Marcus said. His tone was ironic and his eyes gleamed like a raptor’s in the dark.
‘I’ll make myself comfortable as and when I feel like it,’ Penny answered crossly.
I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to bait me. You think I won’t have the guts to go through with this madness – you’re trying to scare me out of it – but I’m not going to chicken out. And besides, the one thing you don’t know is that I love you.
That private confession had somehow appeared in her general thoughts, swift as a pistol shot.
I love you.
When had it happened? How and why? Penny didn’t know, but she knew it was real all right. It was the first time she had admitted it to herself. It was a whole new feeling, fizzily lightweight but terrifying, starting from that one little organ in her chest, pumping blood and love and longing to every