by E B Brooks
Skylar crawled toward Maddy. “Don’t overthink it. Just says yes.”
“Might as well have fun before school starts,” Maddy agreed. “What time do you want me there?”
“I’ll pick you up early so we can have dinner first.” Skylar stood and helped Maddy up, but instead of letting her go, he wrapped his arms around her.
Heat blossomed in her core.
Jace stood and walked over to the door.
Skylar’s seductive blue eyes held her in a trance. “I know I said we would be friends and only be more if you asked me but… Can I kiss you?”
Maddy gave a quick nod.
He slowly lowered his head. When his lips touched hers, a moan left her mouth. His hand reached behind her head, weaving his fingers in her long, red hair, holding her as the kiss became steamier. When their tongues touched for the first time, Maddy swore she saw fireworks go off. It was the most intense kiss she had ever had.
She didn’t feel him backing her up until her back hit the wall. Maddy’s hand slipped under his shirt. She loved the feel of his muscles moving under her touch, all while their tongues were in some kind of erotic dance.
She was in heaven.
As much as she hated it, she needed to breathe. Pulling away, she took in a deep breath.
Skylar laid his forehead against hers. It took everything in her not to shove him down on the floor and have her way with him.
Friends! Maddy, you are just friends.
She sucked in another deep breath. That was no friend kiss.
“I could spend hours kissing your luscious lips. You don’t know what you do to me.” His eyes searched hers for some clue to what she was feeling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let that kiss go that far.” Then he whispered in her ear, “I’m only a phone call away if you need me. I still want you, Princess.”
His words sent a shiver through Maddy’s body.
He pushed off the wall and looked over at Jace. “You ready to leave?”
Maddy’s lust haze cleared up in an instant. Oh fuck. She completely forgot Jace.
When she looked over at him, he was smiling at her, leaning against the wall looking hot as hell.
“Hey, give me a minute,” he told Skylar.
Skylar kissed her forehead. “I’ll be over by five.”
As he left the room, he gave Jace a knowing look and touched him on the shoulder. Jace turned his head and watched Skylar walk away. When he turned back, Maddy caught something on his face.
Maddy’s mouth fell open as she touched her chest. “You like Skylar?”
Jace’s breath hitched.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Jace? I just had a make-out session with someone you like.” She smacked her forehead as she slid down the wall.
He walked over and sat beside her. “Maddy, can you please look at me?”
She shook her head no.
“Please, baby, look at me.” He gently lifted her face, rubbing his thumb across her cheek. “There’s nothing to freak out about. Yes, I have feelings for Skylar—have for a long time—but it’s complicated.”
She threw her head back against the wall. “Complicated is having feelings for four guys who are all friends.”
“I can’t say what’s going on with Ryder or Cody, other than they’re assholes for passing up the opportunity to be with you. I’m not going to be that stupid. I want to get to know you. If Ryder or Cody pull their heads out of their asses, then we’ll deal with it then. How does that sound?”
“I need one thing for this to work, Jace. I need Skylar and you not to keep secrets between us. That’s the only way I see this working.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Trust is a big thing for me. I have a hard time trusting people. You need to tell Skylar how you feel.”
He rubbed the side of his scruffy face. “He knows, Maddy. We’ve fooled around before, but nothing came of it.” He shrugged with a sad face.
Just the thought of Jace and Skylar fooling around sent a shiver through her body.
Chuckling, he pulled her onto his lap. “I saw that shiver. You were thinking about us being together.” He sucked on her earlobe.
Oh, shit, these two might be the death of her. She let out a moan as she nodded.
“As much as I’d love to spend all night here with you on my lap, we need to say goodnight.” Jace reluctantly removed her from his lap, stood, then helped her up off the floor. “Can I give you a goodnight kiss?”
He looked so apprehensive it was kind of cute. How was she ever going to say no to these guys?
Maddy took a step forward, placed her one hand on his chest and ran the other one behind his neck, pulling his head down closer to her. When his full, soft lips touched hers, she groaned, and Jace slipped his tongue into her mouth.
Holy shit, could he kiss. She could spend all day just kissing both of them.
He took a step back. “I’d love to do that all night, but you had a busy day. Walk me out so I can make sure you lock the door behind us.”
Grabbing his hand, they walked to the kitchen and found Skylar leaning against the counter drinking another Dr. Pepper.
Her eyebrow raised. “Did you leave me any Dr. Pepper, or did you drink it all?”
“Don’t worry, Princess, I left you some.” He smiled. “So, are we okay?” He pointed to the three of them.
“We’re fine. You’ll be picking me up at five? Is the party casual wear?” She chewed on her bottom lip.
Skylar walked over, ran his hand through her hair, and with his thumb, pulled her lip out from between her teeth. “Stop chewing that lip. It turns me on. What you’re wearing now is fine. Give us one more kiss, and we’ll see you Friday.”
Friends kiss, right? She didn’t care at the moment. She gave them both goodnight kisses and locked the door behind them.
She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. What had she gotten herself into?
Maddy spent most of the next day finishing cleaning her apartment. The entire time she wondered how the hell she was going to be friends with those guys. She’d never kissed a friend like she kissed Jace and Skylar last night. She’d never felt so confused about guys before.
Maybe Torr could help her understand what she was feeling.
Maddy was slowly running out of food and made a list of things she wanted, this time making sure it wasn’t too long.
She headed off to Walmart, her new favorite store, and while she was there, she decided to find an outfit for the party on Friday.
Maddy spent too much time looking for the perfect outfit, hoping it was worth all the digging she did to find it. She was about to give up when she found the perfect top. It was a sleeveless halter top that wrapped around her neck, fit tight until just under her chest, then bloomed out. She had to dig to find the color she wanted; most were yellow, but she wanted the green to bring out her eyes.
With the perfect outfit, she drifted over to where all the crafts were, searching for the color of paints she wanted. She was considering searching for a craft store nearby when she lucked out. They had everything she needed to work on her mural. With an outfit and paint supplies, she meandered over to the grocery side and got the food she had on her list.
This time, she didn’t have a cart full, but her arms would hurt by the time she got home.
She made it home before her arms became numb. Putting away her items, she hung up the shirt she spent hours searching for. She didn’t need it to get all wrinkly. She made herself a nice dinner and sat down to watch a movie on her computer. She couldn’t wait until she got furniture. The floor wasn’t all that comfortable.
It was another sunny day as she strolled in to work, glad she’d have someone else to talk to. She never talked to people at the home much, but there was always something going on. Living alone was hard. She never expected to feel so lonely. She craved the sound of someone else’s voice.
When she walked into the busy cafeteria, she let out a sigh of relief and waved to Torr, who was talking to two people Maddy h
adn’t met. Maddy headed to the back to put her backpack in her locker, grabbed a hair net on the way out, and headed out to the floor.
“Hi, Maddy, how’s the leg doing?” Torr smiled as she peered down at Maddy’s foot.
She moved her ankle around. “Much better, thank you.”
“Maddy, this is Max and Amy. They think they’re big time now that they work in the hot food.” A smile tugged the corner of her mouth up while she jokingly rolled her eyes.
Max shoved her, laughing. “You could, too, but you always turn Janet down.” He glanced over to her. “Hi, Maddy, nice to meet you.”
A blush crept up Torr’s face.
Maddy rocked back and forth on her heels, knowing Torr refused to change her post so she could continue to talk to her crush. Plus, who wanted to smell like food all day?
“Hi, Maddy. Torr’s a great teacher. You’ll learn a lot from her,” Amy stated, playing with the ring on her finger.
Maddy gave them both a genuine smile and a slight nod. “Nice to meet both of you.”
“I’ll talk to you later. We need to start work.” Torr grabbed Maddy’s arm and pulled her behind the counter.
“I guess you recovered from Inferno.” Maddy covered her mouth, chuckling.
“Please tell me I didn’t embarrass myself. I don’t remember half of the night. I remember the shots and dancing, but that’s it.” She tugged on her ear lobe.
Maddy had seen her do that before. She must do that when she was nervous.
They ambled over to wash their hands, and before their shift started, Maddy told Torr how she’d lost them while they were dancing, and while she was searching, she found a couple of friends and talked to them.
“Is that who took you home?” Torr shoveled more ice into the display case.
“His name is Cody. He’s the one who almost ran me over with his truck when I twisted my ankle.” Maddy pulled up the image of Cody with all those muscles leaning down kissing her.
“Do I look that dopy when I daydream about Crusher?” Torr teased.
“And that’s all you’re going to do is dream of him, because he wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole,” Trisha’s snooty voice said.
She was with a few of her friends and didn’t see Crusher strolling up behind her, overhearing her words.
Torr stood there, unable to move with a scarlet face and eyes as big as an owl.
“Why wouldn’t I touch someone I’m dating? Hey, sweetheart.” He gave Torr a smile before his gaze shifted to Maddy. “Maddy, you’re on my shit list. You didn’t call me like you promised.” His eyebrows rose in question about where Maddy had disappeared to.
“Your joking, right? There’s no way the captain of the football team would date her.” Trisha pointed to Torr.
“Why the hell not? She’s cute, sweet, caring, and has a heart, unlike you.” If his looks could kill, Trisha would be dead right now.
Trisha’s mouth opened and closed.
Ha, ha. Crusher made her speechless.
“She’s the head cheerleader,” one of her friends said. “You’re supposed to date her.”
“Sorry, I don’t date bitches. Now scram, so I can get my sweet from my sweet.” Crusher motioned for Torr to come closer.
When she did, he kissed her.
Trisha turned even redder, and Maddy swore she saw steam coming off her head. She stormed off, her group following behind her.
“Don’t let her be mean to you,” Crusher admonished when he released Torr. “Did you save me my pudding, puddin’?”
Maddy slapped her forehead at the endearment.
Torr floated away on a cloud of happiness and headed into the deep freezer.
Crusher turned his eyes on Maddy. “You, missy. Why didn’t you call me? If I knew where you lived, I’d have stormed over there.”
Maddy cringed. “I forgot, I’m sorry. I slept most of Saturday, cleaned Sunday, then had orientation on Monday. I’m not used to checking in with someone. I’ll try not to do it again.”
He frowned, still unhappy. “I didn’t know who that guy was you were with. You’re new here, and it worried me.”
“His name’s Cody Anderson, and he helped me out when I fell the other day. He’s a good guy,” Maddy reassured him.
Torr returned with an oversized glass filled with pudding.
Crusher nodded in acceptance of Maddy’s words. “I better let you ladies go. I don’t want you getting in trouble. Are we still on for our date Friday night?” He caressed Torr’s cheek.
“Yep.” She handed him his pudding.
“See you then, puddin’. Thanks for my pudding.” He took a spoonful as he walked away.
Maddy shook her head. “You two make me sick.”
The cafeteria got busy right after Crusher left.
Maddy asked Torr her opinion about her guy problems in between slow times.
Torr’s eyes widened. “I don’t have much experience with guys, but I never kissed a guy friend, especially a French kiss. If they want to only be friends, then you need to put a stop to the kissing. It’s too confusing. But if they want a relationship, do what feels right. Follow your instincts and be open and honest with them.”
Maddy nodded, but her heart raced. She liked all of them and didn’t want to lose them.
14
Maddy
On Friday, she kept herself busy all day, so she didn’t think about spending time with all the guys. After her talk with Torr, she still wasn’t sure what to do. She knew she needed to draw a line, but she liked them, and her heart said to go with the flow.
Stepping out of the shower, she dried off, then pulled on the blue jeans she had found. They had ovals cut out down both sides of her legs. She tugged on the halter top, threw on some makeup, then looked in the mirror.
Shit, what was she going to do with her hair?
Skylar was due soon to pick Maddy up to take her to their party. She didn’t have time to straighten it and curl it. Only one thing left to do. A French braid.
As soon as she started braiding it, a knock came from her door.
She walked to the door, both hands still in her hair. When she looked through the peephole, she couldn’t see anyone. She walked back to the living room, praying she was doing the right thing.
“Come in!” she yelled, hoping it was Skylar and not her neighbor.
Maddy stood in the middle of the floor, braiding her hair when Skylar walked in.
“Dammit, Maddy, we told you how dangerous this area is, and you just yell at me to come in?” The vein in Skylar’s neck throbbed.
“My hands were a little tied up. I looked through the peephole. What do you expect me to do?” Finishing the braid, she put the tie around the end of her hair.
“I don’t know. All of us are worried about you living here. It’s not safe.” He crossed his arms.
She was getting sick of having to repeat that. She was no wilting flower. Ryan taught her how to defend herself on the street. “You all need to remember where I grew up. This place is nothing. Plus, I can take care of myself.”
“This is a different place, Maddy. Things happen here that will make your orphanage look like child’s play.” There went that vein again.
Did he know his brother had one just like it? Then another thought crossed her mind. How did he know what went on here? Was he involved? She didn’t want to ruin a fun night by asking.
She crossed over to him, raised a hand up to his chest, and smiled up at him. “I’ll do better.”
Skylar kissed her on the head. “Are you almost ready?”
She grabbed her overnight bag. “Ready.”
She looked at Skylar’s outfit. He wore black jeans that molded to his body in all the right places. A medium, button-down blue shirt covered a black tank top, and really brought out his eyes. Maddy needed another shower after just looking at him.
Skylar pulled her back against his chest, nibbling her neck. “Mmmm, maybe we should just stay here. Keep looking at me like that an
d we will.”
“Come on, you promised me a good time.” She gave him her pouty lips and batted her eyelashes.
“Princess, I can show you a good time right here. There’s no reason to leave.” He nibbled her lips.
She pushed him away and put her hand on her hips.
“Okay, okay. Plus, I don’t trust leaving Beast outside for too long. Come on.”
Oh, that didn’t sound good. “Beast?”
“Come on, and you’ll find out.”
They headed outside.
On the street was a dark-blue motorcycle. She didn’t know a lot about motorcycles, but she knew that one was made for speed. “I guess that’s Beast?”
“Yeah, that’s my baby. I have a helmet for you.” He headed toward the motorcycle.
She looked at him like he was nuts. “You don’t think I’m getting on that thing?”
He gave her a sexy smile. “Come on, Princess, you’ll enjoy it. I promise it.”
“If I die, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.” She poked his chest.
“I’ll look forward to it.” He laughed as he helped her put on the black helmet.
Skylar helped Maddy onto the motorcycle and showed her where it was safe to put her feet before climbing on in front of her. As he started the bike and revved the engine, she grabbed him around the waist and held on for dear life.
With her head against Skylar’s back, Maddy could hear him laugh over her screams.
At the first red light, he patted her leg. “Babe, relax. I’d never let anything hurt you. Trust me.”
Then the light turned green, and he took off.
Maddy would never call herself a chicken shit, and she wouldn’t start now. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head off his back.
Everything was a blur as they whipped past buildings and cars like they were standing still. Instead of being scared like she thought, a sense of peace rolled over her, and all of her stress and worries floated away. She was in an intricate dance between the bike and the road, and the road was in the lead.
