Page 16 of Echoes of You

She’d get that spark back, her fire and zest for life. I’d make sure of it.

Maddie bit into her piece of pizza and let out a moan. The sound went straight to my dick. It reacted before I had a chance to will it down. I imagined cold showers. The gross locker room at the police station that always smelled like feet, no matter how many times they cleaned it.

“God,” Maddie mumbled around her food. “I missed this. It’s better than sex.”

I nearly choked on my tongue. The last thing I needed was that word coming out of her mouth. “Really don’t need the details of your sex life, Maddie.” I’d pretended she hadn’t had one for my entire adult life.

“Shut up and let me have my moment of bliss.”

As I took her in, I froze. It was as if she’d just reached Nirvana. Eyes closed. Head tipped back. Sheer ecstasy on her face.

Maddie’s eyes opened, and a blush hit her cheeks. “You’re staring.”

I shoved every seductive image of Maddie from my mind. “I’ve never seen someone go after pizza with quite that gusto.”

She balled her napkin and threw it at me. “You’re the worst.”

I grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward me and reaching around to tickle her side. “What did you say?”

“Nash!” she shrieked, laughter bursting out of her. But as I hit a spot along her ribs, she cried out.

I froze. “Mads?”

She scooted away from me. “Sorry, just a stitch in my side.”

That wasn’t the sound someone made when they had a cramp. That was agony.

I moved on instinct, tugging up the side of her T-shirt. Everything around me stilled. I couldn’t hear anything but the blood roaring in my ears. My vision tunneled on Maddie’s side.

It was a kaleidoscope of colors. Blacks, purples, blues, and greens. And they were all in the shape of a boot print.

My breaths came in ragged pants as rage coursed through me. “Who. Did. This?”

5

MADDIE

Fury pulsedthrough Nash in waves. I could see the crash of each new thought as it took hold. I hated everything about it—that my mistakes and weakness were causing him pain, what he must think of me…

“No one did this. I fell.” The denial slipped from my tongue as easily as breathing. But the price was hating myself just a little more. How many times had my mother coached me in those denials about my father? I’d fallen off my bike, out of a tree, gotten hurt jumping off my bed.

Each little lie carved itself into my soul, and yet here I was, setting more free. But that self-hatred would be worth it if I could ease the anger ravaging Nash right now. I’d pay the price over and over again.

Nash’s nostrils flared. “That’s a fucking boot print on your damn ribs!”

His words were a guttural bellow—as if each one clawed its way free from his throat.

I froze, locked in place by some invisible terror. I wanted to run, hide from his anger, the truth…everything. But I couldn’t. It was as if my fear held me prisoner.

Nash’s entire demeanor changed in a flash. Gone was the rage and fury. His expression softened, even as he struggled to breathe normally. “Maddie.”

He scooted closer to me, his hands low and placating as if he were approaching an injured animal. And in some ways, I guessed he was. Yet the terror still had me. Once the chain reaction started, I was powerless to stop it. I could only watch from above as if I weren’t in my own body anymore.

“Maddie?”

The concern in his voice had tears filling my eyes.

Nash’s hands encircled my arms so slowly it was almost painful. The steadiness of his hold made me realize I was trembling—shaking like a damn leaf caught in a tornado.

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