Chapter Eight
Madison
"Stop looking at me like that."
"Nu-uh." Jack smirks, leaning back against the shower wall, his eyes raking up and down my body. "You're in my shower, naked and soapy."
"Oh. You mean like I have been every morning since you decided to hold me hostage?" I retort, trying hard to ignore the way he wraps his hand around his cock, squeezing.
"You fucking love being my hostage, Madison."
"Do not," I lie.
"Oh, really? Is that why you were coming all over my face this morning?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." I totally know what he's talking about. I woke up with his face between my legs. Gotta say…there are a lot of crappy ways to wake up. That is not one of them. He's woken me up the same way pretty much every morning since I started sleeping in his bed. Either he's eating me or he's fucking me. And if he could figure out how to do both at the same time, I'm pretty sure he'd do that, too.
He can't keep his hands off me. It's not like I'm trying hard to stop him or anything. Like right now. I tell him to stop looking at me. But what am I doing? Rubbing soap into my boobs like I'm putting on a show for him. And he knows that's what I'm doing.
He won't call me out on it, though. He never does. Jack Whitlock is obsessed with me. I reached that conclusion days ago. I think he might even be in love with me. I know that's how I feel about him.
I'm terrified to say the words, though. They change things. In a lot of profound, beautiful, really freaking terrifying ways. Or so I keep telling myself. The more rational part of me is fully aware we passed that exit days ago…right about the time we had sex without a condom for the first time. Or maybe when he brought up marriage for the first time.
Things have already changed between us. This is already real and permanent and all those things that make him a necessary, vital part of my life now. Whether we take down my dad or he wins…what's happening between us right now has already left an indelible stamp on both of us. Maybe that stamp was branded into us seven years ago. I'm not sure.
But I don't want to lose it now. I don't want Jack to lose anything, either. And that's what worries me. That he might lose me. He's already lost seven years. He spent them alone because I disappeared. What happens if my dad wins now? If I die? Jack ends up alone again, maybe forever this time. How is that fair to him?
"You're thinking awful hard over there, baby," he says. "Not liking your view?" He peels himself away from the shower wall, sauntering across the stone floor toward me with his cock in his hand. "Maybe you need to see it up close and personal."
"I think I should move back to the pool house," I blurt.
"What the fuck?" His hand drops from his cock, his expression falling into a severe scowl. He backs me up against the wall, all pissed off and growly. Way too hot to handle. "What are you talking about?"
"Um…I just think it would be better."
"Hell no." He curves his hand around my jaw, tipping my head back until my eyes meet his. "You aren't leaving me, Madison."
"What if…" I lick my lips. "What if I don't have a choice, Jack? Something could happen. It could go wrong. We should stop this now. Before anyone gets hurt."
He stares at me for a long silent moment, his expression inscrutable. "You think it wouldn't already rip my fucking heart out of my chest to lose you?"
"I…" I know it would. That's the problem, isn't it? I love him, and the thought of him suffering because of me is killing me.
"I love you, Madison," he says quietly. "I think I've been half in love with you for longer than I should have been. Maybe that's not right. Maybe I'm going to hell for it. I don't fucking know. But I know that I spent seven years haunted by you. I'm not letting you go again now."
"You aren't supposed to love me," I whisper.
"Too goddamn bad. I do."
"I love you too." I swallow hard, tears burning at the backs of my eyelids. "I'm so damn scared we're going to lose, and you'll end up all alone, Jack."
"Fuck that noise, baby." He boosts me up into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. We slide together, slick and wet. "You aren't going anywhere. We're facing that prick at the press conference in a few days, telling him that you're alive, and then you'll be free. You'll be all mine."
"I'm already all yours."
"Yeah? Is that why you're trying to move out on me?" He quirks a brow at me, his expression still a little pissed.
I dip my head, pressing it up against his throat. "No. Yes. I don't know. I just don't want you to get hurt. This feels like heaven to me. I don't want to be something you end up regretting when you've been the best part of my life for the last seven years. He took everything, but he was never able to take you." I lick a drop of water from his skin. "I'm terrified he'll find a way to take you."
"Never gonna happen," Jack growls, nipping my jaw. "You see him as a monster because of what he did. But he's just a man, Madison. And men aren't all-powerful. They aren't infallible. And he's just one man, baby. We've got a whole goddamn army of them standing behind us." His lips land against my ear, tugging the shell between them. "Besides, my whole fucking soul is yours. How's he going to take that, huh? He damn sure doesn't have that kind of power."
"Jack," I groan.
"I'm serious. It's yours. Every inch of me. Every thought. I'm yours, Madison." He reaches for my hand, tangling our fingers together before dragging it up over my head. His lips land against mine, his kiss consuming.
I cry out as he slips inside me.
"You think I could regret this?" he groans against my throat, thrusting all the way into me before slowly pulling back and then doing it again. "You think I could regret you?"
I sob his name, clenching around him.
"Not fucking ever, Madison." His teeth sink into the side of my throat, his bite sharp and sustaining. "This is everything. You are everything."
He fucks me exactly like he means it, whispering his devotion into my skin as he shatters me again and then again, each sinful glide of his cock hitting that perfect spot inside—the one he discovered and claimed as his own. When I'm on the edge a third time, little more than a babbling ball of ecstasy, he presses me deeper against the wall, yanking my legs up higher around his hips.
I scream the damn roof down around us as he fucks me ruthlessly, his body surging into mine as if he intends to imprint himself inside my skin, leave behind a reminder that I belong to him in every single way possible.
"That's it," he growls. "Scream for your man, baby. Let me hear that pretty voice break while I'm fucking my kid into you."
I scream myself hoarse, willingly, eagerly. And I crumble in his arms, coming all over his cock in powerful waves. He groans when he feels it, burying his face against my throat, his teeth in my skin.
"I love you, I love you," he chants, spilling deep inside me.
We cling to each other as the waves recede, breathing hard, trembling.
"You aren't moving back to the pool house," he murmurs. "You aren't going anywhere."
"Okay," I whisper back, pliant and spent in his arms.
"We're getting married today."
I pull back enough to look at him.
"I'm serious, Madison. I'm getting a judge here to make this shit official. When we face him, you'll have my ring on your finger. You'll know— everyone will know—that you're mine." His lips brush mine in a hard kiss. "And no one touches what belongs to me."
I'm a nervous wreck by the time Drake, Madeline, and Dillon show up a few hours later with a judge in tow, prepared to Jack's bidding. While Jack, Drake, Dillon, and the judge meet in his office to discuss the particulars, Madeline helps me into a dress she brought me.
"Are you excited?" she asks, pinning my hair up with efficient hands. She grins at me in the mirror, unable to hide her own excitement.
"Yes," I whisper. "And nervous."
"About getting married?" She laughs quietly. "Don't be. It's great! Jack will probably spoil you. You'll have to be firm with him and remind him that you're in charge of yourself. Otherwise, he'll try to do everything for you and drive you nuts. He and Drake are a lot alike in that way, I think."
She isn't wrong about that. The man barely lets me do anything around here. It's sweet how attentive he is. But she's right. He's going to need a lot of reminding that I'm in charge of myself.
"I'm more nervous about news leaking before we're ready," I mutter.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Madeline squeezes my shoulder. "Judge Hamilton loves Jack. He made him a ton of money on the stock market. If Jack asks him to keep this under wraps until after the press conference because it's a matter of your safety, Hamilton will do it. He's a big softie." She laughs quietly. "He married me and Drake."
"I hope so."
She works quietly for a moment, pinning my hair up. And then she places a diamond necklace around my neck. "Jack said you needed something new to go with your borrowed dress and my old hairpins."
I reach up, running my fingers over the delicate little heart, mine in my throat. "It's beautiful."
"He's a smart man with good taste." Madeline grins, stepping back. "What do you think?"
I scrutinize myself in the mirror. Between the hair, makeup, the necklace, and the dress, I actually look…like a bride. "It looks beautiful. Thank you."
"I'm glad he found you. Or you found him." Madeline shrugs like she isn't sure which is the accurate statement. "You two look like you belong together. And maybe I'm a little bit selfish, but I'm really looking forward to having you as a sister-in-law."
I rise from my chair, pulling her into a hug. "I'm looking forward to that part, too," I whisper.
She squeezes me tight, and then pulls back, laughing. "We should get down there before Jack comes looking for you. You ready?"
I nod and then follow her from the room. My heart catches in my dang throat when I stop at the top of the stairs and see Jack waiting below in a tux. He's so damn handsome standing there, smirking up at me. The devil is in his eyes…but they're full of love, too. So damn much emotion swirls there, it chokes me.
"Oh! Wait!" Madeline grabs a bouquet of flowers, pressing them into my hands. "He told me to give these to you."
I glance down at the bouquet of violet and irises, swallowing hard when I see the little blue bird tucked inside. For a wedding he just threw together, he thought of everything. If that isn't proof of exactly how much this man cares, I'm not sure what is.
He loves me.
As I make my way down the stairs to him, that realization settles into place in my heart, sweeping out everything else. All the anger. All the pain. The hurt and grief and rage just…vanish. By the time my feet land on the bottom step and I'm staring into Jack's eyes while he wraps his arms around me, he's the only thing left.
And this time, it doesn't hurt at all. It's absolutely perfect.
"I want something," I whisper hours later, straddling his hips in bed. Sweat still beads on his skin and his cheeks are flushed. He looks damn good with my claw marks down his chest.
"Round three?" He smirks up at me, linking his fingers together behind his head. "Go on then, baby. Ride my cock."
My stomach bottoms out, heat blasting through me. He is way too good at setting me on fire with a single look. It's honestly a superpower with him.
"That's not what I want."
"You sure? Those nipples say otherwise, Madison."
"Shut up," I mumble, jabbing him in the side.
He chuckles quietly, grabbing me around the waist and hauling me over until I'm pinned beneath him again. I think this man has a thing about pinning me places. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I may have a thing about it, too.
"What do you want, wife? You can have anything."
"I want to see him one more time before the press conference," I whisper.
Jack goes rigid on top of me.
"I need to see him, Jack."
"Why?" he growls.
"Because I have things to say that the whole world doesn't need to hear," I murmur. "He cheated on my mom the whole time she was sick. And he used me like a weapon to keep her chained to their marriage. He pretended to love me so he could hold custody over her head. I was just something he could manipulate to ensure she didn't leave him. By the time I was old enough to see him for who he really was, she was too sick to leave. I want to tell him…"
"That you hate him," he murmurs, stroking my cheek.
"That I forgive him."
Jack eyes me silently.
"He doesn't deserve it. He'll never deserve it. But I do, Jack. I've carried it for long enough," I whisper. "I'm ready to let it go."
"And you think this will help you do that?"
"No, you helped me do that. Facing him is just closing that chapter. It's me looking him in the eye and reminding myself that he's the past and will always be the past now. It's giving myself permission to stop hating him." I brush my thumb along his bottom lip. "I'd really like to stop hating him. It's so damn heavy."
"Jesus," Jack rumbles, sliding his hand into my hair to pull me down to him. He claims my mouth in a deep kiss, not letting up until we're both breathing hard. "You're fucking incredible, you know that?"
"I'm really not," I whisper, cuddling up against him. "I just figured out what I want."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"A future without shadows of the past lingering," I murmur, stretching until my lips are close to his ear. "One where my husband fucks his baby into me."
"Madison," he growls, gripping my ass.
"Please, Jack," I whisper, done talking as I reach for his cock. "Please, I need it."
"You naughty little minx," he groans, throwing his head back. He doesn't tell me no, though. Of course he doesn't.