“He’ll be dead to the world the instant his head hits the pillow. Food comas do that to people.” If he isn’t, I’ll knock him the fuck out if it’s the only way I can get her to agree to this. “If you’re not comfortable with me doing it, I could ask my mom or Justine to come over later today?”
She shakes her head so fast, I’m confident her eyes feel like balls in a pinball machine. I assume her denial centers around her not wanting more people to see her banged up than necessary but am proven wrong when she stutters out, “I’m fine with you doing it.”
“You’ll let me take them?” I sound like a prepubescent teen instead of an almost twenty-two-year-old.
Demi’s head shake switches to a nod. “You can’t beat bullies with silence.”
That’s what my mom said when she was called to the principal’s office the afternoon my nose was broken. She wasn’t mad all four of her sons were being suspended for fighting, she was proud they stood up for what they believed in. She would have just preferred if it weren’t four against one. It wouldn’t have been if Glen’s friends hadn’t bolted the instant Landon and Caidyn showed up with their school blazers pushed up to their elbows. Saint was close behind, he just had to detour past the crossing lady, so he could borrow her stop sign. He always brings a bat to every game we play. It’s just rare for it to be shaped like a bat since we’ve never played baseball.
I’m bad at shoving my foot in my mouth, and it’s showcased in the worst way when I snatch my phone up from the counter before nudging my head to my bedroom. “We should do it now while they’re fresh.”
Fresh? Seriously, Maddox! That’s the best you could come up with?
“I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
“It’s fine,” Demi murmurs before adding on a set of words that reveals she’s anything but. “I’m fine.”
12
Demi
Icontemplated suicide by rolling out of a vehicle driving over seventy miles an hour, was almost sexually assaulted by my uncle, had my hair wrenched from my scalp by one of his hired goons, and cried in the chest of a man I’ve had a crush on longer than I’ve been a woman, yet my knees are wobbling more now than they did last night when I stumbled out of my uncle’s Audi.
I’m not scared.
I’m stupidly nervous.
And perhaps a tad bit excited.
I thought Maddox would look at me differently. My stomach convulsed when I caught my reflection in the mirror last night, but for some insane reason, the way Maddox stares at me would have you convinced my face isn’t as battered as it feels.
Don’t get me wrong, the uncontrollable tick his jaw gets every time his hooded eyes float over my face indicates it’s pretty messed up, but I’ll take that response over the one I was anticipating. I’d even accept the look of disgust if it keeps him here with me instead of seeking my uncle in the shady shadows of the underworld.
The Walsh brothers aren’t solely known for their good looks and player ways. Their fierce protection of those they love is also blatantly obvious. That’s why I’m so shocked Justine is attending a university over a hundred miles from here. I didn’t think her brothers’ tethers extended that far.
“Did you want to do it here or in the bathroom?” I spin to face Maddox, almost stumbling when I realize just how close his stalk is. My lips are mere inches from his, although nowhere near as close as they are to his chest. This is the annoying part of being a short-ass. I’d have a better chance of ‘accidentally’ sucking his nipple into my mouth than his tongue. I’d take either, but since I’m unsure if that is what he wants, I have to act nonchalant. “The lighting in the bathroom is probably better.”
“Sounds good,” Maddox replies, his voice throaty and deep. “I’ll take you any way I can get you.”
Excitement blisters through my veins until it dawns on me what he’s doing. Flirting is his go-to emotion when he feels snowed under. Mine is pretending I’m fine.
“Can you spin around for a tick?” I sheepishly wave my hand at my bra dumped at the foot of Maddox’s bed. “I need to put my bra back on.”
His eyes drop to my now-budded nipples before he curses, then turns around. “Sorry. Bad habit I don’teversee me giving up.”
The gash in my cheek burns when I smile. I’ll suffer the injustice because that wasn’t a preplanned slide into seduction mode. It was a genuine slip-up.
“Okay. You’re good to go,” I announce once I have my strapless bra in place.
Maddox spins around for barely a second before he snaps his eyes shut, and the veins weaved throughout his tattooed arms pulsate as furiously as the throb between my legs. He’s shirtless, and I can no longer act as if I haven’t noticed the fact.
“Are you sure you’re good to go because, to me, it looks like you’re not wearing a shirt.” He pops open one of his eyes, does the quickest scan of my body, then closes it tight again. “Or pants. You’re either standing in front of me in a pair of teeny tinyI-really-fucking-hope-I’m-not- dreaming panties and bra, or I’m dreaming. Please tell me I’m not dreaming.”
“You’re not dreaming.”
“Are you sure?” I giggle like a schoolgirl when he drags his hand across the front of his low-riding sleeping pants that show off every spectacular inch of his ‘V’ muscle. “Because I’d rather blame a wet dream for the mess in my pants than the removal of dental braces.” When his fingertips come up free of carnage, he sighs heavily. “Jesus, Demi. You can’t scare a man like that. I was certain I had done a Flint.”
Still laughing, I pace into the bathroom. “If you had, the entire Walsh reputation would have been voided by default.”
