Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Daisy, Ava and Sadie, the skulking culprits, were sitting in the chairs in front of it, an extra one having been brought in so Sadie could use it.
He could see they’d either divested themselves of their camouflage, or it was confiscated.
“It wasn’t me,” Shirleen announced. “I was havin’ a drink at the bar while they were doin’ their silly-ass nonsense.”
“Marcus—” Daisy started.
“Ladies,” he cut her off, addressing Ava, Sadie and Shirleen. “Do you have rides or do you need me to arrange them for you?”
Shirleen took her feet off the desk. “That means get the fuck out, I got words to say to my wife.”
It absolutely did.
Shirleen stood, “I brought ’em all here. I can take them back. I assume you’ll take Daisy home?”
“You assume correctly,” Marcus confirmed.
Slowly, Ava and Sadie stood, giving Daisy “I’m sorry” expressions as they trooped behind Shirleen out the door.
Sadie still had a leaf stuck in the back of her hair.
He waited until it closed, then he shifted his position to lean against it and face his wife.
“Marcus—” she started again.
“Please begin by explaining why you’re spying on me.”
“I wasn’t spying. You’re my husband. You can’t spy on your husband,” she returned.
“When you’re wearing a makeshift camo hat with branches stuck in it and lurking through trees on a golf course, watching me when you think I don’t know you’re there, that’s spying.”
She pressed her lips tightly together.
It took effort to keep the bite out of his voice when he demanded. “What is it, Daisy? Do you think I’m cheating on you?”
This was the only thing he could dredge up as explanation for her behavior, considering the foursome he’d joined included two women.
She jumped to her feet and cried, “What? No!”
“Then why on earth would you…and Ava…and Sadie…shove branches in knit caps, don safari shirts and creep through trees watching me?”
She threw her hands out to her sides and snapped, “Because I love you.”
“I know you do. You don’t have to prove it by keeping an eye on me every moment of my life.”
“Take your own advice, darlin’,” she shot back.
He stiffened.
“Your life can’t be just me,” she went on.
Marcus stood stone still and silent.
Daisy didn’t.
“In the beginning, I needed it. Lord knew, and definitely you did, that I needed a good man’s attention and his love and devotion. You give your heart, Marcus, and God, there’s so much in there to give. All for me. But I can’t hack it. It’s not fair.”
She walked to him and put both hands on his chest (and he noted she might have been skulking through the rough around six holes of golf, and she might have somehow found a safari outfit to do it in, but she’d also managed to find some camo-covered platform boots to wear with it).
“The time has gone when I need you to give me your everything, Marcus,” she concluded.
“I realize you have the Rock Chicks now and—”
“I’m not talking about the Rock Chicks. I’m talking about the rape.”
Marcus clamped his mouth shut and gritted his teeth.
She noticed and cupped his jaw in her hand. “Life is life, sugar bunch. You can’t shield me from it. You can’t cushion every fall I might take. And you can’t live your life in the wings like you’re Batman waitin’ for the Bat Signal to come out so you can be available to swoop to my rescue anytime I might need you. You gotta have your own life. Not one without me, but one that’s about you so it can be as full as it should be. And you’d be givin’ that to me too. Because I want it for you.”
“I have a full life, Daisy.”
She dropped her hand and stepped back. “You have no friends.”
“I don’t need friends.”
“Okay, then, I’ll remind you, you’re not in that business anymore where you gotta always be lookin’ over your shoulder and wonderin’ if every person you deal with is gonna turn around and fuck you over. I’ll also remind you, there are some damn fine men in our midst. They respect you. They like you. Hell, darlin’, you could take your pick, and I bet they’d welcome you.”
“I’m not a beer and wings and football person.”
“Heads up, Marcus. Those boys like their sports, sure, but most of their downtime they spend sittin’ at Lincoln’s, drinkin’ beer and wonderin’ where they went wrong, gettin’ involved with a crazy group of bitches like us. And I’m sure you might have a few things to say on that matter yourself.”
His tone was gentle when he told her the absolute truth. “I never wonder why I’m with you.”
“I bet you wondered why I was there when some lunatic chased my friends down in a haunted house.”
He had to admit, he definitely wondered that.
“Or nearly rolled onto I-25 when someone was chasin’ Ava’s Range Rover.”