“I don’t care about other marriages, Roxy.” Marcus frowned. “I care about yours. If I don’t know what you’re running from, then I can’t help you.”
“It’s not your job to fix me,” Roxy countered, not at all comfortable.
“No, but it’s my job to make sure you’re happy, and I can’t do that until I know you, and honestly, I don’t know you as well as I need to know you.” Marcus finished his coffee, then stopped her before she could stand to get him more. “Trust me.”
She looked at his hand on her arm. It was a gentle touch, and she knew if she wanted to pull away, she could. The knowledge meant so much to her. “I met Bruce, my ex, five years ago on a blind date. He was nice, the perfect guy. We had similar tastes in a lot of stuff. We had dated for about six months before he asked me to marry him.” Roxy shifted in her chair and finally pulled her arm out from under Marcus’s hand. “It was a short engagement because he wanted to marry before he moved to Kentucky. He owns his own construction business.”
“Construction?” Marcus frowned.
“None of the construction crews here are his,” Roxy assured him. “Believe me, I paid close attention to that. But yes, there was more business in this area, so he was relocating his whole business. Had everything set up and ready to go. We married, moved away from my family and started our life.”
Marcus was quiet, intently listening to every word. The only reaction he had was a cock of his eyebrow when she said he had moved her away from her family, and she knew what he was thinking. It was a classic move for an abuser, and he was right.
“We’d never lived together before and were both so busy with our separate lives. I was working and going to school to get my master’s in business. All that changed when we moved here.” She became silent for a minute.
“Where did you move from?” Marcus asked, seeming to want to pull her back to the present.
“California,” she replied, her eyes becoming more focused.
“I guess moving from California to Lexington, Kentucky was a big adjustment?” Marcus smiled, cocking his eyebrow.
“It sure was, but I liked it. It just wasn’t meant to be, though. The problems were gradual at first. He wanted me to set up the house before finding a job as well as hold off on school until the following semester. I agreed because it was pretty overwhelming.” Roxy took another drink of her lukewarm coffee, then cleared her throat. “It wasn’t until I had the house totally organized that I noticed every time I brought up going back to work and school, he would find something else for me to do involving the house. Nothing was right, though. He didn’t like the paint color we chose and wanted it redone. He didn’t like the way the kitchen cabinets were set up, so I had to rearrange them dozens of times until he was happy. He liked things organized. All forks, spoons, and knives had to be in a certain arrangement in the drawers, the cups, as well as plates, had their place.”
She shifted again, her stomach tightening in knots, and a cold sweat broke out on her body. She was delving into something she wanted no part of, reliving her nightmare, something she swore she would never do. Glancing up, she saw understanding in Marcus’s golden gaze as well as patience few had. He didn’t say anything, just waited for her to continue, giving her time to collect her feelings and thoughts.
“He began getting angry if dinner was a few minutes late. It was unlike him. I would find out my mom would call, yet he never gave me the message to call her back. When I would call her, he would time my calls and stand over me, pressuring me to hang up. When we went to parties or out with his employees, I was given a briefing on what to wear as well as a list of things I was not able to bring up during conversation. Before we even left the house, I would have to parade in front of him until he approved of my appearance. The slaps started soon after I began questioning him on messages or talking back, pushing the issue of school. Once the slaps stopped controlling me, the real beatings started. It got to the point I couldn’t leave the house until I healed. I was only hospitalized once when I tried to leave him, and he found me at the airport trying to get back to my family. I hated how weak I had become, but I had given up ever getting away from him.” She swallowed hard, rubbing her forehead before dropping her hand to the table. “I really don’t like talking about this.”
“I really don’t like hearing about it,” Marcus responded, a tinge of anger in his voice. “But until this is out in the open, it’s a burden between us, and we can’t have that. I’m on your side, Roxy. Never doubt that.”
Roxy nodded, then stood and grabbed herself another cup of coffee. She remained quiet until she sat back down. “I’m going to be up all night if I drink this.” She chuckled quietly, shaking her head.
“I never sleep, so I’ll keep you company.” Marcus grinned with a wink.
Suddenly, she wanted Marcus to know everything. She wanted his support and his love, wanted his protection. She wanted him and everything that came with him. “He hurt me,” she blurted, her hand squeezing against the coffee cup, splashing hot liquid onto her hand, but she ignored it.
Marcus didn’t. “Careful.” Standing, he went and grabbed a towel for her, wiping the liquid off her hand.
She took the towel away from him. “He had no right to hurt me.” She used the towel to wipe off her stinging hand.
“No, he didn’t,” Marcus replied, a low growl following his statement.
She looked up at him, startled, experiencing something from a man for the first time: protectiveness. Her heart leaped at the sensation, the rightness of it.
Chapter 5
Marcus seriously thought he was going to have to get up and leave, walk into the woods, and let his wolf loose for a minute just to get some fucking control. He had never wanted to kill anyone in his entire life, but this bastard was on his list and radar.
“Garrett never really told me what happened.” Marcus had tried to get Garrett to tell him about the day he brought Roxy to town. He had never seen Garrett so pissed. He had only gotten a glimpse of Roxy that day, but her battered face and body were enough for him to know she had been badly abused. Garrett had called Clare in to take care of Roxy, and soon she was a part of the town. “He said that it was your story to tell.”
Roxy actually smiled at that. “Garrett is a good man.”
He pushed aside the twinge of jealousy. “He is.”
“The last night I was with my ex we were eating dinner with an important potential client of his. I was tired and not really paying attention. The client’s wife had asked me a question, and I asked her to repeat it with an apology.” Roxy shivered, and Marcus wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, but he knew it would be the wrong thing for him to do. He needed to let her finish. “We barely made it to the car before he started on me.”
Marcus remembered that Garrett had been in Lexington during that time meeting with local pack leaders. He kept quiet, waiting patiently for her to continue. He wished he didn’t have to ask her any of this but knew if they were to have a future, and it was time for their future to start, they could have no secrets between them. He had none to share; she already knew he was a wolf shifter, and that was the biggest secret he’d ever had.
“When he smacked me in the back of the head as I was getting into the car, it was the moment I’d had enough. Why that moment I don’t know. I just knew that if he got me home, away from people, it would be bad. In public, he would only do things that people wouldn’t see, like a pinch or a hard squeeze, warning me what was to come when we got home. The smack to the back of the head that night in a public parking lot was a warning that I may not survive this time. I was so scared but so damn angry, so I made sure to make a scene. I guess my actions pushed him over the edge. I remember getting out of the car screaming at him, hitting and slapping him, but that only lasted for a minute. Next thing I knew, I was slammed to the ground, and he was beating me in the parking lot of a nice restaurant in downtown Lexington.” Roxy shook her head, a look of disgust on her face. “
I barely remember Bruce being pulled off me. Memories of him being beaten by Garrett flashed through my mind, and then all I remember is waking up in a car. I begged him not to take me to the hospital, but to take me anywhere away from there. And that’s when he brought me here.”
He knew there was a little more to the story, but he didn’t press. It was enough. “You’ve petitioned for a divorce?” He already knew the answer but needed transparency from there on out.
“Yes, but he hasn’t signed the papers,” Roxy responded.
“Have you had any contact since you’ve been here?” Marcus asked, thinking that she hadn’t but wanted to make sure.
“No, he doesn’t know where I am.” Roxy frowned. “If he did, he would have been here by now. He doesn’t like to lose or be made to look a fool.”
“That’s why you don’t leave town?” Marcus refrained from saying her ex was more than a fool.
“Yes, there’s no way I’m taking that chance.” Roxy glanced away from him. “I’m fine here.”
Marcus realized that there was no emotion coming from her. It was as if she were telling the story of someone else’s life. He had plenty of emotions rolling through his body, but he was doing his best to control them so as not to scare her. If he’d been alone, he probably would have torn the hell out of the coffee shop.
“He’s made you a prisoner,” Marcus added, wanting to see if that would spark any emotion, but she just narrowed her eyes slightly.
“No, I’m finally free,” she responded, then looked at him with a tilt of her head. “I’m really sorry about what happened at the shower. I should have had better control. I need to apologize to Janna.”
“You’ve no reason to apologize. Anyone would have done the same.” Marcus reached over and took her hand in his. The way his hand totally enveloped her smaller one made him feel more of a man, powerful and so protective he wanted to lean his head back and howl. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Roxy’s voice was doubtful, and he wanted more than anything to reassure her that she was exactly who he wanted. “That I’m the one you want.”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” Marcus let go of her hand to reach further over the small round table to cup her chin. “I knew the minute I saw you that you were mine. I actually wanted to kill my brother more than once because I thought you were in love with him.”
S he blushed and rolled her eyes. “I was never in love with Garrett. I just appreciated everything he did for me. He gave me my life back, gave me a place to live and work.” She touched his hand on her chin. “I didn’t know you had feelings for me.”
Marcus laughed. “Like I said, I wanted to kill Garrett more than once over you, so yeah, there you go.” His smile faded when she pulled away. He had a feeling he didn’t know everything.
“There’s one more thing you should know.” Roxy stood, grabbed her coffee cup, and took it to the counter.
Okay, her walking away from him wasn’t a good sign. He wasn’t going to let her off that easily, so he stood and headed toward her. Stopping behind her, he turned her around. He lifted her face toward his, his knuckle under her chin. The emotion she had been missing was now blaring from her eyes as tears fell.
“I lost my baby that night in the filthy parking lot,” she whispered as her face crumpled.
Not much shocked Marcus, but what she’d confided not only shocked him, but broke him. She grabbed on to him and clung tightly, releasing all the emotion he had wondered about. He wouldn’t let her down. He would absorb all of it. Every single tear, anger, fury that she had he would take as his own. He felt dampness on his own cheeks and realized for the first time in his life, he cried.
******
Roxy’s whole body shook uncontrollably as she held on to Marcus, but the weight of what she’d revealed fell from her. No one knew. She hadn’t told a soul about losing her baby that night. She had discovered she was pregnant a few weeks earlier and had planned to leave Bruce. No way was she going to bring a baby up in that kind of nightmare.
“I was so close.” She cried into his chest. “So close.”
He squeezed her tighter. “So close to what, Roxy?”
“Leaving him.” She cried harder. “All I had to do was keep away from him, keep from making him angry, and I couldn’t even do that. But I knew if I went home that night…. Either way, it didn’t matter what I did… I still lost my baby.”
“I’m so sorry.” Marcus’s hand pressed her head close to him, his fingers massaging her scalp. “I’m so damn sorry.”
“Please don’t say anything.” Roxy knew he wouldn’t, but felt better asking him. “No one knows.”
“No one knows?” Marcus pulled away from her to look down into her face. “You didn’t say anything? You went through that alone?”
Roxy nodded, trying to force her face back into his chest so he couldn’t see her shame.
“Jesus.” Marcus used his thumbs to wipe away some of her tears. “Why? Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I was ashamed of what I did,” Roxy finally said, and it was the truth. She blamed herself. She knew without a single doubt that if Bruce laid hands on her, she would lose the baby; it had been her biggest fear. And yet, she’d pushed him knowing what the outcome would be.
“Listen to me.” Marcus’s voice became stern, losing its tenderness. “None of this is your fault. Do you understand me, Roxy?”
“But I knew and still baited him,” Roxy spat, her anger growing when he didn’t blame her. His reaction made no sense at all. “I shouldn’t have—”
“Stop!” Marcus shook her gently. “Just stop. The blame lies with that son of a bitch. No man should hit a woman, ever. I promise you I will never lay hands on you. I would die before ever hurting you. Do you understand that?”
Roxy did know that. She wasn’t afraid of Marcus Foster, never had been afraid of any of the Foster men because she knew they had honor. She’d seen them treat women with respect, so yes, she believed him with all her heart. “I know that, Marcus, and I’d never think that about you.”
“Good,” Marcus said, and she could see the tic in his jaw. He was angry, yet still she wasn’t frightened as she knew it wasn’t directed at her. “Have you seen a doctor since that happened, Roxy?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t far along when it happened, maybe four weeks, if that.” Tears once again clogged her throat and escaped in a cascade down her cheeks. It was long enough to care, to know she had something precious that she’d failed to protect.
“We’re going to find you a doctor.” Marcus held her as she stiffened. “I’m serious, Roxy. Do not argue with me on this. I’m stubborn, and when it comes to you and your welfare, stubborn doesn’t even come close to what I will be.”
She didn’t know what to say. This was new to her. Instead of ordering her because of some control mindset, he was ordering her because he truly cared, and she felt it, believed it. Never did she believe she would be able to let a man close to her again, but Marcus, in his own way, had patiently worked his way into her life in small steps. It was actually the most they had ever really talked, even though they saw each other every day.
“Thank you,” she finally said, then leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He didn’t try to push her for more. He accepted what she gave him and was fine with it; at least the smile on his face told her that.
“Never thank me for something like that, Roxy,” Marcus replied, his eyes searching hers. “I’ll always make sure you’re taken care of.”
“I know I have a lot of baggage, but I’ve been working on it. Tonight just set me off track.” Roxy sighed with a frown.
“To hear someone say something like that is tough enough, but what you went through, it’s totally understandable why you attacked the uncaring bitch.” Marcus sneered. “Now come on, let’s get you home so you can get some rest. I’ll help you lock up.”
Roxy nodded, then grab
bed the dirty cups and headed toward the back. She flicked the lights on with her elbow and headed toward the sink. She put them down and started the water to wash them, but stopped. Her gaze went to the dirty knife still on the table, and then her eyes met Marcus’s. He leaned inside the doorframe just watching her.
“You don’t have to clean those tonight, Roxy,” he said softly. “Actually, you can do whatever you damn well please. And that knife will be fine lying dirty right there on that table the rest of the night. As a matter of fact….”
Roxy watched as he pushed away from the doorframe and headed toward some drawers, opening them up, and she knew what he would find: the most organized drawer he had probably ever seen. Nothing out of place, each fork, knife, and spoon displayed to perfection.
“I think for a busy coffee shop, this is too organized.” He glanced over his shoulder at her with a cocked eyebrow, giving her a choice to do something that she had considered so many times, but never felt right about. Now she did.
With a small smile, she walked over and edged her way between him and the drawer, her eyes never leaving his until she looked down into the drawer. With both hands, she grabbed the drawer and jerked, disrupting the contents. Her smile grew as she took back the power that had been taken from her for so many years. Grabbing a handful of knives in one hand and forks in the other, she mixed them up, dropping them, and then proudly closed the drawer.
“Felt good, didn’t it?” He grinned down at her.
“Yes, it really did.” She laughed then shook her head. “Dumb, huh?”
“Absolutely not.” He touched her hair before running his fingers through it. “Anything else you want to fuck up while we’re here?”
“I think that’s enough for tonight.” Roxy eyed the frosting knife again. “There’s always tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am, there is.” He tenderly took her face and edged toward her, taking her focus off the dirty knife.
Forbidden Desire (Lee County Wolves) Book #3 Page 4
