When she saw Marcus, I sensed momentary indecision on her face. She probably contemplated whether to strike me again with him added to the equation or go. And for some reason, she opted to make a run for it.
Fuck. I tapped my comm and whispered, “Target is in the wind. I repeat, target is in the wind.”
In all the commotion and the noisiness of the fair rides, I didn’t think Marcus heard me.
He was too focused on coming for me as I lay on the ground.
In my earpiece, I could hear Addie, Tyler, and Roz as the pandemonium set in and they went after Sasha.
They knew my location. Hopefully, they could fucking get her. I’d failed. After all that, I’d failed.
Marcus kneeled down next to me. “Jesus Christ, what in the world is going on?”
I groaned as I held my jaw. “Oh God, that really hurt.”
“Who was that?”
“Um, new girlfriend of my ex. Tyler. You met him. A bit of a dick.”
His eyes went wide. “What?”
“She saw me by the bathroom. When I was coming out, she cornered me. You know, a stay-away-from-my-man kind of thing.”
He frowned. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I know, right?” Ugh, I really needed to get better with my lies.
Luckily, in the dark he couldn’t really see me that well.
“Jesus, do you want to call the police?”
“No, I just... I need ice.”
“Yup, coming right up. How come every time we go out something wild happens?”
“I swear to God, it’s not me.”
He laughed. “Jesus, we need to get you some basic self-defense class or something.”
“Yeah, that’s something to think about for sure.”
Thirty minutes later, we were in Marcus’s apartment. Me with an icepack on my face, him with heat lamps on, checking me all over to make sure that I didn’t have any other injuries.
My ribs were tender, so I really hoped to God he wouldn’t press too hard on them. “Did she hit you anywhere else?”
“Well, she tried to hit me with a pole, but I ducked away, and then I dropped and hurt myself a little.”
“God, Lyra, I mean it. We really need to get you in some basic self-defense course.”
“What, now you’re an expert on self-defense?”
“No, not exactly, but I know when someone’s going to get hurt one day. And you are that woman.”
Not if I could help it.
Chapter 12
Marcus
For fuck’s sake, it was like danger followed Lyra around. I helped her settle the icepack gently over her cheekbone, and I frowned as she winced.
Not your circus, not your monkeys.
I wanted them to be my monkeys. She’d nearly gotten herself in trouble.
“Why don’t you tell me her name?”
Lyra’s brows rose. “Why?”
Why was she so stubborn about this? “So I can file a police report. She tried to assault you.” When she shook her head vehemently, I added, “Okay, then tell me the surname of your ex. I can look him up. Maybe reach out to him and let him know his girlfriend is crazy.”
“Oh no you don’t. I’ll deal with this.”
I laughed. “Why won’t you let me help you with this?”
“I’m fine. Honestly. She didn’t hit that hard.”
I laughed at that. “Sweetheart, I don’t think you can see your jaw right now.” I lifted the icepack away from her face. “It’s going to be a big bruise. It’s going to match the one under your eye.”
“I can see it in your face. You think something is happening to me. Honestly, nothing is happening. I am just clumsy, and you saw it today.”
“Yeah, I saw it. Obviously, I’m just really worried.”
She sighed and reached up to touch my face. “Do you realize no one has worried about me this much in years? Not since my parents died.”
It had been a long time since I was aware of my heart, but right now it wanted to do anything and everything to make Lyra feel better.
“Well, maybe someone should.”
“I’ve learned to be independent.”
“It’s not all or nothing, Lyra. I reckon your ex did a number on you. And we don’t have to talk about it yet, but one day you’ll open up to me about him. In the meantime, I want Tyler’s surname. I would like to have a conversation with him about his girlfriend, as well as whatever the hell he did to you that makes you keep your guard up so high.”
“Well, we don’t always get what we want, do we? I’ll deal with it. I don’t want you involved because that sends the message that I can’t deal with things on my own and need some hero to swoop in and take care of me.”
I gritted my teeth. I wanted to fix this for her. And by fix, I meant making that asshole ex-boyfriend of hers pay for everything he’d ever done to her and then getting his current girlfriend to come do his dirty work.
You’re not thinking clearly. If she doesn’t want you to fix it, don’t fix it.
The thing was, she clearly needed someone to take care of her.
“Okay, if you won’t let me talk to him and you won’t call the police, then at least let me teach you some self-defense moves.”
She lifted a brow. “Well, first of all, I don’t think I need self-defense moves. Secondly, you’re going to teach me self-defense?”
I nodded slowly, wondering how much I could tell her and why in the world she sounded incredulous. “Yeah, I did Krav Maga for years.”
She blinked in surprise. “Oh. I didn’t know that.”
I shrugged. “It was years ago. But I still remember the basics enough so that you can defend yourself and never leave yourself open.”
She ran a hand through her hair and looked a little doubtful.
“Let me do this. It’ll make me feel better.”
She looked like she was going to argue some more, but then she didn’t. “Fine. If you insist.”
“Good, maybe tomorrow we’ll get started, okay?”
“Where have you been hiding, Marcus Black?”
“You keep
