Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (12 page)

ELEVEN

The first thing that Maddie noticed was that the garage was noisier during the day.
 
When she stepped out of her car and made her way into the familiar space of steel, oil, and cement, the mechanics all turned to stare.

“Hey, sweetie,” Brian called, taking a break on a plastic chair and sipping on a Coke.

“Yeah, hello,
sweetie
,” called another man, his tone making Maddie bristle.
 
He was tall with a dark beard and piercing blue eyes.
 
Handsome in a rough way, but something about him gave her the creeps.
 
Majorly.
 
It was most likely the leer.

Brian shot him a dark look.
 
“She’s Caleb’s, Jones.
 
I wouldn’t fuck with her if I were you.”

Maddie frowned.
 
She certainly
wasn’t
Caleb’s anything, whatever that meant.
 
But Jones seemed surprised and the other three men whistled and laughed, making Maddie shift in place.
 
“What, does she have a magical pussy or something?” she heard Jones mumble to his friends.
 
“I bet—”

“Say anythin’ more, boy, and I’ll break your fuckin’ jaw,” Brian said, pushing to his feet and taking a step closer to Jones, who raised his hands innocently in the air.

“Didn’t mean anything by it.
 
Right, sweetheart?” he asked, throwing a wink.

Her heart was beating hard in her chest and Maddie swallowed, beyond uncomfortable.
 
She wished that Caleb hadn’t asked her to come by earlier in the afternoon.
 
She wasn’t used to men looking at her like she was some kind of object.
 
Kyra had always been the one who easily fended off men, laughing like it was nothing.
 
Maddie, however, felt slightly sick.
 
There was no mistaking the way Jones’ eyes swept over her body, crawling over her like worms, making her want to scrub her skin until it was raw.

Maddie made her escape quickly, climbing the stairs.
 
Peter came out of Caleb’s office, pausing at the top of the stairs to hold the door open for her.

“Hi, Maddie,” he said quietly, flushing.

She gave him a shaky smile.
 
“Hi, Peter.
 
Thank you.”

Then she stepped inside and the door swung shut.
 
Already, she felt better, wrapped in the familiar smell and quiet of Caleb’s office, but her heart was still pounding.
 
Caleb sat in his usual place at his desk, typing away furiously.

He glanced at her when she appeared, looked away for a brief second, before his head whipped back, his eyes narrowing.

“What is it?” he asked, pushing away from the desk, standing slowly.

His reaction made her both nervous and comforted.
 
“Nothing,” she murmured quietly, slipping off her purse and jacket before stepping over to her own laptop.

“Maddie,” he said in a warning tone, a hint of a threat in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
 
“They just…” she trailed off, not wanting to tell him what Jones had said.
 
Or what Brian had said.

Caleb’s gaze drifted to the window and his jaw hardened.
 
“Did they say something to you?”
 
Maddie shrugged, avoiding his eyes.
 
She didn’t want to make a big deal over what happened.
 
She just wanted to forget the whole thing.
 
“Tell me,” Caleb snapped, his anger rising.
 
Instinctively, Maddie knew it wasn’t aimed at her.

“It was nothing, Caleb,” she said, starting up the laptop.

She could still feel his gaze and he waited only a brief second before he rounded his desk, striding over to the door before yanking it open.

“Caleb!” Maddie called after him, scrambling up from her chair to stop him.
 
But it was too late.
 
He was already stomping down the metal stairs into the heart of the garage.

Maddie watched the door close, muting the sounds from below, but she did peer out the blinds of the window.
 
Even though she couldn’t make out Caleb’s words, she could hear his tone, quiet and dark.
 
He said something to Brian, who nodded at Jones, and then Caleb stepped up to him, speaking low, his body tense.
 
He had a few inches on Jones, who had to crane up his neck.
 
Maddie, high up in the office, even felt intimidated.
 
Jones backed away, his head shaking, but the anger in Caleb’s features couldn’t be mistaken.

Finally, Caleb broke away from him and when he came storming back up the stairs, she stepped away from the window.
 
When he slammed the door shut behind him, she said, “That was unnecessary.”

Traces of his fury lined his body and Maddie should’ve known better than to confront him when he was in this kind of mood.
 
She hadn’t known him very long, but she’d learned how to read him.

“As long as you work here,” he started, his fists clenching, “
they
will not bother you.
 
I promise.”

For some reason, Maddie hadn’t expected those words.
 
They took her off guard and before she knew what she was saying, she asked, “And what about you?”

The moment the words slipped from her mouth, she knew she made a mistake.
 
Caleb took a step towards her, until she could smell the heat of his body.
 
The night before returned to her in a rush and her lips parted, as though in preparation.
 
Caleb noticed.
 
He gazed down at her lips, that same desire in his eyes.
 
They blazed as he rasped, “That’s something I
can’t
promise, princess.”

And, like he was ripping himself away, he turned away from her, stalking back to his desk, his shoulders bunched tight.
 
It had happened so quickly that Maddie wondered if she’d simply imagined the words, a remnant of a fantasy she shouldn’t want but did.
 
He was all wrong for her—too mean, too cold, too
everything
—but a reckless part of her craved him.
 
A part of her had
always
craved him.

For once, she didn’t want to fade into the background in a man’s eyes.
 
She’d waited two years in high school for Caleb to notice her, to want her as much as she wanted him.
 
And now, she finally had his attention.
 
She wanted to channel her inner Kyra, to finally take a chance on something meaningful.
 
Maybe that was why she’d never been in a relationship.
 
She didn’t take enough chances, didn’t put herself into a position where someone could break her or hurt her.
 
She had always been safe, wrapped up and hiding behind her cozy, comforting walls.

So, she took a deep breath and said quietly, “Maybe I don’t want you to promise that.”
 
Caleb froze, halfway across the room, not quite at his desk yet.
 
“Maybe I want you, too.”

He swung around again, the embers of his anger reigniting.
 
His legs ate up the distance between them until Maddie was backed into the far wall, a furious, six-foot-something man boxing her in.
 
He didn’t touch her, but all she would have to do was take one step forward and her curves would be molded to hard planes and muscles.

“
Too
?” he bit out, his dark eyes seemingly even darker.
 
“You think I want you?”

“I know you do,” she whispered, heart thundering, breaths coming out fast.
 
Nothing about this situation seemed real, like an out-of-body experience.
 
Had those words truly come from
her
own mouth?

He laughed, but it was dark.
 
“How so?”

“I saw it last night.
 
I see it now,” she murmured, licking her dry lips.

He didn’t deny her words as his eyes followed the pink flash of her tongue.
 
A shot of adrenaline pumped through her body when she saw him swallow,
hard
.
 
His voice was huskier when he asked, “You want to be kissed, princess?”

Maddie sharply inhaled.
 
She didn’t even need to answer.
 
Caleb saw her enthusiasm, the way her eyes widened ever so slightly, how her cheeks flushed pink, how she leaned forward.

He gave her a dark, knowing smirk that made her breath quicken.
 
Stepping even closer, although their bodies still didn’t touch, he murmured, “Do you want to know something, Maddie?
 
I haven’t kissed a woman in almost eight years.”
 
Her brows drew, struggling to process his words.
 
“But I
have
fucked a lot of women in eight years.
 
What does that tell you?”

Maddie ignored the searing flash of jealousy and the bitter burn of humiliation that swept through her.
 
How many women had experienced the man she’d once wanted all to herself?

Her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth.
 
“I know what you’re trying to do,” she whispered.

“And what’s that?”

“Scare me away,” she answered truthfully, the words tumbling from her lips.
 
“But do you want to know what I think?
 
I think
you’re
scared of
me
.”

“And why would I be afraid of you?” he asked, his defenses rising.
 
A tangible wall.
 
His eyes swept over her.
 
His desire was gone, replaced with something that made her want to shrink away, something like disdain.
 
The high that she felt taking charge had disappeared and she was left shaking as she came down.
 
“You’re nothing to me.
 
You’re just some irresponsible, spoiled,
desperate
little girl, wanting a taste of what I can give you.
 
Well, you know what,
princess
?
 
Get in the fucking line.”

Maddie stood frozen as Caleb backed away.
 
Tears clogged her throat, her vision blurring, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from him.

Suddenly, she wished that she hadn’t been the irresponsible and foolish woman he thought she was and put diesel in her car that one night.
 
She wished she’d never found him again, after all these years, that he’d remained in her mind as the boy that she fantasized herself in love with when she’d been young.

“You’re such a hypocrite, Caleb.
 
You reprimanded Jones just a moment ago, when in fact
you
say crueler things to me and you don’t even bat an eye,” she whispered, her tone ragged.
 
“Why do you do this to me?
 
In what way have I
ever
hurt you like this?”

It was always one step forward and two steps back with him.
 
This
was why she never put herself in vulnerable positions.
 
She wished she could go back in time to just a few minutes ago.
 
She wished that she’d never said anything, that she’d just let him be angry over what Jones had said, but went about her work.

Caleb remained silent.
 
He looked away when a tear dripped down her cheek and then with a whispered curse, he left the office.
 
One moment he was there, another he was gone, retreating back down the stairs.
 
The door slammed behind him and more tears fell until she was sobbing quietly, trying to pull herself together.

An irresponsible, spoiled, desperate little girl
.

That
hurt.
 
Mostly because it was true.
 
No, she wasn’t spoiled.
 
She worked hard.
 
But yes, perhaps she was slightly irresponsible and more than slightly desperate.
 
She
had
thrown herself at him, only to be rejected.

How would she ever face him again after this?

Maddie would have to, because she couldn’t simply walk away, no matter how much she wanted to.
 
Maybe Caleb expected that of her, but she still owed him for her car repairs.
 
She wouldn’t leave when her work remained unfinished.

So, she wiped away her tears and took a calming sip out of the water bottle she’d brought with her.
 
Once she felt better, she booted up the bookkeeping program and got to work as best as she could.
 
She could only hope that Caleb wouldn’t return while she was still here, even though she knew that she’d have to deal with him eventually.

Maddie worked for a solid three hours and got a surprising amount of work done.
 
As she looked around the office, she calculated that she only had a week’s, maybe a week and a half’s, worth of work, if she could keep this pace.
 
And then she’d probably never see Caleb again.
 
A part of her was almost relieved.

As the laptop shut down, she gathered her things and couldn’t help but glance at Caleb’s desk, almost half expecting to see him there.
 
With a sigh, she jotted down a quick note, telling him that she completed the 2010 and half of 2011 files and that she’d come back the same time tomorrow.

Unfortunately, as she descended the stairs into an abnormally quiet and tense garage, she realized that she’d have to speak to Caleb after all.
 
He was working on a car himself on the far right wall.
 
His arms and hands were covered in oil and grease, sweat gleamed on his forehead, his hair mussed.
 
He had earbuds in, listening to music, oblivious to his surroundings.