Free Battling Troy: Devil's Knights Series by Winter Travers

leaving, that’s all it’s going to be.”
    I pushed on his chest and stepped out of his arms. “You said you only wanted casual before any of this happened so don’t stand there and tell me you thought we could be something more all along. That’s a lie.”
    Troy ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at the ceiling. “Jesus Christ, Marley. How the hell did we end up here, having this conversation?”
    “I’m pretty sure it’s cause you opened your big mouth.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down.
    “I’m not doing this, Marley. This is the exact reason I don’t want to be in a relationship. Fighting with you when you are irrational and twisting my words is not something I want.”
    “I didn’t ask you to do this, Troy. You were the one who came on to me at the store, not me. If my irrational moods are too much for you to handle, I can show you where the door is,” I ranted.
    “I’m done. A half an hour ago we were ready to rip each other’s clothes off and now all we want to do is rip each other’s heads off. All I want is for you to be safe and you can’t see that. Leave or stay, Marley, it’s up to you.”
    “Two weeks, I’m gone.”
    “Ok, well, I’ll just say goodbye now.”
    “We’re going to see each other before I leave, Troy. There’s no need to be dramatic.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong, Marley.” He walked towards me and reached out, cupping my cheek with his hand. “I wish you wouldn’t leave, but I can’t stop you. Please be careful.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead and walked out the door.
    Bandit whined next to me and nudged my hand with his nose. I glanced down at him and rubbed his nose.
    “Bandit!” Troy yelled up the stairs. Bandit whined again and nudged my leg.
    I crouched down eye to eye with Bandit and cradled his head in my hands. “You need to go, boy. Troy is waiting for you.”
    Troy called for Bandit again, this time there was no fooling around in his tone. Bandit walked to the door and looked back at me. I fell down on my knees and motioned for him to leave. He gave me one last glance and then disappeared down the hall and I heard him pad down the stairs.
    How did things change so quickly? An hour ago I had felt the happiest I had been in years. Now, I was sitting on the floor, my heart even more broken then when Mark had died.
    Troy and I hadn’t even dated, but it felt like I was losing a part of me I couldn’t live without. It was probably for the best that we didn’t see each other anymore, but it still fucking hurt.
    Tears ran down my cheeks, spilling onto the floor. I couldn’t see it before, but I might have let the best thing that could have happened to me walk out the door.
    It was time to leave Rockton. Two weeks and all of this would be a memory.
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
     

Chapter 9
    Troy
    “Troy!” I heard Meg call after me as I walked out the door with Bandit on my heels. I wasn’t in the mood for whatever Meg had to say, so I kept walking.
    “Son of a bitch, stop, you asshole!” Meg jerked on my arm right before I reached my truck and tugged on me to stop.
    “Why the hell are you leaving?”
    “Trust me, it’s not my choice. Now, let go of my arm.”
    “No, not until you tell me what the hell changed in the past ten minutes. I knew the second you walked down the stairs something was wrong. Tell me,” Meg insisted.
    This was the problem with my friendship with Meg, we couldn’t hide anything from each other. Even when neither of us talked, we still knew what the other was thinking. “Marley is leaving.”
    “What?”
    “Two weeks. She’s giving notice at work and then she’s gone.”
    “Why the hell would she do that? She just rented this house and bought all sorts of shit. That doesn’t make sense.”
    “She’s trying to protect us by leaving.” I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair.
    “So she leaves and the douche canoes that attempted to kill her tonight find