by Tenaya Jayne
“I’m going out, Dad. I’ll be back in a…”
Her words died off as she strapped on her watch. The headlines slapped her in the face. She looked at the pictures of Maddox and saw red. Incensed, she marched from the house.
Melina listened and didn’t interrupt. He left out the details, wanting to keep them to himself, and he was sure Mel would have stuck her fingers in her ears anyway and shouted, “TMI!”
“What do you think I should do?” he asked.
“Hmm…I’m not sure. I have some ideas, but I need to meet her before I can tell one way or the other. You want to keep her, I’m assuming?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“You’re willing to fight for her?”
“I am.”
“She held a boyfriend over your head…There may come a time to do something like that to her. Not yet, perhaps.”
“What? Get a girlfriend? I can’t do that.”
“Not a real one… Me. I’ll be your stand-in.”
“Why? What good would that do?” he asked, confused.
“Jealousy is a great teacher. She wants to run away. She wants to deny your connection. She doesn’t want you, but I’d bet anything she doesn’t want anyone else to have you either. If you can arouse jealousy, she’ll have to consider why she feels it.”
Maddox shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll ever feel any such thing. She wants me dead.”
Melina shrugged. “Still might be worth testing.”
He looked up, his muscles tightening.
“What?” Melina asked.
“She’s coming right now. I feel her getting closer.” He stood and went toward the front door.
Melina grabbed him and pulled him back. “Oh, no you don’t. Sit down. I’ll answer it.”
“Why?”
“Just an experiment. Humor me. Let me take her measure. Follow my lead, and don’t contradict me. Sit,” she ordered again.
He snorted and sat down on the couch, shaking his head. “I don’t know why I trust you so much. Just please don’t scare her away.”
Melina crossed her arms and leaned against the door, waiting. In a moment, a loud knock sounded on the other side, but Melina didn’t answer it.
“What are—"
She put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion.
Erin knocked again, louder and longer. Still, Melina didn’t move. He stood. She jabbed her finger at him, a stern look in her eyes. He frowned but sat back down. Erin knocked again. Melina sighed, ran her fingers through her hair, and opened the door.
“Hello,” Melina said vaguely.
Erin’s eyes were blazing, but she blinked and took a step back. “Um…Who are you?”
“Who are you?” Melina shot back.
“I’m…um. Erin. Is Maddox here?”
“He is.” Melina didn’t budge to let Erin in.
“I need to talk to him.”
“What about?”
“That’s between me and him.” Erin’s voice went hard and chilly.
Melina shrugged and stepped back so Erin could come in. She stalked into the room and stopped short when their eyes connected. Damn, it hurt. Like a punch to the brain straight through his eyes. He forced himself to hold still, but it was difficult. He wanted to grab her and hold her until she absorbed into him. She was so hot. So damn beautiful, and she was dressed to entice. Had she done that for him? Or to torture him with what she wouldn’t let him touch?
One thing was for sure, she was flaming mad.
“How could you?” she demanded.
“What?”
“How could you act like that last night? I know you’re a self-centered ass, but don’t you even have one ounce of respect or decency?”
He stood up then. “You’re talking about the headlines.”
“That didn’t happen last night,” Melina said, coming to stand next to him. She wrapped her arm around the back of his waist.
Erin’s gaze fixed on Melina and there was a stronger rage that flashed there than the previous one.
“Someone is trying to taint the public’s opinion of me, Erin. Those pictures weren’t from last night. I wasn’t with those people.”
“Where were you then?” she demanded.
“He was with me,” Melina said smugly.
Everything Erin was feeling hit him in the chest. Anger, confusion, jealousy, sorrow. He put his hand on Mel’s shoulder and looked into her face. “Give us a minute.”
She nodded and walked past Erin and out the front door. Alone, they stared at each other. Too much played across her face. The confusion and hurt in her eyes surprised him.
“I’m sorry about the media. A friend asked me to come out and party last night, but I turned him down. I would never do anything to be disrespectful of…Selena. At least not intentionally. I promise.”
She rubbed her forearms and looked down. He felt her emotions shift. He was thankful for this. Thankful he could tell her the truth and she accepted it because the connection laid everything open.
“Okay.” She sighed. “I’m sorry for…barging in on you like this…and your company. Is she…”
“What?”
“Never mind… I don’t have a right to… I mean, I don’t care. I…I’m going to see my boyfriend in a few minutes anyway.”
“Lucky guy.”
She looked back at him and flinched. “Are you mocking me?”
“No. I think he is a lucky guy. I want to kill him for it, but I don’t think that will enhance your opinion of me.”
To his shock, she smiled, somewhat wickedly. He quirked an eyebrow, but her expression shifted before he could ask her why she was looking at him like that. He didn’t want to play games with her. She could play all she wanted, but he wanted to be honest.
“I dreamed about you.”
She swallowed, and he felt her panic. It urged him on.
“You look incredible, Erin. I don’t like it. I don’t want anyone gawking at you, and I know they will. I want you to stay here with me so we can start to get to know each other.”
“You just want sex,” she accused.
“Hey, if it happened again, I wouldn’t object. Yesterday was mind-blowing. But I’d be more than happy to just spend time with you. I don’t know you. I want to.”
“Why are you talking like this?” she demanded.
“I’m just being honest.”
“I can tell, and it’s pissing me off.”
He chuckled. “You want me to lie to you?”
“Yes! No, that’s stupid. You’re screwing with my…my…”
“Your misconceptions of who I am?”
She frowned at him. “Maybe,” she admitted grudgingly.
“I’m hurting, Erin. Our connection makes me hurt.”
“Me too.”
“I know if you’d let me touch you, it would ease the pain.”
She looked fearful and on the verge of tears. She licked her lips. It almost unmade him. He’d been obsessing about her lips so much.
She took a step toward him. “Just hands. For a minute.”
He reached for her and clasped her hands in his. The first second was terrible. A stinging burn that vanished the next moment into ecstasy.
“Oh…” Shivers surfaced on her skin. “Holy shit.” She breathed.
He kept his mouth shut, thinking similar thoughts on the sensation. After a minute, the feeling eased back into a pleasant hum.
“Please stay with me today, Erin.”
“I can’t.” Her voice wasn’t steady.
“I was going to visit my sister. You could come with me.”
Her eyes rounded. “That’s quite the carrot, Maddox. Meeting Tesla…that would be…” She shook her head. “I’d be terrified to meet a legend like her.”
“She’s just my sister. She’s a brilliant, gifted, sweet, pain in my ass.”
Erin laughed, making his heart swell. Then she shook her head again. “No. I can’t. I wouldn’t feel right about it.”
She looked away, her cheeks coloring. What was that about? If only he could hear her thoughts and not just feel her emotions. Feeling what she felt didn’t let him know why she was feeling it.
Erin pulled her hands away roughly. “That’s enough,” she snapped. “I have to go. Jaris is waiting for me.”
“Okay. Fine. We should exchange numbers before you go.”
“Why?” Her tone was waspish.
He shrugged. “Just in case.”
She pursed her lips.
“I won’t bother you. I just want to know you can reach me if you need to. Okay?”
“All right fine,” she caved. “I’ll give you my number, but you won’t be able to reach me. My watch is old and not very consistent. So if you drunk dial me, it will be a total waste of smarm.”
He laughed. “Well, that’s a real problem.”
She lifted her wrist up to him, and he put in his number. She did have the junkiest watch he’d ever seen. He scrolled through and grabbed her number so she didn’t have the chance to give him a bogus one.
She turned and headed for the door.
“Touching helped me,” he said quickly. “Did it you?”
She turned back. “Yes. It helped.”
“Will you come back tonight? Just for a few minutes? We could just hold hands again. I’m sure it would help me sleep. Take the edge off the pain.”
“I don’t know.”
“I could come to your place if it’s too much trouble for you to come here.”
“No! No way! You can’t come to my place.”
“I know where it is.”
“How?”
He rolled his eyes. “Erin, please. I could find you across the universe. You only live a few miles away.”
“Stay away from my house.”
“Only if you come back.”
“Ugh! Fine!” She opened the door and walked out. “I hate you!” she yelled as she slammed the door.
A smirk lifted his lips for a moment, then he smiled broadly. “Yeah, yeah, run away,” he said to the closed door. “You’re mine.”
Melina came back in after Erin was gone. “So?” she asked. “How did that go? You’re smiling, so it must not have been that bad.”
“She told me she hates me again, but she agreed to come back tonight…What did you think?”
“She was shooting daggers at me from her eyes when I touched you, so that’s a good sign.”
He sighed. “She's different.”
Melina laughed. “Different than what you’re used to?”
“Yeah. It’s really appealing….I’m going to see Tesla, wanna come?”
“I guess so. I said I was going to babysit you.”
He used his portal and took them to Tesla’s home. His heart sank as soon as she opened the door. His mind was on Erin, and he’d already forgotten the bad press until Tesla gave him that look.
“It’s a lie, I swear,” he said quickly before she could flay him.
Tesla narrowed her eyes and then nodded, turning her attention onto Melina. “Hey, you. Haven’t seen you in a while. Your reputation’s going to get tainted hanging out with the manwhore.”
Melina snickered.
“Stop calling me that,” Maddox griped.
“The nickname doesn’t apply now, Tesla,” Melina said. “Now that he’s found—”
He poked her in the side. “It’s my news, isn’t it? Shut your trap.”
“News that negates your womanizer title?” Tesla gave him a scrutinizing look, then she jumped and grabbed him. “You’ve found your life mate? Is that it?”
“You’re too smart sometimes,” he grumbled.
“Well, where is she? Who is she? Why are you even out and about? You should be locked away somewhere with her.”
“I know,” he said through clenched teeth. “She hates me.”
“What’s going on?” X asked coming up behind Tesla, wrapping his arms around her.
“Maddie’s found his destined life mate, and she hates him,” she chirped it out happily like a little bird.
X just blinked at Maddox for a second, then he threw his head back laughing. “Oh, it serves you right.”
“Thanks a lot, X.”
X shook his white-blond head, chortling, and let go of Tesla. He kissed her and backed away. “I’d love to stay and hear more, but I’ve got to head into work for a while.”
“I’ll tell you everything later,” Tesla promised him gleefully.
“If you’re going to make fun of me, can you at least make me coffee first?”
“Oh, all right. Melina, do you want some, too?”
“Yes, please.”
The three of them headed into the kitchen, where Tesla attempted to pick him clean of information. The more he told her, the more she quit poking at him and turned thoughtful.
“Have you told Erin about Bess?” Tesla asked seriously.
He flinched. “No…She hasn’t given me the chance to talk to her hardly at all. It’s nothing I’m looking forward to either. I’d rather not tell her.”
“She needs to know,” Tesla insisted.
Melina nodded in agreement.
“Well, as funny as this has been, I’d like to meet my new sister sooner rather than later. What can I do to help?”
“I need two new watches. One for me, one for her. I want them connected. She has the oldest watch I’ve ever seen. Can you make hers pretty?”
Tesla smiled. “No problem. Anything else?”
“A portal between her room and mine. One she can close on her side.”
“So you want it to just be there, and I’ll put a door she can use to keep you out?”
“Yeah. I want her to feel comfortable with it. In control of when she wants to let me in or not.”
Melina socked him in the arm. “That’s brilliant, M. No wonder the girls always fell all over you. You’re seriously smooth.”
“Thanks.” He scowled, rubbing his arm.
Tesla gave him an approving nod. “I second that. Very good idea. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll have your watches and the portal.”
Maddox and Melina sat outside on the front stoop and chatted while Tesla worked her magic in her workshop. He stood abruptly, flame and sparks surging through his hands.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” he grimaced. “My hands and—” He hissed in pain, touching his mouth. “My lips, they burn.” He cried out as his heart began to burn as well. “It’s Erin, somehow.” He inhaled sharply.
Mel grabbed his hands and looked sternly in his eyes. “Betrayal?”
He could hardly breathe. “She’s with her boyfriend. He’s touching her. He kissed her. Everywhere he is, I can feel it…it’s burning me.”
“That bitch. I’m gonna kick her ass. How could she?”
The pain began to drift away. He took a steadying breath and shook his head. “Thanks, Mel. For having my back, but don’t worry about this.”
“But she—”
“She’s doing what she feels she needs to. I can’t expect her to let go of someone she cares for just because I fell into her life.”
Angry light still glinted in her eyes.
“Let it go,” he said.
“Fine. For now. But she better watch it.”
“Do you think it hurt her as well?” he asked.
“Let’s test it.”
The next second, Melina was all over him. He staggered back in shock as she held onto his collar and kissed him roughly.
“What the hell?” he exclaimed when she let go.
“Did it hurt?”
“Yeah. Not quite the same level.”
Mel smirked. “Good. Then you know she felt that. It burned her. And I feel better cause I got some small piece of revenge on her for hurting you.”
“Geez, you’re vicious. Warn me next time you decide to jam your tongue in my mouth.”
