Page 54 of Past Due

Marley gulped. “And this person is someone dangerous?”

“Extremely.”

“I see.” She played with the collar of his shirt. “So, what do we do?”

He hadn’t thought it was possible to love her any stronger, but her question proved him wrong. Instead of trying to distance herself from the trouble, she wanted to help. It wasn’t his problem. It was their problem. We. Us. Together.

“We,” he emphasized, “are handling it.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, unconvinced. “Do I need to be worried about some psycho trying to kidnap me again?”

His arms tightened around her. Reluctantly, he admitted, “Yes.”

She sighed. “I feel like one of those damsels in distress NPCs.”

“What?” He frowned. “Was that English?”

“Role playing games. You know. Dungeons and Dragons? Pathfinder?” When he shook his head, she rolled her eyes and flicked his chest. “Let me nerd out for a second, okay?”

“Okay,” he said, a little amused by this side of her.

“Maybe I should get a gun,” she suggested, shocking him out of his amusement.

“Maybe.” He didn’t like the idea of her carrying a weapon, but she had a point about being able to protect herself.

“Should I stay in tonight?” She lightly traced the shell of his ear. “Rina wants me to go dancing with her and her friends.”

“You should go. We have guards arranged.”

She made a face. “Rina is going to hate that.”

“She’ll hate staying in the house like a prisoner more,” he reasoned. “I take it you two are friends now?”

Marley smiled. “She’s hilarious and sweet. Her paintings are really good, B.”

He groaned. “God, she got to you, didn’t she?”

Marley pursed her lips. “If you’re talking about her desire to come to the US for school, yes. I think she should be given the chance.”

“Luka will never allow it.”

“She’s an adult. She can make her own decisions.”

“Of course, she can,” he agreed, “but he’ll cut her off financially.”

“That’s absolute horse shit,” Marley snapped. “They’re siblings. Whatever estate they inherited should have been split equally.”

“In a perfect world,” he replied, enjoying her fiery spirit.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll support her then.”

“You?” he laughed.

Marley glared at him. “Well, if you men are going to be stubborn, misogynist assholes, I’ll take out loans or get a different job to help her.”

“Hey.” Besian touched her cheek and forced her to make eye contact. “Be careful throwing around those kinds of words.”

“I wouldn’t throw them around if they weren’t necessary.”

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