When Maddox returned home, Tobias wasn’t there. The TV was off; so were the lights.
He grew anxious when he considered all the places his brother could be. Had Tobias called their mother? Had Jill come to pick him up?
He’d told her to leave Tobias alone until Tobias could get on his feet.
He almost called her; then he thought better of it. The last thing he needed was a screaming match with his mother, who was probably still angry with him. First, he was going to be sure Tobias hadn’t walked or hitchhiked to town. Tobias knew to remain scarce here in Silver Springs, but Maddox was usually home by five thirty. He’d been gone an additional three hours tonight, wrestling with all the decisions he had to make. Maybe his brother had been short some ingredient for dinner. Or he’d started to go stir-crazy being cooped up in such a small house for so long. After being in prison, he didn’t like tight spaces. No matter how hot it was outside, he preferred that the doors and windows remain open. Said it reminded him that he was a free man and could walk out at any moment. And that was what made it possible for him to breathe right now when he was so wound up about the future.
Maddox quickly changed out of his work clothes and into a pair of jeans and a golf shirt and climbed into his car. He was just backing down the drive when he happened to glance at Uriah’s house.
The door and the front windows were open. That struck him as odd; Uriah was usually scrupulous about maximizing the efficiency of his air conditioner.
After coming to an abrupt stop, he jammed his transmission into Park, jumped out and jogged up the walkway.
Before he even reached the stoop, he could hear voices.
“Damn! How’d you do that?”
“Just a little trick I learned in prison.”
“I never saw it coming.”
“You left yourself vulnerable to it three moves ago. Look. If you hadn’t moved your bishop here, I couldn’t have moved my queen. And then you went with your rook, so I moved this pawn, and when you responded with that pawn, I used my bishop to slide right over and capture your queen.”
Maddox breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized his brother’s voice.
“Well, I’ll be darned,” Uriah said. “That game only lasted five minutes!”
“Sorry about that,” Tobias said. “Should I go easier on you?”
“Hell, no! Do your best or beating you won’t mean a thing to me.”
Maddox chuckled and knocked on the doorframe. “Hey, what’s going on in here?” he asked as he let himself inside. “I come home late one night and my brother’s already usurped my seat at the chessboard?”
“He’s good!” Uriah pointed at Tobias. “Damn good! Have you played him?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, I suggest you don’t, not unless you’re ready for a sound beating. He makes winning look easy.”
Tobias waved away the praise. “This game saved my sanity in the joint. I’ve had a lot of experience. That’s all.”
“Show me your strategy again,” Uriah said, but before Tobias could start with that, Uriah motioned at the stove. “There’s some spaghetti I made earlier, Maddox. It’ll be cold now, but you can warm it up.”
There were two dirty plates sitting in the sink. Evidently, Uriah had already fed his brother.
Maddox considered refusing. He didn’t want to impose. But he could tell by how animated and engaged Uriah was that he was enjoying having company. So, getting a plate out of the cupboard, Maddox helped himself to that spaghetti and sat down to eat it cold.
“You’re not going to heat it up?” Uriah asked.
“It’s fine the way it is.”
“No, it’s not.” He grabbed Maddox’s plate so he could warm it up himself.
“I’ve got it,” Maddox complained, but Uriah put it in the microwave all the same.
“How long have you been here?” Maddox asked his brother above the steady whir of the fan angled toward them from the opposite corner of the kitchen.
Tobias’s forehead glistened with sweat—it was such a hot day—as he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “An hour—maybe an hour and a half?”
“It’s been two at least,” Uriah said. “It was six thirty when I walked back to see if you were hungry.”
“Was it that long ago?”
“We’ve played two other games already.” He directed his next comment to Maddox. “I fared better earlier, when he was being careful not to beat me too quickly,” he added with a wink.
Maddox noticed the guilty expression on his brother’s face. “I had no idea you could play so well. Consider me warned.”
“I wish I could get a job playing chess,” Tobias grumbled.
Uriah brought Maddox’s plate back to the table. “Have you heard back on anything?”
“Not yet.”
Maddox thought about his conversation with Eli and how he’d given up the potential opportunity he’d been keeping in his back pocket for Tobias. It’d been nice to know that, worst-case scenario, Tobias might be able to work with Gavin, at least until they could find something else. But it was what it was; he couldn’t regret it.
“You could work here for me,” Uriah said.
Maddox jerked his gaze to the older man. “What’d you say?”
“I said I’ll hire him. Can’t pay much. Don’t have the acreage I used to. But it’d give him a little income until something better comes along.”
“Are you serious?” Tobias asked.
Uriah seemed fully committed. “Absolutely.”
When Tobias looked to Maddox, Maddox wasn’t sure how to respond. “That might help—temporarily, I mean,” he said.
“I think so, too,” Tobias said. “That’d be really nice.”
Uriah shifted the game board to give Maddox more room to eat. “Like I said, I can’t pay much...”
Tobias rocked his chair back on two legs. “Whatever you pay has got to be better than the seventy cents an hour I made in prison.”
“Maybe you won’t be disappointed, then. I’ll pay you fifteen dollars an hour. I always try to be fair. But you have a young, strong body and an agile mind. You can make a lot more elsewhere, and I know it. So don’t feel bad when you find something better. I’m expecting it. This will just give you some work history, experience and, if you do a good job, a recommendation.”
“I’ll do a good job,” Tobias said and seemed so happy that Maddox couldn’t bring himself to intervene. He was happy, too, especially when he played Uriah and Tobias helped coach on both sides of the board. Having someone who was that good take part made the game last forever, but they were all smiling when they said good-night.
“He’s a cool dude, isn’t he?” Tobias said as they walked back to the rental house.
“He is.”
“What happened to his head—that scrape on his forehead?”
“He fell off a ladder the day before you got here. He tries to do too much, so having you help out while you’re here will be smart for both of you.” Maddox tilted his head back to look up at the stars. “What made you answer the door when he came to see if you wanted dinner?”
“I thought he was going to demand I move out, but I knew he knew I was there, so I had to let him. It’s his property. If he doesn’t want me here, he’s got the right to tell me to go. But that wasn’t what he said. All he wanted was to ask me if I’d like some dinner.”
“He’s a good guy, all right,” Maddox said.
“Can you believe he gave me a job? Just like that?” Tobias snapped his fingers.
As pleased as Maddox was that something good had finally happened for his brother, he cringed inside. Tobias couldn’t stay in Silver Springs long-term. Building some work history and taking a recommendation with him when he left made sense, though. “I can’t,” Maddox admitted. “Why do you think he did that?”
“He likes me.” Tobias sounded slightly incredulous.
Maddox slugged him in the arm. “I don’t know how.”
By the time they reached the back door, they were wrestling, trying to throw each other to the ground. Tobias nearly knocked over a dining room chair, and when Maddox tried an arm drag, they hit the wall and rattled everything in the cupboards. It wasn’t until Maddox heard his phone ping that he called a truce. He knew it could be his mother, or it could be Jada.
Fortunately, it was Jada. I want to see you.
Maddox had brought a handful of condoms. He wasn’t sure he’d have the chance to use any of them tonight, but he wasn’t about to see Jada unprepared, just in case. The last time they’d been together had blown his mind. He’d give almost anything for a second encounter. But maybe she only wanted to talk. She could be having second thoughts about allowing her daughter to come to New Horizons. Eli or Aiyana could’ve called to give Atticus the news that he had a job and Jada could be responding to that. Or Jada could’ve learned, somehow, that Tobias was in town.
He drew a deep breath as he paced the short length of space at the bottom of the king-size bed in the middle of the room. He’d gone to the expense and trouble of renting a motel so that she wouldn’t see Tobias, but he hadn’t told her that he had company. He had no doubt she assumed he wanted her to meet him at the Mission Inn so she wouldn’t have to worry about the security cameras at the orchard.
He had to tell her what was happening in his life, how things had changed. But he was struggling with the idea of being cut off—again—just when she was showing some interest.
The sound of a car engine outside told him she’d arrived. He’d requested a room in the far corner. Although the inn was one of the most popular in town, it was also the biggest and oldest and was built on a large piece of property that backed up to a creek and a thick copse of trees, giving it a somewhat private setting even though it was right in the middle of town.
He parted the drapes to see her get out of her car. When she stood in the floodlights that faced the parking lot, checking the numbers on the doors to make sure she had the right room, he poked his head out. “Right here,” he said softly.
She dropped her keys in her purse as she approached. When he stepped back so she could come in, he expected her to berate him for bringing Tobias to town. He knew that was how she and her family would perceive the situation—that he’d duped them by getting them to accept his presence before pushing the boundaries and making matters even worse.
But she didn’t say a word. As soon as he closed the door and turned to face her, she pulled off her shirt.
Maddox’s mouth went dry. So this was that kind of meeting. “Jada—” He figured he should speak while he could still think. But he didn’t have the chance to get anything else out before she stepped into his arms. Then he couldn’t speak because they were kissing.
He told himself to stop, to disengage and tell her. She needed to hear about Tobias from him, before she could find out some other way. And she’d have less reason to be angry if he explained before they made love.
In a minute, he told himself. But one minute quickly passed on to the next, and before he knew it, they were both wearing only their jeans. He spoke when he held her away from him long enough to admire the beauty of her body—her breasts, the three freckles on her flat stomach, the curve of her waist—but what came out wasn’t what needed to be said. “You’re all I’ve been able to think about. Night and day. The way you look. The way you taste. The way you feel.”
A slightly confused expression came over her face as she stared up at him. “Then why didn’t you contact me?”
She’d just given him the perfect lead-in to the conversation they needed to have. He opened his mouth to tell her that Tobias was in town. But, ultimately, he couldn’t bring himself to ruin something that promised to be so good—every bit as good as the last time they’d spent the night together. “Things are...complicated,” he said.
“No kidding. But it doesn’t seem to matter. I can’t make myself stay away from you.”
All thoughts of acting with a more rational head completely disappeared in that moment. To hell with anything outside this room.
She locked her legs around his hips as he carried her to the bed. “I don’t think what we’re doing is so bad,” he said. “We’re not hurting anyone.”
The corners of her lips turned down. “Not unless my family finds out.”
After a week of waiting and wondering, Jada had finally broken down and done the very thing she’d been trying not to do: she’d contacted Maddox again. And that had led immediately to this, just as she’d been afraid it would. But she couldn’t feel any regret, not when she was right up against him, when she could feel his heart pounding as fast as hers.
“Where does your mother think you are?” he asked as he dropped her onto the bed and fell along with her.
She let her fingers run over the muscular ridges of his stomach and chest. “I suppose she thinks I’m in my room. It’s not like I woke her to tell her I was leaving.”
“Where’s Maya? Sleeping?”
“Probably not yet. She’s staying with Annie. There’s an orientation at New Horizons tomorrow afternoon.”
He pulled back and gave her a funny look. “I know about the orientation. I work there, remember?”
She was purposely ignoring that, trying to pretend it was just another school year. To do otherwise made her fear she was making the worst mistake of her life. What if he began to suspect he was Maya’s father—or she did? There was always the possibility. And yet Jada had given in because she did want her daughter to know him, hated that, so far, she’d removed the possibility of that from Maya’s life. She wished it could be entirely safe, of course, but there was no such thing as a “safe” way to bring them into contact. “They’re going to get ready and go together.”
“I can’t believe you’re letting her come to my school.”
He seemed pleased, as if he saw that as a concession—a vote of confidence. But Jada preferred not to discuss it, not to even think about it. Especially now.
She’d tackle reality again in the morning. “Neither can I.”
He caught her wrists and pinned her hands above her head. “Did you just say ‘neither can I’?”
“Huh?” She blinked up at him.
“Should I be offended by that response?”
Twisting her wrists out of his grip, she pulled him down so that she could bite his neck. When she sucked his smooth, warm skin into her mouth, she felt such a rush of satisfaction she couldn’t help groaning. “Sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying right now,” she murmured. Instead of making her content, her last visit to his house had only caused her obsession with him to grow. The second Maya had left for Annie’s after they’d had dinner together tonight, she’d nearly raced into her bedroom to text him. At first, she’d fought the urge, thought she’d overcome the temptation. But as soon as the lights went out and the house quieted down, she’d succumbed.
“So what are we doing?” he asked as he shifted onto one elbow so he could slide his hand down her pants.
Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back, welcoming the relief and pleasure he brought her. “Isn’t that obvious?”
She nearly jumped when his fingers slipped beneath the thin fabric of her panties.
“If it was, I wouldn’t be asking.” His other hand fisted in her hair as he leaned forward and kissed her. “Last time, we agreed it would be a one-night stand.” He nibbled on her earlobe. “Is this another one?” he whispered, his breath hot, his voice husky. “Or can I hope for something more?”
She gulped for the breath to respond. “Do we—” When her voice cracked, she cleared her throat. “Do we have to discuss it right now?”
His eyes were heavy-lidded but his focus razor-sharp. She could tell he was aroused. And yet he was holding back. “I think that’d be smart.”
“Because...”
His teeth flashed as he smiled. “Because I have a little leverage in this moment, which means I have a better shot at getting what I want.”
“You’re not interested in this?” Covering his hand with hers, she pressed his finger deeper inside her.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “You know I am. I just don’t want to drive home feeling like this was the last time we’ll ever be together. There have been enough last times.”
Her eyelids felt almost too heavy to lift, and her limbs tingled—not to mention other regions of her body. “This, from the man who didn’t call or text me once this week?”
“It wasn’t as if I didn’t want to.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
He froze, giving her the impression he was uncomfortable with the question.
“Maddox?”
He undid her pants. “Because what I felt when I lost you in high school was bad enough.”
She drew his mouth back to hers, kissing him deeply, hungrily. “Forget high school. Forget everything.”
“I’m willing if you are. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? You can’t forget. And even if you could, it’s asking too much of your family. So where does that leave us?”
Nowhere. But she couldn’t say so, didn’t want to acknowledge that herself. “How about a torrid affair?”
“Torrid’s a great word. I like torrid, especially when it comes to you, but—” he peeled her jeans all the way off “—give me a few more details. What would I be able to expect?”
She arched her back as his tongue moved over her nipple. “More of this.”
He lifted his head. “How often?”
“Two or three times a week. As many times as we can get away.”
He didn’t accept that as readily as she’d anticipated. “What about dinner every once in a while? Going other places?”
He was letting her know he didn’t care to be limited. She could understand why that might be the case. It wasn’t particularly gratifying to be anyone’s dirty little secret. But he knew the reason they couldn’t take their relationship public. It wasn’t her fault. Slipping away to be with him here and there was dangerous enough. “Maybe. If we go somewhere else.”
“Like...”
She could hear the sour note in his voice. “That may not be ideal, but at least we’d be together sometimes. You’ve offered that before, right?”
Pulling away, he sat up. “I have. But how do you see that ending? When one of us finds someone else?”
She got up on her knees. “Don’t make me think that far down the road,” she said and pressed him back onto the pillows before undoing his pants and licking her way down his stomach.
She felt his muscles tighten in anticipation.
“Shit. Something tells me I’m a fool to get involved with you again,” he said, but she felt his fingers slip through her hair, welcoming what she was offering, as she took him in her mouth.
They’d wrecked the neatly made bed—kicked the comforter and the top sheet to the floor along with half the pillows.
“That had to be the best sex of my life.” Maddox felt utterly boneless as he lay beside Jada, staring up at the ceiling.
She stirred but didn’t seem to have any more energy than he did. “No one ever said we weren’t good together.”
The bitter disappointment he’d endured after Tobias had shot Atticus and he’d lost his brother and his girlfriend, and been sent away never to be contacted by Jada again, threatened to ruin his euphoria. He shoved the memory to the back of his mind even though he knew he was probably looking at something similar when their “torrid affair” was over.
“This is a nice motel room.” She lifted her head as though she was only now noticing. “How much was it?”
He hadn’t been concerned about the price. He’d been so excited to see her, he’d simply found a place that was close and comfortable, somewhere they could meet without being seen. “It wasn’t cheap, but I’m not worried about it.”
She looked over at him. “How much?”
“Two hundred and fifty dollars.”
“Two hundred and fifty dollars?” She sat up. “You paid that, knowing we’d only need it for a couple of hours?”
He couldn’t help smiling as he remembered how she’d taken off her top the moment she’d walked through the door. What she proposed wasn’t going to be all bad—until it ended. “Well, we got started a little sooner than I expected.”
She laughed.
“Anyway, it was worth it.”
“Do you have Venmo? I’ll send you half.”
“No, I’ll cover the room.”
“I want to contribute. Even then, if that’s how much seeing each other is going to cost, we can’t afford a torrid affair. We need to figure out a way for me to slip past the cameras at your place.”
Maddox cringed at the mention of his place. She couldn’t come back there, not while Tobias was staying with him. And Maddox sure as hell couldn’t show his face at her house. “Seeing each other won’t be easy.”
She rolled onto her side and drew a heart on his chest. “You don’t think we can figure it out?”
He wrestled with his conscience for a moment. Then he said, “I need to tell you something.”
When she propped her head up, her hair fell in a tangled mass and her lips looked slightly swollen from the feverishness of their kisses, but he thought she was beautiful, liked her this way more than any other. “About what?”
He could hear the wariness in her voice. And for good reason. She wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“My brother’s in town.”
She blinked several times. “For a visit?”
When he didn’t answer right away, she scrambled off the bed and snatched up her panties. “Don’t tell me he’s going to live here. I thought he was going to LA.”
Maddox wished he’d waited a bit longer to speak up. Maybe she would’ve curled against him and gone to sleep for a few hours. They could use the quiet, the calm after the sexual frenzy they’d just experienced. But he also felt as though he was taking advantage of her by making love to her when she didn’t know about Tobias. “He was. Things have already fallen apart with the woman he was seeing.”
“Because...”
“I guess she’s a difficult personality.”
“How do you know it wasn’t your brother who’s to blame?” she asked dryly.
Maddox sat up and combed his fingers through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered before he could respond. “That was uncalled for.”
“It’s okay.” Sometimes it was difficult for Maddox not to be angry at what his brother had done. But Tobias couldn’t change the past, so at some point, feeding that anger seemed pointless. “I can see why you’d wonder. I honestly don’t think so. I met her and... I don’t know. I could never be attracted to her. But, either way, he’s my brother. I can’t turn him out. Where would he go? What would he do?” He held up a hand before she could suggest his mother as a source of support. “My mother’s using again. She isn’t an option.”
Jada pulled the comforter off the floor and covered herself with it as she sank slowly onto the edge of the bed. “Using again...”
“You know my mother’s an addict, right?”
She said nothing, just stared down at the carpet.
“This can’t be anything you like hearing. I don’t come from the kind of family you do, Jada, but it is what it is. I can’t walk away from them. They need me too badly.”
Instead of getting up to get dressed and leave, she reached for his hand. He hoped, when her fingers curled through his, that it was a good sign. That she wasn’t about to tell him their “torrid affair” was already over. He couldn’t blame her if she did. He came with too many problems.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me again,” he said.
She didn’t respond, just kept slipping her fingers between his and pulling them out again.
“I honestly didn’t come back here to cause trouble for you or your family,” he added in case he hadn’t made that clear. “I wanted the job Aiyana offered me. That’s all. It’s a good opportunity, a chance for me to give back. I planned to stay out of your brother’s way, hoping your mother and brother wouldn’t even notice I was here. But then I found out you were back. And Tobias got out of prison. And the woman he professed to love turned out to be someone he couldn’t live with. And my mother relapsed, forcing me to face the fact that she couldn’t be trusted to help him—story of my life, right? And...there’s no easy solution. Eventually, Tobias should be able to work out of the mess he’s in, which means I’ll be able to work out of the mess I’m in, too. But that’s not going to happen quickly.”
He couldn’t see her face. She had her head bowed, and her hair was falling forward. “How long do you think it will take to get his license?”
“Another week or two. But then...we’ll see if someone’s willing to trust him enough to give him a job. That might not be easy even after he has a license.” For all Maddox knew, he might be forced to work for Uriah for several months before the job history Uriah was willing to give him made any difference. For the sake of the Brookses, however, Maddox’s goal was still to get Tobias out of town as soon as possible.
She said nothing.
He smoothed her hair back. “Jada?”
“What?”
“Will you tell me what you’re thinking?”
“I’m thinking your family is damn lucky to have you. And...”
“Go on...”
“They don’t deserve you,” she added, more softly.
That was far better than he’d expected. “Do you think we should tell your family about Tobias? How do you suggest we handle the situation?”
She didn’t get the chance to answer. His phone rang in the pocket of his jeans, which were lying on the floor where he’d cast them aside. He was about to get up so he could see who it was but that wasn’t necessary; Jada handed him his pants.
“It’s my brother,” he said when he saw caller ID. He wasn’t going to answer it. That would sort of bring Tobias into the room with them. Telling Jada Tobias was in town, only two miles away, was bad enough. But when she started grabbing the rest of her things and putting them on, he knew the evening was over, anyway.
She glanced at him over her shoulder when he didn’t say hello. “You’re not going to pick up?”
“I’ll deal with him after you leave.”
“Thanks.” She was nice, polite, but he could feel the sudden distance between them.
“What would you have me do?” he asked.
“There’s nothing you can do.” She turned to face him. “And, sadly, that goes for me, too.”