Take Me I'm Yours (Coffee House Chronicles) (18 page)

“You really shouldn’t be hanging around this loser. Hasn’t he told you about hi
s seedy business dealings yet?”

Graeme released her hand and clutched Ethan’s collar in a lightning move. So fast, Marion didn’t have time to react. She had seen him do this once before—outside the bookstore the day she and Graeme reconnected. A thick chord in Graeme’s neck stood out and she could clearly see the
vein pulsing at his temple.

“So you haven’t told her.” Ethan grinned broadly. Despite the fact Graeme had him by the neck, he sounded at ease. As if
Graeme wasn’t a threat at all.

“Nothing regarding Marion is any of your concern,” Graeme said, his voice frightfully low. He shoved Ethan back making him stumble toward the counter
. “Stay away from her. And me.”

“Quite the valiant knight in shining armor, aren’t you? Coming to her rescue and
trying to protect her from me.”

“I don’t need protecting,” Marion
snapped.

“Oh, I think you do.” Ethan glanced back at Graeme. “Maybe you should tell her she’s one of many in a very long line of women. And that your business operations give you free access to any model or ‘entertainer’ you want.” He waved quote marks in the air a
s he said the word
entertainer
.

“I don’t believe you,” Marion said. Even so, a
sick feeling crept over Marion. Her stomach knotted and suddenly she wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Hasn’t he told you he makes quite a pile of money from his web design business?” Ethan aske
d.

“Shut up, you son of
a bitch.” Graeme’s hand fisted.

“He’s mentioned his business, yes,” Marion said. Her throat stung. Was she about to hear somet
hing she wasn’t going to like?

“Has he also me
ntioned he designs porn sites?”

“
What
…?” The blood drained from her head as she breathed out the word.

Graeme designed porn sites? No, he’d never mentioned
it. Must have slipped his mind.

“And he’s dated most of the star players on those sites,” Ethan said.

As if in slow motion, Graeme pulled his arm back to connect with Ethan’s nose. But he didn’t stop with one punch. He hit him again with his other fist and before she knew it, the two were in a full blown fist fight. Right in the middle of The Holey Donut. The girl behind the counter shrieked and shouted for someone from the back.

Oh, shit.

She wasn’t sure what to do or how to stop them. She certainly couldn’t get in between them.

Graeme shoved Ethan backward and they landed on the glass display case with a crunch. She could hear the splintering of glass beneath Ethan’s body as Graeme continued to pummel his face. The girl behind the counter disappeared and returned with
a man Marion assumed was the owner.

“Stop! Stop it, both of you!” Finally Marion found her voice, but it was too late.

The man wore an apron splattered with chocolate and the name Jason stenciled at the top. He was a big hulking man and pulled Graeme off Ethan with ease. He shoved Graeme backward, standing between the two men. Ethan wiped blood off his face with the back of his hand.

“One of you will be paying for that,” Jason said, pointi
ng to the broken display case.

“
My pleasure. Just send me the bill,” Graeme said then glanced at her. “I’m sorry, Marion.”

Ethan reached for a paper napkin to wipe away blood
dripping from his nose. Graeme’s knuckles were red and split and Marion couldn’t stop the fury welling inside her. The two of them fighting over her and everything else was beyond stupid.

“So am I,” she said.

She spun on her heel and left the donut shop—and Graeme and Ethan behind.

* * * * *

Graeme couldn’t stop from attacking Ethan. He’d taken all he could stand. The man’s jealousy went beyond trying to break up Graeme and Marion. Now he was playing dirty and Graeme wasn’t going to take it anymore.

He watched
Marion walk out of the shop and out of his life. Possibly forever. She was angry and had every right to be and he had blown it. He couldn’t go after her yet. He wanted her to cool down. Maybe letting her walk was the wrong thing to do. He’d probably regret that later.

And he especially
didn’t like Ethan couldn’t wait to tell Marion his sordid past. He’d gotten into the business with Ethan to make money only so he could start his artistic career. Painting was all he ever wanted to do. He didn’t want to spend his entire life slaving behind a desk for a company who neither appreciated him nor paid him what he was worth, like his father.

“You jackass,” Ethan said. “You’re letting her get away. Even after all this.” He
waved toward the broken case.

Graeme turned away, watched her walk down the sidewal
k toward the heart of downtown.

“And you said you loved her,” Ethan said.

Graeme winced, remembering his confession to Ethan a few months after the wedding that never happened. Even then, they’d fought over Marion and Graeme had made the grave error of blurting it out. Why the hell had he told him that?

“Stay away from her or you’ll have me to d
eal with,” Graeme had told him.

“Yeah, right. You’re no threat.
Why do you care about her?” Ethan asked.

“Unlike you, I
do love her.”

But even then, Graeme didn’t chase her like he’d chased—and gotten—so many other skirts. Marion was worth m
ore than a conquest.

He did love her, dammit. He knew he did. There was nothing he could do about it. She h
ad walked out and he’d let her.

Graeme whirled on Ethan. “I should tell her the truth about
you
.”

“As if she’d believe you,” Ethan said coolly. “She’ll think you’re making it up to cover your ass.”

“Not if I give her proof of the business records. I can show her it was
yours
to begin with.”

Ethan stepped closer to him and lowered his voice to a quiet, dangerous tone. “Are you threatening me?”

“She already knows you cheated on her with a stripper,” Graeme continued. “What makes you think she’ll come crawling back to you after everything you did to her?”

“Because I’ve changed.” He gave Graeme a wolf grin. “I haven’t proven it to her yet.”

“Oh, right.” Graeme rolled his eyes. “So showing up with a bimbo on your arm the other night is showing her you’ve
changed
. What do you want with her? You only wanted her before for the conquest. She’s nothing but a trophy to you.”

“And I nearly married her
because she was one hell of a trophy. She’ll look shiny and pretty on my mantle, don’t you think? So stay out of my way.”

Graeme balled his fist, but refrained from punching him again. He’d done enough damage for the day.

Ethan saw his instinct reaction then relax his fist. He poked him hard in the chest. “You’re the chicken shit now for not going after her.”

Graeme
knew he was. That was why he shut himself off from the world when he painted her. Why she was only real to him in his dreams and imagination. And why he never allowed himself to get involved with a woman longer than a few months. If he couldn’t have Marion he didn’t want anyone. And no one was as good as Marion. He had to figure out how to get her back.

She rebuffed him after the bad break-up with Ethan. He had tried to be a friend, but they drifted apart. Perhaps because she didn’t want to be reminded of anything of her past life
. Seeing her in the Bitter End that morning gave him hope for a second chance. And he still blew it.

“She doesn’t deserve either one of us,” G
raeme said. “Least of all
you
.” He glowered at Ethan, resisting the urge to punch him again.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ethan had the gall to feign innocence.

“You left her at the altar.
You blew it six months ago. And if she’s smart—and she is—she won’t take you back.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Ethan charged out of the donut shop and Graeme didn’t stop him. He let him go, knowing he would catch up to her.

“So are you going to pay for this or what?” the owner asked.
He must have been a witness to the entire conversation.

Sighing,
Graeme reached for his wallet and pulled out a business card. “As I said, send me the bill. I’m good for it.”

After tossing his card on the counter, he stepped outside, got into his car and drove away.
Graeme knew Marion was smart enough not to believe anything Ethan told her. And in a few days, this whole thing will have blown over and they’d talk again and everything would be forgotten. Or so he hoped.

Chapter Thirteen

Graeme didn’t even come after her. He didn’t even try. The more steps Marion took leading away from the donut shop, the angrier she got at both of them for fighting each other. Men acting like boys. It was infuriating. She fought back tears but it was a losing battle. Her breath hitched and suddenly, they were pouring down her cheeks. She clutched her handbag under her arm and hurried down the sidewalk as fast as her heels would take her, looking for a place she could dive into to collect herself.

She saw a storefront up ahead and went inside, wiping furiously at the tears on her cheeks. It was a boutique carrying women’s blouses, skirts, shirts, pants. She interested herself in the front window display, sniffing and tryin
g to get her motions under control.

“Can I help you find anything
, miss?” the sales lady asked.

Marion could hear her heels clicking on the shiny marble floor as she approache
d. “No. Just browsing, thanks.”

She didn’t want her
to see her tear-streaked face. As she glanced down, Marion saw she still wore her heels and cocktail dress from the night before. She wiped her face took a deep breath and turned.

“Actually, yes you can,” Marion
said.

Thirty minutes and three hundred dollars later, Marion had changed into a new outfit from the boutique.
She managed to do some damage to her credit card. Shopping always made her feel better. It soothed her frayed nerves for now. Like putting a band-aid on an open wound.

The sales lady neatly folded her cocktail dress and placed it in the shopping bag along with her heels. Marion thanked her
, took the bag and left the store lighter in the pocketbook but heavier in the heart.

Her head pounded and she knew it was from serious caffeine deprival. The
coffee shop next door was calling her name.

“
Marion, wait up.”

She froze. What the hell was Ethan doing here? Turning slowly, she spotted him
heading straight for her. He had managed to get most of the blood off his chin and nose, but it was still clear he had been in a fight.

“Can I talk to you?”
He smoothed his blood-stained shirt.

“No.” She
hurried down the street, her coffee fixation quickly forgotten. She needed to get away from him.

“Please, Marion
.”

He caught up to her and
fell in step beside her. Damn the man for having those long legs. She increased her pace.

“Look, I know you said those things to hurt Graeme
. I’m not interested in hearing anything else you have to say. So shove off.”

“You’re
absolutely right,” Ethan said.

That stopped her dead in her tracks. That and the fact the
“Don’t Walk” flashed. She cursed for not planning better.

“I can’t stand
seeing you with him.” He actually looked humble and sounded sincere but Marion wasn’t so sure she bought the act. Maybe he really was, then again…maybe he was bullshitting her again.

“Oh, so insulting him and getting into a fight with him is how you show it?” She gave him a sidelong glance.

She could never forget he had hurt her deeply and there was no going back to him. Even if he gave her that puppy-dog look. That son of a bitch.

Remorse flooded his face.
“I shouldn’t have taunted him,” Ethan said.

“No, you shouldn’t have. And making up
lies about him is really low.” She glanced around, looking at anything and everything to avoid eye contact while waiting for the damned light to change.

“Everything I told you w
as true.”

She couldn’t believe it. Hearing him say it was true gave her an odd twinge of disappointment. There was no way Graeme was a womanizer. Not the man who had so gently made love to her the night before. No way. She woul
dn’t believe it.