Chapter 2—Maddox—Past
“Babe,” I whisper across her skin, pulling the sheet back as I kiss down her naked back. “Time to wake up.”
I continue softly kissing down her spine, enjoying the fact that, even in her sleep, her body is responding to me. Goose bumps dance across her creamy skin, and when my breath dances across her body, she shudders slightly.
“Not yet. I’m too tired,” she whines.
I let out a soft chuckle against the small of her back before nipping her ass with a soft bite. She moans but continues to doze.
“Mercy, baby, it’s time to go or we’re going to be late. It’s my last weekend here before I ship out, and as much as I would love to spend that time deep within you, we have places to be.” Even if those places aren’t any I particularly want to be.
She starts to protest, but I dig my fingers into her ribs and laugh when she starts squealing like a pig and all but falls out of the bed to get away from me. God, she’s beautiful in the morning. Her almost-white blond hair is a mess of soft curls, most likely from my grabbing handfuls of it all night. Her porcelain skin is glowing, my whisker burns showing up around her neck, tits, and thighs. Her sapphire eyes are bright with mirth. God, it feels good to see her like this. The last couple of weeks have left a sense of impending dread thick on my skin, but seeing her like this gives me hope. Hope that we aren’t drifting apart. That, even though I’m leaving, we’re going to be okay. Enough hope that I can ignore that dread that still won’t vanish.
Mercedes Hutchens has been my girlfriend for the last four years. We were friends before that for a few years, and when I decided to take a chance, she became my girl. And now, my fiancée. Yeah, I’m a lucky son of a bitch.
It’s been hard on us though. I’m deployed more than I’m home, and I’m about to leave again. I know it’s even harder on her. Especially since I can’t tell her where I go when I leave her sitting at home hoping and praying that I’ll return to her. She knows as much as I can tell her. My team, which is made up of seven of the baddest motherfuckers from all over the United States, goes in hot to the deepest pits of hell. We have days to prepare, sometimes for months, but one thing is always clear. We don’t fucking speak about shit.
I’ve been doing this shit since I turned eighteen and got the hell out of my house. And more specifically, got the hell away from Diana Locke. There isn’t anything about my mother that isn’t toxic. She’s hated me since I was a snot-nosed brat. Not my brother, Mason The Perfect, but me—just for being alive. Forever reminding me that everything I touch is tainted with the blackness she sees in my eyes.
Mason and I, we are not close, and we probably never will be. She’s made the perfect Stepford son out of him, teaching him everything she knows—including how to hate me. Being the heirs to our mother’s family’s oil business makes them just about the most powerful assholes in Texas.
My sperm donor of a father—Diana’s words, not mine—ran out on her two months after I was born. Ever since, I’ve never understood the deep hate she has for me. Hell, I was a baby. There isn’t really much I can do about her husband running out on her. Mason was five when I was born. The silver spoon was still attached to his mouth, and he’s so far up my mother’s ass that I’m convinced she never cut the umbilical cord.
So I got out and away from that life. With Mercedes’s blessing, I joined the Marines, where I’ve been in control of my own life since the fateful day I left it all behind.
Sure, I can’t give Mercy a life as glamorous as it would be if I would have stuck with Locke family tradition, gotten my Ivy League education, and started working for Locke Oil. We live in a small, one-bedroom apartment and drive used cars, and the rock sitting on her finger is about a tenth of the size she deserves. This might not be the life she envisioned, but I consider myself lucky to have her by my side and that she is willing to settle for less.
We’re happy and that’s all that matters. Yeah, right, that voice of dread reminds me. You don’t believe that—not with how she’s been so closed off lately.
“Why must we go over there, Maddox? You hate your mother.” Her lip comes out in a pout that makes me want to nibble on its plumpness.
“Because, baby, she made it very clear that my presence is required for whatever reason, and with my trust shares in the company being turned over to me this month, I’m not crossing her in any way. Who knows what the troll has up her sleeve? But I’m not chancing that she takes our money.”
Mercedes smiles at the mention of my trust. I’ve been waiting until the shares of the company, something my grandfather made ironclad, are unlocked so that I can have my mother or brother buy me out. I know she’s been stressed about having to pick up a second job with me leaving. I hate that she has to work so fucking hard, but at this point, we don’t have a choice. She doesn’t have anyone other than me.
“All right. Will…will your brother and his horrible wife be there?” She avoids my eyes.
I hate that she has to fear my brother’s wife. I’ve never understood her dislike for Mason’s wife. From what I can tell, Josephine is the polar opposite of my mother and brother.
“I’m not sure, babe. Don’t worry about them though, yeah?” I lift her chin and kiss her deeply before jumping off the bed, throwing her naked body over my shoulder, and taking her to the bathroom. If we’re about to suffer through family time at the Locke mansion, then we might as well get satisfied first.
Yeah, life is pretty damn perfect.
My skin starts to crawl the second the gates open to my family estate. I can see Mason’s shiny, black Aston Martin parked in front of the house. Every time I see his perfectly polished car, I have to fight the urge to run my keys along the frame. Luckily, that bastard is nowhere in sight. God, I hate being here.
I pull my fifteen-year-old truck to a clanking stop behind his car and I feel humiliated of what I can’t give Mercedes. She should be in the best money can buy, but here she is, pulling up to another reminder of what I failed to give her.
“Let’s get this over with, Mercy. I’m ready to get the hell out of here already.”
She gives me a soft smile, but her eyes are telling me everything I need to know. There’s a mixture of worry and fear dancing across the surface and something else I can’t quite name. Shame washes over my body, but I choke it back and climb from the cab. Once I walk over to her, I help her down before we turn to face the Queen Bitch of Texas herself.
“Well, well…if it isn’t my wayward son. Maddox,” she bites out in way of greeting. Her eyes are already glossed over. I’m guessing she decided to hit the bottle early today.
“Mother.” I have to stop myself from bowing at her feet.
“Mercedes. Pleasure, I’m sure.” She gives her a calculated, wicked smile before turning her attention back to me. “Your brother is waiting for us in the study, and do hurry. We’ve been waiting.”
“We wouldn’t want to keep your precious Mason waiting now, would we?”
She snarls before slapping me across the face. I don’t even feel it anymore. Years and years at the receiving end of her mental and physical abuse is enough that I can pretty much expect to be slapped a few times every time I’m in her presence. Mercedes’s hand flinches in my hold, but I squeeze it to let her know that I’m okay.
“Don’t you dare speak about your brother that way, Maddox. At least he is making something of himself. He isn’t off playing G.I. Joe for some thrill. He isn’t fucking trash.” She gives me a few beats of her ice-cold glare, her eyes so dark brown they look black. Just like mine. “Eyes of the fucking devil,” she used to say to me.
“Forgive me. I wouldn’t want to upset him, Diana.”
“You bastard. Know your place when you’re in MY house. I will be spoken to with respect, and so will your brother. And try not to ruin anything while you’re here. In fact, you should just not touch anything. God forbid you taint our lives longer than necessary.”
I give her a tight nod before following her through the white marble maze of her house. We reach the study and she takes a deep breath before opening the doors.
And there he is—the saint of our mother’s world.
“Well, well, Maddox. You decided to come up from the slums to grace us today, I see.” He laughs to himself before lifting his glass of amber-colored liquor to his lips.
His hazel eyes go to my left and I watch as he takes in all that is my Mercedes. I want nothing more than to bash his head in for looking at her that way, but I grind my teeth and steady my breathing. The quicker we get this over with, the better.
“Sit, Maddox,” Diana says.
“I’m not a fucking dog,” I growl.
“Yes, because you’ve proven otherwise with your deplorable behavior so far today.”
“I’m here. I haven’t done anything other than show up, and if that’s deplorable, Mother, then I deeply apologize,” I say. Mercy gives me a soft squeeze, reminding me to keep my cool. “Right. What was so important that I was required to stop by?”
She glares at me for a few moments before clearing her throat and looking over to Mason. I’m one hundred percent sure that Mason is the one running this farce now.
“Your brother and that terrible wife of his have decided to divorce. Unfortunately, this is going to put some strain on him for the foreseeable future. His money, the company money, is going to be frozen so that gold-digging little shit can’t get her hands on it. That also means your shares in the company. Until we can get everything in order, that is.”
“What the fuck!” I yell. “You can’t do that. You don’t have control over my trust.”
Her eyes light and she laughs. “That’s where you’re wrong, dear boy. We had a clause put in that, if we feel like you’re unstable or that your life and those you are surrounding yourself with are unstable, the shares in the company that would have become yours at twenty-five go into my control until I deem you stable enough to release them back to you. And honestly, Maddox, with you about to leave again—for god knows what and where—I don’t feel like you have the best interest of the company. If you cared about the company and the trust you’ve been given of twenty-five percent of Locke Oil, then you would be doing the right thing and not playing little war games.” She turns back to Mason, and not for the first time in my life, I want to grab her by the back of her hair and teach her a thing or two about who is in control of my life. “But that’s neither here nor there now.” Her smile is nothing short of pure evil.
“It really is a shame, brother, that you don’t pay more attention to the paperwork that the family lawyers send over to you,” he laughs, his eyes going back to Mercedes.
I try to remember what he’s talking about but keep coming up blank. Shock and outrage that I’m once again being quite literally fucked by my own family is making it hard for me to concentrate.
“Think hard, little boy. Remember when Jefferson brought you all those papers to sign? Prenuptial agreements for your precious Mercedes to sign in light of your engagement.”
I growl at Masons mention of Mercedes. They can treat me however they want, but I won’t let them hurt her.
“Oh, did I make you mad?” He throws his head back and lets out a hardy laugh. “You really are a complete jarhead now.”
My vision is starting to darken and I can feel the energy coming off me in waves. I want blood. I want to smash the smug-looking grins off their faces. The ones that tell me, once again, that they have won. I’m powerless when it comes to them and I fucking hate it. The last thing I need to be stressing about before I’m shipping out is this bullshit. I need my head clear. I need to be focused. And with just a five-minute conversation, they’ve blown that all to shit.
“I want to speak to Jefferson.” My voice sounds foreign even to my own ears. The rage inside me is coming to a spilling point, and it’s taking everything I have in my not to go apeshit.
“And what do you think Jefferson can do for you, Maddox? He’s our lawyer, and unless you have some hidden money in your thrift-store furniture at home, I doubt you can even afford the cost to call him on the phone.” My mother laughs at her dig.
She’s right though. I have nothing to fight with. And since I’m leaving in less than a week, there isn’t any time to fix this until I get home. I look over at Mercedes to find her staring at Mason with an expression that I can’t understand. I clear my throat and she jumps at the sound. Looking over at me, she gives me a small smile and shrugs her shoulders. She’s never been one to jump into confrontation, which is another reason I’ve worked so hard to keep her away from my mother and brother.
“This isn’t over,” I tell them.
“That’s where you’re wrong, brother,” he says with a hard tone to his usual indifference towards me.
He takes a few steps towards where I’m standing, coming toe to toe with me. I look into the face so different to my own. Where I’m tan skin, black hair, and even blacker eyes, he is the complete opposite. Light-brown hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin. How have I never noticed the menacing darkness that swirls around him?
“Check. Mate,” he snarls under his breath.
“You motherfucking bastard,” I yell, slamming my fist into his face.
He staggers back, wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth, and laughs. He laughs in my face.
“I might be a bastard, Maddox, but right now, I’m a bastard that has complete control over you, and you will do best to remember your place. Have fun on your little trip. I trust you two can see yourselves out?”
He turns his back and I watch as my mother rushes to his side and fusses over her baby. With nothing but rage coursing through my body, the monsters my family has planted into my very soul get a little larger.
Mercedes does her best to calm me down, but I know that they’ve won. There’s no way I’ll get my shares of the company. And all because I was stupid enough not to read the paperwork Jefferson sent over, assuming it was all the legal bullshit that came with protecting the company with my engagement and upcoming marriage to Mercedes. I should have known. I should have seen it coming. But I let the hopes that my darkness was finally getting a little brighter cloud my judgment.
“It’s going to be okay, Maddox. We can get past this,” she coos when we get back into my piece-of-shit truck.
“Yeah, Mercy? How exactly will we do that? We’re barely staying afloat now. You’re going to have to do better at the spending. We can’t be wasting every check I get on more designer purses and shit.”
“I…I can try, Maddox. But there are things we are going to have to buy now.”
She smiles when I look at her, confused.
“I didn’t want to tell you, but I think you need something to look forward to now that…well, now. I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.” She smiles shyly and looks down at her hands.
A baby. Jesus. I can’t even provide for both of us, and now, we have someone else to add to the mix. Every spare dollar we have she spends on more clothes and shit. I never minded—if she’s happy, I’m happy. But now? A baby.
I sit there, running every possible scenario through my mind. I’ll be gone for the next six months at best. She can’t work two jobs that long. How the hell are we going to handle this?
“Aren’t you happy?” she asks, looking at me, her face oddly void of emotion.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, babe. I’m happy,” I lie. I love her, and somehow, I’ll make this work—even if I have to sell my soul to the devil.
Four days later, I kiss my girl goodbye and never imagine that everything I’ve known for the last seven years was just a small piece in the giant game that’s been playing against me. I leave distracted, worried, and—for the first time ever—afraid of what the future holds. I’ve worked so hard to give Mercedes a life she deserves. I should have known that the evil inside me would allow her to be tempted.
And unfortunately, when I need her the most, I’m denied even that.
Two months later, my war against my demons, the evil that I’ve always been told is deep within me, wins. And I’m left with even less than I came into this world with.
A broken man.
A broken man not worthy of anything pure in this world.
After all—everything I touch turns to shit anyway.