5. MADDOX #2
By the time we’re reaching the end of the hall, there are only two doors ahead of us, and I can’t believe my fucking luck. There’s no way this woman lives right across the hall from the very apartment I’ve been half-living in for the past few weeks.
We inch closer to the door on the left of the hallway, and as she steps directly in front of it, she comes to a screeching halt.
“Okay, what gives? You’re absolutely following me now.
Are you actually a creepy stalker? Because apart from screwing me raw in a back alley, I don’t know what more you could want from me. ”
“Creepy stalker? Who, me?” I ask, spinning to walk backward as I continue down the hall. “I’m offended.”
She watches as I continue to the final door in the hallway and gently rap my knuckles against the wood. “Wait,” she says with a gasp, her eyes widening as she realizes that this is all nothing more than a very convenient coincidence. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Is that where your friend lives?”
“Sure is, Savage. You wanna come in for a snack?”
She huffs and turns back to her door, jamming her key into the lock and madly twisting. “This can not be happening,” Lyra mutters to herself before whipping her stare back to me. “See? This is exactly why I don’t get involved with neighbors. It’s messy. I don’t like it.”
She throws her door open and storms in. “I’ll be seeing you, Savage,” I call after her.
She scoffs and pops her head straight back out the door. “Wishful thinking.”
“Nah, baby. Wishful thinking is believing that I could get you to dress up as a candy striper with blood-red lip gloss and suck my cock for hours on end. Knowing I’ll be seeing you again? That’s just inevitable. It’s in the stars and all that shit.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“Oh, it’ll happen. My rising moon told me so. But between you and me, I won’t be the one to cave. You’ll be calling me, and when you do, you’ll be begging for it.”
She scoffs again. “Ain’t gonna happen.”
“Say what you want, baby, but you and I both know you’ll be the one to crack.”
Lyra shakes her head and strides back out of her apartment, my shirt grazing her thighs the same way I wish my lips were.
She walks right up to me, pressing up onto her tiptoes before raising her chin and gazing at me as though I’m the only man in her world.
“Sounds like you’re throwing down a challenge, Maddox Blake,” she coos, almost bringing me to my knees with the way she says my name.
“And for what it’s worth, I never lose.”
And with that, she turns on her heel and disappears right back into her apartment, leaving me staring after her, my heart pounding a million miles an hour.
I know she thinks I’m full of shit, especially with all that soulmate crap, but I can’t help but wonder if I might have been onto something.
Because how the fuck can two complete strangers have such an instant connection like that?
Sure, call it lust and wild flirting, but what are the chances that all the planets were aligned, and the moment we met out on that street, something magical happened?
Fuck me. It’s about the same chances of me ever admitting that this cosmic stuff is real.
It’s not possible. I’m not that guy who gets hung up on a girl.
I fuck and move on, so tell me why I can’t tear my eyes away from her door while hoping like fuck she decides to come out here just one more time.
I just need to see her again. At least once to work her out of my system, but like I said, I won’t be calling her.
She’ll be the one begging. Though on second thought, I didn’t actually give her my number in return, but she knows where to find me now, and she’ll be the one who seeks me out.
There’s no doubt about it. Lyra Vale will be the one to break.
It takes forever before I finally hear footsteps within the apartment. Usually, if it were daylight hours, I would barge right in, but this motherfucker is uptight about his security. He’s the shoot-first, ask-questions-later type, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
He’s my best friend. Has been since we were kids.
The door finally swings open and Hunter Cole stands before me in nothing but a pair of black sweatpants, his hair damp from the shower. He looks mildly annoyed, but for Hunter, that’s basically his resting emotional state.
It’s funny. He’d be the perfect match for the little spitfire across the hall, but sucks to be him, because I met her first. “The fuck are you doing here? It’s after five in the morning.”
“Can’t a man stop by to check in on his best friend?”
“At five in the morning? No.”
I step straight into the bland apartment, brushing past Hunter’s shoulder with a wide grin on my face.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” he says, shutting the door behind me and turning to watch me stride through his living room. “Why are you in such a good mood?”
I let out a sigh. “What can I say, man? I’m hooked on the adrenaline of meeting a feisty-blond menace who shamelessly wrecked my night in the best possible way before telling me I’d never get another shot. Which is cute. Delusional, but cute.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I collapse onto the couch, my arms sprawled out wide as I gaze up at the ceiling. “I’m in love.”
“Come again?” he says as he cuts across to the kitchen and finds two glasses.
A smirk cuts across my lips, and I push up onto my elbows to meet his stare, watching him pour out two perfectly generous servings of whiskey. “Oh, believe me, I would if she had given me the chance.”
Hunter shakes his head. He’s no stranger to my usual bullshit, but the small crease in his brows suggests this one has his undivided attention, and it probably has everything to do with the fact that I’ve never even come close to declaring I’m in love before.
For the most part, I believe love sits right up there with all that astrology bullshit.
I may be a shameless flirt, obsessed with the rush of hormones, but at the end of the day, I’m able to call it exactly what it is—a chemical reaction inside the brain.
It’s not real. It’s just your body’s way of saying this person you just met is kinda cool.
Hunter sighs and grabs the two full glasses of whiskey before striding over and handing one to me. “Alright, start from the beginning.”
I sit up and take a sip of whiskey before glancing at my best friend, knowing exactly how this conversation is about to go. “You ever met someone and immediately understood why men used to start wars over women?”
“No. Because I’m not that fucking stupid.”
“Oh, you would be if you’d met her .”
“Who’s her ?”
“Your neighbor across the hall,” I tell him. “I just ran into her outside, and fuck, man, she’s one hell of a wild spitfire. Fucking insane.”
He takes a drink and shakes his head. “Just the way you like ’em then?”
I grin. What can I say? I have a type. And insane is generally my perfect cup of tea. “Damn straight,” I tell him, falling into a deep consideration. “This one is different. She’s fucking stunning, and has a mouth on her too.”
“In what way?”
My grin widens. “In every way that counts.”
He immediately sighs, probably regretting asking as I sink deeper into the couch, one arm stretched across the backrest like I’m discussing mortgage rates instead of the woman I’m probably going to spend the foreseeable future chasing like a lost puppy.
“She’s sharp. Not afraid to take a bite out of my ego. Most women I meet hold back, but not this one. She knew what she wanted and went for it. No bars held. And fuck, she’s hot enough that I would have apologized for things I didn’t do. A complete menace.”
“Shit, Maddox,” Hunter says with a sigh. “A chick is going to complicate things.”
“Nah,” I say, shaking my head. “Not this one.”
“Let me guess, she’s different. ”
I throw back what’s left of my whiskey and grin at my best friend. “Something like that.”
He rolls his eyes and puts his glass down on the coffee table, his elbows braced against his knees. “I take it you were the moron I heard fucking in the side alley ten minutes ago?”
A laugh booms from deep in my chest, and I don’t need to respond. The laugh was confirmation enough.
“Fuck, man. You were loud. You know people are sleeping around here.”
“Clearly not you.”
His gaze shifts to the glass in his hand, not meeting my stare. “Had work to do.”
Suspicion begins creeping in. “You just get in?”