Chapter Eleven
Linc
Linc left about thirty minutes after he’d almost lost his mind in front of his pack. He told them he had a thing with a girl at her place. Which was the absolute fucking truth. And it gave him the perfect alibi. Baze wouldn’t be expecting him home tonight. Linc drove his car across campus and then used the woods to walk back to Madden’s place. It was strange walking through the woods in human form. He made so much damn noise and kept hitting his head on tree branches. But ever since the Feds had come to investigate in Haxton last year, no one was supposed to shift during daylight hours on school property.
When he got to Madden’s, Linc didn’t knock, he just opened up the back door and slipped inside. “Madden?” He heard a small scream come from the living room. He found her sitting on the floor surrounded by boxes, clutching her chest.
“You scared the shit out of me! Don’t you knock? Or use the front door like a normal person?”
She looked fucking amazing. Her hair was piled on her head haphazardly. She was wearing a loose tank top and some yoga pants. Hot mess had never looked so good. “The guys are still over at Dom’s. I didn’t want to be seen.” He hopped, skipped, and jumped his way across the room. He sat down on the floor next to her, grabbing her face and pulling her in for a quick hello kiss. “Hi.”
Madden pushed him away laughing. “Hi.” She turned his face toward the light. “How’s the cheek?”
He smiled. “It’s fine. You hit like a girl.”
“I didn’t hit you. I slapped you. If I’d have hit you, you wouldn’t be saying that.” She got up and helped him to his feet. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? I was about to pour myself a glass of wine.”
“I’m always hungry—and thirsty. But I don’t drink wine. Do you have any beer?” Linc followed her into the kitchen, staring at her ass the whole way. Fuck, she had a nice ass. Tight, high, round. Madden handed him a beer from her fridge and went about pouring the last of her wine into a large coffee mug. “Haven’t unpacked your wine glasses yet?”
“No. I had high hopes about what I was going to get accomplished today, but then Corey stayed this morning after you left. And she convinced me that my day would be better spent posted up on the couch watching movies and going through old yearbooks. She’s an enabler, that one.” She hopped up on the kitchen counter, taking a large sip of her dark red drink. Despite growing up in California and attending lots of fancy dinners, Linc knew damn little about wine.
He let his gaze linger on Madden’s now exposed cleavage, licking his lips. “Speaking of Corey. How did things go after I left?”
Madden winced. “She accused me of sleeping with you.”
Linc choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken. “What?”
“Yeah. She said she knows me too well and me slapping you was a big overreaction and a red flag.” Madden shrugged. “So I told her that I asked you out, but you turned me down.”
Linc raised an eyebrow. “And did she instantly call bullshit?”
“She did. But then I told her that you told me that you couldn’t get involved with me because of some stupid contract. And she seemed to buy that.”
“Good girl.”
Madden took another sip, grinning. “I also told her that I’d take Baze’s dick as a consolation prize.”
Linc wasn’t sure how it happened. One second he was cradling his beer like it was the most precious thing in the world, because it was. Then the next thing he knew, he had shattered the bottle with his bare hand.
Beer went everywhere and Madden scrambled off the counter to get a towel. “Oh my god, Linc. Are you okay? Did you cut yourself? How the hell did that happen?”
“I’m so sorry. I’m fine, really. I’m not even cut.” Linc flicked beer off his hands and into the sink. “I have no idea what that was. Maybe the bottle was defective or something?” Or maybe hearing the words Baze’s dick come out of Madden’s pillow-plump lips had elicited a nuclear reaction out of him. For no fucking apparent reason. He needed to get his head checked. Maybe Corey knew of a good shrink in the area? He grabbed some paper towels and the Windex to help Madden clean up.
She went to the fridge and got him another bottle. “Here you go. Try not to murder this one, okay?”
Linc gave her a small smile. “Really, I’m so sorry.” He took a long pull before continuing. “Now what were you saying? You told Corey what now?”
“Corey wasn’t buying my slap or my story.” She winced. “I didn’t know what else to tell her to get her to leave things alone. I still don’t really understand why you let your friends tell you who you can sleep with. But that’s your issue.” She pointed at him and then herself. “Not mine. If we need to keep this between us, that’s fine.”
Linc crossed the kitchen and positioned himself between Madden’s thighs, his hands resting above her knees. He set his beer on the counter against her thin pants, and the cold made her tighten her muscles. “So what you’re saying is that you’ll say and do anything necessary to keep me here between your legs?”
She wrapped said legs around his waist and gave him a playful squeeze. “What I’m saying is that for right now, you are an exceptionally fun toy so I don’t mind telling a few white lies. But rest assured when I move on—and I will move on—”
Linc didn’t let her finish her sentence. His body went all haywire again, acting without his permission. He took possession of her mouth, not giving her a choice about it. He invaded her. His hands roamed all over her hot body. Her little moans and whimpers only fueled the fire inside of him. A fire that burned so bright it was consuming both of them. Linc knew he should slow down, knew he should take a step back, be gentler. But he just couldn’t get his mind and his body on the same page when it came to Madden.