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Bo and Rosco show up at the police station during our interview with the FBI. They give us a report on all the evidence they’ve found in Atlanta. When the meeting ends, Daisy offers to have me come stay with her in Jacksonville in an effort to keepme safe, but Luke declines. I wonder if he’s making the right decision. I don’t want to cause Daisy any more problems, but as long as I’m with him, he’s at risk, too. Anyone I’m around will be in danger.Can I stay with him? Allow him and his brothers to take on this risk for me?
LUKE
Marley has been very quiet and contemplative since we’ve returned home from the police station. I wonder what’s going in her beautiful head, but she isn’t sharing. I want to ask, and maybe I should, but then I think she needs time to process everything we learned this morning. I’m trusting she’ll come to me when she’s ready to talk about it, but the waiting is difficult.
Daisy and Ace left for Jacksonville after the meeting at the police station with the FBI. Bo, Rosco, and Enos along with Kelvin and Dalton followed us home. I have mixed feelings about them being here. On one hand, I’m glad they’re here to keep watch in case some of those men’s associates decide to come after Marley, but on the other hand, I want to be alone with my woman, to comfort her after everything she’s been through in the last twenty-four hours.
“Luke?” Marley calls my name as she approaches. I give her a tentative smile, wondering what’s on her mind again for the hundredth time. “I…I’m going to lay down for a while.” I nod, getting the feeling she wants to be alone but wondering if that’s such a good idea. She’s been through so much, and it kills me that Ididn’t prevent it. She turns away heading for the stairs, and I follow.
“Marley?” I call to her. She stops but doesn’t turn around. “Are you okay? Do you want me to come with you, or do you prefer to be alone?” She doesn’t respond. She just stands there with her back to me for so long I’m not sure what to do. Suddenly she spins around, tears streaming down her bruised and battered face.
“I can’t stay here,” she sobs, and my heart stops. She’s realized I can’t protect her. She’s going to leave me. I stare at her in shock. I don’t know what to say or do. I’m frozen with fear. “You and everyone around me is in danger as long as I’m here.” Her voice is broken in her grief and her fear.
“Baby.” I reach for her. “You absolutely need to stay here where we can keep you safe.” She backs away from me as I reach to take her hand. “Marley, I know I messed up. I let you get taken and hurt. I’m so sorry about that, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I won’t let it happen again. Please, baby I promise we will keep you safe from now on. You can’t leave me. I can’t live without you, not anymore.”
“Luke, you’re at risk if I’m here,” Marley whispers. “They’re going to keep coming for me, and anyone around me will be a target. I love you. I can’t allow you or your family to be hurt because of me.” I begin to protest, but she shakes her head. “I’ve been thinking about this all the way home. The only way to protect everyone is for me to leave. I’ll have to move somewhere far from here. I’ll change my hair. You surely know someone who can get me a new identity, right?” My world is shattering right in front of me.
“Marley stop talking nonsense,” Dalton scolds sternly, strolling into the hall with us. “You wouldn’t last a day on the run. You’d be exposed to those crazy fuckers. They’d snatch you up, and then we’d be having to hunt them down to get you back,again. Luke will go insane the minute you walk out thedoor and we both know it. You won’t be protecting him by leaving. You’ll be ensuring he is in even more danger, because he’ll burning the world down to get you back. Now let’s channel your fear into something productive, like planning how we are going to keep you safe?” I want to be upset with Dalton over the tone he’s used with her, but everything he said is true and I’m hoping she’ll listen to him, even if she isn’t willing to listen to me.
Marley glares at us. Her lips pinched into a thin line. Her eyebrows are lowered, tears still trailing down her face. Her teeth are clenched. I can see a muscle working in her jaw. I want so much to make it all go away, but she has to be willing to trust us, to know that her fears for me and those around us are unfounded. My brothers and I will defend and protect her, no matter the cost.
“You think I’m weak,” she states, “that I can’t survive without all of you.” I’m not sure how to answer that without setting off a powder keg of explosives. Luckily, I don’t have to say a word. It seems Dalton has decided he’s taking lead on this situation.
“Marley, you’re being childish,” Dalton reprimands but in a softer tone than he used before. “This has nothing to do with you being weak. It has to do with knowledge. I know you’ve taken care of yourself up to this point, but everyone needs help from time to time. This is something you’re aren’t used to dealing with. Hell, most Americans aren’t used to dealing with these types of individuals. All of us with the exception of Luke, have been overseas. We’ve dealt first hand with these type men and how they think and operate. We are the best equipped to keep you and everyone else safe.” Marley looks down. I can tell she’s thinking over everything he has said. “You’re in love with Luke, right?” Her head comes up at his question, but her eyes land on me.
“Yes,” she answers, immediately, unwavering. My love for her swells within me. I know she’s afraid, worried, and likelyannoyed with our domineering behavior, but she isn’t afraid to admit her love for me.
“It’s settled then,” Dalton declares. “You’re going to let us handle this, and you aren’t going to do something stupid like you did that first morning you were here and take off down the street in broad daylight.” Dalton smirks at her, which earns him a scowl in return, but he just chuckles, turning and leaving us alone. Marley’s tense posture falls as she glares at his retreating back. She turns to me then her face softening even more as she looks at me.
“Baby.” I hold out my hand inviting her to come sit in my lap. She complies, to my relief. She buries her face in my neck as I hold her to me, tightly. I love this woman. I can’t let her go, nor can I allow something bad to happen to her. I will keep her safe from now on. “I love you, Marley. Please, let me and my men take care of this for you. It’s your choice. I won’t force anything on you even though I want to with everything in me.” She mumbles into my neck, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. “What, baby?” She raises her head with tear filled eyes.
“I might be foolish and stubborn, but I know that Dalton is right.” she sighs. “I love you, Luke, more than I ever dreamed I could love someone. I can’t stand the thoughts of something happening to you. I…I just wish all of this wasn’t happening.” A single tear rolls down her right cheek. I kiss her cheek, licking the salty tear from her skin.
“I know, baby,” I murmur against her skin. I pull back to look at her. “I wish it wasn’t either, but it is, and I promise I’m going to keep you and myself safe. Don’t be worrying about me or my brothers. We know who we are dealing with, now, and we know how to handle them.”
“But Luke,” she protests. “Even the FBI hasn’t been able to take these guys down. How can you think you and your company can do it?” I grin at her.
“Because we don’t play by the rules, baby. We don’t have todeal with all the red tape the government does. Don’t get me wrong, we won’t do anything illegal that isn’t absolutely necessary, but we won’t be held back by the same standards a government agency has to follow.” Marley frowns at me.
“Don’t get yourself thrown in prison.” She pouts. “I don’t want the rest of our lives to be a string of conjugal visits.” I laugh out loud at this, which earns me a swat on the arm. I kiss her pouting lips before replying.
“Trust me, baby. I don’t want that either. I promise we’ll make sure no one except the bad guys go to prison.” That seems to satisfy her, for the time being anyway. She lays her head on my shoulder with a sigh.
“I know you probably have million things to do,” she begins, “but will you come lay down with me for a bit? I just need you to hold me.” I tighten my arms around her, loving how good she feels in my arms.
“Yes, baby,” I answer. “There’s nowhere else I want to be than holding you.” I kiss the top of her head before turning my chair around to wheel us to the lift. I take us up to my room and get Marley settled in bed. I pull out my phone and text Bo letting him know I’m taking the day off. He’s in charge of letting the office know I won’t be available for the rest of the day. I ask him to be working on getting a plan in place for when Marley’s next shift at Jay’s will be and continue the hunt to find out every scrap of evidence he can on this organization.
Bo has brought back a lot of information they’d recovered from a warehouse in Atlanta. We will need to comb through every bit of it to find out if anyone else is coming after Marley. I should be helping with the investigation, but my woman needs me. It’ll have to wait. I get into bed with her and pull her to me. She rests her head on my chest with her left arm draped over my middle. We lay this way for a long time, just enjoying the feel of being together. I won’t ever tire of holding her. She feels so right,so perfect for me. A sigh escapes her, but it doesn’t sound like a contented one.
“I keep seeing it over and over in my mind,” she whispers softly. I wonder what she’s talking about. “I can feel the blood hitting my face.” She shivers, so I pull her closer wanting to take it all away, but knowing I can’t help her to unsee what she saw when my sister killed those men. “I should feel bad that those men are dead, but I don’t. I can’t feel an ounce of empathy for them. Does that make me a bad person?” I can hear the anxiety in her voice. I want to erase her fears and concerns.
“No, baby,” I assure her, kissing her temple. “It doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human. I’m glad they’re dead too. I know those two men will never be able to harm you ever again. At the end of the day, that’s what’s important to me.” She sighs.
“Will it ever get easier?” she asks, lifting her head to look at me. “I feel anxious all the time. I can’t relax. I keep seeing those men when I close my eyes. I see Daisy dropping like a rock, thinking she is dead. I can feel my kidnapper hitting me over and over. I just want to forget it ever happened, but it’s always there.” My heart hurts for her. I hate she’s had to endure all this and that I can’t take away her fears.
“I hope so, baby, but I honestly don’t know,” I confess. “What you saw and experienced is something no one should ever have to deal with. At the very least, it’s going to take time, but how long, I’m not sure. I don’t know how to help you with this, baby. My brothers, Kelvin, Dalton, even Daisy have all been in combat. They’ve dealt with things like this. Perhaps you should talk to one of them or consider seeing a therapist.”
“I’ll consider it,” Marley agrees, “if things don’t get better. Right now, I just want you to hold me.” She lays her head back down on my chest. Her body shakes with silent tears. I let my hand stroke her hair and down her back absently as I hold her. We lay here for a long while. Eventually her breaths even out, sleep finally taking her. I can’t find sleep, however, as I recalleverything she’s told me. I really hope Bo and the others will find something to help us eliminate the threat against her. When I’m sure she’s sleeping deeply, I grab my phone and text Bo.
