I could only imagine what my friends had to say to me. I swung around, waiting for their wisecracks.
“Damn, man. No wonder you were like, See ya, Stephanie,” Evan said.
“Holy fuck, Mad Dog. I see why you hopped into her bed right after you got back to town. History or no history.”
I walked toward the kitchen, smacking each of them on the back of their head. “That’s mine, assholes. No touching. I don’t share.”
Forty-Five
Addison
I woke up, facedown, on Maddox’s bed, groggy from sleep. I rolled onto my back, waiting for my brain to catch up with my body. I hadn’t slept very well the last few nights since Maddox’s arrest, and I missed waking up, refreshed.
I might need to invest in some sleeping pills if this didn’t get better.
I sat up, taking my time. I was naked, and I searched for yesterday’s clothes. They were in a pile at the bottom of the bed on the floor, so I snatched them up and got dressed.
Putting on my top and shorts triggered a dream I’d had that morning. I knew it was morning because Maddox had kissed me good-bye, and then I’d gotten up to use the bathroom before falling back asleep.
I had dreamed that Maddox had come home with his friends, and I’d walked out of the bedroom, naked as the day I had been born.
Yikes.
What a way to welcome Maddox’s guests. Sometimes, morning dreams were the worst ones and definitely the most vivid.
I looked at the clock. Crap. It was already eight o’clock.
I’d slept longer than I’d wanted to. But I’d needed the rest, so I couldn’t complain too much. Plus, my first appointment wasn’t until nine thirty.
I opened the bedroom door to the smell of bacon and coffee. Now, those two things would help start my morning right.
I stopped in the bathroom to brush my hair and use the toilet again. When I walked into the kitchen, Maddox was drying and putting away a skillet, and two guys I’d never seen before stared at me.
They almost looked scared, which I thought was weird. I thought Navy SEALs weren’t afraid of anything. Maybe I should have put on some makeup. I didn’t think I looked that bad though.
“I left you some bacon.” Maddox pointed to a small plate and warily eyed me, too. “You okay, Addy?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” I took a mug from the cupboard and poured myself some coffee. I turned and put my back against the counter. “Are you going to introduce me?”
He smiled, but it was kind of a laugh. “Sure.” He pointed to the bigger of the two. “This is Senior Chief Thomas ‘Flash’ Morelli.”
I held out my palm. “Hi.”
He stood from his seat at the island and stuck out his giant paw. He was about an inch or two taller than Maddox and had more muscles, which surprised me because I thought Maddox was pretty damn muscular. He had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. He kind of reminded me of a teddy bear. A sexy teddy bear.
“What do I call you?” I asked.
He grinned. “Mad Dog calls me Flash, but you can just call me Tommy, ma’am.”
I smiled back. “Okay, Tommy. And you can call me Addison. I threatened to sue the last man who’d called me ma’am.” I winked at him.
Tommy looked at Maddox and widened his eyes, but he looked amused.
“And this is Petty Officer Evan ‘Ice’ Malone.”
This friend was a couple of inches shorter than Maddox and thinner, but I could tell he had his own set of muscles under his T-shirt. His hair was a lighter brown, his eyes were blue, and he looked like he was about seventeen. I was sure he was quite a bit older, or he wouldn’t be a Navy SEAL. I also didn’t doubt that he had his own share of women. He had a golly, gee whiz kind of look about him that he probably totally played up with the ladies.
He shook my hand as well. “You can call me Evan.”
I looked at Maddox. “What was your rank?” Not that I knew what any of it meant.
“I was a chief petty officer when I retired.”
“And they call you Mad Dog?”
He smiled. “Yep.”
“How did you get your nicknames?”
Maddox shrugged. “Mine is just because of my name. Maddox equals Mad, and Wolfe equals Dog. Because it’s such a common nickname, the minute my first team heard my name, they nicknamed me Mad Dog.”
“And Flash?”
“It’s because everyone underestimates my size,” he said. “I’m faster than I look.”
Maddox and Evan snickered, and I figured there was more to that story.
“My nickname is because I’m smooth as ice,” Evan said.
Flash laughed and pounded his fist in front of him. “You wish. It’s because Mr. Arizona here fell down about twenty times his first winter in Virginia. It doesn’t even get that bad there. You need to come to New York in winter.”
Evan shuddered. “No, thank you. Besides, your nickname is because you make the ladies scatter in a flash.” Evan was clearly trying to get back at Tommy for embarrassing him, but it didn’t work.
Tommy laughed and took a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, I know.”
Evan and Maddox looked surprised.
“You do?” Evan said.
Tommy grinned like he had something great to say. He leaned toward Evan. “But women don’t run away from me for the reason you think.”
“Oh, really?” Evan said, his face and voice full of doubt.
“Yeah. See, I’m not stupid, and I asked a group of women once. Believe it or not, because I’m a big guy, they worry I’m a big guy. They’re afraid I’ll hurt them or something.”
Evan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Tommy looked at me. He obviously wanted to explain it to his friend, but he didn’t want to say anything in front of me.
I didn’t know if it was because I was a woman, a stranger, or both, but I rolled my eyes. “He’s saying he’s got a big dick, Evan. So big that women are afraid to have sex with him.”
Tommy barked out a laugh, and Evan turned red.
“God, I love it when a woman says dick.” Tommy drained his coffee and shrugged. “Or cock. There’s something about a naughty word coming out of a pretty mouth.” He set his mug down with a thump. “You have a gas station around here?”
“Yeah, it’s just a few blocks away.”
“Great.” Tommy got up from his seat. “I’ll be back in a half hour.”
Evan drank down the rest of his coffee, too, and scrambled off his seat. “I’m coming with.”
The apartment door slammed, and I turned to pick up my plate of bacon. I carried it to the spot Evan had just vacated.
“Your friends are fun.” I picked up a slice of bacon and took a big bite.
Maddox leaned over and rested his arms on the counter. “They kind of thought the same thing about you.”
I tilted my head to the side. “But they just met me. When did they tell you that?”
He laughed. “You must have fallen back asleep.”
“Huh?”
“After I got home, you woke up.”
I still wasn’t following.
“I sent you back to the room and told you to get dressed. But you must have lain down and gone back to sleep because you didn’t come out until an hour later.”
My bacon dropped from my hand. “Ah, hell. It wasn’t a dream, was it?”
His friends had totally seen me naked.
Maddox picked up my bacon and popped it in his mouth. “No, babe, it wasn’t.” He pulled my head forward by the back of my neck and kissed me. “But don’t worry. I told them this”—he gestured from my head to my feet—“is all mine, and if they touch you, they die.”
The corner of my mouth tilted up. “Yours, huh?”
“I think we established you were mine the night I snuck into your room, and you spread your legs for me.”
I wrinkled my nose.
Damn him.
He was right.
Forty-Six
Maddox
/> I lifted my tired lids and looked up at Addison’s dark ceiling. It was still night, yet something had woken me. I’d been in the military long enough to know when I woke on my own and when something had roused me from slumber.
My phone started vibrating next to me on Addison’s nightstand. I picked it up and frowned at the number. I didn’t recognize it.
“Hello?” I answered in a whisper, so I wouldn’t wake Addison.
“Maddox,” a shaky voice on the other end said.
It took me a couple seconds to realize who it was.
“Ben?”
What the hell was a kid doing, calling me in the middle of the night? When he’d asked me for my number the day Addison and I visited him, I didn’t think he’d ever use it.
“Yeah.”
I gently rolled Addison away from my side and sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“My-my-my dad.”
“What about him?”
“He’s here. And I think he’s hurting my mom.”
As if I needed proof, there was a distant cry from the other side of the line.
Shit.
“Okay, Ben, listen to me. Are you able to get out of the house without your dad seeing you?”
“I-I don’t think so.”
That didn’t surprise me. The house was small.
“Okay then, can you get to the bathroom?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, go there and lock the door. Keep the phone with you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
As I threw on my clothes as fast as I could, I called Flash. My friends had picked the perfect time to come to town. And, after two days of being bored, they wouldn’t be able to complain about not having some excitement.
“Yeah?” Flash answered.
“Meet me outside. I need some help with a domestic situation.”
“On it.”
In the Navy, Flash had ranked over me since he was an officer, and I was enlisted. I wasn’t in the military anymore, but I would probably always see him as my superior. Yet he was also my friend, and he knew I wouldn’t tell him to do something if it wasn’t important.
I hung up, kissed Addison good-bye, and slipped out the door.
One minute later, Flash and Evan showed up.
Everyone piled into my SUV, and I explained the situation to the guys as I drove.
“Shouldn’t we be calling the police?”
“No police station, remember? We’re too small. We just have the sheriff’s department. That’s why I told Ben to call me if he ever had any trouble. I didn’t think he’d ever need my number though.”
“Are you saying the sheriff is so bad that he wouldn’t help a woman getting beat by her ex-husband?” Evan asked.
“God, I hope not. But let’s not take the chance of finding out.”
When we got close to Claire’s home, I parked down the street. I didn’t want this guy running away. After what he was putting Claire and Ben through, I wanted him to go to jail for a bit.
We climbed out and looked around.
“I sure wish I had my gun on me,” Flash said.
“Me, too.” The state police had taken all my weapons to test them. “We’re going to have to go into this with just our fists.”
Flash cracked his knuckles. “It’s a good thing I have huge fists.”
I laughed. “Let’s go.”
“Is this guy big?” Evan asked me.
“Not from what I remember, but I haven’t seen him for over twelve years.” When we got close, I said, “Why don’t you guys take the perimeter, and the back door, while I go knock on the front? I’m already in enough trouble. Maybe I can talk this guy down.”
Flash and Evan nodded and then split up. One went to the west side of the house, and the other went to the east. I went to the south side and knocked on the door.
I could hear yelling inside, but no one answered, so I knocked louder.
The door swung open.
“What the fuck do you want?” Mickey Williams said from the other side of the threshold.
I barely recognized him. He looked about twenty years older instead of twelve, and he had a massive beer gut.
“Where’s Claire?”
“Busy.”
Yeah, right.
I stepped into the house and pushed Mickey out of the way. I turned, so he’d be in my peripheral vision. I didn’t need him getting the drop on me.
“Claire?”
No answer.
I stepped further into the house. “Claire?” I called again just as Flash and Evan came through the back door. Knowing they would take care of Mickey, I concentrated on finding his victim. “Claire, it’s Maddox. Addison’s friend.”
I heard movement in the kitchen, and I slowly walked that way. When I rounded the counter, I was unprepared for what I saw.
I’d been overseas, fighting in some grizzly shit, but seeing a woman lying on the floor of her own kitchen, covered in blood, made me want to puke. Her pants were around her ankles, and she was cradling an arm that was bent in the wrong spot.
I turned and looked at Mickey. “You sick fuck.”
He roared out his rage and made a beeline for me. He didn’t get far though because Flash and Evan pulled him back. Mickey went flying, landing on his back.
I took out my phone and called 911. Claire needed medical attention, and Mickey needed to get his ass arrested.
After giving the dispatcher the address, I hung up. She’d wanted me to stay on the line, but I didn’t have time for that.
I tucked my phone in my pocket and knelt next to Claire. I brushed my hands over her hair. “Hey, Claire?”
One eye blinked open because the other was swollen shut, and she looked scared for a moment.
“Hey. It’s me, Maddox.” I held up my hands, so she could see them. “I’m here to help.”
She tried to look around, which was hard with one eye black and blue and inflamed.
“Don’t worry. My two friends have Mickey under control in the other room. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“B-Ben.”
“Yeah, I’m going to go check on him. He’s the one who called me. I told him to hide in the bathroom and lock the door.”
Her eye closed. “Thank you.”
I stood and went in search of a blanket. I couldn’t let her just lie on the floor with her pants down. I couldn’t find one, so I took the comforter from her bed and brought it back to the kitchen to put over her.
Then, I went in search of Ben.
I knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, Ben. It’s Maddox. You can come out now.”
I heard the lock click, and the door opened a crack. I waved at Ben. Then, he flung it open, threw himself into my arms, and started to cry.
Forty-Seven
Addison
Olivia threw her legs up onto my desk and crossed them at the ankles. “Holy shit. I couldn’t have asked for better PR.” She turned her laptop and showed me her screen.
A former Navy SEAL, who’s been accused of attempted murder, came to the rescue of a woman and her young son last night.
She turned the computer back, so she could see it and lowered the volume. “He’s made the news. All the way in Des Moines.”
Yeah, it was great for Maddox’s reputation, but…
“You know there is a woman in the hospital with a broken arm, a broken eye socket, and three cracked ribs, who was raped, right?” I now had two people I had to visit in the hospital, and it was hard because the hospital was an hour away.
Olivia sighed. “I know. And I feel sorry for Clara.”
“Claire,” I corrected.
She waved my comment away. “Claire. Whatever. But it’s not like Maddox made her ex come back and beat her. We might as well enjoy the publicity.”
I shook my head. “I could never be a defense attorney.” Ironic since Maddox not having a good defense attorney twelve years ago was the reason I had gone into law. Now, I was happy with writing wills, working on estates, and
handling the occasional misdemeanor. Felonies were something I didn’t want to be involved in, especially high-profile ones.
“When is Maddox going to get here anyway?”
“He and the guys went back to sleep for a bit. I told Maddox I’d hold you off for a while.”
She mock laughed. “You’re so funny.”
“Seriously though. He went there at about one in the morning, and by the time the sheriff and state police came and took their statements, it was about four a.m. They were tired.”
“Well, I hope he gets here soon. I have to be back in Des Moines for an appointment this afternoon.”
Just then, the front door opened, and Maddox walked in with Tommy and Evan. I watched them through the open door of my office.
“Hey, Serena,” Maddox said.
“Hey, Uncle Maddox.”
“Guys, this is my niece, Serena.”
“Hi,” she said.
“Serena, this is Tommy, and this is Evan. I used to work with them.”
They both smiled at her.
“Nice to meet you,” Evan said.
Maddox pointed to his friends, moving his finger from one friend to the other. “The rules that apply to Addison also apply to her.” He pointed at Serena. “Hands off.”
Olivia made a noise, and I looked over at her.
“Please tell me I’m not representing some caveman,” she said in a low voice.
I laughed. “Don’t knock it till you try it,” I whispered back. “Maddox would never boss me around…except in the bedroom.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “There’s something hot about being dragged off to the cave by your hair and being taken from behind.”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “No, thank you. I’ll stick to nice, respectable men who treat me like a lady.”
“Your orgasms must suck,” Flash said from behind her, “and be super boring.”
I had just taken a sip of my coffee, and I about spit it out from laughter when I watched Olivia jump in her seat.
She dropped her feet, turned around in her chair, and glared at him, her brown eyes narrowed in anger.
He shrugged. “If you even have any at all. Excuse me, miss. I’d like to make you come now,” he said in a voice slightly higher than his own. “Okay, but be careful. I can’t ruin my hair or my makeup,” Flash said, pretending to be Olivia.
Take Me in the Night Page 18
