That she’d walk away.
“Because…” Lost and floundering, he automatically did as she asked and told the truth. “I feel safe with you.”
Fuck!
Why did he always say such pansy-assed shit to her?
Scarlett’s expression changed at the admission, though. Shockingly, Marrok saw the exact moment when she started to believe they were True Loves. Blue eyes gazed up at him, amazed and unguarded and a little scared.
“You are safe with me.” She finally whispered.
Marrok realized he wasn’t just “attached” to her. He was crazy in love with this lunatic.
“You’re safe with me, too.” He promised. “Always.”
Scarlett swallowed, looking somehow hypnotized. “I know.”
He gave a slow smile.
“Actually, you haven’t really seen the best me, yet.” She blurted out. “I swear, I can be really nice.”
“You get any nicer and it’s gonna get us both killed, Red.”
“I mean, people like me. Or they did before Cinderella turned them all against me. I can be likable… But Bad. Like you.”
“You are nothing like me.” He scoffed.
“I am if you give me a chance.” She insisted, the words coming out too fast. “Really. I come from a long line of villains. My mother was born Good and it was a grave disappointment to my relatives. She went on to marry Cinderella’s father, after my own dad died. She was trying to escape the shame that her non-wickedness brought to my grandmother. But, I’ve always been Bad. All the doctors agreed.”
“All the doctors are wrong.”
“Well, that’s what my grandmother says, but I think it’s deeper than that. I think I’m Good and Bad. That everyone is. Even you.”
“It’s adorable that you think that.” He arched a brow. “Seriously, baby, Good or Bad, it doesn’t affect a damn thing about my feelings for you.”
She bit her lower lip. “I’m just saying, you and I… I think we have a lot in common.”
He felt a little guilty to have her believe something so wrong. “No, we don’t.”
“We do! We think about things the same way.”
“No, baby, we don’t. Believe me. I think Bad thoughts.”
“So do I.” She assured him earnestly.
Marrok wasn’t even in his wolf form and he still had the almost overwhelming urge to just eat her up. She was soooooooo sweet it was all he could do not to push her to the ground and just ravish her. He wanted to taste that much innocent, sincere Goodness.
“Maybe you’re right and everyone has Good and Bad in them, but they sure don’t get both in equal amounts.” He shifted closer to her. “My brain is disproportionately evil and yours is disproportionately not. Believe me.”
Blue eyes gazed up at him, not understanding the truth. “You’re not evil.” She took hold of his hand. “You’re a wiseass and a fiend, but you are always so gentle with me. Always on my side. You’ve guarded me and listened to me and helped me. You are the only one here I trust.”
Fuck.
Marrok looked down at her fingers touching his and felt his heart crack in two. She said she trusted him… and he felt the perverse desire to prove that her faith in him was justified. The only way to do that was by warning her not to trust him. He had to protect her from himself. It was his job as her True Love.
Who would look after her, if he didn’t?
“Baby, I don’t even know how to be gentle.” He said honestly. “If I were Good guy, I really would walk away and leave you. Since I’m not going to do that, you should be the one to leave. I want you very, very much and I’ll cheat if that’s what it takes to keep you for myself.”
She tilted her head. “If you’re so wholly Bad, why are you warning me about it?”
“Because,” he held up their connected palms, “you’re the only one who holds my hand.”
She smiled at that answer.
God she was beautiful. “You’re my True Love, Scarlett. I know you don’t completely believe that yet, but it’s true.” He shook his head. “There’s no one else for me. Even if there was, you would still be my choice. I will do very Bad things to keep you for myself.”
“Well, you’ve done your duty and warned me about how horrible you are.” She assured him. “All I care about is that you’ll stay.”
“I told you, as far as I’m concerned, we’re married. I will always stay with you. You should know that.”
Scarlett didn’t back away from him as his body brushed against hers. “I do know it.” She said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Marrok was quiet for a beat, just staring down at her. “What do you think we have in common?” He asked, because he just couldn’t help himself.
“Well… we both scored really high on the egomaniacal sections of the psych tests. So, we’re leaders, whether or not people want our leadership. And we make crazy decisions, because we think we’re just a little bit smarter than everyone telling us we’re crazy.”
He shrugged. “Crazy is what you need to escape from an insane asylum.”
“You and I are both fighters.” She continued, conceding that point with a nod. “And loyal. When we make a commitment to something, we stick to it. And we’re protective of our people.” She arched a brow. “And we both suck at pasta crafts.”
That made him chuckle.
She grinned back at him. “And sometimes I can just look at you and know what you’re thinking. Because, I’m already thinking it. We think the same, Marrok. Tell me I’m wrong about that. That you don’t sense it, too.”
He couldn’t, because she was right. “I sense it.” He murmured. Like he’d told her in the library, there was a connection between them that went deeper than anything he’d ever felt. “The first time I ever saw you, I knew we… clicked.”
“I did, too. Sort of.” She wrinkled her nose. “You were right in the dungeon, though. The first time I saw you, I was mostly just afraid.”
That didn’t surprise him. “The fifty convictions for Badness?”
“No. You were just lounging there, being gorgeous and snarky… and I knew you were going to cause me a lot of trouble.”
“Not as much trouble as you’ve caused me.” He leaned down nuzzle her temple. “So, you think I’m gorgeous, huh?”
Her free hand came up to rest on his shoulder. “You know you’re gorgeous.”
“Something else we have in common, because I think you’re pretty damn gorgeous, too, Red.” He kissed her neck.
“Ugly stepsisters aren’t gorgeous.” But she tilted her head to give him access to her throat.
“You’re not ugly and you know it.” Marrok retorted, turning her words back on her. “God, I am just crazy obsessed with you.” He breathed in the scent of her, his lips tracing over her skin. He could think of three dozen ways to get her naked in the next fifteen seconds. Since they were having this little talk, though, they might as well finish it. “…But I don’t share.”
“Meaning what?” She moved back from him with an outraged scowl.
“We both scored high on the evil IQ tests, too. I think you can figure out what I mean.”
“Well, I don’t share, either. And you’re the one with random girlfriends all over the magazine covers.”
“I’ve got no one but you, Red.” He arched a brow. “You’ve got Charming. And that doesn’t work for me.”
“I told you, it’s complicated.”
“I don’t give a shit about ‘complicated.’ One way or another, he’s gotta go. You get rid of him or I will.”
“No! Don’t do anything to Charming.” She looked over her shoulder as if worried that someone might overhear them and then lowered her voice. “Look, I’ll deal with all that after we get to my grandmother’s house.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Marrok was suspicious at her easy agreement, but he let it go. For now. “That’s where the shoe is? At your grandma’s?”
“Yes. I
sent the glass slipper to her before I was arrested.”
“And Cinderella didn’t check for it with your family?” It seemed like a fairly obvious place to start the search.
“My grandmother is a difficult woman to find. And to deal with. And, well,” Letty made a face, “she’s just difficult.”
“Right.” That sounded promising. “Do you know where Grandma is or do we have to look for her?”
“Oh, I can find her.” Scarlett didn’t sound enthusiastic about it, though. “She lives in the Enchanted Forest, so I’ve spent a lot of time at her house. She likes to keep an eye on me, especially since my mom and stepdad died.”
“She’s probably freaking out about the escape, then.” Marrok didn’t have a family, but he was pretty sure that’s how it worked. “It’ll be all over the news. Your grandmother will be worried that you were hurt in the chaos.”
“No.” Scarlett sighed. “She’ll just be annoyed that it took me so long to pull this off.”
“She’ll be expecting you to break out?”
“Of course. I’m sure the only reason she didn’t stage a rescue herself is because she’s testing me. I’m sort of her heir, so she has high expectations about my Badness.”
Considering Scarlett wasn’t at all Bad, he could only imagine the pressure the she must be under. “Heir to what?”
She let out a long sigh. “The family business.”
Chapter Sixteen
The line between Good and Bad is so clear.
Anyone who doubts that has never looked into the eyes of someone wicked, ugly and Bad.
Good folk can never fully understand their evil.
Psychiatric case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae
The cottage had a thatched roof and river stone walls. It sat in a glen full of wildflowers, red curtains in its stained glass windows and a decorative wreath on the arched door. There was even a welcome mat on the steps. Pink. With yellow and green letters, surrounded by cartoon candies.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. Grandma was not a subtle lady.
“Jesus.” Beside her, Marrok hesitated. He looked at the cozy cottage in something like horror. “This is your grandmother’s house?”
“Kind of.”
He shook his head, his gaze locked on the picture postcard of domestic bliss in front of him. “No one who lives here can be Bad.”
“That’s the point.” Scarlett glanced over at the others. Benji was carrying Dru, Esmeralda was eating a chocolate bar, and Avenant looked bored. Everything was “normal,” then. No sense in exposing them to this mess until she was sure her grandmother wasn’t plotting something. “Wait here.” She ordered and headed for the house. “Don’t worry if you hear yelling. Or gunshots.”
“We won’t.” Avenant assured her.
They’d all spent the night in the woods, sleeping on the ground and hidden in the dense forest. Unlike most of the citizens of the Four Kingdoms, Scarlett wasn’t afraid of the shifting trees. She’d lived with them from the time she was a child, so steering clear of their grasping branches was second nature.
It had been much more disconcerting for her to have woken-up beside Marrok.
When they’d fallen asleep, there had been a foot of space between them. Sometime during the night, though, she must have rolled closer to him. Her body and instincts were all telling her that he was the safest place to be. When she opened her eyes in the reedy light of dawn, she’d been pressed against his side and his arms had been protectively wrapped around her. Marrok had been staring down at her and she found herself just… staring back.
It had felt calm and intimate and really, really right.
She wasn’t exactly sure what to do about that, so she’d jerked away from him and busied herself with getting ready to press on towards her grandmother’s house.
Marrok had just smiled like he knew some secret she wasn’t in on, yet.
He quickly followed Letty up the cobblestone path towards cottage. “I don’t like this. There has to be another…”
“Sweetie-pie!” Scarlett’s grandmother threw open the door and beamed at her. “Well, it’s about time you showed up!” Jana Wocknee looked like a grandma, with silver hair in a tidy bun and a white apron tied around her ample waist. She gave Scarlett a cheery hug. “I thought maybe I’d have to come and get you myself.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes, but she still wrapped her arms around her grandmother and hugged her back. As much as her Jana drove her crazy, she still loved the woman. “I broke out of the worst prison in the Four Kingdoms in less than six weeks, Grandma. A lot of people would say that was pretty impressive.”
“Well, they just don’t understand your potential the way I do, silly goose.” She patted Scarlett’s head and looked over at Marrok. “Unless he’s why you were in there so long. Because --my oh my-- he’s even better looking in person. No wonder you wanted to stay locked up if The Big Bad Wolf was your cellmate.”
“Don’t sexually harass him.” Scarlett didn’t want Marrok to feel uncomfortable, although it was pretty much a given, knowing her grandmother. “He shouldn’t have to put up with that on top of everything else you’re about to put him through.”
“It’s a compliment, Scarlett. Don’t be so touchy.” Jana arched a brow at him. “The mug shot of you they’re showing on TV is the real crime. You must have really pissed someone off, dear. All the photos they have to choose from and they pick one that doesn’t do you justice.”
“Yes, ma’am. They wouldn’t let me retake it, either.”
Scarlett arched a brow at him. “You asked them to take a better mug shot?”
“Well, your grandmother’s right. It was a bad picture.”
“There’s no way you took a bad picture.” Letty scoffed. It just wasn’t possible. She turned back to Jana. “Obviously, his reputation precedes him, but this is Marrok, Grandma. And yeah, he was briefly my cellmate. In a dungeon. We’re both fine, though. Thanks for asking.”
Jana beamed at him, ignoring Scarlett’s pointed remarks. “So nice to meet you, dear. Come in, come in!” She ushered them into the doily covered living room. “Can I get you some tea?”
“No, thank you. I’m fine.” His eyes cut around the snug cottage, wincing at the cutesy furnishings. He quickly rallied, but Scarlett could see that he was growing concerned that she’d tricked him and that her grandmother was really just some sweet little old lady. “You have a very lovely home, ma’am.”
“This shithole’s just a façade to keep those asshole Goody-Goods away.” Jana shut the door and reached for her cigarettes, her entire demeanor changing. “Stupid bastards never look beyond the surface. A couple flowerpots are better than a whole pack of pit bulls when it comes to maintaining some privacy in my business.” She sat down on a rocking chair and eyed Marrok knowingly. “So… are you fucking my granddaughter?”
Scarlett sighed.
Marrok visibly relaxed as the atmosphere went from welcoming to confrontational. “Oh, thank God.” He cleared his throat. “I mean… no, ma’am. I haven’t slept with Letty.”
Jana’s eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“She won’t let me. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Jana’s gaze flicked over to Scarlett. “Are you out of your mind? You turned down the hottest man in the Four Kingdoms? Have you seen this boy’s ass?” She craned her neck to admire it. “Maybe your time in the nuthouse scrambled your brains, Scarlett.”
“I wouldn’t sleep with a guy just because he’s good looking, grandma.”
Marrok glanced over at her and then quickly away.
Scarlett realized she’d just hurt his feelings, again. He seemed determined to take everything she said and misconstrue it. For the handsomest man in the world, he could be amazingly insecure.
Actually, no.
It was because Marrok was so handsome that he felt unsure. He was used to no one caring about him as a person. She’d seen the way most people treated him. They only paid attention to his stunning face, so he wouldn’t e
xpect Scarlett to want him for anything more than that, either.
“I also wouldn’t kiss a man just because he’s good looking.” Scarlett continued pointedly. “Or let him touch me.” She shot Marrok a sideways glare, a little annoyed that he needed to be told that she wasn’t randomly making out with attractive men just for the hell of it. “Obviously, there would have to be more to him than just his beauty. Obviously, if I was even thinking about sleeping with him, he’d have to have won me over… despite the fact he’s a jackass.”
His mouth kicked up at one corner, the tension easing from his shoulders. “Obviously.” Golden eyes met hers, something warm lighting them.
Her spark of irritation faded and she gave him a smile.
Jana snorted. “He won me over just by standing there and looking pretty.”
“If it makes you feel any better, ma’am, Letty’s my True Love, so I’ll be sleeping with her very soon.”
Scarlett made a face at how quickly he rallied back to annoying form. “Oh good… Your arrogance has returned.”
“I like to think of it as optimism.”
“True Love, huh?” Jana leaned back on the floral print cushions of the rocking chair. “Well, he’s certainly a step up from Charming.”
Marrok’s jaw clenched.
Scarlett winced. “We’re here to get the shoe, Grandma. Do you still have it?”
“No, I sold it at my last villainous yard sale.” Jana scoffed. “Of course, I still have it. What the hell do you think?”
“Knowing you, I’m never sure what to think.” Her grandmother was perfectly capable of breaking the glass slipper just to make Letty’s day more challenging. She loved to setup tests. “If the price was right, I’m sure you would’ve ransomed the shoe back to Cindy behind my back.”
“Oh Scarlett…” Jana drew out words on a feigned sigh. “That was the younger me. I told you before, I’m retiring soon. All the plotting and craziness is behind me. I plan to travel…”
“To that land where you can steal the genie lamp. I saw the maps.”
“…to spend time with my dear friends…”
Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) Page 16
