“Cool, I wish my freezer was as stocked as yours is. I’m lucky if I have milk that isn’t expired in my fridge.” Troy grabbed the eggs from the fridge and cracked six into a bowl.
“I’ll grab the bacon,” I mumbled, trying to make myself useful.
“Can you stick it in the microwave for a couple of minutes to thaw it out?”
“Sure.” I shoved it in the microwave and turned it on defrost. “So, how come if you can cook you don’t have any food in your house?”
“Because I don’t know how to cook for one person. The meals I always make end up enough to feed an army. Whenever I cook, it’s normally something I make for work and then I can share it with Meg and Cyn.” Troy explained as he dumped the eggs into the frying pan and turned the burner on.
“Don’t you have to have the pan hot before you add the eggs?” I wasn’t Martha Stewart, but I did know the basics of cooking, at least I thought I did.
“Naw, you got to cook scrambled eggs low and slow. Meg taught me that. She can cook a leather shoe and it would taste good. That chick has got the magic touch when it comes to baking or cooking.”
“She cooked all the food for your party, right?” I asked, remembering the pulled pork that had melted in my mouth. It was divine. I had thought that Ethel had cooked it.
“Oh yeah. That was definitely Meg’s pork. I told her the only way I would let her throw me a party is if she made the pork, tacos, and red velvet cake.”
“Well, then you are definitely right, she really does have a way with food.” I smiled.
“You want to set the table while I fry up the bacon?”
“Sure.” I grabbed the plates and silverware and headed to the dining room and flipped on the light.
I had to dig through the last few boxes left in the dining room I had in the corner to find my placemats and make quick work of getting the table set. As I was setting the last fork in place, I smelt the bacon cooking and knew it was only a matter of time before it was time to eat.
“You want to make another pot of coffee? Breakfast should be ready in five minutes,” Troy said as I walked back into the kitchen. His back was turned to me as he flipped the bacon.
“We drank a whole pot of coffee already?” I asked, amazed as I grabbed the empty pot and filled it with water.
“More like I drank a whole pot. Coffee is a necessity for me in the morning.”
“I would say so seeing as I only had one cup,” I laughed.
After I had the coffee set to brew, Troy was filling two plates with bacon and eggs and we headed to the table.
“Placemats and everything,” Troy chuckled as we sat down.
“Hey, you said to set the table. I very rarely get to use my placemats. Most mornings are me stumbling down the stairs and eating a quick bowl of cereal over the sink.”
“Well, I guess one good thing about me being here is my cooking.”
I took a bite of eggs and groaned. How in the hell did Troy make scrambled eggs taste like the best thing I had ever eaten. I watched him make them, noticing he really didn’t do anything out of the norm, but his eggs were anything but the norm. They were out of this world. “Oh my god, these are seriously the best eggs I have ever tasted,” I said around a mouthful of eggs.”
“They’re just eggs, Sunshine,” Troy smirked.
“What did you call me?” I asked, my fork suspended in midair.
“Sunshine.”
“Why?” I asked, curious.
“Your hair and your, well… everything.” Troy shrugged his shoulders and tore his eyes away from me.
“My everything, huh?”
“Jesus Christ,” Troy mumbled under his breath.
“Well, now I feel obligated to say something I like about you. Let’s see,” I mused as my gaze traveled over Troy’s body.
“You don’t need to say shit. Forget I ever called you Sunshine,” Troy gruffed, grabbing his half empty plate and dumped it down the garbage disposal.
“No, no. I like it.”
Troy just shook his head started making water to do the dishes.
“I like your shoulders,” I blurted out as I watched his tee stretch taut across his shoulders.
“My shoulders, huh? Must be slim pickings of things you like about me if that was the only thing you could come up with,” He laughed as he walked over to the table, grabbed his cup and filled it up.
I glanced at my cup, seeing I had only drank half of it and wondered how the hell Troy could drink so much coffee and not be bouncing off the walls all the time. He leaned against the counter and crossed his legs in front of him, staring me down. “I think you telling me you like my shoulders is like me telling you I like your nose.”
“What’s wrong with my nose?” I raised my hand, trailing my fingertips down my nose, wondering if Troy thought it was big.
“There’s nothing wrong with your nose, it goes perfectly with your face. I’m just saying telling someone you like their shoulders, isn’t really a normal compliment.”
“Well, I like them. They seem sturdy and well, can you know, shoulder stuff well.” Shoulder stuff well, really Marley. Just shoot me now.
“Good use of shoulders, shouldering stuff,” Troy smirked, taking a drink of his coffee.
“Yup, well, I think I’m just going to quit while I’m ahead.” I glanced out the window looking into the backyard, praying Troy would let it go.
“So how does one actually measure how well they can shoulder things? Is there like a scale you go by? Do you walk down the street and think, ‘Wow, he sure does have a set of shoulders on him.’?”
“You’re an ass.”
“I’m not an ass.”
“Yes, you are. Total ass.”
“Oh, so now we are talking asses. I’m partial to a good ass too. So you measure asses the same way you measure shoulders. Should I turn around?” Troy set his cup down turned around and braced his arms on the counter.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Oh, it’s happening alright. Do I need to shake it for you? Flex it? Or, is it all about the feel?” Troy stood up straight and reached around, squeezing his own ass.
I covered my eyes and burst out laughing. I couldn’t watch any more.
“Holy shit. What the hell did I just walk into?”
I whipped my hands off my eyes and saw Meg and Cyn standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Their eyes were glued to Troy, who still had his hands on his ass, but he was now looking over his shoulder at them.
“Marley likes my shoulders. I was trying to find out if she liked my ass before you two walked in. Ever hear of knocking?” Troy still had his hands on his ass. Was he going to stand like that all day?
“We did knock, no one answered. Dude, stop feeling yourself up,” Meg replied, tearing her horrified gaze away from Troy and glanced at me.
I gave a little wave, unsure of what to say to someone who had just seen a guy groping himself, asking me if I liked his ass.
“I smell coffee.” Cyn walked over to the coffee pot and held her hand out to Troy. He reached up in the cabinet and handed her a cup.
“Me too, cowboy,” Meg ordered, holding her hand.
“I’m gonna have to make another pot with you two here.”
“Please, even if we wouldn’t have shown up, you would have made another pot. Coffee runs through your veins.” Meg held her cup out to Cyn who filled it up and they both came to sit at the table with me.
“There’s a dog under your table,” Meg said, leaning over to glance under the table.
“It’s Bandit,” Troy said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Holy shit, buddy. I didn’t even know you were here!” Meg slid out of her chair and crawled under the table with Bandit.
After Troy and I had sat down to eat breakfast, Bandit had curled up by my feet and hadn’t moved. His tail was wagging like crazy, beating against the leg o
f the table, but he had yet to move away from me.
“I should have brought Bluesy over if I had known you were here, handsome,” Meg cooed from under the table.
“Um, does anyone what to tell her she’s sitting under the table?” I asked, laughing.
“There’s no point. She’s weird,” Cyn said, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, we’re all fucking weird, I just don’t care who sees my weird,” Meg called.
“I don’t think she could hide it if she wanted to,” Troy chuckled.
“If I cared, I would so be offended by that,” Meg said, crawling out from under the table and sat back in her chair.
“How come Bandit won’t come out from under the table?” Cyn asked, glancing under the table.
Bandit had curled up by my feet again after his visit with Meg.
“He likes Marley. He hasn’t left her side the whole time he’s been here except to go outside and eat,” Troy explained, filling his cup for the umpteenth time.
“Hmm, interesting,” Meg said, her eyes darting back and forth between Troy and me.
“Knock it off, Meg,” Troy said sternly.
“Never mind me,” she purred, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Yeah, that’s not likely. Why don’t you spill on what the hell you two are doing here so early?”
“It’s ten-thirty, Troy. Not exactly the butt crack of dawn,” Cyn laughed.
“For you two it is.” Troy shot Meg a look and shook his head.
“I was wondering what time you have to work today.” Meg asked, turning her attention to me.
“She’s not fucking working today!” Troy bellowed.
We all turned our gazes to Troy, who had pushed away from the counter and had a scowl on his face.
“You just got kidnapped twenty-four hours ago and have a concussion. You are not going to work.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared me down.
Ha! So Troy thought he was going to tell me what I was going to do. How cute.
“Dude, chill out. I’m pretty sure Marley can decide for herself what she’s going to do. Right, Marley?” Meg scolded.
All eyes turned to me. “I don’t think I’m going to work today,” I replied.
“Ha! Told ya,” Troy gloated.
“You’re an ass,” Meg pouted.
“But not because Troy said so, only because the salon is closed on Mondays,” I said, bursting Troy’s bubble.
“Yes!” Meg shouted, jumping up from her chair. “I knew it! Marley is one kick ass chick that you aren’t going to be able to push around.” Meg folded her arms over her chest and gave Troy an eat shit look.
“I’m not trying to push her around, I just want her to be careful.”
“Sure. Whatever you say, cowboy,” Meg said, rolling her eyes.
“These two could go at it all day if we let them.” Cyn said, turning her attention back to me. “Meg and I came over wondering if you wanted to maybe go shopping or something. We all have to work at three, so it would just be a quick excursion.”
Meg and Troy had ended their stare down and were waiting for my answer.
“Um, sure I guess. Is there anywhere to shop in town beside the grocery store, though?”
“We have to drive to Rivers Edge, which is like twenty minutes away,” Cyn said as she grabbed our three empty cups and dumped them into the bubbly dishwater Troy had made.
“OK, just let me do the dishes and change and then we can head out.”
“Nope. You go change and get ready, Cyn and I can do the dishes while we grill Troy about your night together.” Meg elbowed me in the side as we stood up.
“I’d make a break for it now while you can,” Cyn laughed.
“Um, I’ll be right back,” I mumbled walking out of the kitchen. Sprinting up the stairs, I glanced behind me when I heard Bandit galloping up the stairs after me.
I held my door open for Bandit to walk in and then slammed it shut and glanced around my room. Bandit leaped up on my bed and burrowed under the blankets. I wonder if Troy, Meg, and Cyn would notice if I just got under the covers with Bandit and didn’t come back down.
Although they would probably send Troy up here to get me. Troy in my room was the last thing I wanted right now. Although I really had no idea what I wanted right now.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what was important right now. Whenever I would get overwhelmed, I would close my eyes and try to clear my head and let the most important thing that needed to be done come to the front.
After two minutes of clearing my mind, the only thing that came to the front and wouldn’t go away was Troy.
Ha! Troy was definitely not the most important thing to focus on right now. Mark’s family possibly finding me in Rockton that was important, not Troy. Troy was just a one night fling and would be nothing more. Except I hadn’t planned on ever seeing Troy again. Troy wasn’t supposed to be Troy. He was supposed to be some random guy who helped me forget my problems for one night. Which had totally worked until I had woken up in his bed and headed home only to be kidnapped and then find out Mr. Right Now was Troy.
Gah! Focus, Marley. Get dressed. That was the thing I needed to focus on right now. “Get dressed, on it,” I said out loud as I made my way to my closet and slid the doors open.
I grabbed the first thing I saw and quickly changed out of my bed clothes. I took my hair down from the messy knot I had thrown it up in and quickly twisted it into a french braid. I bypassed makeup, just swiping on some lip balm and grabbed my purse by the door.
I whistled for Bandit to follow me and watched as he crawled to the foot of the bed under the blanket and peaked his nose out from the blanket.
“Come on, boy,” I called, patting my leg.
Bandit leaped from the bed, taking the comforter with him, leaving it draped over his back like a cape. I laughed as I grabbed the blanket off his back and threw it back on the bed while Bandit waited by the door for me. “Let’s go, handsome. I think today is going to be more interesting than either of us bargained for.”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Chapter 7
Troy
I was in hell. Shopping hell.
As the girls were getting ready to leave, Gravel’s words popped into my head about Marley’s problems following her from California and I knew I couldn’t let the girls go out by themselves.
So after Meg almost threw an all-out temper tantrum about me going with them, they finally all relented and let me come along.
Worst decision of my life. Ever.
After the twenty minute drive of constant talking from Meg and Cyn, and with Marley looking lost and confused, trying to keep up, I was ready to turn around and call it a day. I should have gone with that instinct.
“Do you think Rigid will like this top?” Cyn asked, walking out of the dressing with the same shirt she had shown me the past four times, just a different color each time. This time, it was orange and it made her look like a pumpkin. Now came the hard decision of telling her the truth or lying.
“You look like a fucking gourd.” Yep, my patience had gone from thin to non-existent.
“That’s what I thought too,” Cyn said, turning around to look at her ass in the huge mirror.
“Then take the fucking thing off. Why are you still looking at it?” I ask, irritated.
“Because it might be good for like a Halloween party, or when I make Rigid go pumpkin picking with me.”
“Rigid pumpkin picking. I’d pay to see that shit. Although if you wear that top, a kid will be liable to pick you as his pumpkin.”
“You’re an ass,” Cyn mumbled as she flipped me off and walked back into the dressing room.
I shook my head and leaned back in my chair and waited for the next train wreck of an outfit Meg or Cyn walked out in. Marley had yet to emerge from the dressing room. Maybe she was one of those chicks who didn’t need to
put on a fucking parade of all the clothes she was trying on.
Leaning my head against the wall, I closed my eyes and thought of anything but shopping.
“Shit, I thought Cyn was out here.”
My eyes popped open at the sound of Marley’s voice and I leaned my head down.
Wow. Holy shit.
“Uh, she went back to the dressing room,” I replied dumbly as I took in the short, black dress Marley had on. One hand was holding up the front, and the other was twisted behind her back.
“I’ll go knock on her door.” She walked backward and slammed into the wall. Her face heated red and she ducked her head down and side-stepped to the left.
“Wait, just stop before you run into something else. Do you need help?”
“Um, yeah. I can’t seem to get the zipper up on this.”
“Turn around. I’ll get it.” I stood up and Marley shuffled her way over to me and turned around.
I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw the back of the dress gaping open and her hand frantically trying to clutch it shut.
“I got it,” I whispered, taking the one side of the dress out of her hand. I grabbed the other side of the dress and held them together with my left hand and my gaze traveled down her flawless back.
The zipper ran to the top of her ass and where I should have seen her underwear, all I saw was the crack of her ass. Fuck me, Marley wasn’t wearing underwear.
My hand instinctively traced down the curve of her back and I heard her breath hitch at the touch of my hand.
“Perfect skin,” I mumbled, leaning down and placing a light kiss on her shoulder.
“Troy,” she gasped at the touch of my lips but didn’t pull away.
“Shh, I just had to remember what your skin felt like under my lips.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she whimpered as my right hand slid into the opening in the back and caressed her smooth skin.
“It’s not anything we haven’t done before,” I whispered in between kisses across her shoulders.
“That was different then.”
“How?” I growled as I felt her body relax into me.
Battling Troy: Devil's Knights Series Page 4
