Page 81 of Echoes of You

A muscle along my jaw ticked. “Of course, not.”

Maddie’s hand dropped to my shoulder and squeezed. “Then it isn’t your fault for not wanting to believe that a parent could hurt their child just because their life was miserable.”

“Mads…” I closed the distance between us, resting my forehead against hers. “I’ll never forget the image of you in that hospital bed. It haunts me like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It rips at my insides every time it flashes in my mind. I can’t stand the thought of someone hurting you. And it happened again. And I wasn’t there.”

“You weren’t there because I wouldn’t let you be. Because I left and didn’t look back.”

My heart thudded against my ribs. Because I knew why. I’d pushed her away. Every time I took a girl on a date or brought a casual hook-up home. I’d been trying to tune out Maddie’s siren song. But her pull could never be drowned out. “Mads…”

Maddie’s hand curled around the back of my neck. “How do you feel about me?”

Everything in me locked. Not even a damn breath escaped my lungs. She’d never outright asked me before, likely too scared to hear the answer. “Mads, I…” There weren’t words. Because I didn’t lie to her. Ever.

“The truth. I think maybe if I hear it, even if it’s not what I want, it might help set us both free.”

Some part of me that I’d shoved down time and time again roared in protest at the idea of anyone else being with Maddie. I’d almost lost her twice now, I couldn’t do it again, even if that meant her riding off into the sunset with a guy a million times better than me.

My hands lifted, framing her face. Fear rattled every mental wall I’d constructed to keep Maddie at bay. To deny everything I’d ever felt for her. But I couldn’t resist her pull anymore.

“I’ve always loved you. Maybe even before I met you. I loved you when we were little kids and awkward pre-teens and when I finally realized what that emotion might mean. I loved you when we graduated high school and through college and every day since. Even when you were gone, the echoes of you still lived inside me, and I would play them over and over in my mind just so I wouldn’t lose the sound. I’ve loved you in every incarnation, and that will never end.”

Maddie stared at me, her lips parted on an inhale and her eyes shining. She didn’t say a word, and for a panicked moment, I wanted to take back every single word. But then Maddie’s mouth was on mine.

There was nothing uncertain about the move. No doubt or fear filled her. Maddie simply took, her tongue slipping between my lips and stroking my own.

I groaned at the first taste of her. There weren’t words to describe it. All I knew was that I could drown in it and die a happy man.

27

MADDIE

I couldn’t get enough.Of Nash’s words. Of his scent. Of his feel. Of his taste. All I could think was that I needed more.

My legs moved of their own volition until I was straddling Nash. But I didn’t lose his lips for a single second. My core pressed against his hardening cock, and I couldn’t help the little mewl that slipped from my mouth and into Nash’s.

That only seemed to spur him on. Nash’s hands tightened on my hips, pulling me harder against him. The pressure created delicious friction and sent a thrill through me.

Nash tore his mouth away from mine, his eyes searching. “Does this mean I didn’t send you running for the hills?”

A smile spread across my lips; the feeling of it felt foreign and rusty. I’d smiled since I returned, but not like this. Not full-out grinning like a kid on Christmas who had just gotten everything on their list. Because Nash Hartley loved me. “I never thought I would get this—everything I ever wanted.”

A home of my own. Safety. Friends who cared. A family I’d built not by blood but by choice. Nash.

His expression gentled. “I love you, Mads.”

A thrill ran through me. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

My smile only got wider. “Again.”

“I love you.”

I let out the most girlie, high-pitched squeal.

Nash laughed. “Are you forgetting something?”

I stared down at the man whose face I sometimes thought I knew better than mine. I’d memorized every angle and curve. The faint scar below his eyebrow from where he’d bashed his head on the corner of his bed trying to land a flip. The way his nose bent just a little to the left from when he’d broken it trying to master a bike jump. How his dark blond stubble only made him look more handsome.

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