“And when you realized he’d lied to you, you set him up in order to clear Nolan of the crime.”
“I shouldn’t have fallen for his act,” Isaac said. “I was smarter than that.”
I doubted smarts had anything to do with it. I figured Isaac had been desperate for love and acceptance, not to mention he must have been unbearably lonely and scared. He would have been looking for anyone he thought he could trust with his secret who would help him get his life back and keep Newt safe.
“Do you know for a fact Gary is still looking for you?” I asked.
“I googled Newt’s and my name. It says I kidnapped him and the cops are looking for us. I don’t think it ever made the national news or anything, though. I tried to teach Newt that we needed to use fake names, but he usually forgot and then he’d do what he did when he got here–he’d point out what my real name was. I was sure the whole Isaac Newton thing would sink us, but most people don’t seem to notice it. Luckily, unless you know our last name, it takes a while to get past the real Isaac Newton search engine results to the stories about me and Newt. ”
“Isaac Newton,” I said with a smile as I realized I’d never even noticed it myself. “Like the scientist.”
“Mom was a fan,” Isaac murmured.
I let my fingers stroke over his hair and up and down the back of his neck. He was still tense and his skin remained a bit chilled, but the fact that he was leaning into me so heavily gave me hope that maybe he was past the worst of his near-breakdown.
“What’s in New York?” I asked.
Isaac shook his head. “Nothing. Just another place to get lost in for a while.”
“Don’t get lost again, Isaac,” I blurted. “Please, let me help you.”
“I’m quicksand, Maddox. I’ll just take you down with me.”
I sighed and wrapped my arms around his upper body, then dropped my head on top of his. “I have money, Isaac. Lots of it. More than I could spend in a lifetime. I’ll get you the best lawyers… a whole damn team of them, if that’s what it takes.”
“It’s not just me I’d be risking if I exposed myself, Maddox. I can’t let Newt go back to him.”
“If the lawyers can’t help us, we’ll run. We’ll go somewhere the law can’t touch us.”
Isaac turned so he was facing me. He sat cross-legged so he could be close to me.
“Running is so damn hard, Maddox. It’s not something I would wish even on my worst enemy.” When I went to open my mouth, Isaac gently covered it with his hand. “Are you really willing to risk giving up your home, your brother, to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder? Do you really want to worry that every second of every day you could do or say something, slip up somehow, and put not only me at risk, but Newt too?”
Did I want to do what he was saying? Of course not. Just like I didn’t want him and Newt to have to do it. But would I do it?
Hell fucking yes, I would. But I could see in his eyes he wouldn’t accept my words as truth. If I’d learned anything about Isaac in these past few weeks, it was that he was unfailingly stubborn.
Isaac’s hand went from my mouth to the side of my neck as he clasped me there. His finger brushed over the shell of my ear.
“Stay through Christmas,” I said. “Let Newt have that. Let yourself have that.”
Isaac began shaking his head, but I leaned down to brush my mouth over his. “He’s going to hurt whether you leave now or in a couple of weeks,” I said. “At least give him some more good memories to hang onto.”
I didn’t mention the fact that I had my own ideas about how I’d be spending the next couple of weeks.
For every second I wasn’t with Isaac, I’d be talking to every lawyer under the sun to see what could be done. The reality was that Isaac had broken the law. Kidnapping was a felony and if he’d never reported what Gary had done to him when he was growing up, proving the fucker had been abusing Newt would be tough. Even if Newt remembered some or all of the details of Gary’s abuse, he’d only been a toddler at the time, so his credibility would most certainly be called into question. And since Isaac had had him for the better part of a year, any prosecutor worth his salt would imply that Isaac had used that time to brainwash Newt against his biological father.
But that didn’t mean I was throwing in the towel. And I’d meant what I’d said–if I couldn’t get Isaac out of trouble, I’d follow him to the ends of the earth. It would hurt like hell to have to leave my brother just as we’d started to rebuild our relationship, but losing Isaac would kill me.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was in love with him. Head over heels, crazy stupid in love. But I knew if I told him that, he’d completely panic. My only hope was that the fact that he was trying to protect me by warning me off coming with him and Newt meant he felt the same, or close to it.
Isaac was quiet for a long time.
Too quiet.
I pulled back to see that his eyes were on my chest. He eased my dog tags out of my shirt and began running his thumb over the indentations that spelled out my name. He often did the same thing after we’d made love.
“Promise me you’ll let me go when the time comes.”
When I didn’t respond, he gave the dog tags just the slightest tug. “Promise me, Maddox. Promise me or Newt and I are gone today.”
I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs at that because I knew he wasn’t going to budge on that particular threat. I could hear it in his voice.
“You don’t play fair, Isaac,” I said softly.
“I learned from the best,” he said as he looked up at me. I was trapped in the hold of his blue eyes.
“I promise when you’re ready to leave, I won’t try to stop you.”
But I’d sure as hell go with him. Even if I had to take enough drugs to knock out a horse, I would be in that car with him when it sputtered down Dallas’s driveway for the last time.
I could tell he wasn’t happy with my half-assed promise, but he didn’t call me on it. Instead, he got up on his knees and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and buried his face in the crook of my neck. “No matter what, don’t let Gary get Newt. Please, Maddox, if you care about me at all—”
“He’s never touching you or Newt ever again, Isaac. That I can promise you,” I vowed.
I held Isaac for a few minutes, then stood and helped him to his feet. We walked hand in hand toward the house, stopping only long enough to turn off Isaac’s car, which was still running. When we entered the house, we found Newt sitting between Dallas and Nolan on the couch. At some point, one of them had taken Newt’s helmet off him and the little boy had his head pressed against Dallas’s side while his hand was holding Nolan’s. Loki was lying next to Dallas, his head on his lap, his nose pressed against Newt’s other hand and Snotrod curled against the wolf hybrid’s side. There was a cartoon playing on the television, but none of them seemed to be watching it.
As soon as we walked into the house, Newt jumped off the couch and came tearing up to Isaac. Isaac dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Newt. I couldn’t hear what he whispered into the crying boy’s ear, but whatever it was, it had Newt nodding vigorously and wiping at his eyes. Isaac leaned back and helped Newt clean off his face. Dallas and Nolan had both gotten up in the meantime and took turns hugging Isaac.
Then they were hugging me.
“Okay, how about dinner?” Nolan announced. “It’s Newt’s favorite, liver and onions!”
Newt’s expression was a mix of horror and shock as he stared at Nolan. “Gotcha!” Nolan said, and then Dallas was snatching Newt off his feet to carry him over his shoulder to the kitchen. The little boy led out a raucous laugh as he struggled in my brother’s hold. Isaac went to join them, but I snagged his hand before he could get away from me and pulled him back. I brushed a soft kiss over his mouth and was glad when he didn’t protest, despite the presence of others.
Neither of us said anything as we held each other’s gazes, but we said enough
without the need for words. He took my hand in his and said, “Help me set the table?”
I nodded.
It ended up being one of the best family dinners we’d had to date.
Now I just needed to figure out how to make sure it wouldn’t be the last one.
Chapter Twenty
Isaac
I couldn’t contain the warm feeling when I saw Maddox’s front door open before I’d even pulled my car around in the circular driveway. It wasn’t unusual for him to be waiting for me, since he’d been doing it every night since the first night we’d slept together. What was unusual was that I still hadn’t gotten used to it or the warm, gooey feeling that would go through me when I’d see his big frame standing in the doorway.
God, I really was a goner at this point.
I had no doubt I was in love with Maddox. I wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened, but I was tired of trying to pass it off as some other emotion. Even though our time together was winding down at a frighteningly fast rate, I wouldn’t cheapen what I felt for him or pretend it would go away as soon as Newt and I left Pelican Bay.
I hadn’t told Newt we were leaving after Christmas, both because I hadn’t wanted a repeat of that terrible night when he’d fought me, and because I wasn’t ready to admit it myself. It was the day before Christmas Eve, so we had a couple of days left at the most. I wanted Newt to have every ounce of fun he could before I had to tell him it was time for us to go. This time when I told him, I’d go about it a different way rather than panicking and just packing up our stuff like I’d done after Nolan and Dallas had asked me if it was okay for them to buy Newt some Christmas presents. There was no doubt in my mind that Newt would be devastated, but I’d taken on the role of parent a long time ago and that meant doing what was best for Newt, even if he hated me for it.
Pain lanced through me as I remembered the way he’d walked around me after Maddox had told him to wait in the house with Dallas and Nolan. Newt had looked at me like I was no better than Gary. In my mind I knew he didn’t really see me that way, but it’d hurt just the same. I’d ended up staying at Dallas and Nolan’s house that night because Newt had still been terrified that I was mad at him by the time his bedtime had come around. I’d slept in the bed with him with Loki on one side of him and me on the other, but when I’d woken up in the middle of the night, I’d been stunned to find Maddox asleep in the big armchair in the room. Snotrod had been curled up in the crook of his arm. It was the first time he and I had spent the night together, and while it hadn’t exactly been the way I’d pictured it, waking up the next morning to his kisses had been heaven. Newt had already gone down to help make breakfast, so it had just been me and Maddox. He’d been lying in the bed with me, his big body curled around mine. He hadn’t spoken other than to wish me a good morning, but it had just been so very perfect.
The only way it could have been better was if I knew we’d wake up like that every morning for the rest of our lives.
It was scary to know that someone else now knew my secret, but I also knew Maddox would take it to the grave with him. He hadn’t pressed me in the past two weeks to try to find some alternative solution to Newt and me leaving, but I suspected that was because he was planning to come with us. He hadn’t said as much, but I hadn’t missed how he’d only promised not to stop me when I left.
I didn’t know what to do with that.
On the one hand, the answer was obvious–Newt and I would need to leave after Maddox had left to go home for the evening so he couldn’t stop us.
But on the other hand, a little part of me wanted to let him make that kind of sacrifice for me, even if it was wrong.
I was just so very tired of fighting this thing by myself.
And the idea of being away from Maddox for even more than a few hours…
I shook my head as I stared out my windshield.
I needed to stop thinking about it. It already consumed all my thoughts when I was by myself. I could barely sleep as it was. Food was something I had to force into my system and more often than not, I was looking over my shoulder.
Not for Gary.
But for Maddox.
Because I just couldn’t bear to be away from him.
Yeah, I was so far gone it wasn’t even the least bit funny.
I climbed out of the car and hurried up the walkway to the front door. Maddox didn’t say anything as he held out his hand to me. As soon as he had me in the hallway, he shut the door and then he was pushing me against it, his mouth devouring mine. I shrugged my jacket off and went for the button on his jeans, but he was lifting me before I could even protest.
Not that I would have.
I wrapped my legs around him and kept kissing him as he walked to the living room. We both laughed when he kept bumping into things like the wall and some of the little side tables that littered the front hallway.
“God, I just can’t get enough of this,” I muttered against his mouth.
I’d finally stopped trying to hide my relationship with Maddox at the sanctuary, especially in front of Dallas and Nolan, since they’d clearly known for a while that he and I were seeing each other. I hadn’t been so sure about whether or not Sawyer had known, but Maddox had taken care of that by grabbing me and kissing me while I’d been in the middle of talking to Sawyer in the office. The attractive vet had been asking if Newt and I wanted to come check out the hobby farm he’d only recently purchased. I hadn’t considered the invitation a date of any kind, and I hadn’t gotten the impression Sawyer had intended it as such, but Maddox had heard something he hadn’t liked and had proceeded to kiss me silly in front of the man. I probably should have been pissed that he’d been like a wild animal marking its territory, but secretly I’d been really turned on. Who knew I went for the possessive, growly type? Sawyer, completely unfazed, had waited until Maddox had finished, then proceeded to invite him to come along with me and Newt to see the place. To my surprise, Maddox had accepted. It’d meant a tense car ride, but that was something else that had changed in the past couple of weeks.
Although Maddox was still walking to work every morning, he was letting Dallas drive him home each evening. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to challenge himself in the hopes he’d be able to cope with his fear better when it came time for me and Newt to leave. I had mixed feelings about that, because while I really wanted Maddox to start to heal from the trauma of it all, I didn’t want to be encouraging something for the wrong reasons.
It was just another thing I was trying really hard not to think about so I wouldn’t be forced to make any kind of decisions about anything.
Maddox carried me into the living room. I expected him to take me right to his sleeping bag, but he stopped and let me slide down his body until I was forced to stand on my own. I was about to protest when he pulled his mouth from mine and whispered, “Turn around, baby.”
I gasped when I took in the room. The fireplace was going as usual, but instead of a sleeping bag in front of the blazing fire, there was now a mattress there. A Christmas tree decorated with what seemed like hundreds of tiny bright white lights stood in the corner. There were more lights strung up along the windows overlooking the back yard, and pillar candles were set up on just about every piece of furniture, making the room glow. Dozens of brightly wrapped presents were beneath the tree.
“What did you do?” I asked in disbelief.
Maddox took my hand and led me to the mattress. “Sit there,” he said, as he pointed to the middle of it. I did as he said and watched as he went to the Christmas tree and grabbed half a dozen packages and carried them to the bed. He put them between us and said, “Merry Christmas, Isaac,” then leaned in to kiss me. He maneuvered himself so he was sitting with his legs on either side of me with the packages between us.
“What is this?” I asked as he handed me one of the presents. My throat felt tight as humiliation swamped my system. “You got me presents?” I whispered. “Oh my God.”
I beg
an to cry. Although we hadn’t talked about getting something for each other, I’d just assumed Christmas would be about Newt. “I didn’t get you anything,” I said in horror. I looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I’ve never—”
He cut me off with a toe-curling, mind-numbing kiss.
“Isaac, sweetheart,” he said after he pulled his mouth free of mine. “You have no idea what you’ve given me. Even if I could find the words, it would take me until next Christmas to make you understand what it’s meant to me that you…” He shook his head, then kissed me again. He picked up the package I’d ended up dropping on the bed and said, “Open it.”
My fingers shook as I ripped into the present, and I couldn’t stop sniffling as I tried to hold back my tears. Trey had gotten me gifts, but they’d always been generic things like flowers and candy and the occasional sex toy that had been more for him than me. He’d never given me anything that was me.
Beneath the wrapping paper was a plain white box. I carefully took the top off and felt my heart seize in my chest. There, nestled in the softest of tissue paper, were pale pink panties that looked like they were made of pure silk. There were a few small flowers carefully stitched along the waistband. They were exquisite.
I covered my mouth with my hand as I tried to stem my emotions.
“Are they okay?” Maddox asked, his voice thick with tension, and I realized it was because all I could do was stare at the box. I managed a nod.
“They’re so beautiful.” I carefully took them out of the box and turned them around. The silk felt like water between my fingers and I instinctively knew he’d spent a lot of money on them. In addition to the pink ones there were another half dozen of the same style but in an array of colors.
“Open the rest,” Maddox said.
I did as he said and felt my heart swell painfully in my chest with every box I opened. There were lacy teal boy shorts that rode high in the back, a barely there string bikini in soft yellow, and a racy set of black panties that looked normal from the front but had thin strips running horizontally across the backside. I just knew those strips would hug my ass so deliciously.
Sanctuary Found_Pelican Bay [Book 2] Page 22