Chapter Thirty-Two
Baxter
A week passes after Maddie’s trip to Rayne’s studio, and thankfully, those days are spent together.
We go back to normal, eating dinner together, hanging out, and just existing in the same space as one another.
Ryan is back to going to work with her, Caid has doubled his efforts to figure out the perfect vacation to surprise her with, and Rayne has visibly warmed to the girl since dropping the bomb she seems to be handling well.
The only difference now is that we’re all hyperaware of one another, and it shows in the way Maddie keeps watching us.
It shows in the way she blushes, the way she’ll look away quickly when one of us catches her staring, and it certainly shows when she bites her lip and fans herself after falling silent for long moments.
I’ve been dying to know what kind of thoughts she’s been having to make her that flustered, but I know I wouldn’t be able to give her the space she needs to think about us.
I’m itching for an answer, but nowhere near as bad as Caid.
I’ve stopped that dick from bothering her about an answer no less than four times in the past two days alone.
If I thought I was going crazy, I’m pretty sure Caid is at asylum levels.
I don’t know how we’ve managed to spend time with her through the week without him detonating like a freshly lit stick of dynamite.
We’re all very aware of what happened between her and Rayne, and we know about the conversation she had with Ryan, because we already know secrets in a group relationship will have our unit falling apart quicker than a sandcastle.
We’ve never kept secrets from one another in the years we’ve been friends, and we’re not going to start now, not when there’s so much that relies on us being able to function in a relationship with the same woman.
The very same woman who snuck out this morning after falling asleep against me while we watched a movie and got all red-faced and skittish the moment she woke up.
Again, dying to know what was on her mind, because she didn’t once make eye contact, and I’m pretty sure I heard her mutter something about penguins and polar bears before she snuck out when no one was looking.
I only noticed because I heard her voice fade right before the door closed from my position on the couch, and so I texted her, asking where she ran off to.
Lo and behold, the little sneak ran to The Arena.
Feeling like the stalker I’m convinced Caid is turning into, I followed after her once I was done showering and changing into my clothes for the day.
I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know I’m here, tucked away on one of the top rows of seats, watching for a second time as she skates like a devil on blades, gliding around like the ice owes her something.
She’s beautiful, graceful, and fearless, bending and twisting in all kinds of shapes and directions, and I’m stunned for the billionth time that I’ve been close enough to this woman that I know how she smells, how many freckles dot her face, and what she looks like when she’s fast asleep and using my body as a pillow.
Maddie runs through five songs before she finally slows down, and I can see her panting for air from my vantage point.
Her hands are propped on her hips, her head tipped back as she puffs for her next breath, and I fall to my baser instincts when my eyes drop to her heaving chest not once, but twice, because I’m a filthy man who has had a hard-on for the vixen on the ice since the moment I met her.
I told the guys we were in trouble. I fucking told them.
And now I’m here, creeping on her while she’s trying to destress or think, watching her like a lion watches a gazelle.
Wiping a hand over my beard, I watch Maddie like she’s my favorite show as she skates circles around the ice, simply gliding with no real rhyme or reason. It’s as though she’s just moving her body, unable to stand still for too long, and my eyes are on her like a hawk the entire time.
“You’ve got issues,” I whisper to myself, shutting my eyes to try to get my shit together.
It’s one thing for Caiden to act like an idiot, but I feel like I’ve sunk to whole new depths now that I know she likes us, and that she knows we like her enough to form a relationship that revolves around her.
I’m about to stand and leave, actually giving her the privacy she clearly wanted, when the device in my pocket decides to fuck me six ways to Sunday.
My phone blares when a call comes through, my ringtone actually echoing through the rink despite the blaring music that continues to play, and draws the attention of the woman I was trying to hide from.
Awkwardly, I catch the moment Maddie realizes it’s me, and her hand raises slowly to wave at me like she’s too shocked to do much of anything else. I wave back, because there isn’t much use in me acting like I’m not here anymore, and reach for my cell that continues to announce my presence.
Glancing at the caller ID, I clench my jaw before answering.
“Where the hell are you, man?” Caiden asks, bypassing all greetings and jumping straight into a conversation I don’t want to be having. “Ry said you rushed out about thirty minutes ago. Did you forget you were meant to come with me to look for vacation destinations and shit?”
My eyes shut of their own free will, because I did forget. The moment I caught Maddie sneaking away, everything else in my head swam away like my thoughts were being chased by a shark the size of three whales.
“What gives, asshole? Am I meant to be planning this thing completely solo? You fuckheads said you’d help,” Caid grouches, and I feel bad.
I really do. But if given the same opportunity, I know for a fact that he would have done the exact same thing.
Actually, I’m pretty sure the blond-headed bastard would have told us straight to our faces that he was going to follow Maddie out of the door and ignore any and all plans he made for the day just so he could watch her body move like it does on the ice.
So, deciding to alleviate my guilt a little, I announce, “I’m at the rink.”
There’s a pause.
“With Maddie?” he then asks, and I wince again.
“Not exactly,” I answer, and I already know he’s going to piece that little puzzle together before I can-
“You fucking followed her, you cheeky bastard,” he accuses, sounding both amused and appalled, almost like he’s pissed he didn’t think to do that before me. I wouldn’t be surprised, since he’s stuck at home alone and I’m not.
I can do nothing but chuckle lowly, hanging my head forward, because I feel a whole lot stupider for my actions now that Caiden finds them funny, and mutter, “My feet moved before my brain. Don’t judge me.”
“No judgment here, but you could have taken me with you, you selfish bitch,” he tosses, and I snort loudly just as the music stops and Maddie leans against the barrier of the rink with one hand on her hip, a raised brow, and an adorably questioning look on that gorgeous face that trips my pulse and batters my heart.
A little distracted by the way Maddie’s body bends, her hip jutted out with a sass that boils my blood in the best way possible and her figure outlined in nothing more than the tightest leggings known to man and a shirt tighter than any of the ones Caid owns, it takes me a second to respond to the guy.
“Wasn’t really thinking straight, brother. ”
Caiden replies, his voice ringing through the phone, but I can’t hear the words when Maddie points at me and then crooks her finger.
The little minx smirks, silently demanding that I join her, and I’m like a sailor on a ship surrounded by sirens.
Only, there’s one siren and she has me by the damned balls, because I’m out of my seat before my brain can catch up with me.
“Caid, I have to go. I’ve been spotted and summoned,” I mutter through the phone, distracted by the way Maddie gestures for me to come to the ice.
“Spotted? You were hiding from her? Oh my God, who even are you?” Caid damn near shouts down the phone, but I pull it away from my ear and hang up before I can respond.
I don’t even know how I would respond, because I don’t know who the hell I am anymore.
That week away from Maddie really screwed with me, way more than I thought it would.
It messed with all of us, putting her presence in our lives into perspective.
We want her, badly, and there’s no way we’re going to be able to let her go.
Those thoughts cling to me as I head down the steps and walk toward the center of my thoughts, flashing her what I think is a sheepish grin. When I’m close enough, I ask, “You wouldn’t have had a clue I was here if Caid hadn’t called me, would you?”
She shakes her head with a funny little grin. “Nope. Which leads me to ask, is there a reason you’re creeping in the stands? Not that I mind, because it’s you, but do I need to be worried about another stalker?”
I shake my head, only to stop and tilt it, squinting my eyes as if I’m actually thinking it over, and Maddie laughs loud enough that it suckers me right in the goddamn chest.
“So, what are you up to?” she asks, still leaning on the barrier.
Doing the same, I rest my forearms beside her and admit, “Honestly? I don’t know. Guess I just wanted to be near you.”
It almost looks like she melts, her skates slipping a little and her body dipping low enough that I reach out to catch her at the same time she slaps her hands against the barrier with a panicked laugh.
Clearing her throat, she says, “Well, that was a cuter reason than I was expecting, you adorable creep.”
Giving her a bland look, rolling my eyes when all she does is laugh, I mutter, “Be lucky it was me and not Caid. That guy is damn near crawling out of his skin.”