Page 64 of Ever With Me

Almost like magic, the tension in the little girl’s body eased.

Maddie didn’t have to question the lyrics—she’d listened to the song twenty times today alone.

Audrey’s breathing softened and Maddie’s arm ached, so she inched closer to the bed and crawled onto it. She didn’t want to put Audrey near the edge of the bed where she might roll off, so she climbed to dead center and laid her on the pillow.

Audrey moaned, clinging to Maddie as she tried to pull away. At last, Maddie gave up and lay beside her, continuing to sing and stroke her back until she’d calmed and breathed softly, curled in her arms.

Then the darkness crept in, and, exhausted, Maddie drifted off to sleep.

18

MADDIE

The soft clickof a door opening roused Maddie, and she blinked in the darkness, disoriented. A curtain opened, and she squinted one eye, then sat, recognizing Brooks’s sister by the window.

Oh crap, I slept here.

Kayla stared at her, consternation on her face, then her gaze traveled to the little sleeping form beside Maddie. She held Maddie’s gaze again as she crossed toward the bed. “Is she okay?” Kayla whispered with all the worry of a mother who’d just probably driven freaking herself out about the safety of her little girl.

Maddie nodded, swallowing hard. This whole situation was so bad, but hopefully, Kayla wouldn’t be angry with her for snuggling with Audrey during the night. “She woke up with night terrors, I think. But Brooks was?—”

“Yeah, I know. Cormac called me,” Kayla answered, then bit her lip as Audrey shifted. She stepped away from the bed. “I don’t want to wake her up.”

Maddie took the cue to get up quietly. She went out of the room before Kayla, tugging her hair out of the elastic she’d slept in and shaking it out.

I can’t believe I slept here.

But what else could she have done? Brooks had been so drunk and sick. And Audrey had needed someone.

Brooks had needed someone, for that matter.

She sat on the couch, uncomfortable and unusually tired.

A few moments later, Kayla joined her in the living room. She sat beside Maddie and grabbed her hand. “I don’t know how to thank you enough for being here,” Kayla said earnestly. A flicker of annoyance filled her face, and she shook her head. “I’m so mad at Brooks right now I can hardly think straight, but I really owe you, Maddie. Thank you.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

Kayla raised a brow. “It’s a huge deal, actually. Audrey is my whole life. And that stupid man in the bathroom in there is the rest of it, but right now, he’s on my shit list.” Kayla released Maddie’s hand, frustration on her face. “Do you have any idea what set him off?”

Oh great.This wasn’t going to make Kayla like her.

Maddie cleared her throat, then ran her fingers through the tangles in her hair. “Uh, yeah, actually, I think it’s sort of my fault.”

Kayla stared at her in confusion. “How’s that?”

She’d already admitted the truth to a few people. What was one more person?

Yeah, because telling Naomi went so well.

“Did Brooks tell you he crashed into my store Sunday morning?” Maddie asked cautiously.

Kayla’s eyes widened. “Crashed? What? No. He didn’t say anything. What happened?”

Dammit.She really didn’t want to interfere with Kayla and Brooks, either.

Maddie combed her fingers back into a ponytail and tied it up again. She’d already said too much to backtrack now. “Brooks drove his car through my store window as he tried to dodge a deer. I live above the store, so I heard it, and uh, we ended up making a deal to handle the situation quietly.”

Did she dare mention that she’d blackmailed him? Funny how it sounded so much worse to admit to someone who cared about him. If some random woman blackmailed either of her brothers, especially if they were rich and vulnerable to blackmail, Maddie would probably hate that woman.

---