17. Miles #3
Her bright copper eyes bore into me, and I can see how pissed she is. The look she’s giving me goes straight to my dick and I mentally will it to calm the fuck down. This isn’t the right time for that now. She begins to walk away from me again, so I yell at her.
“I caught him on camera!” The words explode out of my mouth in a rush. That stops her dead in her tracks, so I continue. “I saw him, Mads. I put cameras up in my apartment and he came back.”
She slowly turns around, the anger drained from her face, replaced with unmistakable fear. She nods her head and walks back towards me. A single tear falls from her eye and I hold my arms open for her to walk into, but she doesn’t. She stops just outside my reach.
“I want you to show me.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, “This doesn’t fix what you’ve done, but I’ll go with you.”
I drop my arms and look down, accepting that she’s giving me something at least, and nod. I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give me.
“Nope, nuh uh. I’m putting my foot down, Maddie. You can’t honestly be willing to go with him after everything he’s done!” Kaitlin says, huffing and puffing like a little demon.
She gives me a disgusted look and I keep my eyes trained on her face and square my shoulders, every muscle in my body begging me to tell her to mind her own damn business.
But I bite my tongue, literally crushing it between my teeth until I taste blood.
The last thing I need is another argument, not when I finally have Maddie talking to me again.
“I’ll be alright, Kay. Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll text you.” Maddie looks over at me and nods, walking past me with her books tight to her chest, going straight towards my Jeep.
As I glance back over my shoulder one last time, I catch Kaitlin still standing exactly where we left her.
She's absolutely seething, arms are folded so tightly across her chest they look painful. Her eyes follow us across the parking lot with an intensity that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Is that normal? Seriously. What kind of friend gets that pissed because her friend agreed to leave with a guy? She looks less protective and more angry that Maddie chose me. She’s practically got smoke blowing out of her ears.
I curl my lip at her in disgust, because what the actual fuck is that, and turn away from her. I don’t bother looking back again, because the only person I care about is halfway across the parking lot already.
I catch up quickly, placing my hand on Maddie’s lower back.
I can feel her stiffen at my touch and it feels like my heart was stabbed straight through my ribs.
One month. That’s all it took for my touch to disturb her.
I try to shake the thought away because at least she’s letting me keep my hand there.
I walk her to the passenger side of my Jeep and open the door for her, letting her in as she silently thanks me. It’s the little things with her that are slowly mending the broken.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but for now, I’ll fucking take it.
After the intensely awkward and quiet drive, I walk Maddie into my apartment.
She wouldn’t talk to me the entire way here, but I’m hoping being in my space will open her back up.
We walk inside and I drop my keys in the dish, noticing there’s no note this time.
Good. I hope that motherfucker stays out.
“Do you want a drink or something?” I ask as I walk to the fridge and grab myself a beer. “Water? Soda?”
“Uhh, no. Thanks, though.”
I watch as she looks around my space. She relaxes a little, the tension slowly easing from her shoulders. Hope stirs somewhere in my chest. Then she looks over at my bed, the blankets tangled together and pillows thrown wherever they landed when I crawled out of bed this morning.
I can tell just by looking at her that she’s thinking of the last time she was in it. What we did together. How I made her feel and the delicious sounds I dragged out of her. I can give her that again, I can give her everything if she would just fucking let me.
I set my beer on the counter and slowly make my way toward her. She senses me and turns in my direction, her body responding to me no matter how hard she tries to deny it. Can’t she feel this thing between us? Our connection is so fucking intense, how could she not?
She inhales a deep breath and looks away, clearing her throat.
“Miles,” she whispers and I step into her, one finger slipping beneath her chin to lift her face toward mine.
Being this close to her is almost unbearable.
She smells like coffee and vanilla, just enough to make every memory of her come crashing back all at once.
My gaze drops to her full lips and I literally salivate at the thought of tasting them again.
I drag my tongue across my bottom lip, her eyes immediately follow the movement.
I know she wants me to kiss her just as much as I want to kiss her, but wanting and forgiving are two separate things.
And I don't think I can handle being rejected again.
“Tell me to do it, Madelyn.” My voice is rough, barely more than a whisper. “Just say the words and I’ll give you more than you could imagine.”
I run my hand along her neck and feel her pulse quicken. I cup her cheek and she breathes in, her eyes fluttering shut, and I wait for her response.
“Could you please show me the footage?”
There it is, that pesky rejection. I drop my hand and step away from her, accepting that she’s just not ready yet. She’ll get there, I just need to keep trying.
“Yeah. Give me a minute to pull it up.”
I walk over to my computer and pull up the security footage. As soon as the masked man appears on the screen, I hear her suck in a sharp breath. This is probably the closest she’s been to seeing this guy. I show her the clip of his face and she gasps.
I look between her and the screen, “What is it? Do you recognize him?”
She doesn’t say anything at first, but after a moment she finally says, “Can you zoom in, please? Th-the necklace. Zoom in on the necklace.”
I do what she asks, and I try to see what she’s seeing. She runs her finger along the necklace on the screen and tears up.
“Do you recognize it?”
“Y-yeah. It was my mother’s. I thought it was gone. I-I thought it was buried with her.”
My mind is racing, trying to make sense of what she just said.
Why the fuck would someone have her mother’s necklace?
She breaks, grasping at my shirt and, without thinking, I pull her into my arms. I hate that this is what’s bringing her back to me, but I’m selfish and just glad that I have her in my arms again.
That it’s me who's bringing her comfort.
Minutes pass before her sobs finally quiet, but neither of us moves. My fingers drift slowly through her hair, careful not to pull at the curls, and little by little she relaxes into me.
“Do you want to watch more of it? It could possibly help us find out who this is.” She shakes her head against me, and I’m too selfish to pull her away. I just want to be her comfort.
I wonder if there’s anything else she’d even recognize about him. He’s wearing a mask, but there’s so much we can get from this footage. His build, his eyes, the way he walks. I don’t want to upset her further, but I need her to watch the rest of what we have here.
“Not really, but I know I should. I’m just scared, Miles. What if…” She stops and I feel like I don’t have a choice. I pull her away from my chest and cup her face.
“Hey,” I wait until she finally meets my eyes.
“It’s okay, you can tell me anything. I’m here, alright?
I swear he’s not going to hurt you, I won’t fucking let him.
Whatever it is that’s preventing you from telling me, just throw that shit away.
Nothing will make me look at you any differently than how I see you right now. ”
She nods, and relief washes over me—it’s clear she is trying to trust me.
After a deep breath, she wipes away the tears and straightens her posture.
Her gaze drifts to the ceiling as she takes a moment to pull herself together.
Finally, she clears her throat and meets my eyes with a serious expression, prompting me to sit a little straighter.
“Before I moved here, I killed my father.”