CHAPTER 32
Emmy
Greg and Melissa’s house is full-out chaos when we arrive. Babies are crying everywhere. Cohen and Sway are running around the lower level of their house with underwear on their heads and capes flapping behind them. Dee is lying on the loveseat because she hasn’t stopped throwing up for, what she calls ‘an eternity.’ Izzy rolls her eyes from the chair where she’s nursing Danielle, their month-old baby.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, Izzy Reid! Just give me a second to get up and I’m going to kick your ass.” Dee tries to stand but then holds her hand over her mouth with wide eyes.
“I’m guessing this means she’s about to blow chunks all over the place?” I laugh.
Her eyes water with the effort it takes her to push aside her sickness. And then she locks her hormonal-driven fury on me. “Emmy! Don’t even start with me. I can’t wait for you to be throwing up every two seconds!”
Maddox goes solid next to me as he helps me walk into the house. I look up and try to figure out what he’s thinking, but his face is completely void of emotion. Whatever. I’ll pick it out of him later.
“Don’t tell her that,” Chelcie scolds, walking into the room with Zac sleeping against her chest. “It isn’t that bad. Plus, it’s worth it.” She smiles at Zac and sits down next to Dee.
The movement is obviously not what her stomach needed because she jumps up and runs to the bathroom.
Once we stop laughing, I move to my side and drop down onto the couch. I wait for Maddox to sit next to me, but when I look over, he’s still standing where I left him. His eyes are darting around the room with worry.
“Why don’t you head out to the backyard, Mad?” Melissa asks from the doorway. “The guys doing that macho thing you all do when you stand around a grill and grunt.” She laughs and gives him a quick hug.
He looks around the room for a second before making his way past the girls and outside. I keep my eyes on them and wait to see when they notice. None of them watch as he walks by even though his shorts give him no way to hide the one thing he feels shame over. Well, this certainly is going better than I thought. I know he was worried there would be some big gasp and fanfare, but he should have known our friends a little better than that.
“Hey!” a small voice screams from the kitchen. “Look, Dilbert! Maddox Locke is a transformer! MOMMY! I wanna be a transformer just like Maddox Locke!” Cohen comes rushing into the room, crashing into the wall when his socks don’t let him stop. Then he jumps off the floor with a big, toothy grin. “Mommy, did you see?! It’s soooo cool!”
I don’t breathe, afraid of how this is going to play out. I want to rush to Maddox and make sure that he’s okay, but I know that wouldn’t help. He needs to learn to get past this one all on his own.
“Yeah, Co, I saw,” she laughs. “You can’t be a transformer though.” His little face falls and she rushes on. “Baby boy, you can’t just decide to be a transformer. Only special people get that honor and only God can pick them. But you know what? That means that Maddox is an even bigger superhero. He’s is a transformer because he saved people.”
My eyes prickle and I listen as Melissa gives a child version of why my big, strong man is a hero.
As they continue to talk about how ‘cool’ Maddox is, I use that time to look at the faces of the others in the room. Dee still looks a little green, but like the others, she has a small smile on her face.
One thing lacking on all of their faces, though, is shock.
When Cohen leaves the room, I direct my question to the room at large. “How long have you guys known?”
“Uh, maybe about a month after I met him,” Izzy starts. “His jeans had gotten stuck and were folded in the back.”
“Took about six months for me. He was sitting and had his leg crossed over . . . I guess it pushed the hem up. I don’t know,” Melissa states indifferently.
“He fell—well, to be honest, I knocked his ass over—one day and saw it. He knows that I know,” Dee states, trying to keep her sickness from taking over. I watch her suck in a few deep breaths before she looks back at me with a shrug.
“I can’t remember when I found out. I figured he didn’t want to talk about it since it wasn’t common knowledge,” Chelcie says with a smile.
“I can’t believe you guys never told me,” I fuss.
“Seriously, Em. I think we all just figured, when he was ready, we would know. Or whatever,” Dee says.
“Well you could have made my job a little easier!” I snap.
“What changed his mind?” Izzy asks with a frown.
“He was ready. He just needed a little push.” I cross my arms and smile brightly at my closest friends. “Now bring me a baby,” I demand.
Two seconds later, little Lyndsie is in my arms and I sigh with contentment.
* * *
Dinner went off without a hitch. I knew it would, even if I was a little worried about what would happen if we had some sort of weird reaction. Cohen was the icebreaker we needed, and by the time we get home, Maddox’s mood is even lighter.
He’s just one more baby step closer to being free of the things that haunt him. I know he might not like the talk I have planned for tonight, but it’s time, and after seeing him take this last step tonight, I know he’s ready.
* * *
“Hey.”
He looks over at me from the other side of the couch with a grin.
“Can we talk about something?”
He mutes the television and turns his attention back to me. “What’s up, Em?” He takes a deep breath, and I know he’s thinking the worst.
“Come here first,” I request, patting the cushion next to me.
He places his iPad down on the coffee table and moves over. Then, much to my surprise, he lifts me off the couch and places my ass in his lap. I loop my arms around his neck and give him a soft kiss. His body visibly relaxes some at that.
“Calm down, baby,” I whisper against his cheek before giving him another kiss.
“I think it’s safe to say that I’m not going to like whatever we’re going to talk about, so forgive me if I can’t just calm down, Em.”
“Right. Well, maybe I’ll surprise you?”
He just chuckles and pulls me closer.
“I want to go to Texas.” There. I said it. It’s out there. Now, he can just accept it.
Yeah, right. Ugh, I shouldn’t have blurted that out.
“You what?” he thunders.
“Okay—I’ll admit that I should have led up to that.”
“You fucking think?”
“Hey! I don’t know what you’re getting pissed about, Maddox. I haven’t even explained myself.” I go to bring my arms down from around his neck, but he quickly moves to hold them in place.
His face moves close and his nose touches mine. “Why in the hell do you want to go to Texas, Em?”
“Because it’s time,” I state calmly. I hold his gaze, and after what feels like the longest time, he drops his forehead to mine.
“I don’t want you near them, Em. I don’t want you close enough for them to get their claws into you.”
There. Now he’s said it—the one thing I know was still holding him back.
He’s afraid that, if I get near his family—that ‘temptation of power,’ he calls it—and their evil, it might suck me in.
My heart breaks for him.
“Talk to me. Please. Tell me what’s going through your head.”
He doesn’t speak, his forehead still against mine.
“Maddox, baby?” I press.
“I’m terrified, Emmy. I am downright terrified that they could hurt you.”
“I’m a lot tougher than you’re giving me credit for here, Maddox.”
“I know you are, but they’re . . . Jesus. I don’t even know how to explain it.” He pulls back and looks into my eyes. “This is important to you?”
“Very.” I don’t say anything else. I let his eyes study my own and wait.
“You want that box in hell, yeah?”
I nod my head.
“All right. Let’s get you fixed up and then we’ll head to Texas. I don’t think I need to go this far to let that go, but I’m willing to give it a try. But, Em? The second—and I mean the very second—that I think that you’re in danger, we are fucking gone.”
I smile huge. My-face-hurts huge. He just shakes his head and gives me a deep kiss.