AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maddox looks at me carefully and says nothing, but I’m pretty sure he’s still struggling with his words, so I go on.
“We moved the next year, and when the kids there started noticing the differences, I told them all I was adopted from Egypt.”
He blinks at me, and I roll my eyes with a shrug.
“It’s closer to my actual DNA than Pacific Islander,” I say primly, and he laughs. “We’d been doing a little Ancient Egypt module, so I snuck off to the library and read a bunch of books. Then I convinced all the kids that I was descended from a Pharaoh and made up a bunch of ancient rituals and got them all to play along. They worshipped me as an oracle,” I add, laughing at the memory of sitting under a tall pine tree and letting the kids bring me offerings of rocks and twigs. It was one of the few times in my life I felt powerful. “Anyway, my parents found out and got super pissed. I guess some of the other kids told their parents about our game, and they filed a complaint with the principal about devil worship or some pearl-clutching panic, and our game got banned. The next week, our teacher made us do a family tree assignment, and I was only allowed to use information from my adoptive family.”
Maddox frowns, and I realize that the story I always found darkly funny isn’t funny to him at all. “Assholes,” he says. He runs a hand down his face, then turns sideways so he can face me. His hand reaches for mine, and he pulls me close, pressing kisses to the tips of my fingers. “Sorry.”
I shake my head, but he squeezes me gently.
When he speaks again, his words are slower and more deliberate. “Sometimes I have spells—that’s what my old doctor used to call them. Probably an outdated term, but I kind of like it. It’s like a storm inside my head, and my hands and feet don’t work right, and I can’t get any words out.”
I turn my hand and stroke my thumb over the center of his palm, his fingers going loose against mine. “That sounds frustrating.”
He snorts and shrugs. “That’s one word for it. They used to last all day—sometimes for a few days. One of the reasons I couldn’t fight my ex during the divorce is because I couldn’t speak very well. She wasn’t cruel enough to use it against me in court, but she wasn’t very kind either.” He stops and licks his lips. “It’s embarrassing.”
I want to tell him it’s nothing to be ashamed of, but that’s not really my place. Not with something he’s been dealing with all these years. It’s easy to tell that Maddox has a lot of pride too. It’s obvious in the way he holds me—the way he kisses and touches me and the way he fucked me. He is sweet and possessive and powerful, and it isn’t a stretch to imagine he’s like that with everything in his life.
So to have his brain be his own worst enemy? It has to be hell.
I have no idea what to say, so instead, I swing my legs down and shift to the ground. Before my ass can hit the floor, he grabs me by my hips and pulls me into his lap, then kisses the laugh off my lips.
“Does this help?” I ask.
He grins at me, then nips at my jaw. “You know? I think it does.”
