Page 28 of Marcus-stiltskin

“You don’t think Lugh would have dragged me out by now?”

“He’s your brother. He’s got three kids and a wife. His hands are full.”

“So are yours.”

“It’s not–” He leans forward, his lips barely inches from mine as I hold my breath, not sure what to expect next. “Can you please just let me worry about you? I want more than just a–”

“Than just a what?”

He says nothing for a moment. I hold my breath as my heart pounds, not sure what to expect next. He closes his eyes.

I want to scream in frustration as the silence stretches out for what seems like forever. Freddie K. appears out of nowhere and presses against my leg. The emotions threatening to boil over settle and cool inside my gut instead of boiling over and exploding. I look down at the dog. He looks back at me calmly with his one good eye before loudly grooming himself.

Marcus looks down at the dog and sighs. “You’ve got excellent timing, dog.”

If you only knew, I think.

I take a deep breath. “Whatever you’re hoping for, Marcus, this can’t be a thing if you’re not ready to accept me as I am. That includes my job. I know from experience, that you can’t just say you accept it without really meaning it. It never works. I get it. As a man, it’s probably a hard thing to accept, but I’m not changing my whole life for someone else. I’ve done that too many times and been burned every single one.”

“I’m not expecting you to change your whole life, Sarah–” Marcus starts.

It definitely sounds like a “but” is coming, but before he says it, a Dvergar man steps into the bay and clears his throat, cutting Marcus off mid-sentence.

Marcus’s attention turns to the man for a moment, and I seize the opportunity to slide out from under his arms.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I tell him, taking my voice down a notch. We haven’t been shouting, but our voices haven’t exactly been quiet, either. I’m sure the gray Dvergar man who is looking anywhere but at us heard everything we said. I turn and leave before he can say anything else. I slip out the front door so he can’t watch me go, Freddie K. on my heels. I still have baby witch school tonight, so it will be nice to nap and not think about how confusing Marcus Jones is.

On the front porch, I pick up Freddie K. and give him a big squeeze. “Be good for Marcus,” I tell him. What kind of picture that conjures in his mind, I can’t begin to fathom, but he seems to understand. He scratches at the door I just shut. I open it for him and let him walk back inside before I turn heel and walk home.

Chapter Eleven

In Which We Learn That It Was Really That Bad

“Is our hot new neighbor wearing you out?” Ella teases as I throw myself down on the ancient recliner. I haven’t had a second to tell them any of the things that have been going on lately with Marcus. I’m tempted to ask how she knows where I’ve been, but Ella knows everything.

“I wish. He’s being infuriating and… confusing. I don’t know–”

“Don’t even waste your time,” Shania advises. “If he’s confusing, he’s not interested.”

“Yeah, I know …it’s just…”

Shania shakes her head. “No, justs. He’s. Not. Interested. The right man will not make you wonder.”

“It’s complicated,” I insist, knowing she’s right. “I’ve known him since I was a kid. He’s one of Lugh’s oldest friends.”

Ella claps her hands together. “My favorite book trope–older brother’s best friend or best friend’s older brother. Both are hot.”

“Both are weird,” Shania says. “You’re going to tell me they write whole books about people not noticing how hot someone is their whole life? What kind of bullshit is that?”

“But it’s so romantic–the one you’ve been looking for has been there all along!” Ella retorts.

“I did notice,” I say as they banter back and forth.

“What do you mean?” Ella asks.

“I had the biggest crush on Marcus the entire time I was in school. Our little brother even ratted me out. He read my diary out loud to him and Lugh’s entire platoon when I was fifteen.”

Ella huffs a laugh. “He did not.”

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