Scarred

eight-1

eight

“You have to end it,” Nya said into the phone she’d dialed after jumping out of the cab that dropped her off at Sizzle.

Her day had gotten away from her. Because she was running behind, a call was taking the place of a conversation that should’ve happened face-to-face. Though there was some part of Nya’s subconscious that understood it was harder for Tag to give her the brush off when they were on the phone. In person, there were too many distractions he could use to avoid answering her.

“Excuse me?” Tag asked. “I thought you were coming over here for lunch, where are you?”

“Something came up,” she said, something like a guy tied to a pipe awaiting his demise. Tulio was creating a dilemma in her life that she’d never thought she’d face. Having Archer around made it easier to cope with because the pressure was off her to take care of business, but the final decision on what would happen to their prisoner was on her shoulders. “I have to run errands. There’s a couple of things I have to do at Sizzle then I’m running home to pay my rent—”

“So you thought you’d squeeze me in? You know how I feel about being canceled on.”

Yes, she did, he hated it. Tag wasn’t understanding about unexpected events in her life. She couldn’t tell him about Tulio because he’d warned her against going after the men who’d attacked Sizzle. So for now, she’d have to be vague.

Heading for the doorway of the club, she dug in her bag for her keys. “I know you hate being canceled on. I do. I’m sorry. I got caught up at Archer’s this morning.”

“So much for him not coming between us,” he grumbled.

That wasn’t a good reaction, Tag really didn’t like her boyfriend and time wasn’t building any bridges. “He’s not! I swear it to you…” Pausing in the entryway to Sizzle, she brought a hand to her hip as she tried to think about how to appease her friend. “Truth is, we didn’t get much sleep. So I spent the morning in bed.”

“With him?”

Okay, she’d just given Tag a visual that wouldn’t help. She sucked at this mediator thing. “Yes, with him… sleeping.”

“No s*x?”

She couldn’t claim that exactly. They had been sleeping, that wasn’t a lie, but when they woke up, some kissing became rubbing, so although it hadn’t been their intention, there may have been some incidental penetration. “Does that matter?” she asked. “I’m sorry that I have to cancel, but we do have to talk, we can’t ignore this.”

His mood was still sour. “I don’t get why it’s your business who I’m dating.”

Carrying on into the club, she looped her keys around her thumb and rested her fist on her open purse. “It’s my business because your girlfriend’s brother might cut off your balls when he finds out what’s going on. And because my boyfriend set it up for you to tempt this girl ‘cause it was what Hexam wanted. You were supposed to tempt her, Tag, not screw her. You have to end this.”

“I’ll end my relationship when you end yours.”

Stopping dead, it hadn’t occurred to her that he would make a counteroffer and she couldn’t tell if he was being serious or snide. “What has my relationship with Archer got to do with your relationship with Farrah?” Nya asked, frozen on the spot, halfway between the door and the bar.

Having Tulio as their prisoner created a sense of urgency in her life, she was responsible for the life of another and she had no idea how long he could hang on without them going back to him. Nya wanted to see how he was and to check that he hadn’t escaped. Archer didn’t seem as concerned, but he had lots of experience in this arena.

He’d even told her that she could go for lunch with Tag, that it wouldn’t cause a problem, that an extra hour wouldn’t make any difference, but she’d elected instead to come to Sizzle to do what was needed after calling one of her assistants to advise that she wouldn’t be there that night. It didn’t matter that she was supposed to work tonight, Tulio was going to take priority. This was the first time she’d done this abducting and torturing thing and she needed to focus on practicing. This situation would only get harder. Archer must have known that because he’d chosen to hit the easiest mark first.

“I’m proving a point,” Tag said. “I have as much right to say that to you as you do to me.”

Irritation brought her fingers to her forehead. “You have been telling me to dump him since you found out we were together. You’re looking for any excuse to get—”

“See how annoyed you are? That’s how I feel.”

“Don’t compare the relationships,” she said, scowling at no one. “What Archer and I have is nothing like what you have with Farrah.”

“How would you know?” Tag asked.

This wasn’t going well. Tag had been pissed at the start of the call and now her mood matched his. “Well for one thing, you’ve been seeing her for two weeks; you can get rid of her.”

“How long had you been seeing Archer when I found out about the two of you? Days?” he asked. “Were you even together then or was it just s*x? It didn’t make any difference to you when I told you to dump him. You wouldn’t do it.”

Granted, she probably hadn’t been crazy in love with Archer when Tag discovered the relationship, but they had a connection, something that started before Tag found out, something that started during her captivity, something that combusted in that parking lot.

But that wasn’t even the point and she was sick of dancing around the truth. “You wanted me to dump Archer because you don’t like him,” she said. “There’s a huge difference between that and what I’m asking.”

“Tell me,” he said, smug and condescending at the same time. The latter had little effect on her now that she was dating the world’s greatest aficionado in that trait.

She spelled it out. “I’m telling you to dump her for your own good.”

Her friend didn’t budge. “You’re worried about your boyfriend, you just said it yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m worried about him, but I’m worried about you too. Unless you really love her and plan to be with her forever, there’s no point in carrying on with this. And if you do love her, you’re going to have to face her brother. Tell me, are you willing to do that?”

Her question only riled him more. “This is none of your business,” Tag snapped. “You just can’t keep your nose out. It’s typical.”

Tag didn’t mind her being nosey when she was looking out for his interests. In the past, when she displayed concern, he’d never gotten angry. Sure, there were times he’d pat her on the head and dismiss her worries. But he’d never gotten irrational and irritated like this.

“Fine,” she said. “You tell me that you’re in love with Farrah and I will support you every step of the way, I’ll even drag Archer along. He won’t like it, but I’ll find a way to convince him to stick with us.”

“Us?” Tag spat. “I don’t give a f**k about Archer. He can go screw himself for all I care.”

“Great,” she said, once again resenting the male ego. “Yeah, I’ll tell him that. I’ll tell him he can go screw himself. Do you even care that by saying things like that, it puts me right in the middle of this juvenile feud between the two of you? Archer is at least willing to make the effort.”

“Oh, yes, he’s fantastic. I’m sure he’s real agreeable while he’s got his d**k up your ass.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Tag, what is wrong with you?” she gasped.

“Maybe I’m sick of hearing it,” he said. “Maybe I’m sick of hearing you say that I’m never good enough, that every decision I make is somehow a basis for you to judge me.”

She’d never entertained the concept that he might feel this way. Yes, they commented on each other’s lives, but if she had to tally up the instances through the years, she would probably guess that he’d cast more aspersions on her than she had on him.

Like finding herself at Sizzle, she liked the responsibility of it and it was great to have a regular paycheck. But Tag had been the one to storm into her former place of employment to put a stop to her working there without asking her opinion. Maybe stripping was a life choice, maybe it was a dream, maybe it was something she’d always wanted to do. Okay, it wasn’t, but it wasn’t like she hated it. The money was good and she needed the steady income.

“Fine then,” she said. “You want me to butt out, I will. But don’t expect Archer to bail you out again. Don’t come to us when Hexam puts your balls in a vice.”

“I won’t,” Tag snapped. “You live your life, Yorkie, and I’ll live mine.”

“Fine by me,” she retorted.

“Good.”

She didn’t know which one of them hung up first, or if they did it simultaneously, but she didn’t wait to hear another word. She took the phone from her ear, pressed disconnect, and stuffed it into her bag.

Balling her fists at her sides, she growled and contemplated calling Archer. Except he was sick of hearing Tag’s name on her lips and as she’d said to Tag, there was no great love between the men, so she didn’t need to give extra ammunition to their dislike.

Archer had once commented that Tag would always hate him if she told her friend about every fight they had. That worked the other way too. Finding a balance between honesty and protection was difficult, but the first step was making sure she’d cooled down before she involved the other.

Knowing Archer’s personality as she did, he would probably assume her rant was some kind of instruction to take Tag down. In a physical confrontation between the two men, Archer would triumph, his experience was greater and he used combat skills every day, whereas Tag was more of an ideas man than an implementer.

Telling herself to put the argument out of her mind, Nya went about the Sizzle business of paying invoices and placing orders before she went on the bank run.

Taking money from her own personal account at the same time, she headed back to her apartment building to deal with her errands. But when she tried to hand over the money she’d withdrawn from the bank for her landlord, Nya got the shock of her life.

It hadn’t been her intention to go back to Archer’s so soon, but it sure was after her landlord closed his door on her. Not only was she embarrassed by the conversation that they’d had, but she was downright flabbergasted.

Pounding on Archer’s apartment door, Nya wasn’t going to use her key and swan in. She was going to make him face her and until she could put her thoughts together, she wanted to keep her distance.

As always, he opened the door without checking the identity of his visitor. His relaxed expression of expectation quickly became perplexed. “Did you lose your key already? Babe—”

“I just went to my landlord,” Nya said, without crossing the threshold, which made him frown and take another bite of his apple.

“What for?”

Dumb question, except it wasn’t, given what she’d found out. “To pay my rent.”

“Already did that,” he said and instead of waiting for her to come in or request entry, he went back inside to return to his place standing behind the couch to watch the TV. The position was central, but she didn’t understand why he insisted on standing up.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, coming inside because she didn’t want to holler across the room.

“You told me to.”

“Uh, I did not, when did I do that?”

Holding a hand toward her, he didn’t take his eyes from the subtitles on the TV screen. “In the club when you got your t**s out.”

Growling, she refrained from tutting at him. “I didn’t get my t**s out,” she said, discarding her purse, shoes, and jacket before going over to take his hand. Kissing her brand, he directed her around the couch to seat her in the middle. “I can’t believe you paid my rent.” Twisting to glance up at him, she still didn’t have his attention. “Just how many months did you pay?”