Page 26 of Past Due

“No.” He stroked her face again. “He’s on the run. He may have been shot, but no one knows for sure.”

“Oh my God!” She crumpled against his chest, and he embraced her as well as he could, her bulky backpack preventing him from pulling her in as close or as tightly as he wanted. “Oh my God!”

“I’m sorry, Marley. I’m so sorry.”

She leaned back and roughly wiped the tears from her face. “What about my mom? Is she safe?”

He shook his head. “Aston said she went by your mother’s place, and it looked abandoned. The grass is overgrown. The mail is piled up.”

Marley groaned and made a face. “She’s probably still gambling in Lake Charles, or she met some new man at the casino and ran off again.”

“Again?”

She huffed. “It’s a thing she does. She meets some guy, lets him love bomb her and then she runs off on some crazy stupid trip, convinced she’s going to finally get her happily ever after. She’ll wander home in a few weeks, broke and depressed, and I'll have to pick up the pieces and put her back together.”

Besian had always heard her mother was a bit of a tramp, but he hadn’t realized she was so desperate. “Do you want me to try to find her? I could have my men follow whatever trail she left.”

“No.” Marley stepped out of his embrace. “She’s safer wherever she’s run off to, and she’s smart enough to know not to come back to Houston if Spider has disappeared.”

“Listen, Marley, there’s something else about the raid,” he said, lowering his voice.

She frowned and then her expression shifted to one of resigned understanding. “Oh. I see.”

He was sure she did. “Yes. It’s...not good.”

She reacted with fear and gripped the straps of her backpack. “Am I safe?”

“Marley, no one will touch you. I swear it.” He didn’t have to tell her what she already knew. He would kill the first man who tried.

“Besian,” she sighed, “please, I don’t want you putting yourself in danger for me. Not again.” Her gaze moved from his face to his chest. Was she remembering the night he took a bullet meant for her? “You almost died for me. Once was enough.”

Before he could tell her that he would die for her a thousand times, they were jostled by a group of young tourists. He shifted her aside, worried she would get trampled by the loud throng of students rushing to catch the bus. The spell was broken, and she patted his chest. “Wait here.”

“Where are you going?” he asked when she walked off in another direction.

“To get my luggage!”

“From where?”

“There!” She pointed at a building nearby, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“A hostel?” He chased after her. “You’re staying in a hostel?”

She whirled around so quickly she whacked him with her backpack, causing him to stumble back a few steps. “Yes, I stayed at a hostel. I’ve been staying at hostels the entire trip.”

His blood pressure skyrocketed so quickly he was certain he was seconds away from dropping dead of a stroke. When Zec had given him the bus stop address, he hadn’t even considered it was because she was staying in one of the crummy hostels nearby. “Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is for a single woman?”

“You are so ridiculous,” she hissed. “It’s perfectly safe. They’re clean, tidy, affordable places that cater to people like me on a very tight budget.”

Besian wanted to strangle Spider for letting Marley come to Europe on such a small amount of money that she was scrimping on her safety in lieu of cheap accommodations. What else had she cut corners on while traveling? Was she eating enough? Could she even afford museums or souvenirs?

“I can see the vein in your temple throbbing,” Marley stated. “You’re going to have an aneurysm if you don’t calm down,” she warned. “Maybe hostels were gross when you were younger, but they’re much safer now.”

“If you say so,” he grumbled, no longer willing to argue with her.

“I do say so. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Besian was never the one taking orders, especially not from a woman, but fuck if he didn’t act like a perfectly trained dog, happily waiting for its mistress to return.

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