Mac (Riders of Apollo #8)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Mackenzie Grant

I am too fucking pleased with the idea of Eva killing Dierdre over me. This powerful, incredible woman is staking her claim on me and she is quite happy to go to the extremes over it. I really shouldn't be condoning murder and I definitely shouldn't be counting down the minutes until Eva kills the woman who stole so many years of my life.

I pulled her off the side of my chair into my lap about an hour ago as the conversation finally eased away from the recent confrontation between the love of my life and the bitch that screwed me over to lighter things like expansion. I don't like it when she sits on the arm of my chair, it feels better when she's on me even if I have a hard time controlling my thoughts when she is.

Anyway, expansion doesn't mean much to me at all, I just worry about security for whatever place we open up and make sure that money exchanges the right hands to make it easier on Gears who has to go through hundreds of books a week on our finances. I've seen him work once and I hated it, I hate filling out my own paperwork so I couldn't imagine doing the amount he does on a daily basis. 

I tighten my grip on Eva's waist and she looks down at me in question. I don't say anything, I just wait out the next few hours for the opportunity to drag her back to her house. She doesn't fight me, just slides on my bike behind me and hugs me tight. 

"Are you okay?" She finally asks as we walk through the front door, it closing behind us with a quiet thud. I follow her through to the lounge where she drops her bag on the floor and turns to me with fiery eyes.

"Are you okay?" 

"I am furious but otherwise, I am completely fine. What about you?" I raise my eyebrows and advance on her, my hands tingling to reach her waist or her ass and drag her down onto me. I hope she's not mad at me, I haven't done anything recently to make her feel that way towards me but I suppose this whole Dierdre thing might have her emotions shift when she looks at me.

"I am pissed off, too." I shrug, still waiting for her smack my hands away from her but she does the exact opposite. She grabs either side of my face and drags me down to kiss her, pushing me back onto the couch and straddling me fluidly, her lips not leaving mine for a second. I drag her back with my hand on her throat and she glares at me. "Is this you staking a claim, Miss White?"

"I don't need to stake a claim, Mr Grant. You are mine and I don't share, understand?" Her husky growl has me raring to go as she twists my wrist away from her neck to match me in a heated kiss. Just as it gets good, she pulls out of the kiss with flushed cheeks and heaving chest. "Woah, I haven't eaten all day, I will pass out." 

I chuckle softly, dragging my fingers down the skin of her neck as she shivers. "What if I'm hungry for something else?" I bite down on her earlobe, making her yelp and bite my nose the minute I move to look at her again.

"Well... if I eat now then..." She leans down and gives me a languid kiss, riling me back up again, "you can have me all night." And I'm up. She laughs loudly as I carry her to the kitchen, depositing her on the kitchen counter and allowing her to choose her own foods. She throws everything out of the fridge and onto the counter as I watch in confusion.

"What are you making?" I lean over her shoulder as she starts preparing her knives. Considering her anger, I probably shouldn't be this close to her but I can't help but want her skin against mine all the time. 

"Korean chicken." She smiles up at me, kissing my cheek seconds later. 

"Are you feeling better?" I rest my chin on her shoulder as she chops up some vegetables, uninhibited by my grip on her waist. 

"I have you." Is her only answer, squeezing one of my hands before returning to her cooking as I plant a kiss on the crown on her head. 

This is everything I've ever wanted.

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I jolt awake when Eva shouts, I look up at her in confusion as her hand falls to her chest, sweating and panting. "Eva?" I try and get her to see me, to relax into me but she just keeps panting, her hand tightening on the sheets with white knuckles. I watch as she soothes herself, her eyes fluttering closed and her breaths controlled. 

I don't want to touch her in case it makes it worse but my hands sting with the need to comfort her. "Eva?" I try again, her eyes focus in on me and her entire body just relaxes. She curls into me, her head buried in my neck and her hands gripping me like I'll slip away if she lets up even a little. "Talk to me, baby." 

I coax her head up only to have my heart broken by the tears on her face. I gently stroke them away as her breathing slows to match mine, "I had a nightmare." Her voice is croaky and a little sad, breaking my heart even more. "It wasn't even about the war." She chuckles darkly, wiping some of her own tears away with a huff, "I used to have a best friend and I would go to the ends of the Earth for him. I met him when I was eight so I desperately needed someone to just support me as Riley grew up and he-he was supposed to be that person. We were friends for years... so many years and then he met Gigo's younger sister."

I think I already know where this story is going, I squeeze her tightly, kissing her forehead as she continues with her story. "He fell in love with her. I didn't mind, I was friends with Iosif but Gigo was a tolerable human being at the time. He drifted away when we were around eighteen, it made sense because Riley was in her stroppy teenage stage, Peyton was too and Lucia was drooling over a Cartel King so I was already juggling enough. He stole from me... he stole fifteen grand from me, money that I had saved for Riley so she wouldn't have to go into the army like I did. But he took it and my car, flew somewhere with his new wife and it's been thirteen years since then. I got shot by Iosif a few days later..."

"What happened in the nightmare?" I brush my fingers through her hair as her face turns confused.

"I don't even know... did I say anything?" I shake my head, only having heard her make a strange yelp noise that had her flying into a seated position. "I love you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, I know that. I love you, too."

"That means you don't get to leave, Mac." She looks at me with pleading eyes and I can't help but smile, rolling us so she's tucked underneath me. 

"I'm not leaving, you're not leaving. That's what that claim means, Evangeline." She strokes my face, her fingertips brushing my lips as she smiles up at me. 

"Good."