11. Miles
All the doors are locked, every window is shut, and all the blinds are drawn tight. So how the hell did someone know Maddie was here? Unless they were inside the apartment…The thought plagues my mind that someone saw what was mine and there was nothing I could have done about it.
My gaze drifts back over to Maddie shaking on the bed. She’s trembling, curled in on herself as quiet whimpers slip past her lips. Her fists are tangled in her hair, her knuckles bleached white from her grip, her arms shielding her face as if to protect herself from this unseen threat.
I didn’t know it was possible to hurt this much for someone else. I fucking hate seeing her like this and not being able to do a god damn thing about it.
I need to find out who the fuck is sending her all these fucked up messages. Not just for her, I need answers almost as badly as I need to know she's safe. But I need to touch her. I need her to know that I’m here with her to fight whatever demons she’s been having to fight all on her own.
I retrieve her phone up off the floor and switch it to silent, just in case she gets any more messages before she wakes up.
After plugging it into the charger on my nightstand, I carefully gather her into my arms. My hand glides slowly up and down her arm, hoping the gentle rhythm will calm the tremors still wracking her body.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, baby.” I murmur against her hair. “I’m going to find out who’s been sending you those messages, and when I do—”
Before I can finish, Maddie jerks in my arms and whips around the face me, fear laced in her bloodshot eyes, tears streaking her beautiful face.
“No! You can’t!” I instinctively lean back a little, startled by the pure panic in her voice.
“What are you so afraid of?” I ask, keeping my voice as steady as possible. “I’ll be fine, we’ll just turn them in to the cops. They’ll handle this.”
She shakes her head so hard her curls bounce around her face. Tears continue to stream from her fire-bright eyes as she scoots away from me.
“Maddie, we can’t keep letting this asshole get inside your head like this. That shit he said about your mom…who the fuck says shit like that?”
Her eyes widen as panic floods every inch of her face. “You can’t do that! I can’t go to the cops, Miles. You don’t understand!”
“Well, help me understand, Mads!” The words come out louder than I intended, but I don't stop. “From the moment I met you, you’ve kept me at arms length. You refuse to let me in and I’m trying like hell to help you!”
She flinches, and regret hits me instantly.
Shit. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at her. She’s already fucking terrified and all I’m doing is making it worse.
Without another word, Maddie climbs out of bed, snatches up her shorts, and pulls them on in a rush.
She’s trying to leave.
Does she really think I’m going to let her leave this apartment after she just got those text messages? That crazy fuck could still be out there watching her, waiting for the moment she’s alone so he could hurt her.
“Baby, what are you doing? You can’t leave—”
“Why?!” She spins around so fast I stop in my tracks, her eyes spitting daggers into my flesh. “You can’t fucking help me, Miles! No one can fucking help me! I just need to get out of here. Being with you is making it worse.”
The words land like a punch to the gut. I can feel the moment my blackened heart cracks.
The ice she was slowly starting to melt around my heart is freezing back over and spreading throughout my chest, and I can’t seem to stop it.
Maybe I was a fucking idiot for believing things could be different with her.
All I want to do is hold her, to prove she doesn’t have to bear the weight of this alone.
“You’re safe with me, Maddie. If you leave this apartment, you’re just putting yourself at risk from whoever the fuck is out there watching you.
” I close the distance between us, my body towering over her small frame.
Slowly, I cup her face in my hands. She stiffens at first before I feel her melt ever so slightly beneath my touch.
“If you don’t want me to call the cops, I won’t.
But I can’t protect you if you won’t let me in. ”
I watch as her body trembles, her bottom lip quivering as I run my thumb across it.
Her eyes flutter shut and the tears she’s been fighting finally spill onto my ink covered hands.
Without thinking, I pull her into me and this time she lets me, resting her gorgeous head of whiskey-colored curls against my chest while she sobs.
I don’t know what she’s been through, but whatever it is, she’s too afraid to tell me about it, and I’m not about to push her for information.
I need her to know that nothing from her past is going to make me change the way I feel about her.
We all have shit we want to run away from, but she doesn’t have to keep running.
I’ll stand between her and every single one of the demons from her past.
I lift Maddie up from where we stand, cradling her in my arms and taking her back over to the bed.
The clock on my nightstand reads one in the morning, and she most likely has class in a few hours, but the only thing she needs is some sleep.
I settle beneath the blankets with her tucked safely against my chest, unwilling to let her go.
My hand cups her delicate cheek until she looks at me. There’s an entire lifetime of pain hidden behind her eyes. She tries to wear her strength like armor, but if you care enough to look closely, you’ll see the cracks.
“You’re stronger than the demons you keep locked up inside your head, Princess. Whatever you’re fighting, I’m going to fight them with you. You aren’t alone anymore.”
She tries to hold herself together, but the longer she looks at me, the more the walls she’s built begin to crumble.
Fresh tears fall silently down her face, I brush them from her eyes and press a gentle kiss to her lips before pulling her close again.
Maddie rests her head on my chest and I trail my fingers up and down her spine until I hear her fall into a deep sleep, and I slowly fall right behind her.
It’s way too fucking early to be driving right now, but Maddie insisted I take her back to the dorms by six this morning so she could shower and get ready for her nine o’clock class.
I told her several times that she could shower and eat at my place, but she wasn’t having it.
The girl has a weird ass routine, and nothing I said was going to convince her to break it.
We pull up to the dorms and Maddie immediately grabs her bag and tries to get out of the Jeep.
“Oh, no you don’t” I catch her wrist before she can escape gently tugging her back in and kissing her deeply. She moans into my mouth,my cock instantly hardening at the sound. Fuck, I’m going to have to take the coldest fucking shower when I get back to my apartment. She’s going to drive me insane.
Gripping her hair in my fist, I tug lightly as I tease her mouth with my tongue. She opens up for me, her tongue tasting like the coffee she drank before we left and I’m beyond intoxicated by it.
She pulls away from my kiss and I groan in protest.
“If you don’t let me out, I’m going to be late!” she laughs, still trying to pull away from me.
I ignore her protests, lifting her easily into my lap. A surprise squeal escapes her before she’s laughing harder, that gorgeous smile—the one I’m absolutely addicted to—spreading across her face.
“Fuck your class,” I murmur against her neck, pressing a kiss to the spot I know makes her melt. “Let’s just go back to my place. Stay in bed all day so I can keep you all to myself.”
Her laughter softens as she cups my cheek, looking up at me with those damn eyes that undo me every single time.
“I can’t. It’s barely the second week of the semester. I can’t start missing classes now. But...” she trails off, smiling as she brushes her lips against mine, “you can be selfish this weekend. All yours. No distractions.”
An entire weekend with Maddie locked away in my apartment? My dick twitches at the thought of all the ways I could worship her body without interruptions. She feels it and smirks before kissing me one last time, slipping out of my lap and grabbing her bag.
“Stay safe,” I call after her, waiting at the curb until I see her disappear safely inside the dorm. Only then do I drive off, heading back to my apartment for a quick shower before my eight o’clock class.
On the way home, I call my uncle. It’s a little after three in the afternoon where he currently lives in Paris, so I know he’s awake. The line rings three times before he answers, his smooth, irritatingly casual voice filling the line.
“Miles. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I say bluntly, already regretting the decision to call. “Listen, I need your help with something.”
There’s a pause before a low chuckle comes through the line. “Anything for my favorite nephew.”
“I’m your only nephew, Benny,” I snap, my grip tightening on the steering wheel as I navigate through traffic.
Benjamin Thornton. The charming, brilliant, pain in the ass uncle I never fucking asked for.
He is my father’s brother, the younger sibling who always wanted more.
More money, more power, more control. When my parents died in a car accident, Benny swooped in, playing the role of the grieving brother and concerned guardian while secretly plotting how to use me to his advantage.
For the first few months after the funeral, I convinced myself he was just eccentric.
At first, I thought his obsession with computers was just him trying to give me direction.
After losing my parents, he constantly pushed me toward technology, cybersecurity, and programming.
He told me knowledge was power. That the person who controlled information controlled everything.
I thought he was preparing me for a career.
I didn’t realize he was preparing me for his world.