Marked E-Book

Scarlett Finn

• Herausgeber: Moriona Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

When your heart is broken and your mission complete, how do you put the pieces of your life back together?

It's easier said than done for Nya Yorke. Living under Archer is a constant reminder of what she's lost. Their lives are entwined, she just can't break free.

But she isn't the only one struggling with the devastation of loss. Her oldest friend, Taggert, doesn't deal well with the demise of his relationship and his empire. Angry, and out of control, he begins to lose his grip and there's only one person Nya knows who can help her hold him together.

Turning to Archer puts her between the two men who have no love for each other and this time, she might not be able to prevent a clash that could prove final.  

Warning: Contains explicit language and imagery. Suitable only for ages 18 and over.

**Book 3 of 3, HEA, no cheating, series complete**

Leseprobe

Copyright © 2017 Scarlett Finn

Published by Moriona Press 2017

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

First published in 2017

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form on by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Original cover by Najla Qamber Designs

www.najlaqamberdesigns.com

www.scarlettfinn.com

BRANDED SERIES

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Enjoy!

contents

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

eleven

twelve

thirteen

fourteen

fifteen

sixteen

seventeen

eighteen

nineteen

twenty

twenty-one

one

“I told him that I wouldn’t marry him until my daughter got married,” Ester said, leaning across Archer’s couch to cup Nya’s face.

As usual, the two women were sitting at opposite ends with their legs stretched out toward each other. The kiss Ester smacked to Nya’s lips was unexpected and just a fraction longer than it should’ve been. Nya lifted her eyes to their top corners to see Archer glaring down.

Grabbing his mother’s shoulder, Archer pulled the older woman away from the kiss. “No more wine for you, Ester,” he said.

But his mother wasn’t listening. She melted off the couch onto the floor to reach across the coffee table for her wine glass that had somehow ended up on the opposite side.

“I’m not getting married,” Nya laughed, wondering where Ester might have got the idea. “If you really love this guy, Ester, you should do it. You should marry him. Archer will pay for the wedding.”

“Will he?” Archer asked, but he wasn’t actually pissed off by the suggestion.

The man was busy distracting himself with his subtitles. He was happy to drink his beer and ignore the women having their private couch party.

“I don’t need someone to pay for it,” Ester said. Hooking an elbow onto the couch, she slurped from her glass and patted Nya’s bare foot. “I just want to see the two of you going down the aisle.”

Nya laughed again and curled her upper body over her bent knees. “How many times, Ester? We’re not together. How many bottles of wine have you had?”

Ester waved a flippant hand. “Oh, I know you keep saying that,” she said, as distraught about the news now as she had been when she first heard it. “But I have been staying here for a whole week and you guys have had dinner together three times.” Holding up the last three fingers of her hand, she waved them at Nya, then at Archer who was still focused on the TV. “Three whole times.”

But Archer didn’t seem to accept her premise. “The night you arrived, Ny had a slice of pizza from the box that was already here,” Archer muttered. “The second time you set us up. And last night she brought leftovers.”

Was he saying that none of those times counted? Nya regularly brought him leftovers these days and when she did, Archer invited her in to watch as he polished them off.

Ester wasn’t interested in her son’s justifications, she just hit Nya’s foot harder. “Nya Yorke, you are in love with my boy, you love him.”

Nya hugged her knees and used one as a rest for her chin. “You won’t hear me arguing, Est,” Nya said. “I’m nutso in love with him and he knows it.”

“I knew it!” Ester said. Slamming her glass onto the table, she climbed onto the couch to punch her son in the gut. “You’re just like all the others. You and your big proud pecker, you think ‘cause you’re cock of the walk, you can put it anywhere you like? How much pussy did you fuck while Nya’s was waiting at home for you, hmm?” She punched him again.

Archer wasn’t offended or apologetic, he was still just annoyed. “I didn’t fuck around,” he said, giving his mother a shove, not to hurt her, but to put her on her back on the couch so she couldn’t slug him again.

Ester stretched her legs and rubbed her feet up and down Nya’s shins. “You young ones complicate everything. You love each other? You get married. End of story.”

Nya glanced at Archer and found him looking at her. This was a conversation he was so tired of having that Nya had stopped pushing… most of the time.

Saving Archer from his mother’s judgement, Nya returned Ester’s thoughts to her new love. “Then you should marry Woodrow if you love him so much,” Nya said. She didn’t know that people were still called Woodrow, but apparently that was the name of Ester’s latest boyfriend.

Ester was so pleased by the reminder of her man that she shot upright. “He’s coming into town tomorrow. You’ll have to meet him!”

“He’s not staying here,” Archer said.

“Sure he can,” Ester said. “It’s great having Nya so close. You can bunk in with her or if you’re so precious about your apartment, Nya will let us stay at hers and you can have her here.”

“You can stay at mine,” Nya said because she wouldn’t see the woman and her new love on the street. But it would make Archer uncomfortable to hear his mother going at it in his bed. “I can stay with Tag. He’s not far from the club and—”

“No! You stay here,” Ester whined, lunging over the couch to grab Nya’s hand.

This was more meddling. “I can’t stay here,” she said.

Archer’s response was to keep ignoring them while downing most of the liquid in his beer bottle.

“Why not?” Ester asked, stroking the back of her hand. “If you two are just friends…” Ester mocked the words with a roll of her eyes. “You should be able to sleep in the same apartment without screaming in anger.”

Maybe Nya had had more wine than she realized because she dropped her knees and leaned over, pulling Ester even closer to whisper, “It’s not anger I’d be screaming in, that’s why Archer won’t let me stay.”

“Is it ten-thirty yet?” Archer asked, glaring at her.

Nya had to admit, she probably shouldn’t have said that because Archer didn’t like her discussing their sex life with his mother. Ester gave her a hug. “Ten-thirty? Who cares?” Ester asked and picked up Nya’s glass to push it back into her hand. “Nya and I are just getting started.” Ester tipped her head all the way back to look up at her son. “And if you want to get the hard liquor and join us, I promise I won’t let Nya take advantage of you when you’re drunk.”

Nya laughed. “I’ve already threatened to do that. He has a few more weeks.”

“Then what happens?” Ester asked, drowning her curiosity with wine.

“It’s my birthday, I told him he had until then to come to his senses.”

Ester gasped. “And if he doesn’t? You’ll walk away?” she asked, seizing Nya’s hand with a ferocity that matched her panic.

Nya pulled the back of Ester’s hand to her cheek; it was so nice that the woman worried about her. “No. If he doesn’t come to his senses by then it will be my turn to chain him to his headboard and I’ll be raiding your purse for more blue pills.”

Ester wailed with laughter.

“Okay, ding, ding,” Archer said, turning to put his beer on the dining table. “Time for Nya to go home.”

Ester groaned. “Nya’s staying here,” she insisted, but that was when Nya’s phone flashed on the table to show that it was ten-thirty. “Who cares about ten-thirty?”

Nya picked up the phone to turn off the alarm. “We have a ten-thirty rule,” she said. “We’re not allowed in each other’s places after that.”

Archer did like his rules.

Ester laughed. “Why not? Who turns into a pumpkin? This I have to see! Wait.” Ester climbed onto her feet. “I have to pee, tell me when I come back.”

She ran away to the bathroom. Nya stood, but she’d had more wine than she realized and laughed at her loss of balance when she dropped straight back down onto the seat. “You didn’t take your pill today,” Archer said. “And your period starts tomorrow. You need to take care of yourself.”

He came over to pull her to her feet. “How do you know these things about me?” she asked, although she didn’t know why she bothered because he knew everything and forgot nothing. Nya was comforted that he was so detail focused.

“You always need to take your pills when your time of the month is due, ‘cause it’s when your anemia flares up,” he said, guiding her toward the door. “And when you don’t take them, and your system is fried, the alcohol goes straight to your head.”

Pushing her back against the door for support, he steadied her. “I had shoes,” she said, willing to admit that she was tipsy.

“I’ll get them.”

“I can do it,” she argued.

But when Nya took a step forward, he planted a hand on her upper chest and pinned her to the door. The forceful move was meant to put her in her place. He seemed to have forgotten that she liked being in any place he put her.

When her smile sloped to an angle, he tilted his head. “No,” he warned.

Gaping in innocence, she blinked. “I didn’t say anything.”

But Archer wasn’t fooled. “You think I don’t know that look, horny one?” he asked.

“I’m always horny around you,” she said, drawing a finger up and down his arm.

Pushing her hand, he clamped it straight against her side. “That’s exactly what I just said no to. We’re supposed to be over your attempts to get me into the sack.”

Nya couldn’t argue when he’d made it clear she should stop trying. “Maybe I should go to the club to find myself a date,” she said.

“Yeah, you do that,” he agreed.

She didn’t like that he wasn’t worried. “I could go to the club.”

“Ny, you couldn’t walk from the couch to here. Now do you want me to get your shoes or do you want me to just carry you downstairs to bed?” he asked and immediately put a finger to her lips before she could draw in a breath. “Not like that.”

“Sometimes you’re the worst boyfriend ever,” she said, her lips squashed behind his digit.

“I’m not your boyfriend,” he said and she nodded, humoring him as she had done since he’d rid them of their Hexam problem ten days ago. “Stay here. Don’t move. I’m gonna get your shoes.”

Nodding, she flattened her hands on the wall at her ass to watch his as he went over to the couch. “Will you call him Woodrow or Daddy?” she asked and then grimaced at the idea of either. “You don’t want to call him Daddy Woody.”

She laughed at her own joke, Archer didn’t. “Ester’s been engaged about forty-five times in the last twenty years,” he said. “They never stick.”

Examining the lamp shade hanging over the dining table, Nya reflected on her night. “I like that she calls me her daughter. I know I’m not, but it’s kinda sweet that she wants to claim me.”

“The first thing she asks about on the phone is you,” he said, coming over with her shoes in hand.

“We still haven’t worked out payment for the job you’re doing for me,” she said because she’d been meaning to bring it up for a while. “We were supposed to talk about it and then Ester showed up and I stopped thinking.”

He crouched in front of her to pick up one foot to slide on her shoe. She steadied herself with a hand on his hair. She liked the texture of it, so she ran it through her fingers, scrunched it, played with it, remembering all the times his head had been between her thighs.

Archer put her foot on the floor and stabilized her ankle before moving onto the second. “We had incredible sex,” she said.

Supporting her foot flat on his thigh, he blinked at her. “That didn’t sound like a come on,” he said.

Continuing to run her fingers through his hair, she drifted into his gaze. “It wasn’t. I’m just amazed that you never miss it.”

“I miss it every night,” he said, putting on her shoe and fastening the buckle. Lowering it to the floor, he steadied it as he had done with the other before he stood up and took hold of her waist. “That’s why we have a ten-thirty rule.”

Archer hadn’t been wild about the idea of them eating together and he’d been raging at Ester for hooking them up like she had, setting out the food, asking Nya to join them, and then ducking out after a couple of mouthfuls.

Nya couldn’t stand the haphazard meetings, the days without each other, and the intense encounters in Sizzle or in their apartments. She missed the routine of their relationship and it was crazy the things she thought about, like missing the times they spent cooking together or just hanging out.

The only way Archer agreed to let her come in to hang out was when she agreed not to stay late and that was where the ten-thirty rule had come from. She also had to agree not to ask him to kiss her goodnight, except she didn’t have to ask anymore, her need for him always simmered when they were together. He just knew she wanted it.

If they were together in private at night, that’s when their hands started to explore, when their bodies would gravitate toward each other, and Archer would have to shut them down. He’d stopped drinking around her too, the beer tonight was the first exception. She saw his struggle all the time and Nya wished he’d stop being so goddamn stubborn and just admit that they were almost as close as they once had been.

He walked her a few paces down the hallway outside his place then got frustrated when she wobbled, so he picked her up to take her down the stairs to her door.

“Don’t go out again tonight,” he said when he set her on her feet. “And don’t shower or take a bath, just numb out in front of the TV and then go to bed, okay?”

Taking his key from his pocket, he unlocked her door. He’d had a key to this apartment before she did, the landlord had put one in his mailbox and had facilitated entry for the craftsmen who laid the carpets and hung her TV. But she liked that he had access to her personal space.

Pocketing his key, he opened the door an inch. Nya was still against the frame with her hands on his torso and she really didn’t want to say goodnight. “Tell Ester sorry I had to duck out. If she wants to come down—”

“I’m not sending her down here. You’ve already had too much to drink. She’s a bad influence. I’ve never seen you drink as much as you have this week.”

“Renovations start at the club next week,” she said. “So I’ll have some time to party with her when Sizzle is closed.”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Archer slid a hand up the frame above her. “Here or upstairs, no partying anywhere else.”

He’d insist that he wasn’t her boyfriend anymore but didn’t hesitate to give her orders. “I don’t want to say goodnight,” she said. Archer exhaled. “Not because I wanna play with your dick, I mean, I do, but you’re gonna go back upstairs and Ester’s gonna keep drinking and she’s gonna keep needling you and you’re gonna end up fighting with each other and I’ll have to sit down here listening.”

Having to stay out of his business was the second hardest part of living under him.

Archer tried to lighten her worry. “Are you gonna call the cops and report a noise violation?”

But she didn’t want to laugh. “I’m serious,” Nya said, scratching her fingernail on his tee shirt. “I know you think her relationship with this guy is not gonna last, but she’s in love. You remember what that’s like, don’t you, Fella?”

“I got your subtle hint,” he said.

Grinning, Nya tipped her head back. “I’m never subtle about telling you that you love me,” she said, winding her arms around him.

“I meant about your birthday,” he said. “Is there anything special you want?”

“Sex,” she said, wearing a grin. “Lots and lots and lots of sex.”

She expected a serious response but didn’t get one. “I’ll hire a tag team,” he said, taking every chance to get one over on her. “I’ll make you a tape. We can have a gangbang night at the club and play it across big screens.”

“Only you,” she said. “You can give in for one night, can’t you?”

Searching her eyes, he said nothing for a minute. “Nya, one day, soon, we will end up in bed together again.”

While his deep voice was somber, excitement bubbled up inside her. “How soon?” she asked. “My calendar’s empty tonight.”

Bowing lower, he murmured, “I’ll give you a hint, it won’t be when you’re drunk.”

That was fair enough. “Does that mean my punishment is nearly over?” she asked.

“Fucking is either gonna take us right back to where we were or blast apart what we have now.”

“I don’t see how it can do that,” she said. “We want each other.”

But he was serious. “What I do is dangerous, when you’re connected to me, you’re at risk. I never realized how much. I’d never had a girl I…”

“A girl you what?”

It had to be easier for him not to look at her because he pulled her forward to brush his lips on her hairline. “A girl I’d do anything for. I respected them, but I’d have told them to fuck off way earlier on when I figured out their baggage. Most of them were too scared to cause shit, you leap right in and, God, it does something to me when I pull you out.”

Grinning, she knew what it did to him. “When I’m grateful, I’m happy.”

“It’s a weird kinda drug being able to do that to you by just doing what I do.”

Letting her head fall back, it hit the frame. “I love what you do.”

“Right now, you can tell anyone who asks that we’re over and put distance between us. If we get back together, you’re in trouble.”

“You told me no one would ever come after me.”

“But it’s not just me,” he said. “It’s your buddy, Tag… You’ve asked me to track down Gio, and everything I’m learning tells me he’s mixed up in something dirty.”

“So I’m as likely to be hurt by Tag’s business,” she said.

Her friend was working overtime to gain some ground in recovering his reputation. But it was an unenviable task, Tag’s relationship with Farrah Hexam had damaged more than just his business interests. People were reluctant to work with him after Brett Hexam cut all ties. What Tag needed now was a solid group of men he could trust and even on that he was coming up short.

“Same as ever, baby.”

“Do you know where Gio is?” she asked, hope cleared some of her intoxication. “If you’re sitting on this information because I haven’t paid you then you need to tell me what it is you want. You know Tag didn’t want your help, but I told him there were no hard feelings. This was a deal between you and me. It’s nothing to do with Tag. I told you I needed to know where he is and you said you would find out. You never told me what you wanted in return. I don’t have any weapons. You don’t want sex. Every time I try to give you money, you give it back.”

She’d tried again to give him rent and he just flat-out refused to take the bills from her hand.

“I’m not sitting on the information. I know where he is. But I don’t know what he’s doing.”

That was such an Archer distinction. “Well where is he?” she asked because that was what she actually needed to know.

The what wasn’t as important as the where. Tag could find out what Gio was up to if he knew how to get in touch with him.

“I’ll have all the pieces in the next day or two and I’ll deliver them to Tag.”

So he was trying to cut her out of the loop? When Archer talked business, he tended to address the men in the room. Archer could be arrogant and his ego was healthy, but Tag hadn’t been involved in this job.

“This was between me and you,” she said again. “When you have all the information, bring it to me. I don’t want you two arguing with each other and I don’t want you charging a fortune either. He’d never tell you himself, but you know his finances have taken a hit since the whole Farrah Hexam mess. Do you think I’m just a weak woman who can’t handle the information?”

“I think I want you away from all the danger. I don’t want you acting as a go-between. I’m doing this for you, but I’ll let Tag decide what to do with the information ‘cause this isn’t your mess, Ny. I won’t let him rope you into anything.” Picking up her hand, he pressed his lips to her brand. “Now what are you gonna do when you go inside?”

“Numb out in front of the TV,” she said. “Then go to bed, alone, to pleasure myself.”

He’d been ready to turn and walk away; she loved to throw him a curveball once in a while. “You’re not supposed to hit on me, that’s the rule.”

Steadying herself on the doorframe, she rose onto her tiptoes. “Then punish me, Fella.”

Nya kissed his jaw, then curled around the doorframe to slip into her place. Archer didn’t want her to talk about sex, not because it disgusted him, but because when she said naughty things, he got turned on. Those were the times she got her greedy hands on his hard dick, and it did get hard for her, a lot. But always in the nick of time, he took it away from her.

Being drunk would help her sleep. Nya just hoped when she woke up, she’d remember what he said: “soon.”

two

“How much?” Nya asked.

She had been dealing with the schedules when Tag came into her office at Sizzle, so she was distracted by her computer. Straight off, it was obvious that her friend was in a snit about something, but before she could give him her full attention, she had to finish her work.

If he visited her at the club, it was unlike him to stop at the bar for a drink. This time, he had. She knew because the glass he’d brought in with him was currently leaving a water ring on her desk that would distract Archer next time he was in here.

“Fifty grand,” Tag said, helping her to understand why he looked so stressed. “I need to find this fucker.”

That was a turnaround of attitude. While tapping her pen on the desk, Nya crossed her legs under it. “Gio is one of your best friends.”

Emptying his glass in one gulp, he slammed it onto the desk. “He’s a fucker who’s stolen from me!”

Tag got up to cross the room; he was restless enough to raise her concern. Peering at him, she got suspicious, and decided to poke at him. “I stole from you.”

“Not fifty grand,” he said, striding the width of the room. “Gio has no right to touch that money. The bastard. I did everything for him. Pulled him out of nowhere. I made him someone. I trusted that bastard. He’s the only one. The only one who knew…”

He kept ranting. Nya examined his movements—pacing, working his knuckles, running his hands into his hair. Tag sniffed once then twice. Grabbing a tissue, she left her chair and went around to get in his way.

Pissed off, Nya was aware of what caused this kind of agitation and she wasn’t impressed. “Are you getting a cold?” she asked, holding up the tissue.

Snatching it from her, he wiped his nose. “This has upset me. He stole from me, Yorkie! Stole from me!”

Seizing her arm, he gave her a shake. His grip was so tight that it bruised, but she didn’t care about that. She cared that he was an idiot. “Do you know what Gio’s into? What he needs the money for?”

Her friend’s obsessive, singular focus confirmed her fears. “I don’t give a fuck why he needs the money, it’s my fucking money!”

“Maybe he needs help,” she said, pressing a hand to his torso to stop him from shaking her again. “You should hear him out before you do something stupid. Don’t trash your relationship with him.”

“Me? He’s the bastard. He stole from me! He’s a double-crossing, scum-sucking—”

“Okay,” she said. “Calm down. How about I go and get you another drink and we’ll sit down to work this out?”

Nya had to make sure no one came back to the office while Tag was like this. Her friend didn’t agree or disagree, but she guessed he was okay with drinking more alcohol. When he spun around to start pacing and cracking his knuckles she hurried from the room, locking the door on her way out.

The club was jumping; this was a frantic time of night, not long before closing. Everyone was drunk, couples were hooking up, and her staff were ready to go home. Jada was behind the bar and Nya ducked to get a glass. She didn’t use the optics, she grabbed the vodka bottle and poured less than half a measure to tip it into the glass.

Jada was laughing at something as she passed behind Nya’s back, she twisted to clutch Jada and draw her near so she could keep what she said private. “Don’t let anyone come in the back,” Nya said.

Jada had become a rock for her. Although she was young, she was responsible, and the other employees trusted her. Nya had taught her how to cash out and given her access to the safe. Jada was flattered by the show of trust; Nya was just relieved to have someone to rely on.

“Is your friend okay?” Jada asked, moving near.

“I think so,” Nya said, she wasn’t going to share her misgivings about Tag’s state with her employee. Nya trusted her, but not that much.

Jada was eyeing the glass in front of Nya with a frown. “That’s not a full measure,” she said.

If any of her staff tried to short-change a customer, Nya would address it. It made her smile that Jada’s autopilot compelled her to flag the violation, even though Nya was the manager. “I know,” she said, offering no explanation as she turned around to grab the draft gun. “Just keep everyone away from the office. Staff and customers.”

Jada moved with her. “Archer is here, does he count?”

She stopped filling the glass to look at her employee. “Arch is here?”

Jada nodded and ducked back and forth to see through the bodies at the bar. When Jada spotted him, she pointed to the far end of the bar. Nya’s relief almost made her curse. She smiled at Jada and kissed her cheek before squeezing around her to hurry down to the end of the bar toward Archer.

Archer still conducted a lot of business in Sizzle. He wasn’t always here, but he came in a few nights a week, sometimes he was here for ten minutes, other times he was still at the bar after they closed. His contact with her was as erratic, sometimes he was at her side all night, but on other occasions he didn’t talk to her at all.

Archer saw her coming. He was leaning on the bar, one forearm against his torso and the other laid out at an angle so his fingertips could rest on the base of a glass that she knew would only contain soda. He was talking to the guy on his other side, who Nya couldn’t really see.

The group of girls nearest Nya had noticed the two hunks at the far end of the bar. She couldn’t blame them, but she did miss the days when she could pull Archer over the bar and snog his face off, which would put those girls in their place.

Widening her smile, she went over. Nya was the manageress, she had to exude confidence and hospitality; that was what she told herself anyway. “Hello, boys,” she exclaimed. “Are you having a good time?”

She’d bypassed a dozen other customers, so it was obvious she wasn’t just playing hostess, and Archer knew it too because his eyes had already narrowed. “Great time,” Archer’s friend said and she liked that he smiled, because few of Archer’s friends did.

The girls were edging closer and giggling. Archer was focused on her, probably trying to figure out her mood, but Nya was edgy about these females. Leaning over the bar, she tickled a kiss to the corner of Archer’s mouth, and when she sank back onto her heels, his knowing smirk made her drop her gaze. The bastard. He knew exactly what she was doing.

“Friendly place,” Archer’s friend said.

“Yeah,” Archer drawled.

Clearing her throat, Nya cast aside her embarrassment to relocate her bravado. “You know that thing you’re doing for me?” she asked.

Archer straightened and turned to murmur something to his friend whose eyes glittered with mischief when he scanned her figure. The guy zipped away. She peered at Archer when he turned back to her and shifted down the bar away from the women, giving them more privacy.

Propping herself on her side of the bar, their faces were only a few inches apart. “What’s up?” he asked.

“What did you say to that guy?”

“That the kiss meant you wanted to take me in back to suck me off.”

Nya might object, except she wasn’t averse to the offer. “I’d love to, Fella, but I have a problem in back.”

His mischief fled. “What problem?”

“Nothing, it’s not important,” she said. Tag and Archer already didn’t get along, she wasn’t going to fuel that fire. Before she got to business, she had to backtrack. “I was a complete lush last night, I’m sorry.”

“No worries. Love to see you hot for me.” If that were true, he wouldn’t keep telling her not to hit on him. “Now what is it you need, Squirm?”

“Gio took fifty grand from Tag’s offshore account.”

“Interesting,” he said, sampling his soda.

Since Archer was working on finding Gio, she figured she should let him know. “We still don’t know where he is.”

Watching his eyes, Nya tried to judge if he knew more than he was letting on. Trouble was, Archer always knew more than he was letting on and he had a great game face.

“Are you trying to read me, Squirm?” he asked, his lips hinted at amusement.

He thought it was downright hilarious that she might try to see beyond his poker face.

“Why would I do something so stupid?” she asked and inched closer. But she wasn’t going to let him get away with laughing at her without having a little fun of her own. “You know if I wanted to know what you know, I could find out.”

“Could you?” he asked, his brows sliding up. “How would you do that?”

He’d once told her that he could have any woman he wanted, that anyone could be persuaded to do anything, because everyone had a price. Pushing her arms together, she plumped her breasts. “What’s your price, Mr. Archer?”

“I’ve seen your tits,” he said.

He didn’t like that her cleavage was on show, so it probably wasn’t smart to remind him about it. Since they’d broken up, she’d seen him eye her chest, though she’d never worked out whether he was admiring the view or resenting that others had it.

“I never convinced you to tell me anything by showing you my breasts,” she said, though she did remember how much he enjoyed playing with them. “Do other women do that for you?”

Tipping his head back, he took a drink. “I’m not touching that.” Probably best that he didn’t fill her head with mental images that would add to her stress. “Did you see the footage?”

She had no idea what he was talking about. “What footage?”

“In the bank, of Gio withdrawing the money.”

Tag hadn’t said anything about seeing footage. From what she could figure out, there was money missing from the account and that was how he knew it had gone. “I don’t… Tag didn’t say anything about that.”

“Was it a physical withdrawal or a wire transfer?”

“I… I don’t know. I can find out what bank it is if you think you can—”

“I know where Taggert keeps his money,” he said.

Damn Archer and his inquisitive mind, she hadn’t thought to ask about the bank or how the money was transferred. Except even if she had, Tag probably wasn’t present enough to answer. Her head fell back and she growled, though the noise wouldn’t be heard over the music.

When her head came forward again, Archer was standing up and she knew he’d identified that she was stressed. “It’s nothing,” she said, anticipating his question.

Though it was against all her rules, Nya took a mouthful from the glass she’d filled for Tag and wished she’d been more generous with the alcohol.

“You put vodka in that,” Archer said, proving that he must have been watching her before she even knew he was in the club. “You never drink on shift.”

And if she hadn’t already garnered his concern, she had it now. “I do now.”

“Why?”

Sometimes his questions irritated more than they helped. “It’s nothing.”

But there was no way he was going to accept her being dismissive. Side-nodding, Archer didn’t give her a choice except to follow when he began to move up the bar. If he was on a mission to talk to her in private, there was only one place around here they could do that. Shit.

Sliding the glass out of her hand, Nya ran along behind the bar in her attempt to get to the office. She managed to plant her back on the door just a second before he got there.

With a hand on either side of the door frame, Archer leaned in to her. “What’s going on?”

If she didn’t answer him, he’d go through that door whether it was locked or not. “I think he’s high,” she answered, thankful that the music still gave them some cover in this quieter corner of the club.

“Stoned?” he asked.

“Tweaked.”

The shift of his jaw made her nervous and he slapped a hand onto the wood beneath his palm. “Open the door, Ny, or my boot’s going through it.”

Not much of a dilemma, turning in the cocoon of his arms, she was so close to the door it was tough to find the lock. As soon as Nya turned the handle, Archer shoved he door open. Bowling her aside, he stormed into the room, seized Tag’s jacket, spun him around and threw him face first into the wall.

“Archer!” she shouted because she didn’t want Tag hurt.

He was digging in Tag’s pockets, holding him on the wall with his powerful forearm. Tag objected, but Archer didn’t stop frisking him and it wasn’t long before he pulled a bag of white powder from his pocket.

Archer swore and leaned hard on the arm pressed into the width of Tag’s shoulders, holding the bag in his face. “You sonofabitch, you don’t bring drugs into this club, never again, you hear me? Ny is cleaning this place up, you fuck! You fucking bring drugs in here again and you won’t get back in.”

“You can’t stop me,” Tag spat over his shoulder, his cheek pressed to the wall, he couldn’t move under Archer’s compression.

“Every guy in this place was vetted by me,” Archer snarled in his ear. “If I say no, you don’t get through the door. I don’t give a fuck who you are, you’re not gonna fuck this up for her.”

With a pounding heart and her hands over her mouth, Nya was in shock that Archer was so vehement. After receiving the deeds, Nya had rehired every security man that Hexam had laid off. “You’re no one to her,” Tag said, trying to push away from the wall Archer had him pinned to.

Archer relented enough that Tag could shove from his grasp. “I’m more to her than you are,” Archer sneered.

Tag yanked down his jacket to straighten himself out. “Not a fucking chance! You’re temporary. In six months, she won’t remember your name!”

No way was that true. Nya was offended, Archer would be too. “Tag!”

She didn’t think Archer heard her because he got in Tag’s face. “Long as you keep fucking up and putting her in danger, I’ll be around,” he growled. “You better get used to my face, ‘cause I’ll be looking over your shoulder for a long time.”

Tag cursed and shoved Archer but he didn’t go far and shoved back. Nya sped over because this was going to escalate fast. “Both of you stop it,” she said, getting between them. She grabbed a handful of each of their shirts and glared at them both, but they were still snarling at each other. “Stop it! I love you both and there’s room in my life for the two of you. But goddamnit, don’t make me knock your heads together!”

Tag tried to surge forward and her elbow bent, but Nya used the wall that was Archer to straighten her arm and push Tag back. “Let me go, Yorkie!”

Adrenaline increased her panic. “You’re not fighting in here!”

“Outside,” Tag said still tussling to get past her.

Pulling away from her grip to pull off his jacket, Archer tossed it onto the desk. “Let’s go,” Archer said.

Leaping around her love, into his path, she splayed a hand in the middle of his chest. “You’re armed,” she said, thinking of the knife he always kept on his belt.

Reaching behind, he dragged the knife from the sheath and slammed it onto her desk. “I don’t need a weapon to take down this piece of shit.”

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Tag declared, heading for the door.

Archer was amped, but Tag was halfway out the office. Rushing over, she tried to block him, but he was too intent, he’d knock her down before stopping, so she hurried to the door and slammed it. “Stop it! If you do this, I won’t talk to either of you again!”

Archer was by the desk, his scowl set on his face. Tag was glaring too, but he was focused on her. “This has fuck all to do with you, Yorkie, get out of the way! I’m gonna take this guy down! He treats you like shit, he broke your fucking heart! This is long overdue!”

Going to her friend, Nya took his shoulders. “You’re emotional, Tag. Archer’s not gonna touch you while you’re like this.”

“He’s a chicken-shit,” Tag said.

Archer stormed over and shoved him to the side. “Get your ass to the street, Taggert! It’s past time I took you down.”

Spinning to pin her rage on him, she pushed Archer’s chest. “If you won’t fuck me when I’m drunk, you won’t beat him when he’s high!” That must have gotten through because some of Archer’s bluster eased until he backed down. “Now sit your ass in here, Fella. I’m gonna put Tag in a cab and I’ll be back in two minutes!”

It took closer to twenty. She got him outside, but Tag still thought they were fighting and wanted to go back in for Archer. She calmed him down, but it took two security guys to get him into the cab. She gave the address, paid the driver, and promised Tag she’d call to make sure he got home.

After that drama, she had to deal with Archer. Setting the office in her sights, she ignored the patrons pouring out of her club, as it was closing time. Even if Archer thought he was going to get away without facing her wrath, she would be going to his apartment. The best part was, Ester was at his, so Nya was guaranteed to get inside.

But when she stormed into the office, Archer was there in her chair, swinging side to side. Throwing the door closed, she went to him and shoved her knee to the inside of his thigh to stop his movement.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she asked.

His arm shot out in the direction of the door. “He brought drugs into your club. If he was anyone else, I’d have tossed him onto the curb, forced him to eat the lot and let him die in the gutter.”

Archer needed to learn to temper his feelings for Tag; she didn’t often see him this riled. “But fighting?” she asked, pushing her knee into his leg, but his thighs were already far apart, pressed into the arms of the chair. “Why would you want to fight with him when he’s so messed up?”

“Your boyfriend is always messed up.”

Eurgh, just the sound of that word on his lips in such a snide way tempted her to lift her knee higher to drive it into his groin. “Don’t start,” she said. Grabbing his jacket from the desk, she thrust it at his chest. “Just get the fuck out of here, go home.”

“He gets the royal treatment and I get tossed out for saving your ass?” Archer said, shooting to his full height to shove his arms into his sleeves. “You took him outside, got him a ride; I bet you paid the driver too.”

“Yeah, I did,” she said, going around to snatch up his knife from the desk. “Because his best friend just screwed him over, he’s lost a bunch of money, the girl he loved just dumped him ten days ago and now he’s picked up this stupid habit.” Grabbing the bag of coke from beside Archer’s knife, she shook it. “How the fuck do I get him off this? Far as I know, he hasn’t touched coke since he was twenty-one.”