by J. S. Cooper
I took a deep breath and turned away from her. This time she didn’t try to shield me from the tears streaming down her face. She stared at me with wide, hurt eyes, and I was taken back to my childhood when I had told my mother I hated her. The pain that coursed through me right now was the same pain that had coursed through me then. I had been about twelve years old, and my dad had been on his way to steal a car and I was going to accompany him. My mother had been upset that he was using me as his lookout, and she had pulled me aside and told me that I couldn’t go. My father had been slightly drunk and had shouted at her. She stood her ground against him and had whispered that she couldn’t put up with it anymore. She told him that she wasn’t going to let him do this to the kids and that she was going to leave him. I had been incensed at her words and turned on her and shouted that I hated her and that she didn’t understand. The look she had given me at that moment had broken my heart in two. The pain mingled with shock, hurt and disbelief as she stared at me. I could feel how my words had hurt her. The hurt that coursed through her had flushed through me and I hadn’t known what to say. The anger and confusion in my own body had stopped me from apologizing in that moment. I knew that in that moment that my mother realized that the innocent and loving boy she had raised was gone. And as I stared at Maddie, in this instant, I knew I had also shattered her image of me. No matter what she had thought of me before, or what she were to think of me in the future, she would always be reminded of this conversation in this car.
“He’s here.” She bit her lip and turned away from me.
“What?” My voice was softer, and I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I wanted her to shout back at me, to scream and call me an asshole.
“The guy you’re selling this car to? I think he’s here.” She squinted and then doubled down in her seat.
“What are you doing?”
“I think I know that guy,” she whispered up at me.
“Really?” I looked at her in surprise and then at the guy standing in front of the car. He looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “Stay here,” I hissed at Maddie again before I stepped out of the car.
“Hey.” The guy nodded at me.
“Hey.” I took in his dirty appearance and nodded. “You called me about the car?”
“Yeah.” He looked it over. “It runs well?”
“Yeah, smooth as a Ferrari, only twenty thousand miles as well.”
“You want five grand?”
“I want ten grand, but I’ll accept five.” I stared at him, and he stared back at me with a glint of something in his eyes.
“What about three grand?”
“No deal.”
“You got no papers.”
“So?”
“Two grand.”
“I don’t have time for games, five grand or nothing.” My voice rose, and then I noticed his hands were full of grease. “I’m going to go.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to leave, Logan.” He stepped towards me with a menacing stare. “Marty’s not happy that you didn’t give him a call.”
“Marty?” I held my ground as I stared at the man, as I realized where I knew him from. He was one of Marty’s mechanics/henchmen.
“Yeah.” His voice was menacing. “You get a lot of protection in River Valley because of Marty. I wouldn’t like to think you were disrespecting him.”
“I don’t need Marty’s help.”
“Marty wants this car, and he’s willing to give you a grand.”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“You’ll take the grand, and be grateful you’re getting that. Next time, Marty won’t be so nice.”
“Forget about it.” I turned away from him, angry.
“We don’t want Vincent to get into any trouble now, do we? I’d hate to see his college dreams come crashing down as he sits in a jail cell.”
“Leave my brother out of this.” I turned around, heart racing. “What do you want?”
“I want you to give me this car, and Marty wants you to consider this a warning.”
“Piss off.”
“You think we’re playing with you?” His voice was full of venom. “We know Jared’s been messing around with Joey Kennedy. I’d hate for him to go down as well. Two brothers in jail? Well, how would that feel, Logan? No one would be surprised. In fact, everyone would just be waiting to see when the third and final Martelli brother made it to jail.”
I stared at him with my blood boiling. If Maddie hadn’t been in the car, I would have decked him, not caring what would have happened next. But I didn’t want her to see the blood.
“You want the car, you can have it.” I took a deep breath. I was pissed at myself for caving, but I needed the money.
“Here.” He pulled out a stack of twenties and handed them to me. “Leave the car in the parking lot, we’ll have it picked up and towed tonight.”
“This is only five hundred.” I glared at him.
“Be thankful you got anything.” He came towards me and bent down and whispered in my ear. “I’d get out of the car business if I was you. Next time, Marty won’t be so nice.” He turned around and walked to his car. It took everything in me to not chase him down. I took another deep breath as I watched him drive away. I walked back to the car, opened the car door, and saw Maddie crouched over still.
“You can sit up, he’s gone.”
“Okay.” Her voice was cold and she jumped out of the car. “Did he decide not to buy it?”
“He bought it, he’ll pick it up later.”
“Oh.” She looked at me and then away again. “That’s good, then.”
“Yeah.” I stared at her standing in front of me, clutching her plate of cookies. “Look, I want to apologize.”
“Don’t bother.” Her eyes flashed in anger. “I’m glad you were honest with me.”
“You’re mad.”
“Does it matter?”
I bit my lip as I stared at her. Damn, Maddie was making things hard for me. “We can be friends.” I sighed.
She looked up at me in surprise. “You want to be friends?”
“I didn’t say all that. I said we can be friends.”
“I guess that’s a start.” She grinned and linked her arm through mine. “I knew you couldn’t resist me.”
“Well, you knew wrong.” I shook my head at her. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”
“Did you get a lot of money for the car?”
“No.” I turned away from her, frustrated. I needed to be alone. I needed to think about everything that had just happened and where I went from here. I knew that I was a threat to Marty now, and my brothers and I were his targets. Frustration ran through me, along with another emotion—I was scared. I had no idea where to go from here. And I had no one to turn to for help. There wasn’t time for Vincent to get through college and law school anymore. Our lives were in the balance, and it was all the mayor’s fault. I stared at Maddie, and Jared’s words came crashing down on me. It was true; Maddie was the apple of the mayor’s eye. If anything happened to her, he would be crushed. I knew that a simple heartache wouldn’t do the trick, though. He had screwed my father over and ruined his life. If I wanted to get revenge for my father, mother, and my brothers, I had to make sure it would be something that affected the rest of his life, just like he had affected mine. Ideas crashed through my mind, and suddenly it struck me. What would make the mayor’s blood boil more than anything? A baby. A Martelli baby in his family. And as I watched Maddie, smiling down at me, with her seductive purple-blue eyes, I knew exactly what I had to do.
Chapter 7
Maddie
I was so angry that I had a hard time looking at Logan. He was insufferable and I was fast losing my patience and the ability to just get over it. I hadn’t expected my feelings to be so hurt at his words; I mean, I knew he had issues, and I had told myself that I could wait it out. I could make him fall in love with me if I had enough time. At least that is what I had told my
self. I heard the sounds of a family walking towards us, and I turned to smile at them, needing to focus on someone else, if just for a few moments. I stepped away from Logan, glad I didn’t have to pretend I was okay for a second. I smiled at the little girl skipping along and blowing bubbles, and I was reminded that I used to be that girl: innocent, carefree and happy. I could still be that girl if I wanted to, but I knew that too much had happened and I wouldn’t change any of it.
“Let’s go find a car.” Logan grabbed my arm and I looked at his face. I couldn’t read his eyes or the expression on his face, and I wondered if he was okay. There was so much going on with him, and I wished he would trust me enough to let me in. But I suppose that would all happen in good time.
“A car?”
“That’s what I said.”
“I thought we were taking the bus back.” I paused. “Are we going to steal another one then?” I whispered and looked around to make sure no one was around to hear me.
“No.” He grinned at me, and this time his eyes were sparkling with mirth. “We won’t be stealing it.”
“So then why are we looking for a car?”
“So we can window shop.” Logan shook his head. “What’s up with all the questions?”
“Do you think you can just talk to me however you like and I’m just going to take it?” The words spurted out of my mouth angrily and I let out a deep breath. I guess it was harder for me to keep it in than I thought it would be.
“Huh?” He frowned at me, and I could see a brief flash of anger and respect in his eyes.
“You practically went off on me in the car earlier. Do you really think I’m going to just be friends with you and we could go look at potential cars for you to steal? I know you think I’m some silly girl who is kinda crazy and infatuated with you. But lookey here, mister, I’m not a doormat, and I’m not going to allow you to talk to me however you want. You want to go off on me because of something I’ve done to you, then fine. But to take out the issues that you have with my dad on me, which I don’t even know about, well that’s fucked up.” I took a breath and looked at the shock in Logan’s eyes and I grew even more incensed. “I don’t know why you’re so shocked. Did you think you were the only one who could get angry and spout off?”
“Are you done?”
“Look, if you just wanted to have some fun with me, then fine. We had fun. I’m not pushing you for anything else. I don’t need you to be my friend.”
“It was your idea to be friends.” He looked at me in confusion, and I stared at his handsome face. How I loved his face, it was so expressive, so gorgeous. Even when I was angry at mad at him, all I wanted to do was kiss him and feel his lips against mine. Logan Martelli drove me crazy.
“I wanted to be friends because I thought that would be a good way to show you that you could trust me.” I shook my head. “I don’t need your pity friendship.”
“My pity friendship?” He laughed gruffly. “You’re the one that’s—”
“Oh, shut up.” I grabbed ahold of his shirt and pulled him towards me. I looked up at his handsome face and pressed my lips against him, relishing the feel of him as I kissed him lightly. He reached his hands around my waist and pulled me towards him, and his tongue darted into my mouth as his hands ran up and down my back. I reached my hands up to his hair and I kissed him back feverishly, wanting him to know exactly how he made me feel. I pulled back reluctantly after a few minutes, and he looked down at me with a dazed and dark expression.
“I have to have you now.” He pulled me towards him and his hands ran up and down my back and shoulders as he kissed my neck. “What are you doing to me, Maddie?” He groaned and ran his hands through his hair.
“Driving you crazy.” I smiled at him impishly, trying to suppress the sudden joy in my heart. There was a part of me that felt that maybe I was getting to him as much as he had gotten to me.
“That you are.” He grabbed my hand again. “Come.”
“Are we going to look for another car?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I need to get you home.”
“Why?”
“The car idea, it was a bad idea, sometimes I don’t think I’m in my right mind.” He grimaced and I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but I was scared he wouldn’t tell me.
“You’ve got a lot going on.” I squeezed his hand, and he looked down at me gratefully. His hands felt warm and strong, and I was delighted that he hadn’t snatched it away from me.
“Why did you have to be a Wright?” he sighed as he looked at me regretfully.
“Does it really make that much of a difference?” I stared up into his eyes. I just didn’t understand why he hated my father so much, and I didn’t understand what he had said about my father being the reason why he had his scar. I was so confused, and all I wanted was for him to share everything with me.
“I can’t think about it right now.” His eyes were far away. “I have more pressing issues.”
“Oh?”
“Like how I’m going to make money.” He laughed manically.
“The offer is still open for me to talk to my dad,” I said softly.
“Maddie, I’m not going to tell you this again …” Logan pulled away from me and his voice was harsh.
“You don’t know my dad like I do, Logan. He’s a good guy!” I cried out, annoyed at him.
“Many times, we don’t know the people closest to us, Maddie. Many times we’d be surprised at how many skeletons those we love the most have in their closet.”
“So tell me.” I held my breath and my heart was racing. “Tell me.”
“You wouldn’t want to know.” His voice crushed me with its hollowness.
“I think you’re just making it up. I bet you’re just mad because my family is rich and yours is poor. That’s not my fault. I’m so fed up with your shit, Logan. Why won’t you give me a fair chance? I don’t care if you’re poor; I don’t think that makes you a bad guy. Let me in, goddammit.”
“You know why I wanted to go find a car?” Logan leaned in towards me with narrowed eyes. I shook my head. “I wanted to find a backseat to fuck you in.” I swallowed hard as he whispered into my ear. “I wanted to take you in the backseat of a luxury car and fuck you on the seats of some brand new leather.” His eyes looked into mine, searching for my response. “I wanted to fuck you like some easy slut, in broad daylight. Do you still think I’m a good guy? Do you like it when I’m honest?”
I bit my lip as I stared up at him. I hated it when Logan became this guy, and I found it really hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. If it wasn’t for the brief hesitation in his eyes and the nervous throb in his throat, I would have slapped him hard and told him where to get off. As it was, I knew this wasn’t the real him. For some reason, he was trying to get me to hate him, and I didn’t understand why he was fighting the mutual attraction we both felt. An attraction that was about more than sex.
“I, uh, I don’t know what to say.” My eyes widened at him as he pulled me towards him again.
“I told you before, Maddie, I’m not the typical guy you meet. I can do bad things to you, very bad things.”
“Maybe I like it when you do bad things to me,” I breathed into his ear and he stopped still. “Maybe I want you to take me to that backseat right now. Maybe I’d like to choose the car.” I wanted him to know that I wasn’t scared of him, and that I could take it. He wasn’t going to scare me away, and if anything, I was slightly turned on. I didn’t want to analyze what that said about me.
“Come away with me.” He looked into my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go away somewhere, just the two of us.” His eyes issued me a challenge. “If you really want to be a bad girl, if you really want to get to know me.”
“I can’t just go away.” I bit my lip, thinking about my parents. They were back in town and I knew my dad would flip a switch if I just left town. “But maybe if I go home and tell them I’m going to a fr
iend’s place for a week.”
“No, you can’t go home.” He shook his head. “You can call them and let them know you’re going out of town, but you can’t go home.”
“But I don’t have anything on me.” I stared at Logan with my heart pounding with excitement; did I dare go with him? I wanted to, but I was scared about the reality of just leaving with him.
“Neither do I. If you like me like you said, then come away with me. Forget about everything and everyone else.”
“But my dad will be so pissed,” I mumbled, not sure what he expected from me. Did he think I could just up and leave? “And what about your brothers and your dad?”
“I’ll call them.” He stood there, tapping his feet. “We can just leave and really get to know each other, without thinking about anyone else.”
“How long will we be gone?”
“I don’t know.” His tone was serious. “A week? A month? Whatever we decide.”
“A month.” I swallowed hard. My dad would freak out if I was gone a month. He would get the FBI involved! “Where would we go?”
“Wherever.”
“Where would we stay?”
“Wherever.” His eyes lit up and he grinned at me. “We could break into empty houses.”
“What?” My voice rose, and I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not.
“So, are you in?” His tone was light but I knew everything depended on my answer. I was freaking out inside from excitement and worry. But I had to put the worry aside if I wanted to show Logan that I was in this for real.
“Yes.” I spoke loudly and confidently. I was shocked at how sure I was about this decision. Part of me knew it was foolish. What smart girl in her right mind would agree to just take off with a guy she barely knew; a guy she was just screaming at a few minutes ago?