“No, I haven’t contributed anything.”

She held his gaze and then nodded. “This isn’t about shopping. This is about not being signed yet.”

“Which means I can’t contribute.”

“But you do. Your opinions, your muscles, and your love, Markus. I couldn’t do anything without your love. You’re contributing, and when you get signed, you’ll do the rest, believe me. I’ll take your money with no problem,” she said, and then she grinned. “I’ll even let you buy me sexy underwear and heels.”

He smiled. “Promise?”

“Promise. The naughtier, the better.”

“Hm, good deal, then.”

“See? Now stop.”

“I just feel worthless,” he muttered, and she glared before smacking his chest.

“Don’t talk about my man like that.” He couldn’t fight his grin as he held her close. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re working your ass off, Markus,” she said, grabbing his chin. “You are in no way worthless. You hear me?”

“I do, but I want to contribute. I want to get signed and make you proud.”

Her eyes lit up as big as her smile as she cupped his face. “Markus, I’m already proud of you. You don’t have to be signed for that to happen. It’s already a done deal. Getting signed is just a bonus we both really want. Don’t worry, it will work out. Remember? We said we would work out, no matter what.”

“We will.”

“Then stop thinking like that. Enjoy shopping for our apartment,” she stressed as she kissed his nose. “Let’s have fun.”

“I am having fun.”

“You’re a liar.”

He laughed. “Fine, I’ll have fun.”

“Good, these are memories we can tell the kids, or better yet, everyone at church when they ask why we aren’t married,” she teased, and he laughed, kissing her lips.

“Good plan. Maybe we can buy them a lamp. That would distract them even more,” he suggested and she nodded.

“Or better yet, the whole store,” she said with a wink, and he laughed as she cuddled into his side. “I’ll need them to love me, so maybe your parents will.”

Rolling his eyes, he kissed her temple. “They like you but, really, it doesn’t matter ’cause I love you.”

Grinning up at him, she smiled. “I love you too.”

He leaned down, pressing his nose into hers as his heart throbbed happily in his chest. He sure did love this girl, but before he could tell her that once more, he heard, “Mekena?”

Mekena stopped and then looked to her left. When he followed her gaze, he found a couple looking at them with perplexed looks on their faces. He wasn’t sure who they were, but something inside him said that it was her parents, especially since the lady was an older version of Mekena, while the guy was the spitting image of a male Skylar.

Before he could ask or even assume, Mekena answered his question by saying, “Mom? Dad? What are y’all doing here?”

Markus’s gut dropped promptly as he looked at the two people who had spawned the woman he loved…but also the woman who had tried to rape him.

Mekena’s heart was pounding in her chest as her parents looked back at her with complete and utter confusion on their faces. She hadn’t spoken to them since she took the job with the Assassins and ultimately moved back to Nashville. She was certain they were aware since her mom talked to Libby, but she was pretty sure they were going to give her shit since the news hadn’t come from her. Though she hadn’t heard from them either in the last three weeks. Libby said it was because they were dealing with shit with Skylar, but Mekena didn’t think that was a good enough excuse. Skylar needed to take care of herself; their parents couldn’t do it. If she didn’t want help, she wouldn’t get it. But they weren’t hearing that. They wanted to help, from what Libby had said. Mekena should have called, she should have checked in on them, but things were just better in her bubble. Her Markus and Mekena bubble, as she’d started to call it.

Outside of the bubble, her family was nuts and so was his. She was still pissed at how her parents had handled everything with Skylar. Taking her side and wanting to help her when she was a walking shitstorm. It was annoying, and maybe Mekena was being childish, but she was tired of it always revolving around Skylar. No one cared that her sister had hurt her, or even Markus—it was only about Skylar. It was disgusting and unfair. The less she had to do with her family, the better. But it seemed that was about to change because her mom was staring at her, and her dad was staring at Markus.

Shit.

Letting go of Markus, she went to them, hugging them both before stepping back, seeing they were both still staring at Markus. She hadn’t introduced them to him when they were dating back in college. There wasn’t a point because she’d been unsure how long it would really last. Then Skylar did what she did and, well, that story had been overtold.

Swallowing hard, she said, “What are y’all doing here?”

“This is our favorite store, we need a rug,” her mother said, both of her parents looking past her to Markus.

“Oh, so are we,” she said happily before walking to Markus and taking his hand. “We are decorating our apartment.”

“Your apartment?” her father asked, looking to her mother before glaring at Markus.

“Yeah, I’m sure Libby told y’all. I moved back to Nashville. With Markus.”

“Markus?” her mother said, her eyes widening.

“With him? Who is this? Is this Markus?” her father asked, and when she looked up, Markus was staring at her like she was crazy.

“You didn’t tell them you moved back? With me?”

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t talked to them.” She could see in his eyes he thought it was more than that, but it wasn’t. She just hadn’t wanted to talk to them. Looking back to her parents, she smiled. “I guess y’all haven’t met yet. Mom, Dad, this is Markus Reeves, my boyfriend. Markus, this is my mom, Linda, and my dad, Stan.”

Markus took a step forward, holding his hand out as her father took it. “Mr. and Mrs. Preston, it’s nice to meet you both, finally.”

“Finally?” her father asked, looking back to Mekena.