Chapter 15
fifteen
. . .
Georgia
I heard a glass shatter against the wall, and I paced outside his office door.
I’d heard shouting earlier, and then I’d seen the light on the phone go off, so I knew he was no longer on the call with his father.
And it had been an hour. His door hadn’t opened.
He’d told me to leave, but I couldn’t leave him knowing that he was upset.
Plus, I had a gift for him out in my car that I hoped to give him before Christmas. I knocked on the door, and he didn’t answer, so I pushed it open.
Maddox sat behind his desk, his hair a disheveled mess, coat flung on the floor, and his shirt was unbuttoned a bit, the sleeves rolled up, exposing his muscled forearms. A bottle of whiskey sat on his desk and broken glass pooled on the floor a few feet away.
“I thought I told you to go home,” he said, his words slurred.
“I didn’t want to leave you if you were upset.”
He studied me for the longest time, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious in my elf costume.
“Why are you so fucking good, Tink?”
I moved toward him just as he tipped his head back and downed more booze.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Why? You’ve got this perfect fucking family, and goddamn, you deserve it. I don’t have that. And I don’t need to bring you into my shit. Do you get that?”
He was angry, and he poured another drink before I tried to take the bottle from him, but he set it back down in front of himself.
“We’re friends. This is what friends do.” I reached for his glass, but he jerked it away and downed the liquid before I could stop him.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yeah? You think so?”
“I do.” I moved closer.
“Well, I’m a friend who wants to fuck you, Georgia Reynolds.
How about that?” He raised a brow, pushing to stand before falling back into his chair and laughing.
“Yeah. That’s what a good friend I am. I think about bending you over my desk every fucking day.
About kissing you and tasting you and—” He shook his head, and then his gaze locked with mine.
“I’m an asshole, Tink. You best run for the hills. ”
Holy wowsers.
I bent down in front of him. “Stop it. I’m taking you home.”
He poured another drink and tipped his head back again. I’d only ever seen him have a glass of wine or two. I’d never seen him out of control or sloppy.
“He’s fucking married. My dad,” he whispered as his hands found each side of my face, and he looked at me.
His eyes were wet with emotion, and all the air left my lungs at the sadness I saw in that beautiful, dark gaze.
“He’s having another fucking child, Tink.
And she’s gone. It’s like she was never here. ”
“So, talk about her. Celebrate her. Don’t hide your memories of her from the world. From yourself.”
He shook his head and took another drink. “I’m so fucking tired. Go home, Georgia Reynolds.”
“I’m not leaving you here.”
He groaned, and his head fell back against his leather chair, and his eyes closed.
I tried to lean forward and get him to his feet, but he was deadweight.
He grumbled something I couldn’t make out, and I pushed to stand, pacing around, trying to figure out what to do.
I couldn’t move him; he was too heavy. I hurried to the lounge and made him a cup of coffee while chewing on my thumbnail as I tried to decide what to do.
I was not leaving him.
That wasn’t an option.
I picked up my phone and sent a text to Hugh, not in the family group chat, because I didn’t need everyone knowing what was going on.
My boss is upset about something, and he drank too much. I can’t pick him up to drive him home because he’s too heavy, and I can’t leave him here.
Hugh
I’m on my way. Get some coffee in him if you can. Be there in five.
I smiled as I stared down at my phone. There wasn’t one sibling that wouldn’t have responded the same way. I was lucky to have a family who was always there for me.
Maddox didn’t have that.
He had jets and helicopters and fancy houses with closets that were bigger than my bedroom.
But family and love were not something that you could buy.
I made my way back to the office, and he looked pretty peaceful with his eyes closed as he leaned back in his chair, and his breaths were the only audible sound in the room.
His dress shirt was unbuttoned, and a little bit of dark chest hair was showing. I gently touched his forearm, and his eyes sprung open. The veins were bulging against his golden skin.
“Tink,” he whispered.
“Hey, can you try to drink a few sips of this coffee for me?”
“Why are you here?” His lips parted when I put the mug to his lips, and he took a sip.
“I’m not leaving you, so stop wasting your energy.”
He nodded, and we sat in silence as I got a few more sips into him.
“You’re too fucking good,” he grumbled, just as a loud ruckus had me turning, and all three of my brothers walked through the doorway.
So much for keeping this quiet.
“You brought everyone?” I hissed, setting the mug on his desk.
“We were together. Lila and Brinks are waiting for you at my house for your girls’ night thing, and we were heading to Reynolds’ for some food and beers.” Hugh was already pushing me aside and looking at Maddox. “You okay, brother?”
“And why did you call him and not me?” Cage asked as he came around the other side of Maddox’s desk with Finn on his heels.
“Because I figured you’d give me a lecture about staying here after hours.” I shrugged.
“Well, you shouldn’t be here when there’s no one to walk you to your car, and it’s dark outside,” Cage grumped.
“I would have walked her to her car,” Maddox said with slurred words.
Finn barked out a laugh. “I don’t think that was going to happen tonight. And why was I not your first call?”
“Because you weren’t supposed to get into town until late tonight,” I said, shaking my head. The fact that they were all upset that I hadn’t called them first was comical.
“Hey. Who gives a shit who she called? We’re here.” Hugh tried to pull Maddox to his feet, but he fell back into the chair.
“Just leave me here. I’ll sleep it off.”
“We’re not leaving you here!” I shouted, because I was tired of him saying that.
My brothers all turned and gaped at me before Hugh bent down and got close to my boss’s face. “I’m going to pick you up. Do not fight me because we’ll both fall if you do.”
“I’m too tired to fight you,” Maddox grunted. Hugh pulled him over his shoulder, and seeing as they were both about the same size, it looked kind of hilarious. Hugh pushed to stand with Maddox draped over his shoulder. “Your sister is so fucking pretty, isn’t she?”
“Oh. Yes. Okay.” Cage raised a brow at me.
“All right. Let’s do this.” Finn laughed.
We hurried out to the car, and I asked my brother to put Maddox in my car, but he refused to do that.
He set him in the front seat of his truck, and Cage and Finn hopped in my car, with Cage in the driver’s seat, of course, insisting that I ride with them, and Hugh followed us as we all drove to Maddox’s house.
“So, what’s the story there?” Cage asked.
“No story. He’s my boss, and I just didn’t feel right leaving him alone when he’d had so much to drink.”
“You did the right thing, Georgie. He seems like a pretty cool dude. You like working for him, right?” Finn asked.
“Yeah. It’s a great job. I’m getting to do a lot more than I thought I would.
Maddox has me reading submissions now, and I’ve gotten to meet a few authors, which has been amazing, and he’s just so smart, you know?
He’s really good at his job,” I said, and looked up to see Cage watching me in the rearview mirror.
“You like him.” He raised a brow before turning the corner and pausing in front of the large iron gates. I gave him the code and he typed it in before driving up the long driveway leading to Maddox’s house. “Has something happened between you two?”
“Of course not,” I said with a gasp. I shared a lot of things with my siblings, but some things were off-limits. And my kiss with Maddox was just for me.
“Well, it’s interesting that he gushed about how pretty you are.” Cage put the car in park.
“He’s drunk. He told me that the coffee mug was pretty before you walked in.” I rolled my eyes because he hadn’t said that, but I didn’t need Cage getting in my business.
“He does seem to like you a lot, Georgie.” Finn glanced over from the front passenger seat and waggled his brows at me.
“You’re ridiculous.” I pushed out of the car.
They both knew there was something going on. But was there? Nothing had happened aside from one kiss.
One glorious, sexy kiss.
I hurried across the driveway and typed in the code to the garage keypad, and we all made our way inside. Maddox was walking now with one arm around Hugh.
I went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, and we all sat there for the next hour as we watched this beautiful, big, broody man sober up. He was quiet, and I knew he was mortified that I’d called my brothers. But he sipped his coffee and listened as Hugh, Cage, and Finn all made small talk.
Maddox sat forward and ran a hand down his face. “Thanks for getting me home. I’m sorry about that. I got some news from my father, and I lost my shit for a minute. I’m sorry for involving your sister. I honestly thought she’d gone home.”
“You don’t need to apologize, man. We’ve all been there. You’re a friend of Georgie’s, which makes you a friend of ours.” Hugh clapped him on the shoulder.
“She didn’t know we were all coming, so don’t be too hard on her,” Cage said, as he turned and winked at me. He could be sweet when he wanted to be.
“I’m not going to be hard on her. I shouldn’t have put her in this situation. That’s on me. You guys can head out. I’ve taken enough of your time. I’m fine now.”
“You got plans for the holidays?” Hugh asked.
“Yep. I’m heading to the city tomorrow.”
“Well, if anything changes, there’s always room for more at the Reynolds’ house when it comes to food. Our mother makes enough for a small army, and everyone is welcome.” Cage extended a hand to Maddox.
“Thank you. I think my grandmother would lose her shit if I didn’t show up, but I appreciate the invite.”
“Here. Unlock your phone for me,” Finn said as he pushed to his feet and handed Maddox his phone. Maddox handed it back to my brother, who quickly typed into the device. “I just put my number into your phone in case you need anything.”
“You have a nice Christmas, all right?” he said as he wobbled a bit when he pushed to his feet. “Thanks again for cleaning up my mess.”
Hugh did that half-dude hug, and Finn did the same before they all three made their way to the front door.
I stood in front of him. “Have a safe trip home, okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry for ruining your night.” He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Merry Christmas, Tink.”
“You didn’t ruin my night,” I said, reaching for his hand as we stood there staring at one another. “You can call me if you want to talk.”
He cleared his throat, and his gaze moved beyond me, where my brothers had all just walked out the front door. “You’ve done enough for me. I’ll see you in a week.”
My chest ached when he pulled his hand away.
I hadn’t gone more than a day without seeing him since I’d started this job.
He’d always found things that we needed to do at least one day on the weekend, and we spoke several times a day.
But the way he was talking sounded like he wouldn’t be in touch for a while.
I still hadn’t given him his gift. It was in my trunk, but my brothers were waiting outside, and I could tell Maddox was ready for me to leave, so I’d give it to him when he got back.
“Okay, safe travels.” I held up a hand awkwardly because I wanted to wrap my arms around him and make him talk to me.
I wanted him to beg me to stay.
But I knew better. Maddox wasn’t going to do that.
I made my way outside, fighting the lump that had settled in the back of my throat.
Because somewhere along the way, Maddox Lancaster’s pain had become my pain.
I knew that he was hurting because I felt it.
I felt all of it.