Becoming Maddie (The Casterhouse series Book 1)

by Hannah Gittins

  From then on the conversation had told her more about Aiden. He owned a garage that repaired classic or really expensive cars (sometimes they were both). It had been Eddie’s garage before he had retired. Most of Aiden’s childhood was spent hanging out with Eddie there and then when he was older working and training there. Since Eddie had given the garage to him, Aiden had made a lot of changes and now it was taking in a lot of money. Not that it seemed to be hurting beforehand. If that wasn’t enough it seemed Aiden also fixed cars for people through a charity. For carers that couldn’t afford to get them done or just didn’t have the time. That piece of new information made Maddie’s heart melt towards him a little even though she fought it hard. The only topic, other than his sister, that he didn’t seem to want to talk about was his flat. It came up after they had finished eating and were sat back in their seats, still round the table, finishing their drinks.

  “How is you flat now son?” Eddie asked.

  Aiden paused slightly before answering. “Fine now thanks.”

  “I am so sorry about that.” Fiona said reaching a hand out to hold his for a second.

  Lifting his beer to his mouth Aiden took a long drag on his bottle before nodding.

  “What happened to your flat?” Maddie asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

  Aiden’s head turned to look at her and she sucked in a breath at the anger in his eyes. He quickly turned away then when he looked at her again he had gotten whatever it was under control. Blankness was all that could be seen in his eyes now. The angry waves that were coming off of him, had also disappeared as if they hadn’t been there. What was that about? Looking round the table Maddie noticed that only Eddie had felt the change in Aiden’s mood.

  Totally unaware of the change in mood Fiona started to talk catching Maddie’s full attention.

  “The place was destroyed basically.” She said shaking her head as she buttered more bread. “Anything of any value was taken and many things that were worth no value at all.”

  Maddie gasped causing Fiona to look up at her with sad but angry eyes too.

  “I know.” Fiona’s voice was low but angry. “It’s disgusting what people will do to get some money for drugs.”

  “Fiona!” Eddie said quickly.

  The older woman’s head snapped to look at her husband and then quickly to look at Aiden.

  Maddie was now the one that was unaware of something as she missed that completely and was more focused on the day he was rude to her in the hotel. That’s why he had been so angry…

  “That’s why you came to stay at the hotel.” She said softly look at him.

  Aiden, who had been looking at Fiona, slowly looked at her. His eyes were no longer blank but assessing. As if he was trying to work out where she was going with this question. He nodded.

  “That’s why you were so angry.” Maddie carried on.

  His eyebrows raised in surprised but again nodded.

  “That’s why I couldn’t put you together with the man that gives up his wages for the Ethan’s football team.” Maddie whispered this time it was more to herself then him this time.

  Her eyes stayed looking at him and this time it was her trying to find something in him. In his caramel eyes, which were warming by the second, she was trying to find the two very different men and put them together in her mind. It was the angry man from the hotel that made her so scared to be around him. It was knowing that the man that laughed with Ethan and Rosie could get so angry that stopped her from being more relaxed around him. Now she knew why he was so rude that day. There were probably not a lot of people in the world that would not be angry and rude if something like that happened to them.

  Did it actually change anything though because she still had to leave?

  Breaking the eye contact with Aiden she looked back down at her empty plates.

  “What happened to them when they got caught?” She asked the table as a whole.

  Again she felt a vibe fill the room but this time it didn’t just come from Aiden it came from all of them. Eddie looked at his wife who looked at Aiden. After what seemed like a really long time Eddie turned to her.

  “They haven’t been caught.” He said gruffly.

  “Oh.” Maddie said surprised by this and turning to look at Fiona. “It’s just that you said that the things had been stolen for drugs. I just assumed that they’d been caught them.”

  “Well you were fucking wrong.” Aiden snapped.

  Just like that Aiden had put her in her place. Gone again was the funny guy that had been eating with them and it its place was the swearing angry man. Maddie could feel the heat burn its way up her cheeks and although it was a small snap she could even feel the tears burn her eyes. Blinking several times she managed to get rid of them and reached for her beer. Why did he always have to do that to her? His mood swings were just too much for her.

  There were several silent minutes round the table before Fiona started talking about her work at the local playgroup. No one was really listening, lost were they in their own thoughts. Maddie even guessed Fiona wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying just trying to fill the silence.

  When she finally looked up she watched as Fiona prattled on looking at her plate, Eddie glared at Aiden and Aiden just took a pull from his bottle. It was like he wasn’t even aware of Eddie or Fiona trying so hard to bring the laughter back to the table. Annoyed and upset Maddie stared down at her empty plate again.

  Taking her by surprise, under the table, she felt a large male hand take hers and interlock the fingers. It then gave her a reassuring squeeze. Her eyes made their way slowly back to Aiden only to find him already looking at her. Although he didn’t say anything the next squeeze of his hand was meant to say sorry, but, right then, she wasn’t in the mood to accept it.

  “Let’s move into the living room.” Eddie said standing up having realised that Aiden was going to ignore his glaring.

  Under the table Maddie tried to get her hand free but he wouldn’t let her. Although his grip wasn’t hurting her it was tight enough that she couldn’t free her fingers.

  As Maddie struggled with this in the background it sounded like the front door opening and slamming closed. Were they expecting someone else?

  “Eddie.” Fiona whispered from her seat.

  Eddie straight away walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

  Maddie turned in her seat to look at the doorway into the room. Almost as soon as she did a tall brunette walked in to it. Her clothes hung off of her. It was like she used to be a bit bigger and had more curves but she had lost weight and had no money to buy better fitting clothes. A black strappy top hung from her too bony shoulders and a torn denim skirt hung from her too bony hips. Although it had to be said that her black cowboy boots were awesome. She clearly did have taste. Her hair was up in a very messy ponytail. It landed half way down her back which showed that when it was down it was really long but it seemed to lack flare. All the vibrant colour and shine seemed to be gone from it. This wasn’t a case of bad conditioner but more a case of no conditioner…or any care at all.

  “Well isn’t this cosy.” She waspishly snapped into the silence.

  Her voice was throaty and sounded worn.

  Aiden let go of Maddie’s hand and stood up. He moved so that he was standing half in front of her but still not totally covering her. Behind Maddie she could hear Fiona getting to her feet too.

  “Jessy.” She whispered then cleared her throat. “We didn’t expect you.”

  This struck Maddie as weird. Aiden hadn’t told them that we were coming but it was somehow expected that he was there. Did this young woman not come round? Looking at her more closely, round Aiden’s body, she might be Maddie’s age or at least close to her 29 years but it was hard to tell. The strangers face still held a lot of beauty but it looked a little lost in the tough life that she seemed to be living.

  “Why not Fiona?” the woman snapped again. “Am I
not as welcome as my dear brother!”

  This was Aiden’s sister? Actually the closer Maddie looked the more she could see similarities. She was tall and had the same shade of hair, or at least she would if she took a bit more care of it, there was also the amazing cheeks bones but she didn’t have the laughter lines or perfect eyes. Jessica’s were green and looked cold. It looked like she had not laughed in a long, long time. There were lines on her face but they didn’t say she laughed often but more that she frowned a lot.

  “What do you want Jessica?” Aiden asked his voice flat and almost sounding bored.

  His body too seemed to be standing in a way that made you think it was relaxed or even bored. Maddie somehow knew that it wasn’t really. That in fact it was prepared for anything that might happen. What exactly that would be she didn’t know.

  “Hi Aiden it’s nice to see you too.” Jessica said in a fake happy voice.

  “How are you expecting us too greet you after what you have done?” Eddie growled.

  Jessica crossed her arms in a not too dissimilar way to Fiona. Although everybody knew that Fiona was only joking. Jessica tapped her fingers against her own elbow.

  “I want you to welcome me like I am one of the family.” She spat back at Eddie. “I don’t expect you to roll out the red carpet like you do for Aiden, but a little something would be nice.”

  “Jessy,” Fiona said quietly, sounding hurt, “You’re always welcome here. You know that.”

  “Oh do I?” Jessica spat back. “Where’s my plate of food? Huh? Where’s my hugs?”

  Jessica walked further into the room and started tapping her foot. Aiden moved a little more in front of Maddie.

  “You don’t treat me like I fucking grew up here but you welcome a stranger into your bloody house and treat her like royalty just cause she’s hanging off Aiden’s arm.” Jessica nearly shouted, throwing her hand out to take me in. “Who the fuck are you anyway?”

  “I –.” Maddie started to say but got quickly cut off by Aiden.

  “You didn’t answer my question.” He said still sounding bored.

  “Can’t I just come round to see my loving family?” Jessica asked sarcastically looking at everyone then glaring at Maddie. “And maybe I wanted to meet your new piece of ass.”

  “Jessy.” Fiona gasped at the same time Eddie said “Watch your tongue Jessica.”

  Maddie didn’t know where to look or what to do. She wanted to let Jessica’s words roll off of her because there was clearly way more going on here than she knew about but it didn’t work. How many woman had Aiden brought to meet Eddie and Fiona? Was that why they greeted her so easily because there had been so many?

  “I am going to ask you one more time.” Aiden said a bit louder this time. “What do you want Jessica?”

  It was like the newcomer had been holding on to what little control she had and at Aiden’s word she lost it. Jessica went from standing in front of the table with her arms crossed to right in front of Aiden with her finger in his face. Her whole arm shook with anger or something else.

  “Don’t think you can boss me around big brother.” She spat at him. “I can come here if I want.”

  “Yeah you can…” Aiden said his hand coming up to grab her wrist and lower her hand out of his face. “…but not high.”

  Seeing more things now, Maddie picked up on the constant tapping and the huge pupils and what that meant. She didn’t know what Jessica had taken but she knew that there was definitely something in her system.

  “I am not high.” Jessica said quickly pulling away from Aiden, shifting on her feet and rubbing her wrist where Aiden had held it. “You would say anything right now. You’re worried I will embarrass you in front of your new piece of pussy?”

  It was then that Eddie had had enough, slamming his fist on the table making Maddie, Fiona and Jessica jump before looking at him.

  “Enough of this Jessica.” He announced. “After Aiden took you in, again might I add, you wrecked his flat and stole everything. Now you turn up here high and insult us and our guest. I have had enough. Actually, I had enough a long time ago but I hung on in there for Fiona but enough is enough.”

  “Eddie.” Fiona pleaded, grabbing his arm, clearly knowing what he was going to say next.

  “You are not welcome here anymore.” Eddie stated.

  Fiona dropped her head and started to silently sob but never let go of her husband.

  “You have hurt everybody around you and after what you did to your own brother,” he shook his head. “We can’t do it anymore.”

  The only thing that could be heard was Fiona’s soft sobbing and Eddie’s harsh breathing. Turning slowly Maddie looked at Jessica. It was clear on her face that she was devastated, then, something took its place. Something horrible and twisted.

  “I don’t fucking need you anyway.” She lashed out. “I never fucking did.”

  On that she spun on her awesome cowboy boots and started to walk out the door but at the last minute she looked back.

  “You want my advice?” she said to Maddie. “Aiden will get what he wants and throw you away like he did to all the rest of his whores. He only thinks of himself, always has, always will.”

  “Jessica.” Aiden finally snapped. “Get the hell out.”

  “Fuck all of you.” She shouted over her shoulder as she walked down the hall and out the front door. Slamming it as she went.

  Chapter 9

  “I’ve come to take you to lunch.” Fiona said to a stunned Maddie.

  * * * * * * * *

  After Jessica had left on Saturday night there had been nothing to do but say their goodbyes and leave Eddie to comfort his wife, who by that point looked like she was going to fall down, so that’s what they did. Maddie gave them both hugs goodbye and thanked them for the meal. She hadn’t really known what else to say. Then she and Aiden got in the truck for the journey back to hers.

  Nothing was said for the whole journey.

  Not one word.

  The whole way.

  It was torture.

  There was so much she wanted to say but couldn’t. Aiden looked like he was holding on to his anger by a very thin thread and Maddie was scared that she would be the one to break it. So she kept everything she was thinking to herself.

  It was no wonder that Aiden hadn’t wanted to talk about his sister. Maddie didn’t like to judge people because you never knew what had happened in their lives, but Jessica was a mess without a doubt. There were many things that she wanted to ask about, how Jessica had gotten the way she had? How long has she been that way? Could anything be done? But did she really want to know the answers? Was it even her place to stick her nose in to ask more? Who was she kidding…Maddie knew she should keep out of this. God only knew Maddie had enough of her own stuff to deal with.

  So when they pulled up outside her flat she was actually okay with silence. She opened the door and jumped down to the pavement without his help. His hands being on her right now would be way too confusing. Aiden didn’t say anything about it which was a surprise after how he’d reacted last time.

  He walked her into the building and up to the flat door, why she didn’t know but she was grateful all the same. The thought of him lurking around, waiting on her coming home, made her shiver. It was all starting to get too much for Maddie to deal with. Her demons catching up with her, now having to cope with Aiden and everything that comes with him. She wasn’t strong enough to deal with this.

  Once the door was open Aiden simply said.

  “Go in and lock the door.”

  Maddie walked to stand on the other side of the door frame and looked at him. All he did was raise his eyebrows and wait until she did as he told her. So that’s what she did. She shut the door and turned the lock. For a while afterwards she just stood there, Marvin sat at her feet and her head resting against the door. What the hell just happened there? This was their first date wasn’t it? Granted she hadn’t wanted to call it that but that’s what it w
as. A strange first date that had laughs, more than her and him and an argument but it had been a first date. Aiden had left without more than a couple of words. None of those words had been ‘Thanks that was a great night’ or ‘I would love to do it again sometime’. Not even a kiss.

  Angry with herself she pushed away from the door and got on with her night. Shutting out all her thoughts on that night and filling it with thoughts about walking Marvin and making some candles.

  It wasn’t until she laid in bed with her dog beside her and the lights out that all the stuff she was keeping at bay attacked her.

  Maddie had wanted him to kiss her. She had wanted him to hold her and she would have helped take his troubling thoughts away. It was not the right thing to want, it was not the clever thing to want but it was what she wanted. She should be thinking about leaving, about packing up her bags and hitting the road to a nameless town where she could fit in and become nameless too. If she could rewind time and go back to Monday she would have taken her break early or phoned in sick. What she definitely would not have done is serve Aiden Scott.

  Rolling over and reaching out to hug Marvin, Maddie buried her face in her pillow and cried her heart out. She didn’t even have to tell him what happened to her anymore, he had already had enough of her and as much as she wanted to be pleased he was pulling away from her, Maddie really wasn’t. In fact she even felt he made it clear tonight that he was done chasing her and was calling an end to it all. Maybe he realised he had enough in his life already and didn’t need more work or he decided that Maddie just wasn’t worth the effort. Surely that was what she wanted though. For him to leave her alone.

  Her Sunday was spent ignoring her conflicting feelings and looking up places she could move to.

  * * * * * * * *

  Monday began the same as normal. People checking out after a weekend spent in the hotel. Some looking a little worse for wear but all friendly and thankful for the good service. It was silly but Maddie liked knowing that the team worked hard at the hotel and people enjoyed their break away from their normal lives.