Page 48 of Deep in Her Marrow

I look at Marrow who’s trying not to laugh. “Larry, you drank your whole six pack and some of mine.”

He blearily glares at Marrow. “No one likes a snitch, son.”

“Oh, brother, let’s get you to bed while you’re still coherent. I am not fixin’ to try to wrestle your clothes off you if you pass out,” my mother huffs in annoyance as she stands. “I swear, you get around youngsters and think you’re still one,” she grumbles as she sets her wine glass on the table and takes my dad’s glass out of his hand causing him to pout. “Damn fool, still acting like you’re forty.” She glares as she points for him to follow her before she kisses my cheek and blows Marrow a kiss right before she turns on her heel and walks from the room.

My dad sighs loudly as he pushes himself from the couch. Marrow starts to move and I shake my head making him stop. “Forty was a great year. All of your forties are a great time,” he mumbles to us presumably. “You’re still young enough to have fun, but old enough not to do anything stupid. Best decade really.” He looks between Marrow and me. “You kids will see. Even your fifties are pretty good. Sixty is when your body starts to go to shit, and you need to nap just to say up past nine at night. Youth is really wasted on the young,” he grumbles before nodding his head at Marrow and walking over to kiss the top of my head.

“Night, Daddy,” I say while trying to keep a straight face. He doesn’t usually drink too much and it’s pretty entertaining when he does.

“Night, baby girl. Sweet dreams,” he whispers before shooting straight up when my mother yells for him from the room where they are staying. “Woman is going to be the death of me. Can’t even get a little drunk and frisky. Guaranteed she’ll put the kibosh on that if I try.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Ew, Dad, I don’t need to hear that.”

He looks down at me with half closed eyes and a goofy smile. “Like you don’t know where babies come from.” He snorts, “Acting like you were immaculately conceived.”

I can see Marrow’s whole body shaking. “Please just go to bed, Dad. I don’t need to have nightmares about you and Mom.”

I can see my dad is about to say something before my mother storms back into the room. Thank God. “Larry, if you don’t get your old ass to bed right now, I swear, I’ll make you sleep on the floor outside the door. I’m already not happy about how bad you’re going to be snoring tonight. Don’t give me another reason.”

“Yes, dear,” my dad says dutifully before following my mother with his proverbial tail between his legs.

“Would she really make him sleep on the floor?” Marrow chuckles as he takes a sip of his whiskey.

I can’t help my smile. “Yup, she’s done it before when he’s come home really drunk.” His eyes widen and I hold up my hand. “Usually, on the couch, but in her defense, my dad does snore something fierce without alcohol. It’s a million times worse when he’s been drinking. It sounds like a freight train is fighting a dinosaur, and it’s so loud that you can hear him across the whole house.”

“A freight train fighting a dinosaur?” Marrow shakes his head. “I’ve never heard that one before.”

I shrug. “Okay, how about a demon fighting getting exorcised?”

His eyebrow goes up, “He’s really that bad?”

“Uh-huh,” I giggle. “You’ll see,” I say ominously. No one but my dad is getting any sleep tonight.

I’mwokenupbyCadie elbowing me in the ribs and growling at me about my“damn phone ringing.”I blindly reach for it still half asleep, which is actually a miracle in and of itself. She wasn’t lying about how bad her father snored. I put them at the other end of the hall and could still hear him clearly from our bedroom. No wonder her mother threatened to make him sleep outside their room. How that woman gets any sleep is beyond me. She’s not grumpy; she’s downright tired.

The tone of my phone going off finally reaches my brain, making me instantly alert. This isn’t my normal ring tone; this is the one specifically reserved for my alarm system. I don’t have it go off throughout the house like most people do. I don’t want an intruder to know that they’ve triggered it. I’ve always liked the idea of keeping the element of surprise on my side. And right now, I’m glad that I did when I open up my screen to look through the camera feed.

I knew this fucker wouldn’t be able to help himself. I expected him to follow her parents here. Studying everything I was sent about him made me realize how predictable he would be. Bastards like him are sick fucks with a need for control. He lost control over Cadie a long time ago, and it’s been eating him alive. I had no doubt that we would be seeing him at some point during their visit. Although, I had expected him to do a little recon first at least. Dumb, cocky bastard, coming the first night without having a plan. That’s what happens when you only act off of emotion and not rational thought. But I plan to use that to my advantage.

I shoot a text to Xander and Jax, who have been outside my house all night and let them know the shit stain has breached my garage. Did I need them outside? Probably not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Men like this can be unpredictable when backed into a corner, and that’s exactly where I plan to place him. I wanted to make sure Cadie and her parents would be protected in case he tried something stupid.

I send a silent alert to the police station, letting them know that I have an intruder. I smirk remembering how Xander said that Marc and Damon were going to be doing some overtime the next few days. I don’t really like getting cops involved in my business, but I need it to make sure everything looks legit. But having those two show up, especially considering their questionable morals, makes a feral smile come across my face.

I watch the feed for a few more seconds as this dumb shit stumbles around my garage. I took my bike out and left it at the club this afternoon. I didn’t want any accidental scratches to my baby. It also allowed me to leave a few tools around and some oil in random spots on the floor. And like any good plan, he trips over a wrench, losses his balance and slips on some oil as he tries to correct himself. He goes down hard making a huge racket. Which was part of the plan. I wanted to make sure that he would make some noise in case he somehow bypassed my alarm system. I doubted he could, which he didn’t, but having a few extra backups in place never hurts. Plus, landing on the concrete like that is going to leave him nice and sore.

Unfortunately, he made so much noise that Cadie shoots straight up into a sitting position. In the moonlight I can see fear in her eyes. Fuck, that look guts me, but after tonight, he’ll never cause her another second of fear. “What was that?” Her voice is shaky.

I keep my voice low and calm. I show her my phone. “Someone has broken into the garage. I already alerted the police.” I act like I have no idea who this fucker is.

The minute she looks at the screen her face goes white. “That’s him,” she whispers in a hoarse voice. Her eyes shoot to mine, already filled with tears. “How did he find me?”

I’m an asshole for this and I know it. I took this chance knowing that it could cause me to lose her. But I rather lose her knowing that she’ll always be safe. “He probably followed your parents,” I say simply.

She blinks at me before I can see the wheels turning in her head. She’s not dumb and her next words prove it. “You knew he would, didn’t you?” she chokes out. “You expected that when you invited my parents here.”

I meet her eyes, not backing down, though the look of betrayal will haunt me. “Armed home invasion carries a minimum sentence of fifteen years at least. More so since it includes stalking.”

“He’s armed?” she gasps, clutching the comforter tightly.

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