Ben turned around. “Thanks, Mom.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome.” She held out her hand. “Shall we go?”
“Yeah.” Ben held out his fist for me, and I bumped it. “Good luck, dude.”
“Thanks. I might need it.”
Ben took his mom’s hand, and he skipped off with her.
I stood, and Addison backhanded me in the gut.
“Way to go. Now, the kid thinks I’m a big meanie.”
I laughed. “You are a big meanie. ‘Maddox, harder. Right there, Maddox. Don’t stop.’” I mimicked her higher voice. “You’re always bossing me around.”
“You’re such an asshole.” She might have insulted me, but she was laughing, too.
“Who’s ready to play some football?” a voice yelled in the crowd.
I clapped my hands together. “Come on, let’s go over there.”
Addison followed me over to the football field where people were crowding around to play. The person in charge had everyone line up and count off by ones and twos.
“All right,” the leader said, “it’s shirts versus skins. Ones are shirts. Twos are skins.”
“That’s me,” I said and pulled my tee over my head. I handed it to Addison and turned toward the field to stretch.
Addison gasped and pushed my shirt into my chest. “You need to put this back on. Right now.” Her eyes were huge.
I looked around for danger but didn’t see anything. “Why?”
Her face was pinking up again. “Your back is covered in scratch marks. It’s obvious I put them there.”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“Maddox, this isn’t funny.”
“It kind of is.” I laughed again. “Maybe, if you weren’t so feisty in bed, I wouldn’t be all scratched up.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t make me come so much.”
I shook my head. “Never, babe. I’m always going to make you come.”
A whistle blew.
“Gotta go.” I slapped her on the ass. “Don’t forget to cheer for me.”
Thirty-Seven
Addison
I watched Maddox run off to play football and put my hands to my cheeks. They felt like they were on fire.
I couldn’t believe that Maddox was walking around with his shirt off. His back had new and old marks on it from my fingernails.
I held my hands out in front of me and spread my fingers. Maybe it was time to get a manicure. And I’d tell the technician to make sure she cut my nails as short as they could go.
I dropped my arms. Or maybe I should just be more aware of where my hands were when we were having sex.
Yeah, right. That wasn’t going to happen.
That man got me so twisted up inside. The only things I knew when we did it was where my vagina and my mouth were. Someone could cut off my foot, and I wouldn’t notice as long as Maddox Wolfe was inside me.
“He kind of makes you crazy, huh?”
I jumped and turned to see Kelly coming to stand beside me.
“Uh…yeah, he does. But in a good way.”
I’d talked to Kelly before. She was the mother of my single employee, but it felt different. Now, I was talking to her as the sister of the guy I was sleeping with. Thankfully, we both were facing the game, which made it easier for me to talk to her.
“He’ll do that to you. Growing up, he always knew what buttons to push with me.”
“I imagine that’s what little brothers are supposed to do,” I said wistfully. I’d often wished I weren’t an only child. It had been lonely, growing up in that big house with no one to play with.
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“Yes.” There was no point in denying it. I probably had lovesick puppy written all over my face.
“I can tell he really likes you, too.” She turned to me, so I did the same. “I can tell you’re a good person, Addison. You helped out Serena when she needed a job, and I know you’re trying to make this town a better place.”
“I sense a but.”
She smiled but only for a moment. “But, if you hurt my brother again…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I’ll do to you. Just please don’t. He probably won’t tell you, but twelve years ago, he was devastated. First, Foster and then you. It was a good thing the military gave him an outlet, I suppose.”
I was shaking my head in confusion. I only understood about half of what she was saying. “Kelly, I’m not sure exactly what you’re saying, but I’ll do what I can to not hurt him.”
She smiled. “Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”
I was glad she was placated, but I didn’t understand what she meant about hurting her brother again. I didn’t know there was a first time. I opened my mouth to ask her to expand on her earlier statement.
“Mom?” a voice called out from several feet away.
Kelly turned around and waved her arm in the air. “Over here.”
Serena came through the crowd, holding on to Maddox’s mom’s arm. Foster was walking up behind them.
“Hello, Mrs. Wolfe,” I said. “Hi, Serena.”
“You can call me Betty, dear.”
“Hello, Betty,” I said.
It was a change from the woman I remembered from when Maddox and I’d dated in high school. I still remembered when she’d come home one night while I was in Maddox’s room. I’d been hiding in his room, and she’d called me a slut while she was arguing with Maddox. She’d been drunk at the time, and she probably had no recollection of it, but at seventeen, I would never forget it.
“Are you having a nice time?” I asked her.
I was glad for Betty and her children that she had gotten sober. I didn’t see her around town much, but I knew she was sick. The day I’d gone to her house and asked for a dollar was the first time I saw her in months, and I had been in a rush, so I hadn’t stuck around to chat.
“Yes. It feels good to be outside.” She lifted an arm to shield her eyes from the sun. “Is that my Maddox playing out there?”
“Yep. He’s showing off his old football tricks.” I looked over at the field. “Or at least, he’s trying to.” I looked back at Betty. “I don’t know what he’s told you, but I’m doing everything I can, so you don’t lose your home or your place to live.”
Betty grabbed my hand and squeezed. Her skin was cold and rough. “He’s told me that you’ve been working your ass off.”
I laughed at hearing her say ass.
“Don’t worry about me. I can always move in with one of my children if I have to.”
Both Kelly’s and Foster’s eyes got big. I took it that this was news to them, and neither of them looked too thrilled with the idea.
“Hey, Mom, I’m going to go hang out with my friends,” Serena said.
“Sure.”
Serena kissed Betty on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, Grandma.”
“Okay, dear. Go have fun.”
Serena ran off and joined a couple of girls her age.
The whistle blew behind us, and we all turned to see what was going on with the game. Maddox came running over to us. The first thing he did was kiss his mom on the cheek, and it made me smile. He was a good son.