by Rose Wulf
She stared at him for another beat before a smile lit up her face. “I’d love to.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Thanks again for helping me out today,” Angela said, a light smile lifting her lips as she looked over at her newest friend. “I know it was sort of short notice, and I’m sorry if you had to rearrange your schedule or something.”
Arching an eyebrow at her, Vaughn said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if I’d already had other plans I would have just said no.” He paused, the corner of his lips twitching, and added, “But you’re welcome.”
She laughed faintly and inclined her head. “Fair enough.” It was her turn to pause, her smile fading as her eyes became distant and she added quietly, “Although, it might’ve been smarter for you to say no. It might not be such a good idea to be seen socializing with me right now.”
Vaughn scoffed, leaning back against the hood of his car, and replied, “I’m not so worried about it. I think I pretty much crossed into ‘bad idea’ when I threw a punch at the guy pulling lightning out of the sky.”
“Did I ever thank you for that, by the way?” Angela asked, another small smile tugging at her lips.
“At least five times,” Vaughn assured her. He was quiet for a moment, idly watching a cloud pass by overhead, before he carefully asked, “You said there was some sort of fight going down tomorrow?”
Angela released a breath and inclined her head. “Yeah,” she replied. “My brothers are supposed to face off against Eric and his family. Honestly, it sounds like something out of a bad movie, but … I’m still worried about it.”
“Of course you are,” Vaughn said, a tone of quiet understanding in his voice. “I’m pretty sure anyone would be.” Again, he paused a second before asking, “Would it be all right if I called in a couple of days to see how things went?”
Looking over at him again with widened, surprised eyes, Angela nodded. “Yeah, of course. I mean, you’re in enough to deserve to know what’s going on.”
He nodded, accepting her answer, but instead of continuing that thread of conversation he let his eyes slide past her, to her new car, and asked, “Think your family’s gonna like it?”
Angela blinked at him for a beat, before her lips lifted in a grin and she reached down, patting the hood of her recent purchase. “Oh, I think they’re going to be insanely jealous.”
He smirked and pushed off his own car, saying, “There’s only one way to find out, right?”
****
“You’re a cheater,” Dean declared as the group walked up to the house shortly after five o’clock that evening.
Nate balked at his brother’s accusation, raising his free hand to his chest and exclaiming, “I am not!”
“Are so,” Dean insisted. “There is no way you could’ve caught that ball without cheating. None.”
“Ha,” Nate taunted, “just because I’m lighter on my feet than you doesn’t mean I cheated. Admit it. You lost, fair and square.”
As Dean followed Blake and Brooke into the entry, he turned around to walk backwards and stated, “Then I demand a rematch. Do you know what it would do to my reputation if it gets around that I lost at beach volleyball?”
“Oh, yeah,” Nate teased with a grin, “no one would look at you the same again. And the guys at the station would definitely never let you live it down.”
Good-natured laughter echoed around them, and the group was barely past the door when a car horn sounded from the driveway. Everyone paused, turning their attention to the door Logan had been in the process of closing. The horn sounded again, and Lillian and Christopher joined them in the entry.
Nate finally broke the silence, declaring, “I think Angie got her car.”
Logan immediately pulled the door open wide once more, and the group—joined by Lillian and Christopher—filed back outside, anxious to see what kind of car the youngest member of the family had chosen.
Sure enough, there was an unfamiliar Mercedes-Benz S Class parked in front of the porch, on the outside of Dean’s Camaro. And Angela was climbing out of the driver’s seat, a wide grin plastered on her face. As she eased the door shut and rested one hand on the silver roof, she asked, “What do you think?”
Dean whistled appreciatively and walked around the shiny new car until he could pull his sister into a one-armed hug. Arm wrapped around her shoulders, Dean leaned down and grinned into her hair, saying, “You did good, Sis!”
“Dean!” Angela cried, her voice muffled from the awkward angle.
“Nice ride, Ange,” Nate declared from the other side of the car, where he was bent over and peeking through the passenger window.
Angela pushed away from Dean just in time to answer the volley of questions that her family proceeded to throw at her. But she answered them all well, obviously proud of herself for the research and thought she had put into her choice.
****
Madison and Brooke hung back, watching from the porch as the family interacted. They didn’t speak, opting instead to listen and reflect. And Madison felt her heart clench as she watched the scene. It was so simple on the outside—just a family praising their youngest for taking another step toward becoming a real adult. But there was so much lying between the words and gestures they exchanged. There was a desperation for normalcy and camaraderie that would probably have been invisible to someone who didn’t know the situation. Each brother took a turn pulling Angela into a tight, lightly teasing hug, and each time, Angela waited a minute before playing along and pushing them away.
None of this was lost on Madison.
Nearly half an hour passed before everyone migrated back inside, still laughing and talking about light, surface things. They ordered several large pizzas for dinner, ate using their laps as tables in the living room, and left the dishes in the sink for later when they were done. After dinner the group migrated to the family room, drew the curtain and dimmed the lights before gathering on the sofas and settling in for a long movie of Angela’s choice. And even when that was done, it was a long time before they finally agreed to call it a night.
“Nate,” Madison said quietly as Nate flipped the lock on his bedroom door. She knew he was listening, so she didn’t wait for a response. “There’s … something I really need to tell you.”
Nate came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, tugging her back into his chest. “What is it?” he asked softly, his lips beside her ear.
Madison leaned into him, her throat constricting for a long moment. She had tried to avoid it, she really had, but one poisonous, heart-wrenching thought kept cycling through her head. What if this is our last night together? The idea terrified her. It had been hard enough for her to get over Doug’s death, despite the problems they’d been having at the time. But she knew that the pain she’d felt over Doug would be nothing compared to the pain she would feel if Nate didn’t come home. And she would hate herself for the rest of her life if she let him leave in the morning without even telling him.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Madison turned around in Nate’s arms and reached up, framing his face with her hands gently. She held his gaze, knowing her eyes were brimming with tears once again, and declared, “I love you, Nate Hawke.”
****
Nate felt his heart constrict at her words, and the sight of the unshed tears in her green eyes. And just as it occurred to him that he’d been an idiot to feel so insecure, he finally realized what had been holding him back. Once he’d realized the depth—or possibly the potential depth—of his feelings, he’d developed a fear of losing her. And while he suspected he would have to live the rest of his life with that fear, he could at least acknowledge that he didn’t need to let it hold him back anymore. He wouldn’t lose her as a result of how he felt. If she was able to say those words to him now, after knowing everything that she knew about him, then he doubted he could chase her away.
Dragging himself out of his thoughts, Nate dropped his hands to her hips and tugge
d her properly against his chest as he murmured, “I love you, too.”
Madison’s lips lifted in a faint smile, her hands sliding along his jaw until they were threaded loosely through his hair, and she said, “I want to make it clear what I expect from you. I fully expect you to make love to me tonight like it might be our last time. And, tomorrow, I expect you to come home to me.”
Nate’s lips twitched and he quietly teased, “Those are some high expectations, Maddie.”
“I know,” Madison replied. She leaned up, her lips just beyond his reach, and added, “That’s the kind of woman I am.”
“Well,” Nate breathed, tightening his hold on her hips. “Let’s see what I can do for you, then.”
Their lips crashed together a heartbeat later, melding seamlessly as Madison curled her arms tightly around his shoulders. His arms wound around her waist, pressing her firmly into his body and sweeping his tongue into her mouth. As he braced a hand over her lower back he moved forward, their feet leaving the ground as he aimed them toward the bed. Madison had barely wrapped her legs around his hips when her back landed gently on the mattress. Nate’s hands ran up her sides sensuously, lingering just a little over every inch of exposed skin he could find.
The kiss broke as Nate bowed his head lower, dancing his lips and tongue over her jaw and down her neck. She moaned softly beneath him as he teased her flesh, one leg curving over his denim-clad hip. He let his tongue linger over the hollow of her throat before pulling back, holding her gaze for a long moment. Only the sound of their own breathing and their pounding hearts passed between them.
Their clothes hit the floor carelessly, their hands returning to the other’s naked flesh as quickly as possible. Lips found exposed skin and pressed themselves there, massaging and sucking before being joined by licking tongues and nipping teeth. Faint moans filled the air, dragged out of their throats as much by the lingering, hungry kisses as by the wandering, caressing hands.
Madison sucked in a gasping breath, Nate’s lips attached once again to her pulse-point, as he slipped a finger into her center. She retaliated by trailing a hand over his chest and down, down, until she had wrapped it around him. He tensed for a second before trailing his lips back up her throat, toward hers, and continued pumping his finger into her. Their lips met again, this kiss hungrier than before, and Nate braced himself above her with his free forearm as she squeezed and pulled in time to the motions of his hand.
She released him after a long minute, dancing her fingertips back up his chest until she had curved her arm around his shoulders. He took her hint and pulled his own hand back, lifting it just a bit and curving it around her hip. One of her legs lifted, looping again over his hip, and Nate swiftly plunged into her without breaking the kiss. Madison gasped into his mouth, her nails digging into his skin, and rolled her hips forward to greet his.
They moved together in an instinctive dance, keeping their pace as slow and controlled as possible. Madison kept her arms wrapped around him, one leg curved over his hip and the other looped around his calf. Nate held on to her hip, his other hand tangling in her long hair. The kiss remained deep, hungry but not desperate, their tongues sliding together in time with the rhythm of their hips.
Madison slid one hand slightly down his spine as she arched into him, and Nate broke the kiss in order to dance his lips along her neck, up to her ear. His hand released her hip, gliding over her sweat-slicked skin until he had curled his fingers around the pliable flesh of her breast. He nipped at her earlobe as he rolled her nipple between his fingers and her hands clenched over him again, their hips coming together a little harder. And when she breathlessly moaned his name he let his teeth graze the side of her throat, surging into her again. Her body arched as he moved, and he released her breast in order to return his hand to her hip.
And suddenly they had converged at just the right angle, their hips coming together and holding for a long moment as their vision went white and the built-up tension within them finally exploded. She gasped his name again at the same time as he choked on hers, his face buried in her hair.
She was still breathing heavily as Nate collapsed beside her, and she rolled into him without hesitation. They couldn’t afford to stay up all hours of the night. He needed to rest and build up his strength. He knew that. He knew she knew that. So he curled an arm tight around her waist as Madison tangled their legs together and threw an arm across his chest. She pressed her face into his collar, her head resting on his shoulder, and he pretended not to notice the dampness of the tears that soon followed.
****
Dean pressed on the brake, easing his Camaro to a stop as soon as he had turned onto the dirt road. “You’re up,” he said quietly, his usual natural humor gone from his tone.
Nate released a breath and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He reached for the door and popped it open before looking back at his brother and adding, “Meet you there.” Then he climbed out, shut the door, and kicked himself up. As he lifted he caught Blake’s and Logan’s eyes from the mirrors of Logan’s truck, but he only nodded shortly to them as he continued on his way. He went up until he was practically trapped in the thick branches of the tall trees, undoubtedly obscured by those below, but still close enough to see what was happening beneath him.
Logan’s truck was in front, as it was better designed for unpaved terrain. He drove slow, maintaining a good, controllable pace, and Dean kept a safe distance back. None of them knew what to expect.
Once he got eyes on his brothers’ vehicles, Nate flew a short distance ahead. He wanted to be sure to see anyone—or anything—that might be coming at them, but he didn’t want to completely lose sight of them, either. So he flew slow enough to keep pace with them as they drove up the slightly curving road, and as they closed in on the location their enemies had chosen his nerves grew. He hadn’t seen a flicker of motion ahead of them—not even a startled bird. Is it too late to decide this is a bad idea? They were steadily getting closer, and the closer they got to the small clearing that was their destination the larger the pit in Nate’s stomach became.
He had pretended not to notice the occasional tears as they had dropped onto his chest the night before while he’d held Madison close to his heart. But every warm droplet had gone through him like a knife. He’d wanted to roll her beneath him again and kiss each tear away. To softly tell her she didn’t need to cry, because it would be all right. But all he had been able to manage were murmured words of affection and slow, gentle caresses with his thumbs. He hated having to worry and upset her, but there was nothing he could do. Until their enemies were dealt with none of them would be able to live safe, comfortable lives.
So we’ll do what we have to, Nate told himself, wishing he could send the words to Madison one last time. He could see the clearing now, just beyond the trees ahead of him. The sun was glinting off of something dark and metallic, not quite at the right angle to blind him. His stomach clenched tighter with anticipation. We’ll fight them, and we’ll beat them, in order to protect our family. Because if we fail … everyone we love could die.
All at once Nate returned to his backyard, late at night, in time to see Victor throwing a bolt of lightning into Madison’s living room window. He remembered the fear and panic that had gripped his heart, and he reminded himself that if they lost this fight there would be no one to stop Victor from attacking her again. Attacking her, or Angie, or anyone else.
That was enough. That was all he needed to gather his focus and bury his anxiety.
Behind him, Logan and Dean were slowing down. They were nearly upon the clearing, so Nate altered his course a bit and flew to the side. He needed to canvas the area, to make sure their enemies weren’t spread out around the clearing instead of gathered within. So he did a half circle, reassuring himself that their backs weren’t being targeted, and then he doubled back and let his feet touch down beside the road. He nodded once to Blake as Logan drove by, and Dean slowed down enough for Nate to jump again into the p
assenger seat.
“All clear?” Dean asked rhetorically.
Nate understood his brother’s desire for one last calm conversation, so he replied, “Yeah.” He lifted his eyes up, angling his head enough to see out the windshield, and added, “Some clouds rolling in, though.”
Lips lifting with a humor he didn’t feel, Dean said, “Gee, you know, those weathermen never get it right.”
Nate allowed a low chuckle to pass his lips as Dean followed Logan into the clearing and pulled just out of the dirt road. The forced joviality fled as their eyes landed on the group patiently waiting for them on the other side of the clearing.
Only two cars were parked to the side—an older Crown Victoria and Emma’s Bentley. And, to their relief, four at least slightly familiar people were gathered near the hood of the Crown Vic. The man they knew as Jacob stood ramrod straight, arms at his sides and a fierce scowl curving his lips as he watched them park. Beside him, head tilted ever-so-slightly and a faint, amused smirk tipping his lips, stood the father, Victor. Emma was standing on Victor’s other side, her arms crossed over her chest and her long brown hair pulled back in a messy bun. And Eric stood beside his sister, across from Jacob, his hands in his pockets and a cocky look shining in his eyes. He was the only one among them who didn’t have dark hair, but standing alongside his family the resemblance in his eyes was blatantly apparent.
Dean and Nate silently joined their brothers near the center of the clearing, keeping their eyes on the group gathered across from them. A cold, faint breeze was beginning to kick up around them that had nothing to do with Nate’s mood and the air smelled like rain.
“Well,” Victor called, calmly stepping in front of Jacob and Eric. “I must say, I’m impressed. I thought for sure the lot of you would turn cowardly over the weekend.”
“Funny,” Nate returned before he could think better of it, “we were sort of afraid that face full of pepper spray you got the other day might’ve scared you off.” Now that he wasn’t angry about it, it was actually kind of funny.