Page 4 of Defending Madison

The server brings our meals, and we continue to chat about things. I learn about how he was orphaned at seven. He bounced around foster and group homes until he landed in one that worked. He smiles when he tells me he had to get permission from his foster mother at seventeen to enlist. Listening to him talk about how he and Brian met in Basic and went on to become SEALS warms my heart. By the end of the meal, I feel like I know him so much better than when he visited with Brian a few years before.

We step away from the booth and walk out the door into the cool night air. “Thanks for bringing us here.”

“You’re welcome.” I hit the remote on my dad’s truck to unlock as Dixon walks around to open the driver’s side door. “Thanks.”

“Yep.” He heads around the truck and gets in. “Does your mom go out a lot at night?”

“Enough, I guess. She spends Wednesday nights at church. Dinner is served there, so if you don’t go with her to church, you have to figure out your own dinner.”

He bobs his head. “That seems fair. I’m sorry I missed your dad’s funeral.”

I pull the truck out of the parking lot. “I understand. Brian barely made it home in time and left the following morning.”

The house is dark when we get back to my childhood home as I raise the garage door. “Shouldn’t your mom be home by now?”

“Yeah.” I put the truck in park and slide out my door. “She probably stayed at a friend’s house.”

Dixon opens the door that leads into the kitchen. “Does she do that often?”

“Over the last two months or so, yeah. Dad’s been gone almost three years. She’s finally moving on.”

The clock on the oven reads ten after nine as I flip on the overhead light. “Want some eggnog?”

“Sure. I haven’t had eggnog in years. Usually, I’m in some jungle at Christmas.”

DIXON

The woman throwing her head back and laughing in the kitchen isn’t the girl I met a few years ago. She’s grown up. Brian talks about her like she’s ten. Benny is so right when she says he’d lose it if he knew she was having sex with a guy. Hell, he thinks she’ll be a virgin until marriage. I can’t blame her. I love sex and have no interest in any kind of relationship. Once is always enough. Her beautiful voice catches my attention. I should call her, “Madison.” She’s not “Benny” anymore.

“Dixon?”

“Huh?”

“You weren’t listening.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Jet lag, maybe.” I can’t exactly tell her I’m thinking about her having sex and wishing it was me. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you have any plans this week.”

“Oh. Brian and I are going hunting tomorrow near your family’s cabin.”

I nod. “I got a buck there last year.”

“Did you? Wow! I wasn’t aware you liked to hunt.”

“Dad took me when I was eight for my first hunt. I winged the deer he brought home that year.”

“Bri and I are thrilled that we both got leave and could be here to go hunting in the North Zone. He mentioned you had a cabin in North Texas near that area for deer hunting.”

Benny, I mean, Madison nods. “I was planning to go, but Bri pitched a fit.” She holds up her fingers and makes air quotes. “It’s a guy’s adventure. No girls allowed.”

I shake my head. “He’s nuts. The more the merrier.”

Stepping to set her glass in the sink, she speaks. “My mom put you in the second bedroom on the right, the one next to mine. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks for picking me up at the airport.”

“Welcome.” She strolls out of the kitchen, and I will my cock to stand down. Brian would fucking murder me for my dirty thoughts about his sister, let alone the itch I want her to scratch. I stay for a few minutes after rinsing our glasses. Ugh. I don’t need any temptation with the girl next door to my room. Walking up the stairs, I study the family photos that adorn the walls. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to return to the house where I lived with my parents, with photos and reminders of me and my family. Melancholy seeps into my brain when I realize that life and house don’t exist anymore. My parents died when I was young, and everything from the life I had beforefoster care was buried in the bottom of a dump outside of Denver.

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