18. Kayden
KAYDEN
I’m startled awake by the loud ringtone.
Shit. I don’t usually fall asleep. Not without knowing Maddy’s home, safe, with me.
I must have dozed off.
I stretch in my seat.
My heart skips a beat. My eyes center on the phone on the passenger seat, the screen lighting up with Maddy’s number.
“What is it?” I mutter, picking up the call.
“Hi, brother.” She giggles.
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you drunk?”
“Mmmm, maybe.” She pauses. “A little.”
“God, Madelyn.”
“Can you pick me up? I was with Hannah, but oopsie doopsie, I told her she could leave.”
“How much did you drink?”
“I don’t know. A couple of glasses.”
“Can you text me your location?”
“Okay.”
My jaw tenses. She’s painfully drunk. At a bar. By herself. Acting reckless and hoping I clean up her mess.
Sometimes, her getting into these situations, making me care for her, feels like payback, and it annoys me, too.
Karma.
“Last time I checked, the definition of stepbrother didn’t mention anything about babysitting.”
“You don’t have to come if you’re going to be an asshole about it,” she says. “I’ll spend the night here, maybe the bartender will take me home or to his home. Either will do.”
“Madelyn. Don’t get anywhere near that guy, you hear me?”
“Why?” she sing-songs. “Are you jealous, Kayden?”
I groan. She’s so stubborn. “Just don’t do it. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
She giggles. “Yes, sir.”
“In fact…” I hesitate before saying this, and landing on it being the best option. “Stay on the line until I get there.”
I have no idea what could happen in fifteen minutes. And if the psycho didn’t do anything yet, knowing Madelyn is there by herself, he might. I don’t know if he’s listening to my conversations or watching me.
I don’t know anything. There’s so much to cover and so little time juggling a day job.
“Alrighty,” Maddy says. “What should I do to entertain you? Do you want me to sing?”
“No.”
“Rap?”
“I don’t think you have it in you.” The thought of my little demon rapping brings a smile to my lips. “Why don’t you tell me about your day?”
“Ugh, boring. But, fine.”
She tells me about how busy her day at work was, how she couldn’t catch a breath. How Hannah and her decided to go for a drink to blow off some steam.
“The weirdest part is the janitor ended up here, too.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah. I mean. It’s not weird,” she says, speeding up her speech. “But it is a weekday, and yeah, I don’t know. Who goes out to a bar on a weekday? Except Hannah and me, of course.” She giggles.
It is weird. My chest churns.
“Did he hit on you?” I ask.
“No, silly. But he stared at me for quite a bit.”
Of course he did. The creep. How could anyone not when she’s a fucking goddess?
“Is he still there?”
“I don’t know. I lost him.”
Those words raise a red flag in my peripheral vision.
What was Joseph doing there? And where is he now?
Does he have anything to do with the psycho?
I’m gonna have to exchange words with Joseph when I see him. He never stood out to me, and okay, we all live in a small town without many bars. But being there at the same time as Maddy is sketchy.
“His friend hit on me, though. He bought me a drink.”
“What?” I shout into the phone, startled. “Tell me you didn’t accept a drink from a stranger, Madelyn.”
“Oops.”
“God, Little Demon. What are you doing?” I mutter, more for me than for her. “Are you with that guy right now?”
“N-no.” She laughs. “Of course, he left me, too. As usual. They all do.”
“Maddy…”
The feeling squeezing in my chest is the last straw, and I push open the door of my car.
This whole pretending to be on the road so I don’t come running to Madelyn right away and look like an obsessive guy is over.
“I’m here. I’ll see you soon,” I murmur into the phone.
I have to get to her. She is in potential danger, and she won’t even be able to protect herself or notice with the amount of alcohol in her system.
I’ve been patient enough. I’ve been parked outside the bar for the last hour and a half.
Well, a block away. I couldn’t be that obvious, but I had to make sure my little demon was okay.
The idea was to wait until she left and pass by with the car, pretending to be in the area and taking her home safely. Scratch that plan now.
I wait for the blur of cars to pass until the street is safe enough and I dash for the other side, my jaywalking the least of my concerns.
Once I’m past the door, I scan the room. People are filling the tables with drinks and laughter.
A surprise to me, given it’s a weekday.
My eyes find Madelyn within seconds, sitting at the bar in the same baby pink overall dress and shirt she wore today with one of the straps undone. Her long brown hair cascades down her shoulders, and a choker with a heart design decorates her neck.
Her cheeks turn pink when she catches me staring. Her eyes are glossy and as deep brown as ever.
She waves her hand, and I rush past the row of tables to save her from the darkness ahead.
Or at least, that’s what it feels like.
She has no idea what danger she faces being here by herself in that state. Always fragile, always the prey. While that might have bothered me when I first met her, how easily I could crush her, now it ignites a protective instinct in me.
“You came.”
“You called,” I remind her.
“Yeah.” She captures a piece of hair between her fingers and twists it.
If I didn’t know her, I’d think she was flirting with me.
“Let’s go home.”
“Or…” She pauses, her words elongated and slow. “We could stay and have a drink together.”
“Absolutely not.” I extend my hand toward her, palm open and welcoming. “Let’s go.”
She stares at it, hovering her palm above mine, tracing her finger over the creases of my own. A ticklish sensation overtakes my tired hands.
She pouts, staring at me with a mix of innocence and mischief. “Suddenly, I don’t want to.”
“Little Demon, come on. We’ve got work tomorrow. You called me. I’m here to take you home. Let’s go.”
She spins around in her seat. “Nope. I’ll stay here, with my friend, Joseph.”
A crease forms between my eyebrows. “Where is he?”
My eyes drift from one side of the room to the other. I barely remember what most of the staff look like at school. I’m not sure I’ll recognize a damn janitor.
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Maybe he isn’t here.” The pout returns to her face. “Of course, he isn’t. He left, just like my date. Leaving me here all alone.”
“You’re not alone,” I grunt.
“I am. It’s okay. It’s my destiny. I accept it. Just me, myself, and this glass of delicious poison.” She grabs her almost-empty glass, twirling around the remaining liquid in it. “I’m going to get another, to celebrate my misery.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Would you just let me sit here and drowninmysorrows?” The last part comes out in a slur. “ImeanIdon’tknowwhythiskeepshappeningtome.”
Too bad I’m too stubborn to let her do that.
I take the empty seat next to her and press my palm against her exposed thigh. I probably shouldn’t, and she probably shouldn’t let me. But it does the job. It brings her full attention to me.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I ask.
Her mouth opens in an O shape.
“It’s because you haven’t found the right man for you, yet.”
“I don’t want the right man. I just want someone to want me. To make me feel desired.” She sighs. “And I want to get laid. Is that too much to ask? I don’t wanna die a virgin.”
And there goes my moment of sincerity. Ruined. And now I can’t stop thinking about her words. And my cock’s hard in my pants.
All these years—and my Maddy’s still a virgin. Mine to take. Has she been waiting all this time for me?
No. That’s stupid.
“You should keep your voice low, saying something like that,” I whisper.
“Why? I want them to hear. Maybe I’ll get a volunteer. One that won’t run away.”
“You don’t want that.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’re better than everyone else in this room, Maddy.
You’re better than a simple one-night stand.
You deserve happiness. Someone to cherish you day and night.
Not someone who’ll be a ghost in your bed.
” What has gotten into me? I pause before I land the blow.
“You deserve forever with someone. And you deserve that first time to be memorable.”
Her eyes widen, and it’s as if she’s sobered up. “You really think so?”
“Yes.” My face is serious. I don’t smile. I can’t. But, I do. With my whole heart. I just wish I could be that someone for her, and not someone else. “You’re pretty, smart, passionate about what you want, and you have a good heart. Even if you’re annoying most of the time.”
She straightens up. Squinting, a sheepish smirk sneaks across her lips. “Aww, wait. You think I’m pretty?”
I sigh. “Madelyn…”
“Answer the question, Kayden.”
“Yes.”
She gnaws at her bottom lip, and I ignore the tightness in my pants, threatening to explode.
Pretty? She’s pure sex, and she doesn’t even know it.
She remains quiet, staring at me with that same seductive look.
The temptation to seal my speech with a kiss is strong.
But I don’t want to taint her when she’s drunk. I want her to make the decision on her own.
“Now will you let me take you home?”
She smiles. “Nah. Not yet.” She turns to face the bar again. “I’m still going to get that one drink.”
“You called me here to pick you up.”
“Yeah. I changed my mind.”
“Will you stop being a brat already?”
She looks at me over her shoulder, a smile brightening her whole face with her drunk eyes. “No.”
I swear I’m gonna—I clench my teeth and do what I have to do.
I stand up, and instead of asking for permission, I lift her off her seat.
Pick her up over my shoulder, pressing my hand to her ass for support.
“What are you doing? Put me down.”
“Nope.”
If she wants to play, I shall play.
There’s no way I’m letting Maddy stay here.
I stomp toward the door, ignoring her pleading as she struggles to break free from my embrace. I’m never letting her go.