Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (37 page)

And she just
knew
that Caleb realized it.

He’d given her space, as if he sensed that she needed that time.
 
She began to see a side of Caleb that she’d only caught minor glimpses of before.
 
Gone was the man who’d once cut her with his sharp-edged words, who’d once shown her more ugliness than kindness.

Caleb was so much more than just bitterness and anger.
 
He believed in loyalty and hard work.
 
She’d overheard him one night on the phone with Alex, one of his close friends, who seemed to be ranting about a problem at work.
 
Caleb had stayed on the phone with him for an hour giving words of encouragement, even though she knew he had to be dead tired from a tough work week.
 
And Maddie heard him the next night checking up on how everything had worked out.
 
He was a good friend.
 
He was the kind of man where if someone earned his trust and loyalty, they had it for a lifetime.

And some nights, she even had to drag him home from the garage or else he would be doing paperwork until two in the morning, or working on one of the numerous restoration orders that were flooding in.
 
It seemed that Caleb was excellent at his job, but Maddie had already told him—more than a few times—that he needed to hire more help.
 
He would kill himself trying to do it all, as independent as he was.

He didn’t hire new help, but he did take Peter on as an apprentice to help with restorations.
 
Maddie was pleased to note that every day the once shy teenager seemed to open up just a little bit more.
 
He’d always been so skittish before and had never liked to ask for help, but even Maddie could see that he was happier.
 
Most nights after dinner, he would sit at the kitchen counter all evening, sketching in his book, art supplies littered around him, while Maddie sat on the stool next to him and studied.
 
They were content, quiet nights, and Maddie had never felt so at peace.
 
Caleb would find them both there whenever he managed to pull himself away from the garage and he would watch her for a few moments—making Maddie’s skin tingle and awareness sweep through her body—before turning in for the night.

Besides those moments, Caleb hadn’t made a move on her and…it disappointed her.
 
She’d finally broken through Caleb’s hostile outer layer and now that she’d gotten that taste, she wanted more.
 
But she didn’t know how to bring it up.
 
He seemed okay to leave their ‘relationship’—if she could even call it that—on hold for now, just as she had done in the beginning.
 
Now, she was beginning to resent that each night they went to separate bedrooms, even though she’d been the one to insist on it.

Then, there had been ‘the box.’

The first week, when Maddie had still been unpacking boxes, she’d discovered a box of Caleb’s that the movers had deposited in her room by mistake.
 
When she lifted the lid, it had been filled with
rope
.
 
Of all kinds, neatly wrapped and organized.
 
And she
knew
.
 
She just knew what they were for.
 
He’d once told her that he needed ‘certain things’ during sex and she remembered the way he’d expertly tied her up with his belt that one night so long ago.

She’d touched the manila rope, felt its roughness chafe her fingertips, and suddenly, she was struck with jealousy so potent that tears sprang into her eyes and she’d had to close the box lid before she burst into tears.
 
She couldn’t help but wonder when the last time Caleb had used the contents of the box.
 
The thought of some random, faceless girl, tied up with those ropes for Caleb’s pleasure, made Maddie almost…envious.
 
They’d never discussed whether they were going to be monogamous or not—the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind until then—but Maddie couldn’t stomach the idea of Caleb with another woman.
 
It was too painful.

When she handed over the box to Caleb that first week, he’d been shifting furniture in the living room, muscles flexing.
 
He froze when he saw it in her hands and she didn’t say anything when she handed it over to him.
 
His gaze was rapt, trying to gauge her, as usual, but she liked to think she gave nothing away.
 
She was a coward for not confronting him about it, but what could she say?
 
That first week, she didn’t want to think about them.
 
She didn’t want to think about what that box meant, so she stayed silent and walked away.
 
Caleb had never brought it up again and neither had she.

But she was getting restless.
 
It had been almost two months since that moment and every day, she was wishing that she had said something.
 
She found herself wishing that she’d told him to use those ropes on
her
and not some other girl, which only confused her more.
 
Was she ready for sex with him again?
 
Maddie didn’t know if it was her hormones or the way that Caleb looked at her, but she
wanted
him more and more with each passing day.

You’re not doing anything about it either
, she’d often thought.
 
Caleb hadn’t made an obvious move.
 
Sure, he touched her if they were ever close to each other.
 
Her waist, her hair, her arms.
 
Sometimes in the mornings, when they maneuvered around one another in the kitchen, Maddie got the impression that he couldn’t
not
touch her, like he
needed
to feel her, to be close to her.
 
He never kissed her though.
 
He hadn’t kissed her in weeks and she didn’t want to think about the implications.

Maddie wished that there was a clear path when it came to Caleb.
 
She wished she knew if she was making the right choice by protecting her heart, or if she should just go for the plunge and pray that she surfaced if worse came to worst.

To make matters more complicated, not only was she dealing with her relationship with Caleb, but she also hadn’t spoken to her brother.
 
At all.
 
The prediction she’d given Caleb after Thomas had punched him was only half true.
 
Thomas didn’t come and apologize that Sunday.
 
It had been two months since the confrontation in the parking lot and Maddie had not heard from her brother.
 
When she talked to her mom about it, her mom only told her that he needed time to process what was happening and everything would eventually work out.

It didn’t stop her from feeling disappointed, even lost.
 
Her and Thomas were close.
 
She hardly went a couple days without hearing from him, so to go almost two months with radio silence was hard to swallow.
 
Unbearable, even.
 
But she had to give him time.
 
She only hoped that he’d come around eventually.

*
   
*
   
*

“You’re home early,” Maddie said, surprised to see Peter snacking in the kitchen when she came home from the library one afternoon.
 
He usually bussed straight to the garage after school.
 
The teenager was about as addicted to that place as Caleb was.
 
She ruffled his hair, noting that he’d need to get another haircut soon.
 
“Did you have a good day?”

Peter nodded, chewing around a mouthful of chips, and he stood to relieve her of the two bags of groceries she’d picked up on the way home.
 
His sketchbook was open in front of him, a rough drawing of a dragon forming on the page, with scales that resembled intricate chainmail.
 
Peter’s fingers were smudged in lead and he had a smear of it on his cheek.

“You know he wouldn’t want you carrying these,” Peter commented, shifting the bags onto the counter.

“Well, it’ll be our little secret then,” she teased.
 
Caleb seemed to think that her being pregnant meant that she should just sit at home all day and not lift a finger.
 
If he could chain her to the bed, Maddie was absolutely certain he would.

The thought sent a shock of arousal racing through her, which wasn’t the first time that had happened whenever she thought about Caleb’s proclivities.
 
Yes
, Maddie thought,
he would
absolutely
want to do that.

Too bad he won’t
, she thought, frowning, the all too familiar feeling of frustration swamping her.

As Maddie put away the groceries, she noticed that Peter was quieter than usual, which wasn’t saying much.
 
Although he had always been shy, he’d become at least a
little
more outgoing living with them, so she grew concerned.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, brows furrowing together, leaning her hands on the island in the middle of the kitchen and eyeing the boy sitting on the other side.
 
Then she spotted a mark on his jaw when he tilted his head.
 
An angry red mark that she’d seen before on Caleb after her brother had paid him a visit.
 
“Oh my God, what happened?”

She raced around the island to inspect his face more closely.
 
But there was no denying it.
 
He’d been hit on the side of his face and it looked painful.

When the boy clenched his teeth together, remaining silent, she said, heart racing, “Peter, tell me what happened right now.
 
Who did this?”

More silence ticked past, but he finally admitted, “I went home after school.
 
I didn’t expect my dad to be there, but he’d been laid off from work apparently.”

“Why’d you go home, sweetheart?” she asked, worry making her bite her lip.

A red tinge spread over his cheekbones.
 
“I wanted my birth certificate.”

“What?
 
What for?”

“I want to apply for a driver’s license,” he admitted, mumbling, looking down at his sketchpad and not meeting her eyes.
 
Quickly, he added, “I know I don’t have a car or anything, but I still want it.
 
All the guys at the garage have one.”

Tears sprung up in her eyes at the longing in Peter’s voice.
 
Through a tightened throat, she said, “Well, if you want a license, then you’ll get one.”

Peter shook his head.
 
“I didn’t get my birth certificate.
 
He wouldn’t give it to me and I ran out before he could land another hit.”

Maddie’s heart squeezed and anger at the disgusting human being that was Peter’s father overwhelmed her.
 
How could anyone harm the gentle, sweet kid in front of her?

“He…he said that my mom ran off last month,” he whispered, eyes unblinking.
 
“With some guy from down the block.
 
He blames me for it.
 
Said if I hadn’t gone away, she’d still be around.”

“Peter,” Maddie said, brushing his hair back away from his face.
 
“You know that’s not true.”

The teenager stayed silent and Maddie felt a little piece of her heart break at the acceptance on his face.
 
She’d do anything to change it.

So she asked, “Do you know where he keeps your birth certificate?”

Peter lifted his gaze slowly and nodded.
 
“I think it’s in the closet in his bedroom.”

“Then let’s go get it.”

He shook his head, eyes wide.
 
“Are you nuts?
 
Caleb would never let you.”

“Well, he doesn’t have to know until after we’ve already gotten it.
 
He won’t be home until later tonight.
 
And we can wait at your house until your dad leaves or falls asleep.
 
We’ll go in for a quick minute and then leave.”

He tilted his head to the side and eyed her.
 
“I don’t feel good about this.”

“I want you to get what you want, sweetheart,” she murmured.
 
“You could have your license by the fall if we do this today.”
 
Maddie could sense that she was wearing him down.
 
“Do you know if your dad leaves the house at night?”

Peter slowly shook his head.
 
“No, but he usually passes out on the couch by six or seven.”

Maddie looked at the clock.
 
That was a little under three hours away.
 
“Caleb won’t be home until nine at the earliest, so that’ll give us time.”

“Maddie…I don’t know.
 
I don’t think—”

She smiled down at him.
 
“Don’t you worry.
 
I’ll leave him a note if it would make you feel better.
 
Let me deal with Caleb
after
we’ve gotten your birth certificate, okay?”

Peter swallowed hard, but finally nodded.

THIRTY-THREE

As luck would have it, when Maddie and Peter pulled up to his dad’s house later that evening, they only had to wait about a half hour until his dad passed out on the couch.
 
Peter would pop out of the car every now and again to peek through the windows, navigating through trash and dead, long grass, but this last time, he turned and gave her a thumbs up.

Maddie got out of her car and quickly walked up to the house, glancing around.
 
They weren’t in the best neighborhood, but luckily, most of the houses on the street were dark and no one was walking around outside.