Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
ROYCE
The tension in the office this morning is thick enough to choke the fucking life out of you.
Derek has been on edge since last night after we left Maddy.
I’ve tried to ask him what’s up but he is being tight lipped.
Cam is lost in his head and I know he wants to tell her the truth but Derek won’t let him.
He’s worried about something and I have no idea what the fuck it is.
This is the first time me and my brother have not been on the same page about something.
I can usually read him like an open book but he is purposefully shielding himself off, and that shit is concerning.
The only time he has ever done something like this was when he married Joanne.
I look over at our dirty little sinner and marvel at how fucking gorgeous she is.
Every single time she walks into a room, she steals the air from my lungs and my fucking heart constricts.
The organ now only beats for her. It is hers to command and control.
I’ve never fallen in love or even wanted something more than a woman to warm my bed for a night but with Maddison, I don’t want this to end.
“I should have all of these accounts in order before I… leave.” The sound of her voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Cameron says with conviction. Maddy shoots him a sad smile which just infuriates me.
“Don’t fucking look like that,” I snap. She swings her gaze to me, surprise written all over her face at my tone.
“You aren’t going to prison, your ass is staying right fucking here where it belongs.
” My declaration has her mouth parting in stupor.
I feel the same way Cameron does, I want her to know it’s us.
Her asking who we were last night nearly had me dropping to my knees and begging her to understand that we only wore the masks so we could have the chance to finally touch her and fool ourselves into thinking she could be ours for a short amount of time.
The age gap between her and I is huge. She’s so young and has a lot of life to live and could find someone her own age to experience things with, but I’m a selfish motherfucker and refuse to allow anyone else to touch her.
“Royce,” she says my name like it’s a fucking prayer, and I have to bite back my groan.
“My mother will never show up and confess that she lied. The cops never believed me when I told them and the judge sure as fuck won’t either.
I am so grateful the three of you have my back, but I’m also not an idiot.
I’m going to jail and no matter how many times you guys try to convince me I won’t?—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Derek roars. Maddison recoils in her seat behind his desk.
Cam and I both snap our gazes to him in shock.
He stands there with his fists clenched at his sides, anger seeping from his pores as he stares at her.
“You won’t go to prison because I made sure of that.
” His tone is calm and even but it’s filled with warning.
Maddison darts her eyes around the room, trying to gauge if Cam and I know what he is talking about but we are just as stumped as she is. “What do you mean?” she asks quietly.
Derek’s reply is curt and filled with hatred. “She’ll be here tonight.”
Maddy’s face drops. She slowly pushes to her feet and stares at Derek with betrayal in her eyes.
“Joanne is coming here?” Her tone is void of emotion, the broken look flashing in her eyes has my stomach bottoming out and the need to break my brother’s jaw rushes through me.
When he nods, Cam and I both suck in a sharp breath.
He told us that he had no contact with her after she left.
A sense of betrayal washes over me, Derek has never kept anything from me, we’re partners in everything.
“She will make a statement and free you from these charges—” Maddison holds a hand up, silencing Derek.
I can see her battling back tears as she stares at him, and it’s taking everything inside me not to go to her, wrap her in my arms to offer her my support.
Cam looks like he wants to tear his father to shreds and I’ll admit, I wouldn’t stop him.
I want to tear my pound of flesh from him as well for hurting Maddy.
“You lied to me.” Her quietly spoken words shred me, her tone laced with pain.
Derek opens his mouth to defend himself but she pushes on.
“I trusted you, Derek!” She may have said the words barely above a whisper but the force behind them has him stumbling back a step.
Maddison doesn’t stay put, she rushes out of the office with Cameron hot on her heels.
I shoot Derek a look that promises pain if he has fucked this up for us before shouldering past him, following after Cam and Maddison.
I follow the sound of Cam’s voice, calling for Maddy to stop.
I’m running after them, trying to catch her before she can get too far.
We need a chance to explain to her that we had nothing to do with this and that Derek acted alone.
My anger toward my brother only grows the longer she refuses to stop.
When she passes the house, a frown pulls at my brows until I finally understand where she is going.
I push my legs harder, trying to gain on her.
If she reaches her destination we will never be able to get near her and he will make sure of that!
“Cam, tackle her if you have to!” I roar. He wastes time peering over his shoulder at me, giving a couple more seconds of leeway and that time costs us. We’re too late. She begins scaling the fence and there isn’t a damn thing we can do to stop her.
“Hades!” she screams her lion's name, so loud I shudder. Cam tries to rush forward to grab her but I yank the back of his shirt, pulling backward when I see the great white lion break through the trees and bound toward Maddison like his life depends on it. Fear grips me. She hasn’t been able to cross that fence since she got here and now she has risked her life just to escape us.
My breath lodges in my throat when she runs toward him.
The lion looks angry and ready to shred anything in his path and I worry she has mistaken his love for her.
I force myself to not look away, if that fucking beast is going to take her from me then I won’t look away and leave her alone in her last moments .
Cam is stiff and taut as he stands beside me, watching with bated breath to see what the fuck Hades is going to do.
When the lion slides to a stop in front of her, I stop breathing.
Maddison runs her fingers through his mane, then runs past him.
The lion looks directly at us, then bares his teeth before following his master into the woods where we can’t follow.
“How the fuck do we get to her?” Cam utters with an edge to his voice.
A sigh pushes its way past my lips as I scrub a hand down my face. “We don’t.” He whirls around and pins me with a glare.
“I’m not leaving her out there,” he snarls.
I reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. He smacks it away, then shoves me back a step. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from lashing out at him. I know Cameron is in love with her, which is the only reason he is getting a free pass right now.
“She went to Hades because she knows we can’t follow, Cameron. She wants to be left alone and there is nothing we can do right now short of sedating the lion, but I don’t like our chances of her forgiving us for doing that.”
His face falls as my words sink in. “What the fuck do we do, Royce? Dad just crossed a line I don’t think she will ever forgive him, or us, for.” This time when I reach out and grip the back of his neck and hurl him forward until our foreheads touch, he doesn’t push me away.
“We find your dad and figure out why the fuck he to lied to all of us, then we go after our girl and tell her the truth about who she has been spending her nights with.”