Unconditional

“I can still have independence from my bedroom.”

“We’ll see how you feel in a few years, okay?”

“I’m serious. I want to live here forever. I don’t have to go, do I?”

I look in the eyes of my favorite human and even though I know one day she’ll be humming a very different tune, I shake my head as I know that day isn’t today, and hurting Maddie’s feelings was never my intention. “You can stay forever, kiddo.”

“Perfect.”

I swallow down the hot coffee. It burns my tongue and all the way down my throat to try and combat the burn from Aria’s words that one day Maddie would leave.

“Alright, yeah. What’s her name?”

Maddie is sitting on the couch when I get home, flipping through the channels as her computer balances on her knee. It’s 6 PM, and I’m meeting Henry, Aria, and my date, Penelope, across town at seven. I frown as I pick up the mail that is sitting on the table. “I wasn’t expecting you home?”

“You weren’t? You know I usually tell you if I’m not coming home.” She doesn’t look up from the computer.

“Right. Well, I guess I mean, I was expecting you to have plans.” I can’t remember many Friday nights that I didn’t get home to Maddie running around like a chicken with her head cut off because she couldn’t figure out what to wear, or her hair wouldn’t curl or Sasha was so motherfreaking late.

“Oh. Well, Sasha wants me to go to this party with her, but I’m not all that interested.”

“Why not?” Not that I’m not thrilled. Sasha Parker is trouble and she and Maddie together are double fucking trouble. Even though Maddie rarely gets into mischief, I know she’s in a phase where she’s experimenting with too much fucking alcohol and it pisses me off.

“You’re okay with me going to a party? Usually, you make me take a chaperone.”

“That you ditch in two point five seconds.”

“Like they can’t find me.” She rolls her eyes. “But no…I just thought we should talk about…this morning.”

“Nothing to talk about, Mads.”

“Oh? Is that why you left without so much as a goodbye?”

“I said goodbye.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Maddie, there’s nothing to talk about. Besides, I’m going out with Aria and Henry.” I head up the stairs and within an instant, she’s behind me, following me up. Her perfume engulfs me instantly. A scent that has the power to arouse me if I didn’t focus. I walk faster to try and put some space between us.

“Can I come?”

“No.”

?

??What? Why not? I can always come when you guys go out.” I pause and turn around to face her after turning on the light in the hall. She bites her bottom lip and for a second, I see a flash of hurt, but maybe it’s just my imagination because it disappears instantly. “It’s not just you three?”

“No, it’s not.”

“A date?”

I nod, wondering why I feel guilty for having a date. Why I’m letting Maddie make me feel guilty for having a date. Why should she care? Why should I care that she cares? “So, you’re not going out?” I ask her. “I’ll have Peters stationed out front.”

She shakes her head and follows me into my bedroom and suddenly it feels three times smaller with us in here together. Flashes of this morning, my body wrapped around her petite frame come crawling back into my mind and wake up the sleeping demon inside. Fire ignites through me, and I feel my ears heating. Get rid of Madeline before I make my appearance, Officer Grayson, I can practically hear my dick screaming at me.

“Is she pretty?” She crosses her arms in front of her chest and I’m grateful that she’s wearing a t-shirt and not accentuating her breasts with those thin tank tops she wears from time to time.

“I don’t know.” This isn’t the first time she’s asked me about a potential date, but it is the first time that it feels weird talking to her about it. Like I’m betraying her. I have got to get a fucking grip.