Marcus BOOK 5 of the RAZORBACK MC

7

TARA'S POV:

I got to the shrimp and looked up which noodles to use and grabbed them too. I made sure that we were all set with the other ingredients at the club house and I made sure to put everything away until Marcus got here.

It was a little past midnight, and I had a sandwich around 7 so I was starving and kind of eager to start. He came over and started to look through everything when he saw I was ready. "Hungry?" He asked me and I juts gave him a look.

"You said this was easy right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Get a pot, fill it up most of the way, and put it on the fire, add a pinch of salt." I nodded at him and got the big pot I knew was for boiling things and he watched me as I did as he said. "A little more salt. It's to flavor the water but it also helps with the boiling to start a bit early." He grabbed more than what I sprinkled in with the shaker and he unscrewed it over the pot, getting the little bit that was stuck in the sides, and then poured a bit more from the undone part.

"That's a lot."

"It's really not. You're not going to drink the water." He told me and I just nodded slowly. He knew what he was doing.

"Wait... how do you know how to make this?"

"I was a man who lived alone for a long time. As a kid I had to make dinners and lunches for my sister, as an adult I got myself a cook book and followed the instructions." He told me and I nodded as he gave me a look.

"I thought I was following instructions by eyeballing. I thought that meant that it was ok to do more or less of something." I told him and he just nodded. "You're nice to do this. You know how many people have tried to help?"

"Has anyone else made you do things yourself and corrected you when you're wrong?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Mostly I do something they tell me to do and then when it goes wrong, there's issues. They laugh, get a fire extinguisher or open some windows." I told him honestly.

"Well, now that I am helping at one of the restaurants, I am sure the cooks there can help you if you want." I tilted my head and he looked over the shrimp. He started to talk about how they have something called a vein that wasn't for blood, but I was confused.

"You're leaving the strip club?" I asked to be sure he wasn't going to be doing both.

"Yeah, Razor said something about how their restaurant needs help." He told me about the over ordering, the fallen income from the place, and I worked my jaw thinking about it. "But hey, maybe you can get a cook to teach you somethings if you want."

"Yeah right. I'll add scrambled eggs, and shrimp scampi to my little menu unless I make something else." I told him and he laughed.

"There are a lot of easy things, like meat loaf, spaghetti, tacos." He told me a couple more and I just licked my lips and he pulled out a pan for me. "When the water starts boiling, put in the noodles, and add a bit of oil."

"Oil?"

"Yeah, it helps so they don't stick together." He told me and I just nodded and went to get the bottle of oil out.

"So you planning on telling me how you know how to cook?"

"I told you, cookbooks-"

"Yeah, but there had to be a reason why you kept it up. I have an older brother remember... before Noelle he had semi home cooked meals, ate out a lot, but once in a while he would BBQ and he would make simple things that our mom taught him. But you? Come on, you either like it or it's how you impress a girl." I accused and he smiled like he was caught in the act of lying.

"I have used it to impress some women... but I like doing things for myself. Cooking, cleaning, I even do my own laundry."

"And you're single. Where are all the women who want to snatch you up?" I asked and laughed hard when he shook his head like the idea wasn't appealing.

"Women always want more than they can have. I am not a guy who wants kids and a wedding. It's nice to see the guys here do, but with my childhood, f**k all that." He told me and I got it, player for the rest of his life, like some of our brothers here at the club. It's just the way some of them go.

I got to the noodles when the water started to bubble up and I put two good handfuls in there before putting some oil like he told me, a splash just like this morning with the milk in the eggs and when they started to wilt down.

He told me to get the minced garlic, and we started in the pan, and we got things done quickly. I got to the end of the counter as the garlic cooked slowly, as it should, so he said. "Now take the shrimp, take off the end of the tail off and run your finger up to the side and get the dark vein out." He showed me and we started to work with me until they were all done.

We got them done and he told me to put it in the garlic and butter and he said that they would cook very fast. "Ok, now grab some tongs, and get some of the noodles, see if they were done."

I pulled one out and he cut it in half before handing me on and I sucked it in my mouth and realized they were soft like I like them. "Now what?"

"Now, you take them out and put them in the pan." He told me and I just got some noodles with the tongs and set them in the pan and he started to shake the pan. "You get it all coated and mixed, the noodles will help steam the shrimp better, and we got shrimp scampi." He told me and he let it sit on the fire and I chewed on my nail as he took plates down.

"You cooking Marcus?" I heard Avery and he walked past and saw me.

"Teaching." He told him and I smiled.

"No way. The unteachable cook is cooking?" Avery sat down for a minute and laughed as he looked at the food in the pan. "Shrimp? Oh that looks good. Gem can't have seafood, or at least she doesn't want the temptation at the house." He looked like a lost puppy. When Marcus was done serving us, I made him a small plate and he sat with us in an awkward silence as we all ate.

"Night Ave." Marcus shouted as Avery said he was gone for the night.

"See you Marcus, bye T." He headed out and I ate a good bite of shrimp and garlic butter to avoid looking at him leaving.

"Thank you for teaching me. Maybe the brothers around here will stop making fun of me when they see me in the kitchen." I brought up and 

"How is it that your brother and your sister know how to cook but you don't?"

"Me and my mom... we didn't get along. Like at all. Sienna was her little star, and Ryan was the man of the house before she moved away. Her prince and princess...and I was just the little problem that was always around."

"Shit." He shook his head but I looked around. 

"In fact, whenever we got into it too bad my dad brought me here and I hung out with all the guys." I shrugged and didn't see anything wrong with it. "It was fun. Learned pool, ate peanuts for a snack..."

"Daddy's princess then." He assumed and I just laughed and nodded.

"He used to tell me that this was my palace and my mom wasn't going to care if I take over this place one day." I laughed and shook my head. My dad always got me to smile saying that we were where I belonged when we rode in.

"You did." Marcus said so easily I had to pause at what he meant. He smiled and gave me a wink before I was looking him up and down like a piece of meat. I swear if I had the chance, the little voice in my head saying I shouldn't try, he was a brother. But he wasn't looking for anything serious. I watched him finish eating and then he stood up and put the plate in the sink and started the dishes.

He cooks, he cleans, and he's a just my physical type. Should I just say screw it? Then screw him?

MARCUS' POV:

"You're queen of this place. Anyone else who didn't come in here would guess it would be Noelle, but we all know better. We got problems Ry can't handle, we go to you. They have girl issues, they go to you." I had seen that much.

"So? I take care of them. If I wasn't here for their patch in, then I grew up with them. You're one of 6 guys that came from another chapter." She told me and I just nodded slowly. "You're the oldest that came though. Most were mid twenties getting through or away from their families." I told him and he had a look in his eye like he was thinking.

"You're not doing anything for my birthday right?" I asked her and she gave me a long pause before she blinked and shrugged. "Tara-"

"Marcus." She challenged and smirked as I narrowed my eyes.

"No party."

"Ok." She agreed but I had a bad feeling like she wasn't going to listen, that she was just going to do what she wanted.  "Party is classified as more than 50 people in a designated party place, like parks and restaurants. A get together... of brothers, where everyone is going to be anyways... that's not a party." She muttered and I shook my head before looking around the room. Not many guys were here tonight, but she would make sure that this place was packed when my birthday hit. s**t didn't sound that fun. But I now knew better.

"Queen of the club... no one can tell you no." I muttered and she giggled before tapping my shoulder.

"Now you get it. Sienna and I agreed before the fight about some things." She told me and I turned and grabbed some other dishes. I started washing them and moved to get to the rack to dry them but she started to wipe them down with a towel.

We got everything clean, and when we were done she took her hair down and started to scruff up her scalp before she moved towards the rooms. I followed her, dead on my feet, and needing the rest. We went up the stairs, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that I watched her ass go all the way up.

I got to my room, laid back on the bed for a second and let my food settle before I got up and undressed. I was getting my pair of shorts on when there was a knock on my door.

I walked over, working my neck and opened the door to see Tara there, still had her jeans and tank top on. "Need something?" I asked her and she smiled before tilting her head.

"Forgot to ask. You like chocolate right?" She licked her lips while she looked at me, and I had to shout at myself in my head that she was forbidden fruit.

"Yeah. I do." I told her and she nodded.

"Ok. See you tomorrow." She smirked, looked me up and down and I felt myself almost rise to the occasion. Off limits, forbidden, still sexy as sin and she licked her lips, again, and nodded and turned away. Making sure to swivel her hips and my eyes were glued to her ass as she walked away.

She was trouble, she knew it, I knew it, and for some reason I think we could both do with a little trouble.