Best Man (5 page)

Quick footsteps down the hall told me we weren’t alone. Shit. Who else was here? What the hell did we do? Travis’ large frame filled up the doorway. “Dude, I thought you were half dead. Glad you’re standing!”

Travis was here?
“What’s going on?” I stammered. “Where’s my gun?”

He stepped inside his sister’s room, yanked my arm around his shoulder, and helped me walk out into the hallway. As we moved past her, I glanced back at Maddie, who was leaning her back against the hallway wall and staring up at the ceiling. She looked lost. Hurt.
What the hell was going on?

“Your gun is safe in the nightstand, and I had Mike’s Garage pull the Jeep out for you,” Travis was saying.

“Pull the Jeep out of what?” I asked. We walked into Maddie’s living room and Casey and a few of the other guys in the wedding party were sitting on the couch.

“The river. The bridge washed out while you were on it. You don’t remember?” He laughed.

“No,” I chuckled, feeling a warm sense of relief sink in—tense muscles loosened all over my body. No wonder I felt like someone went at me with a bat. “I had no idea why I was waking up in your sister’s bed.”

One of the guys on the end of the couch busted out laughing at my words. “Not the first time we’ve heard that,” he said, and everyone laughed along with him—everyone except Maddie—who had seated herself at the kitchen table in the other room, away from everyone.

“Nah,” said one of the other guys, “she usually kicks them out right after. She’s a one-hit wonder.” There was another round of laughter, and Travis playfully punched the asshole. “What? Am I wrong?” he asked.

I could see her through the doorway. She was still staring up at the ceiling and when the laughter died down, she gently wiped her hand just under her eyes. My gut twisted and coiled. I didn’t like what was going on. It wasn’t right—her sitting in the kitchen listening to them talk like that about her—what was wrong with them?

With her?

“So how long have I been here?” I said through a clenched jaw.

“Since yesterday afternoon. Maddie said you passed out as soon as you stepped inside the cabin,” Travis said, laughing like it was a great joke, me passing out from a car accident.

“Yeah? And she took care of me? Put me in bed and shit? Made sure I was still breathing?” I asked, seething. Maddie was still gazing up at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Travis said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, his laughter gone, probably from the tone of my voice, which had lowered to just above growling.

I could feel my body heat rising, “And you’re sitting in her cabin talking shit about her? Laughing at her expense.” I snapped my head to the first asshole who said shit about her. “I bet you’re slut shaming her, because she never gave your sorry ass the time of day.” My head was still spinning and aching when I slowly turned my eyes to the other rude asshole—no sudden moves for me or I’d pass out again. “How about you? You ever hit that?” The guy’s mouth opened, but nothing came out, then he shook his head slightly. “Not even once?”

He continued to shake his head and looked away from me quickly.

“Then all of you shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear anyone disrespecting that woman in front of me again,” I snapped, pulling myself up and walking into the kitchen.

Maddie had her back to me when I got inside. She was busying herself with making coffee in one of those old coffee pots that percolated on the stovetop. “Hey,” I whispered, walking up behind her and holding onto the counter for support. I wanted to touch her—pull her back and wrap her in my arms. Protect her. I reached out and gently tugged on the hem of her shirt.

Calmly, she turned around and locked her eyes on mine, a purple kitchen towel clutched tightly to her chest.

“Thank you,” I said, watching the beautiful blush spread across her cheeks.

“You thought I drugged you,” she whispered slowly, stating every word through clenched teeth. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say tears were welling in her eyes. “You thought I gave you something and made you spend the night here…with me.”

“Maddie, I didn’t remember…”

“And yet, your first thought was what? I was a drug-pushing whore? Someone who is so obsessed with you that I’d lock you in my cabin, feed you drugs, and fuck you without you knowing it?” She turned her back to me, pulled out a few coffee mugs, and lined them up along the counter. “You’re no better than the rest of them. But I figured that out a long time ago.”

“No. Maddie, I don’t think that.”

“Luke, I get it. I get why you left. I understood then, and I understand now. I was a silly little kid, okay? I’m not her anymore. I’m not some lovesick teen pining after someone who never wanted me.”

“That’s what you think?” I asked, stepping closer to her, feeling the heat of her body radiate into mine. “You think I never wanted you? That I don’t want you now?”

Her motions stilled, shoulders tense and strained. “Don’t say another word, Luke. Just don’t. Don’t stand there behind me and give me even a sliver of false hope. You ruined me once. I won’t let you do it again.”

“Maddie…” I reached out for her, but she immediately shrugged my hand off her shoulder.

“Go back to your life in the city. Just leave, go home.”

“I’m not leaving this time, Maddie. I’m staying. I’m…”

“Then go find someone else to play with. I’m not interested in knowing who you want or what you want. Just stay away from me.”

CHAPTER 10

MADELINE

H
e didn’t stay away.

He sat at the bar for four nights straight, watching me. He’d order one or two drinks and just watch and wait. At closing time, he’d pull his dented up Jeep in front of the bar and ask me if I needed a ride home. I would just shake my head and walk past, wondering how long it was going to take to shake him from this nonsense. What he was trying to prove. If Travis was in the bar, then Luke wouldn’t pay attention to me. I was some forbidden fruit to him that he remembered tasted sweet at one time and wanted another bite. Thing was, I had no more bites left.

On the fifth night, Travis and a bunch of guys from the mill came in and sat around the bar with Luke. He still watched me, but only from the corner of his eye. Sometime just before closing, Jason, whatever-his-last name-was, was leaning up against the bar in my section and smiled at me. “You look real pretty tonight, Maddie.”

“Just tonight?” I asked, smiling back at him.

“Always. You’re always pretty to me.” He stood still, waiting for me to ask the same question I did last time,
Want to come home and show me how pretty you think I am?
And I opened my mouth to say the words, I did, but they didn’t come out. My chest burned, and my cheeks warmed to an almost painful heat. I should ask him. I should ask him and just go home with this random man and feel pretty for a while... wanted.

“She’s going home with me tonight,” a voice said.

My heart sped up, and then skidded to a screeching halt. Luke stormed up between us and shoved himself between Jason and me. “Leave,” he snarled into Jason’s face.

Jason’s eyes darted to mine. “Maybe next time,” he smiled, walking off, like he knew there would definitely be a next time.
God, what a waste of an orgasm he was
.

I glanced up at Luke and shook my head. “You going to stop me from having a sex life now?”

“Letting a practical stranger fuck you against a wall for three or four seconds isn’t a sex life.”

“Whatever,” I sighed, untying my apron and waving goodnight to Ava, who was closing tonight. I shoved my apron into the locker in the hallway and took my time pulling out my jacket, losing sight and care of Luke. Hopefully, the cockblocker was on his way home already.

“Goodnight, Steve!” I called to my boss as I made my way to the back exit. Before I reached the door, a pair of hands cupped my waist and pulled me back into the dark shadows of the backroom. Large, warm hands that spun me around and cupped my face to hold me in place. Luke’s breath fanned out around my face. The smell of his cologne and skin made my knees weak, but I pushed my hands out to keep him at a distance.

“You don’t go home with anyone—but me.”

“You’re crazy,” I said, choking on a trembling breath. “Let me go,” I snarled, looking past him toward the bar area.

“Look at me, Maddie,” he whispered, sliding his hand down around my neck, his thumb pulling my bottom lip down.

I tilted my head up to meet his eyes, and heat coiled and zipped through my chest and down my middle. “Shit,” I cursed under my breath, trying to slow down my breathing.

“I don’t want you taking anymore guys home.” His voice was deep and demanding. “If you need someone to make you feel good, it’s going to be me.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, and my breath shuddered violently through my chest. “You don’t want that, Luke. Believe me.”

“I want it, trust me. I never wanted anything more.”

His forehead touched mine and his hands slowly slid down my arms. My jacket dangled from my hands, then dropped in a heap on the floor. The pads of his fingers slid under the hem of my shirt and worked their way to the button of my pants and pulled them open. “I can’t watch it anymore. It’s making me crazy. You need someone to make you feel good, right now?”

I arched my body against his in response.

Reaching up, he tangled a hand through my hair and shifted his other hand slowly down the front of my pants. He fisted the strands of my hair, tightly holding my head in place. “Keep your eyes on mine. I want you to remember who’s making you come hard tonight.”

His fingers slipped under the edge of my panties and with a gentle plunge, he shoved them deep inside me. “Oh, shit,” I panted.

“You’re so wet,” he whispered, picking up the rhythm and curling his fingers into my flesh. “You remember how hard you came on my cock five years ago?”

“Yes,” I whispered, feeling the first waves of pleasure as his fingers thrust deeper and faster inside me.

“I can’t wait to be inside you again, Maddie.”

I came hard around his fingers as he slammed his other hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming out his name.

CHAPTER 11

LUKE

I 
was pacing—wearing a hole in the rug as if it were my wedding rehearsal dinner that was about to happen. I straightened my suit jacket, and Travis stilled me with his hands, squeezing my shoulders. “You’re getting
me
nervous. This is just the rehearsal dinner. Stop pacing,” he said, patting my chest. His eyes narrowed, and a slow smile began to appear across his face. “Are you wearing your holster…and your gun…to my wedding rehearsal?”

“Uh yeah, I don’t go anywhere without my gun.”

“Really?” he twisted his face up awkwardly. “What happens on dates?”

“It’s always on me.”

“Remind me never to piss you off,” he said, leaning forward to look out the restaurant window.

“Yeah, right, because I usually shoot people I’m pissed off at,” I said drily.

He shook his head and chuckled softly. “What if she doesn’t show up?”

“Why wouldn’t she show up? It’s the wedding rehearsal, not the real wedding—that’s when you should be nervous.”

“You’re not making me feel any better. Really, just quit pacing and stop answering me,” he said, leaning his forehead against the window to get a better view of the outside. “Hey, okay, here comes Maddie and her date.”

At the mention of her named, I stilled, and my pulse pounded through my ears. I hadn’t seen her since the night in the hallway at the bar. I’d tried to stay away, because when I’m near her, I don’t want to keep my hands off her. The way she still looked at me with those bedroom eyes, I wanted to be with her more than anything. I’ve tried to stop the thoughts, but they slam through my brain repeatedly. I even forced myself to take out one of Casey’s friends that Travis introduced me to, and I ended up calling her Maddie three different times. I ended the date after an hour…
Wait, what did he just say?
“Hold up. Maddie’s here with
a date?
”

“Yeah, I set up a date for her with a really nice guy. Casey knows him from work. I had to step in; she’s out of control. I don’t want her to end up like Ava.”

“And the first person you thought of for her was a stranger?”

“I told you Casey knows him from work,” he said, grimacing at me. “Don’t look at me like that. Why the hell would you even care?”

“You didn’t think to ask me?”

He raised his chin slowly and locked eyes on me. He loosened the collar of his shirt and cleared his throat before speaking. “You hate each other. Why would I ask you? Are you suddenly interested in my sister?”

“I always was, yeah.”

“That’s gross,” he laughed.

“I’m serious. I’ve had it bad for her since we were kids. I
like her
.”

“Sorry Luke, but I’m sure my sister hates your guts. Always has, always will.” He shrugged and patted me on the back. He spun around just as the front door opened and in walked Maddie, linked at the elbow with some scrawny looking punk, wearing a turtleneck and a pair of what had to be his father’s black slacks...three sizes too big. “Have you heard from Casey?” Travis asked. “She’s never late, and it’s getting close to—”

“—Yes, Trav, stop. Are you thinking she’s not going to show up...to the rehearsal dinner? Save the nerves for the wedding day, that’s when she’d run,” she laughed.

Travis’s eyes darted back and forth between us, and he shook his head. “You both have the same personality. You
would
be perfect for each other.”

Maddie gave me a confused look, and I waved it off. “So who’s this?” I asked, nudging my chin at the boy child standing next to her.

“Robert,” she said in a soft voice. “Robert, this is Travis’s best man, Luke.”

He held out his hand and smiled. I grabbed it hard and squeezed. “I’m
the best man
for Maddie here too.”

His eyes crinkled in the corners. “Excuse me?”

“Go ahead,” I shrugged, “you’re excused. You could go now. Run the fuck along.”

Maddie stepped between us and pried my hand off Robert’s. “That’s enough. What the hell is wrong with you?”