Page 81 of Burn With Me

I shake my head. He’s right. I haven’t heard from Aunt Carmen in months. “So Mom got married without telling her…”

“And I looked into what Dean told me about Damien Icari,” Marcus continues, nodding. “He was right. The man is involved in some shady dealings—the FBI agent only confirmed our suspicions. He’s involved in organized crime and now, Mom is too.”

My phone buzzes on the table again, drawing our attention. I know, without looking, that it’shim. Isaac. I blow out a breath. He’s warned me how dangerous his father is. So did Marcus’ friends. I’d been holding out hope that my mother would come to her senses and divorce him before it became too big of a problem. Now, it seems, though, we’ve already crossed that line.

“Mom needs to leave,” Marcus says.

“She won’t,” I say. “She’s convinced he’s the perfect man and you know you can’t tell her anything she’s not ready to hear.”

My heart beats loudly in my ears as I speak.Don’t. My internal alarm goes off, warning me away from the inner resentment that festers inside of me. Something must show on my face because Marcus’ brow puckers and he leans forward, reaching for me.

“Rori?”

I pull my hands out of reach and shake my head, looking away. “I’m fine.” It’s a lie, but one I have to say—because if I tell the truth, then we’ll have to go down the path that I really don’t want to see again.

Marcus is quiet for a moment, but when I look back at him, he’s retracted his hand and is watching me with a careful expression. Careful. Ha. He’s always careful with me. Considerate. As if I’m some piece of fragile glass. He and his friends have always been like that towards me.

Marcus’ little sister. Innocent. Breakable.

The only fucking man who hasn’t treated me like that is … my phone buzzes again and Marcus curses, ripping it up from the table before I can snatch it from his reach. He takes one look at the screen and his expression twists. When his gaze raises to mine, I scowl and make a grab for the phone.

He lets me. It’s the reason that I actually manage to snatch it from him. Because if he really wanted to, it’d be all too easy for him to keep it away from me. “Want to explain to me why Isaac Icari has sent you twenty-two text messages and called you thirteen times?” He crosses his arms and eyes me.

I roll my eyes and tuck my phone into my back pocket before picking up my latte. “Not particularly,” I say. “I’d rather talk about what we’re going to do about Mom.”

“Rori—”

“Don’t, Marcus.” I hold up my hand and glare at him. “You don’t have any right to judge me. You haven’t been here.”

“I’m not judging you, Rori.”

I snort and shake my head before taking a long draw from my latte. First Hel and now Marcus. “I’m sure you’ve already made your assumptions, Marcus.”

A beat of silence passes between us and then Marcus speaks. “Are you sleeping with him?”

My spine stiffens. “I don’t think that’s any of your business,” I say carefully.

“You are.”

My eyes shoot to his face. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to,” he replies.

“Then why did you even bother asking?”

“I wanted to know if you’d tell me the truth.”

“I didn’t lie to you,” I point out.

“No,” he agrees. “But you don’t want to tell me regardless.”

I huff out a breath. “Can you fucking blame me?” I demand. “You’re my big brother. I don’t exactly want to get into my relationship status with you—especially not when it concerns him.”

Marcus arches a brow. “So, it’s a relationship, then?”

I level him with a dark look. “Whatever it is, it is none of your business,” I say.

“Everything about you is my business, Rori,” Marcus replies. “You’re my responsibility.”

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