Taken by Storm (23 page)

This day had drained her. She had nothing left inside her to give. “I’m not doing this, MJ. Please leave.” She pointed to the open door.

“I’m not leaving.” He sat down next to her and leaned against the windowsill, staring at her expectantly.

“Then I will.”

She stood and he grabbed her arm. Both of them froze at the sound of the woman outside yelling. “This isn’t what we agreed to. I’m not keeping my end of the bargain if he’s not.”

MJ jerked his head around to look outside. “That’s her,” he said. “That’s the woman I saw in the woods.” He glanced back at Maddie. “She told me not to trust you.”

Maddie swallowed past the knot in her throat and knelt beside MJ. “Why would she say something like that?”

MJ traced his finger down the glass. “I don’t know Maddie. You didn’t tell me about the Old Man threatening you, so maybe she’s right.”

Maddie fisted her hands, and outside, Roger laughed. “What are you going to do about it?” he called after the woman.

She chuckled. “Reveal his secret. What else?”

Unease spread through Maddie’s stomach. The secret. Could she mean the same one Maddie had been hiding for a year and a half?

Roger took his glasses off and let his head fall back, looking up at the dark sky like he wished it would suck him up and take him away. He turned and faced the hotel, and Maddie swore he saw her and MJ watching out her window.

She darted back out of the window seat. “Did he see us?”

When MJ faced her, she flinched. She’d never seen him so angry. “I don’t know what he’s hiding, but I’m in no mood to put up with his bullshit.”

He stood and stalked out of her room.

Lightning flashed, followed by a deafening crack, striking somewhere on the island. Tonight she was on the edge of losing everything, all because of one man and his secret. If it came out, Maddie wasn’t sure what would be left for her in the light of day.

She followed him downstairs. Her feet hit the entryway as MJ disappeared down the hallway toward the lounge. Someone had set up a candelabra in the corner by the archway into the kitchen. Five flames flickered, sending shadows across the murals on the walls, transforming redbirds into winged demons.

Maybe she was the one who had never grown up and was afraid of ghosts.

She made her way across the tiled floor feeling the air thrum around her, alive with the raging storm.

More candles blazed on the fireplace mantel and hearth in the lounge. The large, wooden sliding door to the patio was open, the air rushing in made the flames sway and dance. Beck, Joan, Heidi, Merrick and Rachael glanced at her when she walked in behind MJ. They sat in the dim light on the leather sofas that lined the walls. It could’ve been their intense, curious expressions that sent a foreboding sensation through Maddie at the sight of them.

“He won’t stand for this!” Roger shouted outside.

Every eye in the lounge darted to the patio door as a woman with long, jet-black hair streaming water down onto her black halter dress stepped over the threshold with Roger standing directly behind her.

The woman scanned the room with wide, ebony eyes, her lips curved into a cunning smile. “My mother, Gina Montgomery, is alive,” she announced. “Enzo Rocha is my grandfather.” She stepped inside and lowered her eyes at Merrick. “And you’re my father.”

“My mother’s alive?” MJ said, almost choking the words out.

Maddie resisted the urge to run to him and hold him in her arms.

“Gina’s alive?” Merrick gripped the arm of the couch and pushed himself up onto his feet. “Who are you? Why should we believe you?”

“You shouldn’t,” Roger said, stepping inside. “Enzo put her up to this. She’s trying to get her hands on a property you own, Merrick.”

The woman laughed. “That property was supposed to be my payment for keeping Maddie Simcoe away from MJ so she wouldn’t tell him our mother’s alive.”

Maddie’s stomach roiled. In front of her, she watched MJ’s back and shoulders stiffen. “Wait,” he said, comprehension setting in. He turned to Maddie with so much hurt in his eyes, she knew no explanation, no amount of begging would ever be enough to make this up to him. “You knew my mother was alive and you didn’t tell me?”

She opened her mouth and couldn’t find her voice.

“I warned you not to trust her,” the woman, MJ’s sister, said, blinking at Maddie in false sympathy.

“Your grandfather threatened to fire my dad,” Maddie said. Standing in front of MJ with the truth out in the open,
Enzo’s threat seemed insignificant in comparison to the secret she’d kept from him.

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me.”

Maddie wanted to run from the room, but her feet wouldn’t budge. She wanted to fall to the floor and beg him to understand, but her knees wouldn’t bend.

His chest expanded with a great breath. His hands rose to his head and he clutched and pulled at his hair. “I have to get the fuck out of here.”

Pushing past her, he stormed down the hall to the entryway and threw open the front door. Maddie ran after him. “MJ, stop!” He couldn’t run off into the rain and lightning.

She paused at the door for only a second before dashing out after him. She couldn’t see him, but heard his footsteps crunching over the path of broken shells. Catching up to him under a tree weighed down with heavy limes and rain-soaked leaves, she grabbed the back of his shirt. “Stop! Please!”

He spun and batted her arm away. “I’ve never wanted to strangle someone so much in my life. And the fact that you betrayed me terrifies me. It kills me, Maddie. Not you! Anyone else in this fucking world but you.”

Desperation overtook her, and she grabbed the front of his shirt. “How could I tell you? She abandoned you. I know exactly how that feels, MJ. I couldn’t do that to you. I love you too much to bring that hurt into your life.”

He gripped her wrist and tried to tear her hands away, but she held tight. “That’s bullshit,” he said. “You were afraid
your dad would get fired. Like that’s anything at all when it comes to telling me my mother’s alive.”

“My dad’s in the hospital! You don’t think that’s a coincidence do you? Your grandfather did this. I came here and he hurt my dad!”

“You don’t know that.”

Maddie dropped her hands. “You have more faith in your grandfather than you do in me?”

“You’re about equal now in my book.”

She sucked in her lips, willing her emotions to steady. Crying wouldn’t help her. She had to make him see reason. “Do you remember the first time we got drunk?” she asked.

“What does that have to do with this?” he spat.

Undeterred, she continued. “It was the day before I turned eighteen.”

Maddie held the phone receiver tight in her sweaty hand. It had been so long since she’d seen her mom, and now she sat on the couch crushed. “You’re not coming home?” she said. To Maddie’s ears, her own voice sounded like the same little girl she’d been the day her mom left.

“I can’t make it, Angel. I’m sorry. I’m in L.A. and I have an audition tomorrow. I have a good shot at getting this part and then your momma will be on TV! Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah. That’s great.” Maddie tried to smile, tried to sound encouraging. “Good luck.”

“You know, now that you’ll be eighteen, you can come out here with me! Wouldn’t that be fun? Two single women living in L.A.?”

Maddie laughed, but it sounded how she imagined cardboard tasted. Dull. Flat. Dry. “I’m going to college, remember?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’ve always been serious and responsible.” She laughed, but it sounded like mocking laughter to Maddie.

“I have to go, Mom. I’ll miss seeing you. Let me know how your audition goes.”

“I will, Angel. Have a great birthday.” She made kissy noises into the phone.

“Bye,” Maddie muttered, and hung up.

Devastated, she ran out the door before the tears burst free and her dad saw her. The last thing she wanted was for him to think another birthday with only him wasn’t good enough. It was more than good enough. Her mom was a joke. She couldn’t be bothered with Maddie. She wouldn’t even call again for another six months.

Maddie was stupid to get her hopes up.

Outside, she leaned against the back of the garage and sobbed. Sliding down onto her bottom, she dropped her head into her hands and let it out.

“Mads? What’s wrong?” MJ sat down beside her.

“She’s not coming,” Maddie said between her fingers. “I don’t know why I care.”

His arm went around her shoulders. “Because she’s your mom. She’s supposed to want to be here for your birthday.”

He pulled her to him and let her cry against his shoulder for so long, the sky turned dark. Finally, he held her back and lifted one finger. “Be right back.”

Maddie tried to pull herself together while he was gone. She dried her eyes and took deep breathes. There was no use crying. She had everything she needed anyway—a home, food to eat and two people she could always rely on, her dad and MJ.

He came back holding a bottle of vodka. “I think we need to celebrate your birthday early. What do you say? Back by the lake?”

She smiled and couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I like that idea.”

The two of them headed out, not bothering with a golf cart. They took big gulps of vodka that stung the backs of their throats as they walked. By the time they got to the lake, Maddie was already tipsy and couldn’t stop giggling.

“I’m sorry your mom sucks,” MJ said. “I wish my mom was around for you, like your dad’s around for me.”

Maddie lowered herself to sit, crashing down on her butt in the grass. “I wonder what she’d be like. I bet
she’d
believe in ghosts.”

MJ chuckled and sat beside her. “Nobody but you believes in ghosts, Mads.” He took a big swig of vodka and held the bottle up in the moonlight. “We just about killed it.” He handed her the bottle. “Go ahead. You take the last drink.”

She did and tossed it aside. “I’m hot.” She plucked the front of her T-shirt out, filling it with air and let it go. “I want to swim.”

“Swim?” His gaze followed her as she stood and stripped off her shirt.

“Yeah,” she said, looking down at him, her head spinning. “Swim.” She unbuttoned her shorts and shoved them off.

“Mads. You don’t have a bathing suit on.” He stood up and she watched his eyes roam her body. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she should be embarrassed to be in her underwear in front of him, but she wasn’t.

“So. We’ll skinny-dip.” She ran toward the lake, unhooking her bra and letting it fall behind her. At the bank, she shimmied out of her panties and left them at the edge of the water as she stepped in.

“Vodka does
this
to you, huh? I’ll have to remember that.” He stopped a few feet behind her.

“I like vodka,” she said, laughing so loud, it echoed out over the lake. Maddie looked back over her shoulder. “Why are you still dressed? Aren’t you coming in? This is my party, MJ. You have to do what I want.”

MJ folded his arms across his chest and rocked from foot to foot. “We drank vodka beside the lake,” he said. “You laughed like a crazy person, slurred all the stupid shit you said and talked me into going skinny-dipping. I wanted you so badly it hurt, but you thought of me as a little brother. I held your hair while you puked about ten times under that big willow tree.”

She held her breath for a moment. “You wanted me then?”

“I can’t think of a time when I haven’t wanted you.” He let his hands drop to his sides. “Except maybe now.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her tears not to fall. “You know, you were stronger and more mature at fourteen than I am at twenty-four. You sat there soaking in all the pain and tears I shed that day. For hours. You never once left my side. I wasn’t strong enough to do that for you. I couldn’t take seeing you like that. I was too selfish and afraid.”

Hesitantly, Maddie rested a hand on his chest. “I’m sorry.”

He inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. “I know.”

Her insides clenched. “Can you forgive me?”

The minute that passed in silence was excruciating for her to bear. “I don’t know,” he said, finally. “That’s a lot to ask. It’s not only that you didn’t tell me she was alive, but you let it keep us apart for over a year. Being with me wasn’t worth telling me.”

“No,” she whispered, stroking his wet hair from his eyes, “you’re worth everything to me.”

MJ pushed her hand away. “Talan’s worth everything to you. You decided to marry him, remember? Would you keep a secret this big from him? Would you let it keep you apart?” He took a step closer and loomed over her. “And you had the nerve to blame me for your dad getting hurt. Even if it ends up being the Old Man’s fault, you could’ve avoided all of this by telling me the truth.”

Standing so close, Maddie could see the shadow of his jaw clenching and releasing before he pivoted and walked away from her.

T
he phrase
when it rains, it pours
described the past couple days perfectly, and it had nothing to do with the goddamn storm. Needing a few more minutes to calm down, MJ decided to walk around the hotel and go in through the patio gate.