Page 71 of Embraced in Ink

“Don’t call melove. You go all fake British even though you’re actually from the UK when you say that.”

The other man waved it off. “Perhaps. Anyway, it seems you have a bit of a mess to clean up. Sorry for my involvement. Now, I hope we’ll talk soon about the song?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. You need to go, Colin.”

Marcus watched the other man leave, and let Bristol stand up for herself. Because he never stepped in for that. He wasn’t going to beat some guy’s ass just because he could. Even though he fucking wanted to.

“I’m so sorry about that.”

“The kiss? Or me catching it,” Marcus asked, unable to help himself.

Bristol’s eyes widened, and she stepped forward, her hand out, but she stopped at the look on his face.

At least that’s why he thought she stopped. For all he knew, she was just done. Maybe he was, too.

“Colin kissed me. I did not want it. I was pushing him away. You saw that.”

“And yet you keep letting him into your house?”

“Because I work with him. And he did help me. But I do know that if I have to work with him again, it’ll be at a public studio, not alone with him. He’s too much. I’m sorry, Marcus. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“No, you’re right. You can’t control him.” Marcus let out a breath and then started to pace. “It’s seriously not your fault. I’m not angry about that. Are you okay, though?” he asked, finally getting through the sludge that was his brain and trying not to act like an asshole.

“I’m okay.” She paused. “I mean, as long as you’re okay. Marcus, talk to me. What did I do?”

He sighed, trying to get his thoughts in order.

“You haven’t done anything, Bristol.”

He paused. “Maybe that’s the problem. We haven’t done a fucking thing.”

Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. “What do you mean?”

“What are we doing? We’re only playing at this, right?”

“No, we’re not. We made a promise.”

“Fuck that promise.”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything. Good. Because he wasn’t sure what he would do if she tried to say anything. He didn’t know if he’d believe it. He barely believed himself.

“What the fuck are we doing?” he asked again. “We’re not…whatever we’re doing, it’s not going right. We barely talk, we hang out with others, and they’re so scared of breaking what we had that they constantly don’t mention it. It’s the elephant in the room, and it’s fucking killing me. What the fuck are we doing?”

“We’re going to be married,” she whispered.

“Yeah, that’s not the right answer. If it was the right answer, you wouldn’t sound so nervous about it.”

“Marcus.”

“No, don’t. We made that promise because we were scared. And I get it. You were leaving, and I was staying behind. But that’s always going to be the case. You are always going to go, and I will always be here. I’m never going to be like Colin. I’m never going to travel with you and see the world and be the type of guy you need.”

“Stop it. You know that’s not what I want. Colin isn’t what I want. You are.”

“Are you sure? Or are you just scared of backing down? This is what we have now.”

“Marcus.”

“Stop saying my name like that. You know it’s not going to help anything.”