Blown (Elemental Series Book 2) (13 page)

Chapter Ten

Madison woke slowly, her body warm and aching faintly in a way she hadn’t felt in far too long. A pair of lean arms were wrapped around her stomach and her back was pressed up against a reassuringly solid chest. Warm, steady breath tickled her neck and ruffled a few loose strands of her hair. She was incredibly relaxed, despite the burning in her veins, and the idea of actually moving was not at all appealing.

Nate hummed sleepily beside her ear, murmuring, “Good morning.”

A smile immediately curved her lips and one of her hands landed over one of his as she replied, “Good morning.” His arms tightened around her, one forearm brushing the underside of her breast, and she sucked in a breath. Then his lips descended on the nape of her neck and her eyes fluttered shut as her hand clenched over the back of his. The kiss lingered, his lips massaging her skin before parting to allow his tongue to dart out and tease her. He trailed his lips up slowly and Madison shifted against him, one foot sliding down his calf.

She moaned softly as his lips reached the underside of her ear, continuing their blissful torture. Her nails had curled into his hand unintentionally, and as he nipped her earlobe teasingly she realized she needed to kiss him desperately. “Nate,” she managed, her voice breathy and almost pleading. But her message hit its mark, because he pulled his lips from her skin and the next thing she knew she was on her back, her head on the pillow, and he was leaning over her.

Madison tugged his lips to hers with an urgency that he seemed to reciprocate, and their tongues met in a desperate, hungry dance. He braced one arm beside her, his weight perfectly balanced so that he could trail one hand over her abdomen. He flattened his palm over her skin and her fingers tangled in his hair.

But soon that wasn’t enough, either, and she began trailing her lips along his jaw. She ran her hands over his chest, sides, and back. Teased his neck with her lips, tongue, and teeth. Nate groaned faintly and plunged his hand into her hair again, encouraging her mouth to return to his. He gently guided her back to the mattress until he was leaning over her again.

Madison was burning everywhere as they kissed and touched. His lean body was surprisingly strong against hers and she loved it—loved the feel of his skin over hers and the smell of him so early in the morning. She arched slightly as he cupped one breast in his capable hand. Her moan was swallowed in his kiss as her hands tightened over his shoulder blades. He gently molded the pliant flesh beneath his palm and she was all but drowning in his kiss when one of his knees began nudging hers apart.

Something about the motion broke past her blind desire and all the glorious sensations he was bringing to her, and she realized what, exactly, they were about to do. And as much as she most definitely
wanted
to, she knew exactly why they couldn’t. If there was one thing her mother had taught her, it was that you never went that far unless you were properly prepared. But it took a lot of effort to drag her lips from his and gasp, “Wait!”

Nate froze, one knee on either side of her right leg and hand stilling over her breast, as he lifted his eyes to hers and asked, “What is it?” His voice was thick with his own desire.

Fruitlessly frustrated, Madison pulled in a long, steadying breath and said, “I’m not exactly on the pill.”

He stared at her for a beat, as if attempting to wrap his brain around the meaning behind her words. And then he released a long-suffering groan and a curse, dropping his forehead to her shoulder.  “Damn, I forgot.”

Madison laughed softly, saying, “I figured.”

Nate groaned again and rolled off of her, flopping onto his back and staring up at the ceiling.

Rolling onto her side, Madison leaned into him a bit, letting her fingers trail along his chest, and whispered, “Maybe we can pick this up later?” Somewhere inside she was a bit surprised at herself. Not for the forwardness necessarily, as she’d always been a straightforward person, but because, after everything that had happened with Doug, she had thought she’d decided to put off taking that step at least until she had another ring. But now, with Nate, it was like everything was changing. She had yet to experience any of the doubts and insecurities she’d feared in her future relationships. Nate inspired a kind of trust that astonished her.

“Definitely,” Nate agreed, looping an arm around her naked shoulders. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before reluctantly adding, “For now, though, it might be a good idea if we dragged ourselves out of bed.”

“I suppose,” Madison relented with a dramatic sigh. She smiled flirtatiously at him, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, before pulling away entirely and rolling to her feet. The bed shifted beneath her, indicating that Nate was doing much the same.

****

After breakfast, and a short-lived argument, it was eventually agreed that they couldn’t keep waiting to see what the Matthews family would do next. But neither would Lillian or Christopher budge on risking a fight in town, so they settled on trying to get their enemies to agree on a meeting. Where they could settle the score once and for all. That way they could pick a location away from town and hopefully avoid unnecessary casualties.

“Assuming we can get a hold of them,” Angela began with a frown, “and assuming we can get them to hold a semi-civilized conversation, they’re not going to let us pick the time
and
place.”

“I agree,” Blake stated. “And we already know they don’t care about bystanders, so if we want to try to minimize that, then we should fight harder for the location than the time.”

“This sucks,” Dean grunted from behind the couch as he paced the living room.

“Yeah,” Nate said, “but Blake’s right.” And it sucked.

Concern clouding her eyes, Brooke asked, “Where would be a good place for something like that, though?”

Silence greeted her question for a long minute as the family attempted to think of a location that would suit their purposes.

At length, Logan finally replied, “There are a couple of spots further along the beach, about ten or fifteen minutes out of town.”

Dean rolled his eyes, saying, “They’re not gonna agree to a beach fight. Anyone with half a brain would know Blake could walk all over them in a place like that.”

“What about the forest on the north side?” Nate suggested carefully. “It’s far enough from the beach and it’s outside of town. Not to mention it’s full of tall, healthy trees just begging to be struck by lightning, right? Maybe that would tempt them.”

“And if they use those trees as lightning rods?” Angela challenged pointedly. All of that electricity would be crippling and they all knew it.

Dean smirked, stopped pacing, and said, “Then the trees would go up in flames. I like it.”

“It might be the best we have,” Blake agreed reluctantly.

“Question,” Madison interrupted from her seat between Nate and Brooke. “It’s probably safe to assume the old man’s been training his kids for a fight like this for the majority of their lives, right? But what about you? Have you been training to fight people like them?”

Again the family fell silent for a long second.

Nate’s hand landed on her knee and he squeezed gently, saying, “No, Maddie. We were never raised to be fighters. But we don’t have much choice.”

Madison’s hand covered his, squeezing reassuringly, but she said nothing more. He doubted she liked the topic of conversation any more than he did.

After a long minute, Blake asked somberly, “So it’s decided, then?” Nate and his brothers nodded even as Angela pulled her lips between her teeth and his mother squeezed her eyes shut. “Then we just need to figure out how to get in touch with them.”

“We could try calling,” Angela suggested. “It’s not like I’ve lost Eric’s or Emma’s phone numbers.”

“They could have changed them, though,” Nate pointed out.

Logan spoke next, interrupting Angela’s would-be response to say, “That doesn’t matter. Assuming their numbers are the same, chances are they wouldn’t answer, and then they’d know we were coming.”

“So what’s your idea?” Dean asked, crossing his arms and lifting a single brow.

“I say we drive over to Emma’s house,” Logan replied. “If they’re not there, they still won’t know we’re looking. And if they are, we force them to talk to us.”

“That’s probably best,” Christopher declared quietly. “But you should take as few vehicles as possible.”

“Take my car,” Kirk suggested, speaking up for the first time since breakfast. “They’re less likely to recognize it, even if they see it coming.”

Nate grinned and inclined his head. “Thanks, man.”

Blake shifted, dipping his free hand into his pocket, and extracted his keys. He tucked them into Brooke’s hand and said, “In case you need to go anywhere while we’re gone. But be safe, okay?”

Taking Blake’s cue, Nate looked over at Madison and offered her a small smile. They’d be leaving in a matter of minutes, hopefully only to have a tense conversation, but everyone realized things weren’t guaranteed to go their way. And suddenly he wanted at least another minute alone with her, even if they technically had more pressing things to do. “Come with me for a minute?” he asked quietly, holding her gaze. When she only nodded, her eyes reflecting understanding, he tugged her to her feet and led her silently from the room.

Once they’d rounded a corner and moved several feet down the adjacent hall, Nate stopped walking and turned to face her. He could see the worry and fear in her eyes, but she held her composure well, and he couldn’t help but be a little proud of her for that.

“I don’t like any of this,” Madison admitted, her voice hushed. She retained her grip on his hand firmly, as if refusing to allow him to pull away.

“I know,” Nate assured her, leaning in enough to rest his forehead against hers. “I don’t like it, either. It goes against my nature. But it’s necessary. They’re not going to stop until we’re dead if we don’t fight back while we can.”

Madison sucked in a breath, released it, and nodded faintly.

“Besides,” he offered, attempting to lighten the heaviness he could see building up in her eyes, “We’re only going over there for a conversation right now.”

“You know as well as I do you might not get your way on that,” she replied, barreling right past his attempted reassurance.

Nate sighed and bowed his head to capture her lips with his for a lingering kiss. His hand tightened around hers. He pulled back with an apology in his eyes, and said, “I have to go. But you’ll be here when I get back, right?”

Madison nodded. “I will.”

****

The men had only been gone for fifteen minutes before those who’d stayed behind became fidgety. Everyone was nervous. Everyone was fervently hoping the four would return soon and in one piece. But no one wanted to talk about it. In fact, no one was quite sure what to say at all. Lillian and Christopher were sitting side by side on the loveseat, hands clasped and eyes cast away from the others. Angela was curled into her mother’s chair, a sad, guilty sheen in her blue eyes. Kirk was sitting in Christopher’s chair, head rolled back and glazed eyes pointed at the ceiling. Brooke and Madison were sitting on the couch, their own eyes downcast with worry-filled thoughts.

Angela was the first to move, suddenly setting her feet on the floor, muttering something about her room and striding toward the stairs. Her motion and voice had drawn everyone’s attention. After a minute Lillian released an almost silent breath and turned to Kirk. She asked him something about his family, and while she was clearly listening, she was just as obviously using the conversation as a slight distraction. Christopher remained silent, watching and listening to Kirk’s answers.

Madison shifted as something occurred to her. She was thinking Lillian had the right idea, but she didn’t know Kirk very well, and she certainly didn’t know his family well enough for the current conversation to be a worthwhile distraction. So she leaned over, not wanting to be rude, and whispered to Brooke, “Can I talk to you?”

Brooke glanced toward her, obviously not having been listening to the conversation, either, and nodded. Together the two stood, politely excusing themselves, and left the room. They didn’t speak until they’d reached the kitchen, and then Brooke quietly asked, “What’s on your mind?”

Madison looked away for a moment, debating on how she wanted to say what she was thinking. At length she lifted her eyes again and replied, “I know it’s probably a bad idea, but I can’t just sit around and wait for them to get back. So I was wondering if you’d be willing to give me a lift to my place? You wouldn’t have to stay. My car’s there, so I could get back. I just … want to get some things, and see if I can’t somehow board up the broken windows.”

Nodding in understanding, Brooke said, “Yeah, sure. I could use some fresh air. Got any other errands you want to run while we’re out? The only thing I can think of is that I should be checking my email or something.”

“I can probably think of a thing or two while we’re out,” Madison stated. In truth, she had already thought of one thing. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to drag Brooke along for something like that. It seemed too personal. They were friendly, but they didn’t know each other well enough to be
that
close. On the other hand, she wasn’t so keen on the idea of being alone with her thoughts at the moment and she doubted Brooke felt any differently.