Page 104 of Revealing Mark
Our future was in my reach. I could feel it and I couldn’t let it slip through my fingers when we were so close.
When we reached his car, he opened the door and I got in. At least I was feeling a little better about being in a car since he had pushed me to drive. He got in and started it up. He didn’t look in my direction and there was no affection. He was keeping his distance. Was this his way of protecting himself if things played out the way he expected? But I was determined to show him I was in this for the long haul.
We drove for about an hour before he pulled up outside a nice house with a picket fence. It was charming and beautiful.
When I opened the door, Mark was there to help me out.
“Where are we?” I asked. My mind was filled with more questions than I had answers.
“I brought you here to meet some special people.”
I looked at him and he had a smile on his face for the first time since he had picked me up.
He walked to the door and I mobilized myself to hurry behind him. Before he could knock, the door opened and a girl flew at him. He caught her and hugged her. I was startled and all I could do was stare, open-mouthed, trying to figure out who she was to him.
“Mark,” she whispered. “It feels like it’s been ages.”
A laugh rumbled in his chest. “It’s been a month.”
They were close. Anyone who was witnessing this could tell. I swallowed. I hadn’t seen him like this with anyone, even me, and I felt a pang of jealousy.
“Oh, I forgot,” she whispered when she released Mark and peered at me shyly with wide toffee-colored eyes. “I’m Haven Knight.”
He had never mentioned her.
“I’m Tracy.”
Then I noticed we had been joined by another guy. He shook hands with Mark. “Good to see you,” he murmured before his eyes drifted to me.
“Damien Knight,” Mark said, introducing him to me as Haven moved to the stranger and he put a protective arm around her.
They shared the same surname, and they were wearing wedding rings, which meant they were married.
Whatever she was to Mark, it wasn’t romantic, and I felt a little better, but not completely.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I replied nervously, trying to figure out what was going on.
“It’s about time you got here,” another voice pipped up. It was another guy. “And you finally brought a girl?”
Mark rolled his eyes. “This is Chris.” His voice held a lot of affection for the guy.
“Nice to meet you…” The stranger with the dark-blond hair offered his hand.
“Tracy.” I shook his hand.
I had never seen Mark like this with anyone. There was a closeness between these four that I hadn’t witnessed before.
Chris ushered us all inside, moaning about being hungry and having to wait for our arrival. I wanted to pull Mark to one side and ask who these people were but I never got a chance before I found myself seated beside him at a dining table opposite Chris, Haven and Damien.
Chris was the most vocal and outgoing of the group. Someone called him ‘Chatterbox Chris,’ which made me smile. In the past few minutes I had been able to deduce Haven was shy and Damien was quiet and watchful. Of the group, he seemed the most distrustful of my presence.
The food smelled good but I didn’t have much of an appetite. My nerves were shot and I was waiting for Mark to reveal what we were doing here.
Chris talked away but I was too busy looking from one to the other, trying to figure where they fit into Mark’s life. I had never heard him mention one of them but that wasn’t much of a surprise as Mark didn’t talk much about anything. It had taken me so long just to find out the few details about his childhood and parents.
Mark seemed visibly relaxed in their company and I watched him with fascination. When Chris said something, Mark laughed. Haven smiled a few times but the presence of Damien caught my attention. He was watching me with distrust, unlike the others. He didn’t like my presence in their tightly knit group.
I felt like an outsider watching from the sidelines as they talked about their day-to-day stuff like work and some vacation Chris had just gotten back from.
