AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were doing so good, sweetheart. You didn’t need me!”
“No.” I turn away from the bike and begin walking back towards the house when I feel his hand wrapping around my arm.
“Mads.”
“NO!” I scream. “You can’t make me.”
“I promise it’ll be—”
“No.” I glare at him. “I fell. Look at my elbow AND my knee!” I show him the scratch on my arm that is so big it has to be covered with two SpongeBob band-aids and the one on my knee that hurts every time I bend my leg. “It hurts, Cal.” My lip trembles and my eyes well up with tears. “You swore you wouldn’t let me fall.”
His eyes are warm and I wonder if he’s going to cry too when he wraps me in a hug. I smile and rest my head on his shoulder because even though I’m mad at him, he gives the best hugs. He rubs my back and kisses my nose, the hair of his beard tickling my skin and making me giggle.
“You can’t stay mad at me forever.”
“Yes, I can.” I go back to glaring so that he thinks I’m still mad. He smiles and touches my cheeks with his index fingers like he always does when he wants my dimples to pop out.
“Let’s try one more time, and then…I’ll let you stay up late tonight.”
My ears perk up and I look around as I think about his offer. “How late?”
“Past nine o’clock news late.”
I put my hands on my hips and cock my head in that way that Cal says “he can’t say no to.” “I stay up past then anyway.”
“You’re supposed to be asleep, Madeline Elizabeth.” He narrows his eyes at me and I giggle with a shrug.
“Stop buying me books.”
His eyes roll in a full circle, and I find myself trying to imitate him. How does he do that? “Fine, ten o’clock news, final offer.”
“You got a deal!” I shake his hand and take off for my pretty pink bike with the tassels and wicker basket attached to the front.
A clap of thunder rouses me from my sleep and immediately I’m on high alert. The room is almost pitch black and before I can think I’m reaching for my cell phone and turning on my flashlight. Fuck, the power went out.
It was rare that we lost power, with Cal getting a generator installed after the first few times scared me shitless. For the power to have gone out, it’s probably a big storm and right on schedule, the thunder claps and confirms my suspicion. The tree outside is scratching against my window, and the rain is hitting the roof so aggressively I’m surprised I’ve been asleep this long. A flash of lightning brightens the room and I shut my eyes just like every time for fear of seeing something that would shake me to my core.
I’m out of bed before I can stop myself and padding down the hallway towards Cal’s room. Even without my light, I’d know how to get there. I’d memorized that it was sixteen big steps and twenty-two smaller steps between mine and Cal’s room. A fact that was necessary when I was bolting for it in the middle of the night. It’s been years since I snuck into Cal’s room, and I don’t know if it’s because my feelings have been getting more intense and I’m being led by my hormones, or if the memories of that first storm are still haunting me, but I find myself in front of his bedroom.
From a young age, Cal taught me to always knock on closed doors, and while at the time I didn’t realize why, I always listened to his rule. Of course now, at seventeen, I realize why he’d ask me to knock before barging into his bedroom. And because I’m seventeen, with lustful thoughts swirling through my brain about seventy percent of my waking hours, I decide to proceed without caution. I push through his door and pad through
his room, the carpet plush under my feet, careful to keep my phone pointed downwards as I move towards his bed. I sit on the edge and I feel him shift.
I shine my phone upwards, careful not to blind either of us. “Wha—Mads?”
“Power’s out.”
He lets out a sigh and sits up, resting his back against the headboard and grabs his phone to check the time. “What did I tell you about knocking?”
I roll my eyes. “What, are you naked under there or something?” I hope he can’t see the flash of hope cross my face or my eyes that dart straight to where his dick is hidden beneath the wool blanket.
“No, Madeline, but you know the rule.”
“Sorry, but you didn’t come to my room when the lights went out. You always come…” I trail off.
“It’s been a while since they went out.” My eyes are finally adjusting to the darkness of the room and I can make out his eyes now. “Must be pretty bad out there.”
“Yeah…” I tell him softly. I bite my bottom lip gently and my eyes flit around the room. “Can I stay?”
