Page 20 of Forever Home

“You told me you were going to have this fixed,” I tell him, as I head towards Mrs. Kendall’s house to help my friends with some of the packing; the conversation with Eric seemingly going round and round in circles.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replies, his French accent heavy and lined with a small amount of carelessness to its tone. “Everything will be fine.”

“Eric, I want the reports sent over to me before the end of day. I’m not taking thisdon’t worry about itstatement from you anymore. When I have our suppliers calling me because you’re not making the payments… that’s a problem. That’s my money and my name on the line, and if we can’t get things actually sorted out, then I’ll be heading back to New York to deal with it in person. Do you understand?”

There’s a low groan on the other end followed by silence before Eric replies, “You got it.”

Pulling into the driveway, I spot the living room lights on and the figure of Madi and Kylie huddled over what I can only assume are boxes. My eyes instantly latch onto Madi’s gorgeous, curvy figure. The short black bike shorts she’s wearing leaving nothing to the imagination. Howis it that I never realized how gorgeous she is? I mean, looks-wise she is everything I would have chased after back in the day… and now I can’t keep my eyes off her. I wonder if she’s still flexible.

“See something you like?” Knox’s voice startles me slightly as I step out of the car. A cheshire grin spreads across his face from ear to ear as he gives me a pointed gaze with a raised brow. “I see you checking her out. You know… she’s single.”

“Who?”

He laughs, shaking his head. “Madi…”

Just hearing her name and the implication makes me clear my throat as I walk towards him. I already knew she was single, but it didn’t change a thing. “I wasn’t checking her out, Knox.”

Stopping before him, he puts his hands on his hips and scoffs with laughter. “Yeah, okay. Whatever you have to tell yourself, Jaxson.”

“We’re just friends,” I reply, gritting my teeth. As much as I’m trying to play it off, it’s harder than it looks. Because my eyes betray me every time I’m around Madison.

“So, you both keep reminding me.”

She’s talked to him about me?

I open my mouth to ask him what he meant, but he turns and gestures for me to follow him into the house. The mounds of boxes already in the garage are a dead giveaway to how hard they are working and just how much shit Mrs. Kendall has in her house.

“Looks like you guys have been busy,” I say to Knox once we step into the kitchen.

He shrugs, glancing around as he moves a few empty boxes out of the way for us to walk by. “The funny thing is, we haven’t even started upstairs yet.”

“Shit… really?”

Glancing back at me he shrugs again. “Really, really. I was actually going to suggest you and Madi tackle the upstairs while Kylie and I finish up down here. That way we can accomplish getting a lot of this done tonight.”

After the comment you just made, of course you would.

“Yeah, man. I’m happy to help with whatever you want.”

As soon as we step into the living room, I frown with disappointment. Madi’s nowhere to be seen, and Kylie, whose face is beet red as she lifts a box, looks completely overwhelmed.

“Kylie, I told you to leave them and I’ll lift them,” Knox scolds her, quickly taking the box from her arms as he sets in on top of another.

“I’m not a weakling—” Her eyes meet mine and she smiles. “Jaxson! You made it.”

“Yep, I’m here to slave away at your command,” I tease, glancing around the room as I take in the utter chaos that is Mrs. Kendall’s living room. “Knox said to start upstairs?”

When I look back at her, she’s looking at Knox with a raised brow and questionable stare. “Yeah… In fact, Madi’s already headed up there. Why don’t you grab the stack of empty boxes by the stairs, and the white Target bag next to it? It’s got tape and other stuff in it Madi will need. If you guys can take care of things up there, Knox and I can wrangle the rest down here.”

“Sure,” I agree, before turning to grab the things you told me. “There’s nothing else that needs to go up?”

Kylie and Knox both shake their heads quickly, like little children up to no good before I make my way up the stairs to find where Madi is hiding.

I find Madi in the guest bedroom, her dark gorgeous hair pulled up into a high ponytail as she shuffles through an open closet. The dip and curve of her hips covered by those tight leggings she’s wearing leaves nothing to the imagination. And it takes everything in me not to run my hands over them.

What the fuck is wrong with me? It’s just fucking Madi.

Taking a deep breath, I clear my throat and watch her spin to face me with her hand over her heart.

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