Within These Walls

Chapter 20

"Stop!" I yell.

Marcus catches himself at the last second. He lowers his arm, but not before shoving Alec to the floor. "Don't touch her."

"What is your problem, man?" Alec says, jumping to his feet.

Marcus steps up to him. He's only about an inch taller than Alec, but between the two, even without supernatural strength factored in, it's clear who'd win in a fight. "Don't pretend you don't know what this is about."

Dread hollows out the pit of my stomach. "Why did you call him a cheating bastard?"

"Camille. I saw this asshole with her. They were all over each other."

Alec bursts out laughing. "You're crazy, dude. Camille never came onto me, and I've never gone anywhere near her, not the way he's trying to make it sound."

He looks frustrated and honest, but so does Marcus. One of them is lying, but who?

Alec has nothing to hide. If he did hook up with Camille, all he has to do is say so. It's not like he and I were involved with each other when it happened. He didn't cheat in any way.

On the other hand, I can't imagine Marcus lying either. He's temperamental and aggressive—but that's just it. He's aggressive. If he's angry at someone, he's more likely to punch them than pull a scheme like this.

"Marcus?" I say. "What's going on?"

He turns his gaze to me. It's still hard and angry, but something is different. His eyes are unfocused as they hold mine. He blinks and the haze clears. All that's left is stark confusion.

"Marcus?" I repeat, softer this time.

He shakes his head. "Forget it."

Without meeting either of our gazes, he marches out of the room.

"That guy is a lunatic," Alec says after a long pause.

I get up from the sofa, my head spinning. "I'm going to go talk to him."

"Come on," he groans. "Don't encourage his behavior."

"It's not like him. I need to understand where this is coming from."

"You mean you want to make sure what he said is true or not." His voice has hardened. "Because you don't believe me when I say it's all lies."

"You're oversimplifying things again, Alec," I say as I leave the lounge room.

I reach the guys' bedroom and pause at the doorway. Marcus is on the edge of his bed, head bowed. His elbows are propped on his knees and his hands hang between his legs. He's staring at the floor, but the moment I take a step into the room, he speaks.

"Didn't you hear me telling you to forget it?"

"Forget what?" I demand, sitting across from him on Alec's tidy bed. "You nearly killed Alec and all because you think he cheated on me. Why would you say something like that? I'd think it's because you can't bear to see two people happy but with the way you're acting now, I know it's not that simple."

"Are you happy with him?" he asks, lifting his gaze.

I blink. "That's not the point. What's going on, Marcus?"

"I made a mistake. I thought I saw something, but I guess I didn't. It wasn't real."

"You hallucinated?"

His jaw twitches.

"Okay," I say slowly. "What exactly did you see?"

"That's just it." He presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. "I didn't see anything."