A month went by both quickly and slowly. The treatments felt long, the fact they would be heading home in two days with little positive change in Stella's condition made it feel too short.

They had an appointment with an oncologist the next day. The doctors said there was a chance improvement would happen later, when Stella might have to go back for treatments. Depending on what the oncologist said, they would be making another trip to Chicago in three months once Stella had a chance to recover from this round of chemo. While the doctors and nurses tried to be encouraging, seeing little improvement to Stella's condition left it difficult for either Terry or Mila to feel encouraged, but they tried to pretend for Stella's sake.

For the first time since they arrived, Terry relented in letting Stella eat out at a restaurant. It wasn't that he wanted her to stay locked inside all the time, it was just that she was high risk for infections with her weak immune system and he was encouraged by her doctor to keep her away from too many crowds of people. That and people would always fawn all over a little girl with an oxygen tank and while Terry knew it came from a good place, people didn't seem to realize it didn't give them freedom to set a hand on her shoulder or hug her in encouragement. People would try and Terry would have to intervene, pointing out something he felt was obvious but apparently a lot of people didn't understand: Stella was sick, and the more germs she was exposed to increased the chances of her getting sicker. That meant no random people offering encouragement unless it was from a distance. Good intentions didn't matter if the actions still caused damage.

However, they didn't have many nights left in Chicago and Stella so desperately wanted to see more of the city. So far, she only had their drives to the hospital and the view from outside her treatment room, but she wanted more. Given the fact she was sick and Terry wasn't confident she would be able to come back here or visit anywhere else again, he agreed to dinner at an actual restaurant. Her excitement was able to lift his and Mila's spirits at least a little despite the treatments not helping like they hoped they would.

Stella picked a barbecue place and was a mess with barbecue sauce as she ate, but they ordered anything she asked for. Marcus and Stella were having a competition of who could eat more barbecue, and while Mila was completely certain the man that was well over six feet tall and weighed God knows what with all that muscle would absolutely be able to out-eat her six year-old sister, he made a show of saying his stomach hurt and he wasn't sure he could eat more while Stella grinned in triumph, barbecue sauce covering much more of her face than it should.

Mila went to the bathroom to pee and both to get control of her anxious emotions for the next day, and the confusing feelings she had for Marcus. Every moment he spent making Stella happy and laughing had her heart feeling weaker for him and she desperately tried to shove back those feelings.

She knew they were close to leaving the restaurant, so after giving herself a good scolding look in the mirror to remind her brain she couldn't be with someone that would only be around temporarily, she took a deep breath, zipped up her coat, and went back out to the restaurant. Her intention was to focus on Stella, but someone bumped into her on her way back to the table and sent a drink flying and landing all over Mila's coat. It wasn't a nice coat that had protection against the wind, it was fabric that soaked up that drink and left Mila dreading going out in the freezing temperatures with a wet coat. The person apologized profusely and Mila murmured it was fine before moving on back to her table.

She returned with the wet coat and sighed as she sat down. Terry noticed the mess immediately as Mila unzipped the coat. "What happened?"

"Someone bumped into me with a drink," Mila explained. "It's fine, it'll probably just be frozen solid three seconds after we step outside."

Marcus's attention moved away from Stella for a second as he noticed how wet Mila's coat was. Before she managed to do it herself, he got up and moved behind her, slipping her coat off her. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders before going back to his seat next to Stella. Marcus didn't even need the jacket, but Terry's continued questions about how Marcus couldn't be cold left him putting it on just to get Terry to shut up. Even if he did need it, he hated the part of him that pointed out he still would've given it to her without a second thought.

Terry raised his eyebrows both in surprise and appreciation, he even offered a small smile in Marcus's direction that Marcus missed because he was too busy helping Stella clean the barbecue sauce off her face. Marcus's gesture left Mila fighting back the smile as she slid her arms into sleeves and wrapped the jacket way too big for her over her body. It smelled like him. Her brain wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, but her body had certainly decided without her that it was a good thing.

They finished up dinner and Stella wanted to play board games back at their Air BnB. Once there, they gathered around the coffee table and indulged Stella's requests. Mila hated to admit how sweet it was to watch Stella teach Marcus how to play games he'd never played before. She wondered if he'd even heard of them before but couldn't ask in front of her siblings.

Mila slipped her hands in the pockets of Marcus's jackets while Stella was explaining another game, feeling something silky inside. She pulled out the material, her cheeks warming when she saw the tie. The one she tried to get Marcus to wear to have dinner with Terry, that he slipped into his pocket and said he'd save for later. She swallowed, her fingers rubbing against the smooth material as she glanced over at Marcus, who already scented the warmth building between her legs.

His eyes darted to the tie and instead of a smirk like Mila expected, he just lifted his eyes to hers with an intensity that made her focus on releasing a slow breath in an attempt to not let it be a shaky one. The smirk she expected didn't come, but that was almost worse, because the expression he gave her was full of hunger instead.

Her eyes fell away from his and she slipped the tie in the pocket. She tried to focus on the board game, only letting her eyes travel to Stella, the board, and Terry. She could feel Marcus's eyes on her and it was doing nothing to help the building heat but she did her best to ignore it as they played the game.

Once they were done and Mila was back in a bedroom alone with Marcus was when the real challenge came.

Besides the Marcus situation, Mila was overwhelmed, tired, frustrated, and anxious about the appointment with the oncologist the next day. It was one of those sense of overwhelmed where you know you can do nothing but wait and instead crave a distraction. In this case, the distraction she wanted came in the form of a demon who closed and locked the bedroom door behind her while she fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. She slowly turned toward him as he turned away from the door and faced her.

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the door, just staring at her. Their gazes held and that heat only grew more. Marcus's eyes flickered red, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he flexed his hand like he was trying to hold himself back from something but had to really focus on it.

"Thanks for the jacket," Mila said, trying anything to break the tension and silence.

"If it's going to leave you smelling like you can't wait to be tied up and fucked, you can borrow it any time you like."

Mila inhaled sharply, biting down on her lip almost hard enough to break the skin. He had a strong effect on her, stronger than anyone else ever had, and it was driving her crazy. She was the one that could always catch people off guard, that could push their limits and buttons, but for the first time, it was being done to her and she didn't know what to do with it except fight back to regain the advantage.

"It's not my fault you keep making empty promises and leave shit like this in the pocket," Mila said, pulling the tie out. "I'm desperate enough for a distraction that yes, it was exciting, but only because I have so much going on. Anything would be a welcome distraction at this point, it's got nothing to do with you."

Marcus pushed off the wall and it didn't take long for him to be right in front of her, in her face, his nose almost touching hers. "Then why are you so bothered by the fact you think I made an empty promise?"

"I'm not," Mila said flatly, turning away from him and facing the bed they were sharing. She was getting to him and part of her liked that more than she knew she should. "Just worried I won't be able to sleep and you're here so... " she shrugged. "But then again, you're you, so it was a silly thing to consider. Like I said, I'm desperate for a distraction, even from you."

"It's funny you think I can't wholly distract you," Marcus said, stepping closer, his chest against her back. "I can have you writhing and begging in seconds."

"Please, I doubt you'd be much of a distraction," Mila scoffed. She heard a low growl rumble through Marcus and she clenched at the sound. She was confident her next words would push him over the edge and while part of her said not to, she couldn't help it. "You're all talk, the likelihood you'll ever act is low."

Marcus spun Mila around and grabbed her jaw in his hand so tight, Mila couldn't move at all. She swallowed as she gazed up at his eyes that were now glowing red completely.

"You have a lot of guts, Mila," Marcus murmured, jerking her head to the side and dragging his nose along her neck. "To play with fire when you're playing against a demon."

Mila was shoved back on the bed and Marcus climbed over her, holding his hand out. "Tie. Now."

Mila felt a rush of excitement between her legs and handed it to him before she could change her mind. He grabbed her wrists and secured the tie around them before tying that around the headboard so Mila's hands were stuck above her head. When Marcus's eyes returned to hers, she licked her lips. He felt his pants growing uncomfortably tight and moved down her body, flicking the button of her black jeans open and dragging the zipper down.

"You think I can't distract you?" He asked, a smirk forming as he curled his fingers around her jeans and underwear both. "I'll let you make it up to me through your screams of pleasure."