Page 100 of Love me, Maddie Mendoza

I sat up, rolling my shoulders back, feeling foolish. “I don’t know.”

“You must know, Zeek. You asked the damn question.” He chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood.

Licking my lips, I elaborated. “My injury, my major. Sometimes feels like…a thread I had to unravel.”

I couldn’t tell him about the other thread I kept unraveling, but I waited. He was a clever man. He could put things together without me having to spell it out for him.

Dad accepted that and even looked like he was thinking it through. “Perhaps. When God closes a door, he opens a window, son.”

I nodded and looked down at my shoes. Dad then said. “But whenever I think about fate, it’s when I think about you and Maddie.”

That brought my gaze to him, my throat bobbing. “Yeah?”

“The only two brown kids in this neighborhood. We moved to this house the same day as them…” He chuckled. “Don’t you think? When you look at Maddie, don’t you think it was God who put her in your path?”

I lifted a shoulder, not really committing. Mom and dad were churchgoers. They claimed things to be part of God’s plan much quicker than I did. But I couldn’t deny the fact that yes, sometimes Maddie and I felt like kismet.

“Do you need help?” I asked, pointing to his work.

“I’m almost done. Would you mind grabbing me a beer from the fridge?”

Once I was back with dad’s beer, I checked the time. Just after two o’clock in the afternoon. The party was to start soon for a late lunch. I had time to have a shower and get my head organized.

Dad took the beer bottle from my fingers and opened it with an opener he installed on the wall. Bubbling sound filled the air and dad smiled. “For what’s worth it, destiny or not, I believe we have a choice in the matter.”

I wasn’t sure if that helped or not, so I simply dipped my chin and disappeared into my old bedroom. I sat on my bed, rubbing my whole face and breathing in and out. When I opened my eyes, Maddie was standing there in the room across from mine.

I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to believe in destiny. But if fate was real, I could finally stop fighting and surrender to whatever was happening. Maybe she was for me and I was for her.

I groaned to myself. It wasn’t the way things were. Things between us were messy. We made them messy. I feared change and Maddie was scared for her mother. We were drowning in each other. That wasn’t romance. It was desperation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maddie move around her room. She threw her bag on top of her bed and locked the door. I turned completely toward her. She tied her hair in a messy bun, and her glasses slid to the tip of her nose when she bent over to remove her shoes.

I drew a breath and forced myself to remember how I used to look at her. I watched her, messing with her phone, smiling at whatever text she got. A moment later, she must have selected a song, because the speakers in her room started to play.

The same old Maddie, I told myself.

But then she took her t-shirt off, revealing a cute little pale blue bra underneath. Unbuttoning her shorts, they fell quickly down her shapely legs. I squeezed my eyes shut. Again, I was falling into the rabbit hole. I dared to open them again, and I saw the little strip of blue over her hips that seemed to match with her bra.

I gripped my jean-clad knees, working to swallow the lump in my throat.

Was her window’s latch open? Could I just jump to her and…

I couldn’t even finish that thought. I licked my lips, lost in her. The curve of her hip, the dip of her tummy, the swell of her breasts. I felt like shit for watching her like that, yet my eyes couldn’t leave her.

And then she looked at me.

Directly at me, at my goddamn soul. I didn’t move, wouldn’t dare to pretend not to be watching. I wasn’t that much of an asshole.

Maddie’s head tilted to the side as her hand reached to her back, and with an easy flick, she unhooked the bra and her tits were freed.

I sat still. Maddie had a wicked smile on her. She removed her panties right after. My breath dared to break free, it pained me. She took one tit in her hand and rolled her nipple as I watched.

Never, not in one million years would I forget the way she looked at me. Before I had a chance to react, Maddie turned on her heels and walked away. I got just a glimpse of her amazing ass before she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Only then, was I able to move again. I fell on my back, the heels of my hands pressing over my eyes.

I was going to hell.

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