Battling Troy: Devil's Knights Series by Winter Travers

living room.
    “You pushed the fucking thing into me.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Gravel mumbled as he grabbed hold of the banister going upstairs and shook it. He muttered something under his breath as he walked up the stairs.
    “I brought your other bag, hun. Are you sure this is enough? Gravel doesn’t want you going back to the house until everything is cleared up.” I glanced behind Marley and saw Ethel standing behind her.
    “I should be okay. I can always do laundry or shop. I’ve wanted to get some new clothes.” Marley walked past me and set the suitcase she was carrying down next to the couch with Ethel following behind her.
    I was in the twilight zone. That had to be what was happening.
    “There’s this little vintage shop that just opened downtown that you should check out. It looks like clothes you would like.” Ethel dropped the bag she was carrying and hitched her purse up on her shoulder.
    What the fuck was going on? I thought I would never see Marley again, and now here she was, standing in my living room talking to Ethel about vintage clothes.
    “We’ll have to go there-”
    “Stop!” I yelled. I need to know what was going on. To top off all this confusion, my God damn nose was killing me and I felt a headache coming on.
    Ethel and Marley stopped talking and looked at me like I had two heads.
    “What the hell are you doing here?”
    “Meg said she was going to call and tell you we were on the way over,” Ethel said, puzzled why I didn’t know what was going on.
    “She called me like two fucking minutes ago and told me I was going to have some company. That’s it!”
    “Oh, no,” Marley whispered.
    “OK, well, I’ll give you the short and sweet condensed story, hun. Marley can fill you in on all the small details later.” Ethel plopped down on the couch and Bandit hopped up next to her, nudging her hand with his nose.
    “That would be a good place to start.” I slammed the front door shut and crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
    “You need to put better locks on all of your windows upstairs and fix this fucking banister.” Gravel walked down the stairs, wiggling the banister the whole way. It was more like trying to rip the banister off.
    I repeat, what the fuck was going on? Why the hell was Gravel telling me fucking home improvements I needed to do? “The next person who talks better be explaining to me what the hell you are all doing here.”
    Marley bit her lip and looked at Ethel while she twisted her hands together.
    “You ready to go, woman?” Gravel asked as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, his arms folded over his chest.
    “Not quite. Meg didn’t give Troy the rundown of why Marley is staying, so I think you might want to clue him in on what’s going on.”
    “The assholes who shot at ya’ll are mafia. Until we figure shit out, we need someone with her twenty-four seven. Since I missed Marley’s rebellion years, she’s decided to give me a glimpse of them and insist that she stay with you just to piss me off.” Gravel gaze shifted from me to Ethel. “Let’s go.”
    The fucking mafia? Who the hell was Marley engaged to? “For how long? I do have a job.”
    “Till we get this shit squared away. King said when you’re at work, one of the prospects will stay here. Keep her safe or I will fucking kill you.” Gravel walked out the door, leaving it open and leaving me still confused as fuck.
    “Well, you kids have fun. I’ll stop by in a couple of days to see how you two are getting along.” Ethel grabbed her purse and followed Gravel out the door. She at least shut it behind her.
    Marley and I just stared at each other. How the hell did this happen?
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
     
    Marley
    Troy just stared at me. Not talking, just staring. He didn’t look happy to see me. This had all played out so differently in my head. A tense stare down was not what I expected.
    “So, I decided to not leave,” I said meekly. Start with something positive.
    “Why? I