Page 50 of These Jagged Edges

"I still can't get over the fact you spanked my..."

"Did I cross a line?" Maddox asks seriously as he begins tracing lazy circles on the top of my thigh.

I glance over at him out the corner of my eye. "Did it seem like I didn't enjoy it?"

"I just want to make sure. Rationality goes out the window when I’m with you."

"Maddox Cole, you made me squirt twice. Once on your face and the other on your cock. If you do something I don't like, I'll let you know." I chew on my bottom lip and tell him, "I trust you; you could easily overpower me but choose to let me have complete control, even when you’re bossy it's for my pleasure, and it's so damn sexy."

"It is?" he asks hoarsely.

"You’re a big sexy ass man, but let me," I run a hand over my body, "Tell you when to fuck me and how to fuck me, touch me or not touch me. It's a power I've never had until you. So, yes oh serious one, I find it to be an incredibly big turn-on."

Maddox intertwines our fingers and gives me a panty-melting grin. "You'll always have that power with me."

After a quick call to Vic to check on the boys, we pick up pizza for dinner before heading home. Pulling down our street, I notice Mercy is sitting on Maddox's steps looking disheveled completely out of sorts, a far cry from his usual laid-back self, and he's not the only one. Sitting beside him is the same woman I’ve run into around town.

"Hey, looks like you've got company."

Suddenly, Maddox becomes deathly still. His carefree gaze gives way to a menacing one.

"Do you know who's sitting with Mercy? I've run into her a couple of times around town. She must be new here."

"She's not fucking new here."

In response, I run a hand through Maddox's thick hair and turn his face towards me. "Maddox, who is she?"

"Allison."

Chapter Nineteen

MADDOX

"Evie,when did you run into her?" I need to know how long she's been here so I can get an idea of what the fuck she wants.

"Remember when you took the boys to their basketball game?"

"Yeah, that's the morning you let me braid your hair," I tell her fondly as I twist a long strand of her hair around my finger. The more I look at her, the less anger I feel. Before I met Evie, I believed I only ever loved Allison. However, now I realize what I thought I felt was a joke compared to what I feel for the beauty next to me. I'm so damn thankful every time I look at her that Bash climbed the roof of my house that day.

Evie blesses me with a smile that hits me square in the chest. "You forget nothing, but yes that day I almost ran her over after rushing through the door in my hurry to get the game. That's the first time, and the second was that day in the cafe," she looks down, "Before you found me in the storeroom."

Shame is all I feel as I look at her pretty face. I hadhurt her and put that look on her face. I know that shit isn’t forgotten because I haven’t forgotten it or the fear on her face that day, and I damn sure haven’t forgotten how broken she was that day in the storeroom. Knowing I’m the one who caused that made me disgusted with myself and I vowed to make it right, be worthy of her kind of messy the rest of my life.

I would never admit to her that Aunt Joe caught me sitting outside by her car that day and dragged me inside by my ear. After talking with my brothers, it hit me—I needed to share every part of myself with Evie, even the ugly bits. Just like Merc had needed me to sit with him in his pain earlier that day, I realized that’s what I needed to do with her. But first, I had to find her and grovel like hell to earn back her trust.

“What happened to your eye?”

“Vic,” I tell her ashamed. Not ashamed of the black eye but of what I had done to earn it. The fact that he only gave me one made me feel even worse, the old bastard should have whipped my ass. Not walk in clock me with a one two combo and leave.

She yanks my ear even harder before uttering good under her breath.

“I don't know what the hell is going on, but you better fix it and fix it right now,” Joe says, pulling me to sit in the chair across from her desk.

“This isn't going to be that easy, Aunt Joe.”

Joe looks at me, and I look at my feet, afraid the old crow will be able to see too much.

“You big dumb son of a bitch.” Joe sits down hard in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. “What would your mama do if I called her and told her that her son turned out to be just like her ex-husband? You know the one you almost killed because he put hands on your mama?”

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