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Yes. He ran when one of the Force members on patrol spotted him. He didn’t run fast enough. Marshall claims he was hanging near her house because he worries she’ll be targeted.
I’d say it’s suspicious that he ran, but it’s not for Marshall. The man was so used to being in trouble that he fled on instinct these days. Do you believe him?
I do. Although, really, I don’t think he’s as concerned for Sera as he is for their son. She won’t allow Marshall to stay at the house until the killer’s been apprehended, so he apparently decided he’d instead monitor the place from outside. I’ll be taking a dip into his mind to ensure his story checks out. I would rather Dez didn’t hear of this through the grapevine, so fill him in on what happened.
Levi flipped back the coverlet. Will do.
He could simply call the Force member, but Levi decided to instead speak with him face-to-face. It gave him something to do.
Opening the front door to his apartment, he nodded at both Dez and Enzo, who were on guard duty.
“Everything okay?” asked Dez.
“That depends,” said Levi. “Marshall was found hanging around Sera’s house tonight. He ran when a Force member came upon him but was subsequently caught.”
Enzo sighed at Dez. “I told you he wouldn’t listen to us. The man never does.”
Grunting, Dez scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Marshall said he planned on keeping a very close watch on Sera and their boy,” Enzo told Levi. “Given that she wouldn’t react well—and what woman would be cool with a cheating ex lurking outside her home?—we recommended that he didn’t. We assured him that all single mothers were being monitored.”
“Does Knox think my brother’s the one who killed Diem and Emma?” Dez asked.
“Not at present,” Levi replied. “Knox will know for sure once he reads his mind.”
Dez rubbed the back of his neck. “I know it looks bad that he fled, but my brother’s not a killer. Yeah, I know Marshall’s no angel. But neither was Enzo, once upon a time.”
True. When it came to punishments, they only had a temporary effect on Marshall. Still, he was nowhere near as wild and rebellious as he was years ago.
“Knox’s walk through Marshall’s mind will hopefully confirm that he’s innocent,” said Levi, feeling pretty certain that would be the case. Petty crimes were the man’s style, not cold-blooded murders. And, given Marshall wasn’t alive when Moira was murdered, he would only be guilty of the recent killings if he was a copycat. Levi could see no reason why Marshall would bother to do any such thing.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t pull a stunt like this again,” said Dez. “Really, though, I can’t say I blame him for wanting to protect his son.”
Neither could Levi.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Piper waved to her client as he headed to the reception desk to pay for his tattoo. Removing her gloves, she let out a long sigh that came from the soul. After a further seven days of she and Levi trying to find their way as platonic anchors, her demon was about ready to scream. It hadn’t initially put up too much of a protest over the ending of the agreement, because it hadn’t expected either him or Piper to hold out for more than a day or two. But they had, and so the entity was unbearably frustrated right now.
Hell, so was Piper.
It shouldn’t be this hard to go back to the way things were in the beginning. She wasn’t a person who struggled to walk away from a relationship that had no future, so ending what had been nothing more than a simple arrangement should be easy. It wasn’t. And fuck if she didn’t miss him.
She still had him in her life, of course, but it wasn’t the same. She’d lost pieces of him. Lost the easiness they’d once had.
More, she’d gotten used to waking up to the warmth of his body or to the touch of his hands and mouth. She’d gotten used to spending her nights with him as they’d settled together in bed—sometimes sleeping, sometimes talking, sometimes watching TV.
She’d also gotten used to coming hard on a daily basis, so her libido was kind of like what the fuck is happening here?
And then there was that godforsaken awkwardness. It often dissipated after they spent several hours together. But each time they first reunited—whether it be of a morning, or when he collected her from work, or whenever he came back to his apartment after venturing out for some reason—the strange vibe returned. And it hadn’t begun to ease in intensity yet.
It would eventually, though. Piper believed that. She had to. The alternative? This crap came between her and Levi little by little. The truth was … it was already starting to.
She now didn’t like how much time they spent together. She didn’t like or feel comfortable living in his home. She didn’t want him touching her in even the most casual sense, because it always reminded her of how he used to touch her. Thankfully, it was rare that he even so much as brushed his arm against hers as they walked.
