Chapter 27
Maddox
“So, you’ll be staying in the guest suite, Maddox.
That’s on the opposite side of the house to Ellie’s room, and we have motion detector cameras installed in the hallways.
We don’t want to have to lock you in, but if you try and sneak about to spend the night with her, then that’s what will happen. Capisce?”
I blink, taken aback. Is he fucking serious?
He damn well looks it, with his intense blue eyes and tattoos.
Romeo Castelli is one of Ellie’s adopted dads and also one of the scariest motherfuckers I’ve ever seen in my life.
I’m still figuring out how to respond in a way that is both respectful and also makes it clear I will not be getting locked in anywhere when Ellie punches him in the chest. “Will you stop,” she says with an eye roll.
Romeo bursts out laughing, and her other dad, Ace, sniggers under his breath. Even their aging black Lab, Milo, seems to be amused.
“Sorry buddy,” Romeo says. “I couldn’t resist messing with you. Ellie might be our baby girl, but we know she’s not a baby. If Ellie thinks enough of you to bring you here to meet the fam, then that’s good enough for us.”
Ace eyes me, suggesting he’s still not convinced, and who can blame him? They know better than anyone what she’s been through, and I don’t blame them for being protective. I’m glad they are. We’re all Team Ellie, all the way.
We’re in Chicago, at the place where Ellie and her siblings call home.
Her mom Keres and her dads run a place in town, the Phoenix Center, which does amazing work supporting families in crisis.
Sadly, Ellie’s situation is not that rare, and from what she’s told me the Phoenix changed her life.
They don’t just provide accommodation or a safe space, they offer a completely holistic approach to helping the people in their care.
It explains a lot about why Ellie is the person she is and why she has such a passion for social justice.
The name of the place rings a bell, but I can’t pinpoint why. Drake lived in Chicago for years. Maybe he’s mentioned it to me.
I flash Romeo a smile. “You had me going there.”
“Yeah. He’s a regular clown,” Ellie says.
“An ass-clown,” her brother Jayden adds, earning a mock-disapproving look from his dads.
Jayden is fourteen, skinny in the way boys of that age can be while they’re still sprouting upwards instead of filling out.
Her little sister Melody is twelve and clearly wants to grow up as fast as humanly possible.
The youngest, Iris, is ten and absolutely fucking adorable.
All three of them, and Milo the Lab, crowd around their sister.
They clearly all love her to pieces. Who can blame them?
She’s fucking adorable. She listens to their stories, intervenes when they all try and talk at once, and exudes an older sibling energy that I’m familiar with myself.
She’s going to make a great mom one day.
I find myself delighted at that idea and wonder if and when we should have that conversation. I know she wants kids, and so do I, but for now I’m enjoying having her all to myself.
Why am I even having this conversation with myself, never mind her? We’ve been a couple for two months. Who knows where this thing will take us.
Yeah, Maddox, you just keep telling yourself that. Just keep pretending that you’re not already completely owned by this woman.
I follow the group into the kitchen, enjoying their vibe and their banter.
Meeting her family feels like I’m seeing the final missing piece of the puzzle that is Ellie, especially when she’s spent so much time with mine.
She’s talked about them, sure, but that’s not the same as sharing air with them.
Meeting the people that she always says saved her.
Her and her siblings had nobody else. They arrived at the Phoenix Center just after her piece-of-crap father was arrested.
He’s still in prison, where I hope he’s receiving the same kind of gentle treatment that he handed out to his own children.
If he’s getting gang-raped every night and having the shit beaten out of him, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Ellie would be shocked if she knew I thought that.
She thinks I’m more developed. When it comes to her—to the people I love—she’s dead wrong. Nathan was right on that score.
Inside the kitchen I’m greeted by two sights: a fucking huge Belgian Malinois racing towards me and Ellie’s almost adopted mom, Keres.
I’m not sure which is the most intimidating.
The dog turns out to be disinterested in me anyway, only seeking Ellie.
She crouches down to meet him as he gallops into her arms. He shoves his giant head under her hands, and she falls to the floor, where the two of them wrestle. Lucky dog.
“Aw, Zeusy-weusy, my gorgeous little baby…I’ve missed you, sugar-butt.” She scratches the butt in question, and the dog wriggles around in ecstasy, licking her face like it’s a lollipop.
Zeusy-weusy? Sugar-butt? Just seconds ago this dog looked like a killing machine, and now it’s eating out of the palm of her hand. I can’t help but grin.
Keres walks towards me. She’s a striking woman with rich, dark hair, wearing biker leathers and huge boots that I have no doubt she will insert directly into my ass if I so much as look at Ellie wrong.
Again, I respect that. She smiles at the canine-human reunion and comes over to say hi. I feel the depth of her scrutiny, the way she pierces me like she can see into my very soul. Fuck, I hope not. There are things lurking in there I’m not exactly proud of.
“Maddox,” she says, nodding at me. “Nice to meet you. I believe you’re good in the kitchen?”
“Yes ma’am,” I reply, feeling like a kid being inspected.
She’s actually a month younger than me, but I’m guessing in life experience, she’s older than most. “Good. You can make breakfast tomorrow morning. There’s a garden out back with fresh produce.
Just don’t go digging around too deep, because that’s where we bury the bodies. ”
She totally deadpans this, to the point where I’m not completely sure it’s a joke. A little wink tells me it is, and she finally laughs, making the corners of her eyes crinkle up. “Gotcha!”
“Yeah, you did. I see I’m going to have my work cut out for me here. It’s just like get-togethers with my own family.”
She smiles. “Do you have a big family?”
I nod. “Yeah, there’s five of us James boys, and it can get kind of full-on.”
Her eyes flicker with something. Recognition, perhaps? Not unusual. My family is pretty well-known, even here in Chicago.
Ellie is up from the floor now, swiping dog hair from her pant legs. She looks stupidly happy, her hair wild and free, a huge grin on her face, blue eyes sparkling as she joins us. She slips her arm into mine. “Ignore them, Maddox,” she tells me. “They’re all assholes.”
“Language,” all three parents say at once.
Melody rolls her eyes in absolute tweenager style. “We’ve all heard the word asshole before, Mom,” she sighs. “We’re not kids.”
Keres makes a visible effort not to laugh at the reprimand. She looks at Ace and Romeo and then gestures to me with her chin. “So, what do you think? Is he good enough?”
Romeo squeezes my bicep and studies my face. “Strong. Good muscle tone. All his own teeth. Looks passable to me.”
Ace, who has so far been quiet, shakes his head. “It’s not what’s on the outside that matters, especially when it comes to our Ellie. It’s what’s on the inside, and the way he treats her. If he takes proper care of her.”
Somehow, he sounds threatening, and I square up subconsciously. I don’t like conflict and have learned how to manage my own impulses over the years, but I also feel just as protective of her as he does. “I can assure you I have no intention of hurting Ellie. Or letting anybody else hurt her.”
Ace nods. Like I’ve passed a test. Ellie spoils the male bonding moment by grabbing each of us by the elbow. “Guys, I’m right here. And I’m perfectly capable of caring for myself, so how about we give the alpha male bullshit a break, huh? How about a little more Gaia and a little less Ares?”
Ares. Greek God of War. Ace softens at her words, and he pulls her in for a hug. “Okay baby girl. I’ll be on my best behavior. But we love you, and we’ve never done this before, so give us a break, okay?”
I’m aware I’m the first guy Ellie has ever brought home.
The first boyfriend. It’s a privilege and a lot of pressure, but nothing I can’t handle.
Nothing I don’t want to handle. Her family is as important to her as mine is to me, a vital part of her.
And I want to know everything about her.
Every inch of her body, every corner of her mind, every piece of her past, present, and future. That makes me sound fucking obsessed.
Which yeah, I suppose I am.
We head off to her room to freshen up, and after that she shows me around the house.
“So, what do you think?” she asks, as we finish the tour and wander hand-in-hand through the gardens.
“It’s lovely here, baby.”
“And my family?” she asks, looking nervous. “They haven’t, uh, put you off?”
I pull her in for a kiss. It starts tender and ends like an inferno.
I have a hard-on that makes me glad we’re alone.
She’s clinging to me to stay upright. My hands roam her ass, and I nip at her neck.
“Nothing could ever put me off you, Ellie. And your family are fantastic. Fuck knows you put up with enough from mine.”
“Not true. I love your family. Anyway, you haven’t met all of them, I’m afraid. We have dinner with one of my uncles tonight. He’s one of Kee’s brothers. But don’t worry, he’s the nice one.”
“Does she have not-nice ones?”
That makes my girl laugh, and I feel like there’s a joke I’m not in on. “All of her siblings are nice, they’re just… Well, they’re hard to explain. You have to meet them first, and then you’ll see.”
Now I’m all kinds of intrigued.
We’re eating outside, having a barbecue in the evening sunshine.
Romeo is manning the grill like a pro-pitmaster, but I also get in on the cooking action, making a marinade for the steaks from fresh herbs from the garden and whipping up some homemade lemonade.
The dogs are hanging around, looking alert just in case anybody drops a crumb, and the children are running wild.
I played ball with them earlier, and it felt good to stretch out my body doing something so innocent and simple.
Kids and dogs know how to live—in the moment, enjoying the simple pleasures.
Now, the food is ready, and the beer is flowing.
I stick to my lemonade and nobody comments, so I guess Ellie warned them in advance that I was sober.
I wonder how they feel, knowing that their girl’s boyfriend is an addict?
An addict in recovery, yeah, but that’s not the same as cured.
It’s probably not on the wishlist of most parents, but I don’t sense any hostility from them.
I’m guessing they’ve all experienced plenty of shit in their own lives, and they don’t judge.
The dogs woof out big, booming barks, and Zeus gallops down to the end of the driveway. Milo, being a Lab, stays where the food is.
Zeus chases the big black SUV all the way in, obviously a game he’s played before. When it finally pulls up, he jumps at the door, eager to greet whoever is inside. Ellie’s uncle and his family, I assume. The children gather round, and Romeo gets a beer from the mini-fridge.
The door to the car opens, and Ellie runs over to meet them.
First out is a dark haired little boy of about nine or ten, who zooms straight over to the others with Zeus hot on his heels, quickly followed by a slightly older girl who looks a lot like him, and who I assume must be his big sister.
She shouts out to Melody who responds with an excited shriek.
Next is a pretty blonde woman in a sundress holding onto the hand of another boy, his hair not quite so dark as his older siblings.
She smooths down his hair and gives him a kiss on the cheeks before he runs off to join the others.
Ellie leans into the vehicle and emerges with a baby in her arms.
Damn me, if it’s not the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
She walks towards me, beaming. “Maddox, meet Alessandro. Alessandro, meet Maddox.” I peer into the little bundle, smiling at the screwed-up face and the tufts of thick black hair.
The baby reaches up, grabs one of my fingers, and holds on with a surprisingly fierce grip.
All of my insides melt. “Well, hi there, little guy. Aren’t you the cutest. And so strong, too? ”
“He is,” says his mom, fanning her face. “But don’t be telling him that too much. There are enough alpha males in this family already.”
Right on cue, there’s the sound of breaking glass, and the older kids look sheepish. I’m guessing a football just crashed into something it shouldn’t. “I’m hoping for a poet this time,” she sighs. “Not another ruffian.”
The indulgent smile on her face makes it obvious that she wouldn’t change a thing. “Speaking of which, your uncle Loz was just finishing a call,” she says to Ellie.
The driver door of the SUV opens, and a tall man steps out. He’s wearing a casual linen suit and sunglasses, waving as he comes to join us. He looks vaguely familiar, but it’s not until he gets close that I realize who he is. He takes off those shades and meets my eyes.
We stare at each other for what feels like forever, and I’m only vaguely aware of Ellie telling her uncle that this is her boyfriend, Maddox, and that he should ‘go easy’ on me.
Fuck. I feel like my stomach is in my ankles.
My heart is pounding, and adrenaline shuttles through my system.
My worlds are colliding, and I don’t know how to survive it. How can this be happening?
He recovers faster than I do. He holds out his hand for me to shake, keeping his face neutral. “Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m Lorenzo. Lorenzo Moretti.”
I place my hand in his and feel like I’ve gone back in time.