Battling Troy: Devil's Knights Series

by Winter Travers

  Chapter 23

  Marley

  6 days. 144 hours. 8,640 minutes. Don’t ask me how many seconds, I’m not that good at math.

  Two days ago King has told us he had finally gotten in touch with the Banachi’s, and they were working things out. He had a meeting with them today, and I was on pins and needles waiting to hear what happened.

  “Sunshine, come watch the movie. You staring at the phone on the wall isn’t going to make it ring,” Troy called from the couch.

  I glanced one more time at the phone and trudged over to Troy. “I just want to know what is going on. I should know since it’s about me,” I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Marley, we’ve gone over and over this. Just let King take care of it.” He was right. He had told me at least three times a day to chill out and leave everything to King. I couldn’t stop worrying though.

  “I know, it’s just that we don’t have much to do, so all I can think about is what’s going on. I need a distraction.” I was whining, but god damn it I was going stir crazy.

  “There’s plenty to do.”

  “Like what? We’ve done everything there is to do fifty times. I swear if we go for another four wheeler ride, I’m driving till I find civilization.”

  “Remind me to hide the keys to the four wheelers,” Troy mumbled under his breath.

  “Ha ha,” I flipped Troy off and grabbed the remote that was sitting next to him on the couch. “I get to pick the movie.”

  I flipped through the channels trying to find something to watch and contemplated chucking the remote at the TV when Troy wrapped his arms around me and tugged me into his lap.

  “You’ve picked the last three movies, I think it’s my turn to pick one, Sunshine,” Troy rumbled in my ear.

  “Oh really?”

  “Yes, now hand it over and no one gets hurt.” I held the remote up over my head and twisted around to straddle Troy’s lap.

  “You gonna play dirty again, baby girl?”

  “I’ve been known to,” I purred tossing the remote across the room and onto the bed.

  “Nice throw, but all I have to do is move you off my lap and beat you to the bed. Not a well thought out plan.” Troy grabbed my arms and held them behind my back with his hand. My breasts were thrust up in his face and my back arched.

  This is what happened at least twice a day. One of us (mostly me) would get restless, and we’d somehow end up sprawled out on the bed or couch working out the tension. There was the one time when we were in the kitchen and we didn’t make it to the couch or the bed. We broke in Troy’s island that day.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes, Marley,” Troy growled, grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it up. He leaned forward, his lips brushing against the swell of my breasts and I tossed my head back, already on the brink of cumming from just one touch from Troy. I didn’t know sex could be like this. Exciting and mind-blowing every time.

  “Then take them off, Troy,” I purred, grinding my hips into him. He grabbed the cup of my bra and tugged. My breast popped out, and I leaned into Troy, begging for more.

  He sucked my nipple into his mouth and I tugged on my arms, trying to break the hold he had. “Not letting you go, baby girl. I’m gonna lay you out on my bed and feast on you.” I moaned low in the back of my throat and stopped trying to get away. Troy having his way with me sounded like a perfect way to release the tension.

  “Shit,” Troy growled, releasing my tit and sat back letting go of my arms.

  “What? What are you doing?” I reached for Troy’s neck and pulled him to me. “Don’t stop,”

  “Sunshine, the door.” What? The door? I hadn’t heard anyone at the door.

  “Open this fucking door or I’m going to kick it in! I haven’t seen my daughter in over a week since you kidnapped her!” Gravel was here. Dammit.

  “Please tell me you have the door locked.” I pulled my bra back up and tugged my shirt down. Gravel yelling at the door was a definite mood killer.

  “Hell yes. I learned from Meg walking in on us.”

  I scooted off Troy’s lap and stood up. I looked down at his crotch and saw he still had an impressive boner. “Can’t you put that away? My dad is that door,” I giggled.

  “Yeah, not as easy as you would think. You being in the same room makes me sport a chubby.” Troy adjusted himself, trying to disguise his bulge.

  “Here, let me help.” I reached for Troy’s dick but he batted my hand away.

  “Baby, you really think if you touch my dick it’ll go down? You touch it, Gravel isn’t coming in for at least twenty minutes.” Troy shook his head at me and stood up. He threaded his fingers through my hair and brushed his lips against mine. “We’ll finish this later,” he promised.

  “Hmm, we’ll see. Gravel might be here to castrate you since you kidnapped me.”

  “You’ll protect me,” Troy winked at me. He walked to the door, unlocked it and opened it to a pissed off Gravel.

  “About fucking time, Cowboy. Five more seconds and I was going to kick the fucker down,” Gravel growled walking past Troy, bumping him with his shoulder.

  Troy’s eyes flared with rage as Gravel bumped him and his fists clenched. Oh boy. This was going to be interesting.

  “Excuse him, Troy. He’s been a bear the past week.” Ethel walked in behind Gravel and shut the door. “He’s been chomping at the bit to come over here all week. I’ve managed to hold him back this long, but he wasn’t listening today. Sorry we didn’t call first,” Ethel shut the door behind her and walked over to the kitchen island, setting three plastic grocery bags down.

  “No damn reason I should have to call and ask to see my daughter. She should be staying with me right now anyway. Not some cowboy,” Gravel huffed as he sat down on the couch, grabbed the remote and started flipping channels.

  I looked from Gravel to Troy and shook my head. I swear I was in the twilight zone right now.

  “Don’t you think you should say hi to your daughter since you’re finally here?” Ethel scolded.

  Gravel turned his gaze to me and wink, “Hey, darlin’,” he grunted.

  “How about you say hi to the guy whose house you just barged in on?” I shot back.

  “Eh.” Gravel turned back to the TV and continued to flip channels.

  “I’m gonna go for a ride to my house and grab some things since you guys are here.” Troy said as he grabbed his truck keys off the top of the fridge. He walked over to the bed where he had his cowboy boots tucked under and pulled them on.

  Wait, what? Troy was leaving? “You’re leaving?” I asked, panicked.

  “Yeah, baby. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  “Can I come with?” I didn’t want Troy to leave. I have been with him for the past week, and the thought of him leaving left me feeling lost.

  “You aren’t going anywhere. King still hasn’t gotten shit squared away with the Banachi’s,” Gravel ordered.

  “No more than an hour, I promise.”

  “OK,” I whispered, still not liking the idea of Troy leaving.

  “Walk me to my truck, Sunshine.” Troy called, opening the door.

  I raced over to the door, sliding my sandals on and shot out the door.

  “Where’s the fire, baby girl?” Troy called as he shut the door and followed me around the garage and to his truck.

  I leaned up against his truck and waited for him to make it to me. He stood in front of me and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You really need to grab stuff from your house or are you just trying to get away from me?”

  “Honestly, Sunshine?” I nodded my head, and waited. “I’m pretty sure if I have to spend one more minute with your dad, I’m going to knock his fucking lights out, and I don’t want to do that to Ethel.”

  I pushed off his truck and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank God. I thought you were for sure getting the hell out of dodge and not coming back. Although, t
hank you for not hitting Gravel. I know he means well.”

  “He needs to get over the bullshit he has swirling around in his head about me.”

  “Why doesn’t he like you? I mean, I know most fathers give their daughter’s boyfriends hell, but he seems to have a deeper affliction to you.”

  “You haven’t heard?” he asked, a smirk on his lips.

  “Not a clue, tell me.”

  “He thinks I’m after Meg and just biding my time to swoop in and steal her away from King.”

  I was speechless. Troy in love with Meg? All you had to do was spend five minutes with them together and you could see they are only friends. Hell, they could probably pass for brother and sister. “You’re shitting me.”

  “No, Sunshine. He is convinced that a guy and a girl can’t be friends without there something going on.” Troy reached up and brushed my hair behind my ear.

  “For the record, I have never thought you two were more than friends. Meg is head over heels in love with King. You’d have to be blind not to see it.”

  “Thank god. Another person on my side. I’ve talked to King about it, and he just laughed his ass off. He said Gravel had talked to him about it before and he wasn’t worried.”

  “So, my dad didn’t like you before, and now that you are dating his daughter, he hates you even more. I don’t know if he’ll ever like you,” I laughed.

  “As long as you like me, Sunshine, that’s all that matters.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine.

  “I’m pretty sure I like you,” I whispered, leaning into his kiss.

  “Well, as long as you’re pretty sure,” he smiled. His lips caressed mine, as he wrapped his arms around me and pushed me into the side up of truck.

  “Don’t leave. We’ll make them leave,” I pleaded as he trailed sweet kisses down my neck.

  “Hang out with Ethel for a little bit, baby girl. From the looks of her bags she brought, it looks like they are staying for dinner.”

  I sighed as his hands trailed down my sides and he grabbed my ass, our bodies flush. I delved my fingers into his hair and gripped his head as his kisses rained over my breasts. I arched my chest into him, begging for more.

  “Marley!”

  Troy stopped kissing me and buried his face in my neck. “Your dad is such a cock blocker,” Troy mumbled.

  “I’ll be right there, Gravel,” I hollered back. “He really does have the worst timing,” I whined.

  “All right, I’m going to run to my house. Is there anything you need from your house? I can stop and get it for you?” Troy leaned back, his eyes connecting with mine.

  His eyes were still cloudy with desire, and I could tell he was ten seconds away from throwing me in the back of his truck and having his way with me. “Um, a sweatshirt? Maybe we can have a fire tonight?”

  “OK, baby girl. I’ll stop by your house and grab some warm clothes. Sure there isn’t anything else you need?”

  “Nope, the only thing I need is for you to hurry your ass up and get back here.”

  Troy grabbed me by my neck and laid one on me. I’m talking kissed me so good all thought left me, and all I could do is feel. I held on and just enjoyed the ride.

  “Fifty nine minutes and I’ll be back. Maybe less,” he growled.

  “Make it less,” I moaned, kissing him one last time.

  Troy stepped back from me and ran his fingers though his hair. “You have no idea how tempted I am to take you with me and drive the hell away from here.”

  “I think I have a bit of an idea how you feel.”

  “Stop looking at me like that, Marley. We both know we can’t do that. Go help Ethel make dinner, and I promise every dirty little thought that is going through that pretty little head of yours will come true tonight.” Troy walked around to the driver’s door and climbed in, slamming the door shut behind him.

  I moved away from the truck and he cranked it up. He stuck his hand out the window as he drove away, giving me the typical two fingered guy wave. I watched his truck disappear until I couldn’t see the taillights anymore.

  “He’ll be right back, darlin’. I could see the way that boy was wrapped around your finger as soon as I walked in the door.”

  I turned around and saw Ethel standing by the corner of the garage. “I like him, Ethel.”

  “Good, hun. You both need each other.”

  “I don’t know about Troy needing me and all my drama, but I do need him. I’ve never been with someone who makes me feel the way he does.”

  “Hold on tight then and don’t let go.”

  This was why I loved Ethel. She always knew the right thing to say. “Did Gravel send you out here to check on me?”

  “Oh Lord no. It was more like I had to beat him back from the door. I told him I would see what was holding you up. I knew you were saying goodbye to Troy and didn’t need your father breathing down your neck.”

  “Thanks, Ethel.”

  “No thanks needed, hun. Now why don’t you go on in the house with me and help me make an apple pie for dinner.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “Troy was right. He said you probably brought dinner with you.”

  “Well of course. I do have manners. I brought all the fixings for meatloaf with all the sides.”

  I turned my nose up at meatloaf. I had never met a meatloaf I liked. “Ugh, do you think we could maybe have burgers instead of meatloaf?”

  Ethel laughed and shook her head. “How about you give my meatloaf a chance and then if you don’t like it, I’ll make you a hamburger.”

  “OK, deal.”

  Ethel headed back to the house and I followed behind. I glanced behind me, looking where Troy’s truck was and smiled. Fifty minutes until he was back.

  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

  Chapter 24

  Troy

  My bag was sitting by the door and I was ready, but I wasn’t ready.

  I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I didn’t understand how I could have such strong feelings for Marley and I had barely known her. And now I sounded like a wuss. Fuck me, what the hell was Marley doing to me.

  I sat down on the couch and ran my fingers through my hair. I always told myself I wanted to settle down and have a family, but I didn’t know how it would happen. I never expected a girl to storm into my life and completely take me by surprise.

  Looking around my house, everything looked the same, but it didn’t feel the same. My whole life looked the same, but damn if it felt the same. I had always valued my time alone. Even when I would date a girl, I would need my own time. I craved it.

  With Marley, if she wasn’t within ten feet of me I couldn’t breathe. I always had to know where she was, and if it wasn’t next to me, I’d go to her.

  The big question was, did she feel the same? Could she breathe without me? I was only her second relationship. Her first relationship had lasted over ten years and, from the sounds of it, had led a sheltered life. Hell, a sheltered and much more expensive life than I could give her. I’m sure Mark had given her everything she needed or wanted.

  All I could give Marley she had seen. I worked forty hours a week, paid my bills, and had enough money left over for a couple of twelve packs at the end of the week.

  “Open up, fucker. It’s your best friend you haven’t seen or talked to in over a week!” Meg yelled as she pounded on the front door.

  I opened the door and Meg stood on the other side, her hand raised to pound on the door again. “How the hell did you know I was here?”

  “I happened to be driving by and saw your truck. Let me in,” she demanded as she pushed past me.

  “I’m about to leave, Meg. I still have to run to Marley’s and pick up some stuff she wanted.” I slammed the door shut and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “You can spare five minutes for me, ass.” Meg plopped down on the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table.

  “You could hav
e called me, you know. The phone does work both ways.”

  “I know that, do you?”

  “What do you want, Meg? I know I haven’t been to work in a week and you miss me, but coming over and harassing me seems a bit over the top.”

  “Oh well, you know me. Over the top is my specialty.”

  “We all know that well,”

  “All right, since I’m on a time limit, I’ll just cut straight to the point. How are you and Marley? Scared shitless?”

  And right there was the freaky thing about Meg. She knew me. Too well sometimes. “I’m, well, you know, getting used to it.”

  “You’re scared shitless, Troy. Admit it.”

  I wasn’t scared per say, it was more like I didn’t know what the hell to do. Oh hell, who was I kidding? I was ready to rip a page out of Marley’s book and get the hell out of dodge. “I have no idea what the hell I am doing, Meg. Things are fucking perfect right now. How the hell is that possible? We don’t even know each other.”

  “I think you know each other more than you think.”

  “This shit doesn’t happen. You don’t have such strong feelings barely two weeks into knowing someone.”

  “Now you know how I felt with Lo. It scared the ever living shit out of me that a man like Lo could look at me the way he did so soon. That shit happens in the books I read, not my life. But it did happen to me Troy, and I think it’s happening even faster to you, too.”

  “So what the hell do I do? I can’t give her much. This is all I have,” I said as I stretched my arms wide.

  Meg looked around and shook her head. “This,” she twirled her finger over her head, “is not what Marley wants.”

  “Then what the fuck does she want with me?”

  Meg stood up and pulled her truck keys out of her pocket. “She wants the man who is my best friend. The man who helped Cyn when she was hurt. The man who is doing everything in his power to keep her safe. I can guran-damn-tee that is what she wants. Everything else is irrelevant.”

  “What if you’re wrong? What if she gets sick of the man I am? I don’t have a fancy job and a vault full of money.”

  “Then you let her go and find the girl who is looking for exactly what you are. But, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. I’m going to tell you the same thing Ethel tells me, ‘Let that boy in.’ Meg’s eyes bugged out and she waved her hand. “Well, substitute girl for boy. Whatever, you get the point.”