Within These Walls

Glass Memories: Marcus (Bonus Chapters)

Sweat trickled down her neck and into her tank top as she took a long swig of water from her bottle. Something tightened inside him as his eyes followed the damp trail.

"My eyes are up here, Fargo," Janie said, gesturing for him to look up.

He obliged her by meeting her thick-lashed amber eyes. Smoking hot didn't begin to describe her. With her looks, she didn't need to mesmerize a guy to make him sell his soul to be with her. She was dangerous. Which made her interesting to him.

Plus she was one of three girls left in the facility. He couldn't afford to be picky anymore.

He checked to make sure the other Mods and the trainers weren't paying attention to them, before resting a shoulder against the wall and leaning toward her. His finger traced the line of sweat, and he smiled when she shivered.

He wasn't surprised when she wrapped her fingers around his waistband and pulled him closer. They'd been on and off for as long as they'd both liked the opposite sex. She could be a real pain in the ass if she wanted to be. Which was about ninety percent of the time with her. The other ten percent kind of made it worth it. Kind of.

"Come by my dorm room tonight," she said in a throaty voice.

"What about your roommate?"

Janie scowled. "What's with you lately? That never bothered you before."

That was because Janie used to have another roommate, a quiet girl who'd blanked a couple of months ago. For reasons he couldn't comprehend, Janie and Willow had decided to room together. So he'd stopped going over to Janie's dorm. He had a policy about staying as far away from Willow as he could.

"I don't want her reporting me for being out of my room after light's out," he said.

She pulled back and laughed so hard her eyes teared up. "Oh, that's rich. Since when have you ever cared about the rules?"

Good point.

"Maybe I'm just not that into you," he said. "You think of that?"

She punched him in the gut and left him bent in half, laughing through a groan. One of the trainers noticed the commotion and marched his way, so Marcus went over to a heavy bag and started whacking away. It wasn't until the trainer went back to his corner that Marcus realized he hadn't even brought up the subject of Mystery Girl with Janie.

Well, damn.

He decided to ask Alec the following day. The guy was far from his first choice. Saying that they didn't get along would be putting it mildly, but Marcus would have to throw down his pride if he wanted to get some answers. He approached Alec while he was studying in the library, stacks of books spread all across the table.

"Sup, nerd?" he said, pulling out the chair opposite the brown-haired teenager.

Alec stopped jotting notes in his notebook and looked up at him. His green eyes were narrowed with suspicion. He looked like a younger version of his father: good-looking, confident, and mature. If one of the girls were here, he would've laid on the charm, but now he just looked like a grumpy cat sitting in the rain. "What do you want?"

Marcus tipped back his chair until it was balanced on the back legs. "You should come play ball with me and Eli and Adam later. We've got a game after Brit Lit."

"So you can play childish pranks on me again?"

What was with everyone calling him a child? He was starting to get seriously annoyed. He checked his temper and kept his voice casual. "We're one man short of having two teams. One-on-one gets old after a while."