Teach Me To Live (Teach Me - Book One) (13 page)

I cared for Austin. There were some things I didn’t want to subject him to. Meeting my father was just one of those things.

“No Dad, I’m not ashamed of him,” I sighed. “I’m ashamed of the way I see you treating him.”

My father flinched. “I treat everyone fairly, Madison, you know that.”

“You don’t treat fairly, Dad.”

“How is that?”

“You refuse to listen to me when I tell you how I feel about the life you want me to live. How is that fair?”

“We’re not talking about you, Madison. We’re talking about the boy you’ve been gallivanting around town with.”

I nodded. “We were talking about that. Now, I’m talking about me.”

He sighed. “How am I not listening to you? I’ve heard everything you’ve been saying, Madison. Funny thing is that all these changes in you have come about right around the time you met this boy. Excuse me for blaming this new change in my daughter on the only change in her life.”

Fisting my hands at my sides, I groaned. Frustration was blooming inside of me as I stared incredulously at my father.

“See? You’re not
listening!
” I felt my voice begin to shake. “I’ve been telling you for a week that I have been feeling caged for a really long time! I’ve been telling you that I don’t want to go to University for Law. I want to study the arts!”

Dad scoffed. “Arts?” He shook his head. “You’ve never even painted a picture, Madison.”

“I don’t want to paint, Dad. I want to be a writer.”

There. The truth was out. He knew I was interested in writing. But now he knew it was what I wanted for my life.

“You’ll never make a career out of writing, Madison. The only feasible career you’ll find with writing is journalism and that’s too dangerous. Do you know how many journalists are the victims of violence and terrorist activities? They stick their nose in places they have no business being.”

“And lawyers don’t?”

He sighed. “Lawyers are educated, Madison.”

I laughed. “You’re too thick in the skull for this conversation,” I shook my head at his angry expression. “I’m getting nowhere with you.”

“Madison Avery, don’t you walk away from me!”

I didn’t bother respecting his command. If he couldn’t respect my life choices, I wouldn’t be respecting his requests. Dad had always said that respect wasn’t just given, it was earned. He had yet to earn my respect.

I cracked a beer and sat back against the couch on a heavy sigh, taking a long swig. I didn’t get more than thirty-five seconds of peace before Kaiden opened his bedroom door. I watched as he closed the door behind him, moving across the floor to the kitchen. He wore nothing but a pair of jeans and he looked like an ass.

“You take Madison home?” He asked, settling beside me with his own beer.

I nodded. “Kind of had to with the way you and Sasha were going at it.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to get that in while I can.” He shrugged, half-apologetic.

“Why is that?”

“Raina’s coming to stay with us for the summer. She’s finished with her courses in Calgary, and you know how she cock-blocks me.”

I smirked. Raina was Kaiden’s best friend. We’ve known each other for years. It was hell for Kaiden when she left for University in Calgary. If it weren’t for me, I have no doubt he would have followed her. It’s always been my suspicion that Kaiden was in love with Raina, but it would be a cold day in Hell when he admitted it to anyone, much less himself.

“When will she be here?”

“Early next week,” Kaiden leaned back into the couch. “She’ll love Madison.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, taking another swig. “Madison will love her.”

“With Mom, they’ll outnumber us.”

I chuckled. “Probably. But we’ll have fun watching them try. Besides, we still have Dad.”

“Dad’s totally on Mom’s team,” Kaiden shrugged into the silence before speaking. “You and Madison are getting pretty serious, huh?”

I tensed, sensing the direction this conversation was about to take. “We are.”

“She really is a sweet girl, Austin.” His voice was gruff and I knew he would rather talk about anything but this. “You’re going to devastate her.”

“I know,” I looked down into my lap where my beer was resting against my knee. With shaking fingers, I picked at the label. “I don’t know if it’s better to walk away from her now or later. I have a feeling both will hurt her.”

Kaiden sighed. “Yeah, she’s falling for you already. If you walk now you’re still going to hurt her.”

“What are you saying?” I looked over at my brother, feeling my breaths shorten.

“I’m saying that if it’s going to hurt either way, you may as well make the most of what you can with her.” He leaned back against the couch, staring blankly ahead. “You’ve already had to give up so much. You shouldn’t have to give her up to because,”

I stopped him. “Thanks, Kai.”

His eyes were misted, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he nodded, slamming his hands down on the couch. He rose from where he was sitting and walked straight into his bedroom. The sound of Sasha and my brother getting it off began all over again, and with a tight shake of my head, I rose from the couch to make my way to my own end of the trailer where the sound of them might not drive me straight out of my head.

Flopping back on my bed, I did the only thing I could think of doing. I texted Madison.

Me:
What are you doing?

Madison:
Writing.

Me:
About me?

Madison:
Maybe . . .

My heart jolted, and a grin I had no hope in hell of fighting, tugged at the corners of my mouth.

Me:
What about me?

Madison:
Not telling. I’m safe from your beast here.

I laughed out loud at her humorous crack at me before my thumbs set to pounding the screen of my phone again.

Me:
Funny girl. I can easily come find you.

Madison:
You don’t know where I live.

Me:
But I do.

Madison:
You don’t. I’ve never told you.

Me:
Not only do I have the brains to use Google to find Judge Avery’s address, but I’ve seen your license. I have a good memory.

Madison:
You really know where I live?

Me:
Yeah. No testing the beast.

Madison:
Where’s the fun if I’m not testing him?

I grinned, typing my reply.

Me:
Are you testing him? You know he delivers, sweetheart.

Madison:
Maybe I want him to . . .

Me:
I’m on my way.

I was only kidding. I wasn’t actually planning on showing up at her house in the middle of the night to tickle her into oblivion. I was just playing around, kind of hopeful that I would see her again tonight, but knowing that hope was exactly that. Hope. Then, the sound of my phone ringing made my entire body stiffen as I glanced down to see her name on my screen.

“Hello?”

“Are you being serious?”

“What?” I laughed. “No.” I paused. “Unless you’re being serious and you really want me to come get you. Then I will. I’ll leave right now.”

She sighed softly. “Where are you right now?”

“At home,” I said. “In bed.”

“I wish I was there with you.” Her voice was so soft and low and tempting and—my entire body was on fire. She had no idea how badly I wanted her here with me.

“How badly?”

“So bad,” she said on a hoarse breath.

I smiled, loving the impact she had on my body from so far away. I couldn’t remember Chloe ever affecting me this way. Shit, just the thought of Madison made me hard in all the right places.

“I want you here, too.”

For a moment there was silence. I didn’t say anything. I simply listened to the sound of her breathing. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke, and she rocked my world.

“Will you come pick me up?”

My heart jolted and my entire body flooded with awareness. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “I just want to spend the night with you. Just sleeping or talking.”

I understood what she was trying to tell me. No sex. I got it. Although I was a man and sex was often on the forefront of my mind, there was more than just sex when it came to her. I wanted to see her smile, to hear her laugh, and to memorize the sound of her breathing. She made me happy and content. If she was never ready, I’d be fine. I wish she believed me when I told her that. But my words didn’t seem to sink into her skull because she reminded me often that she wasn’t ready.

“Madison,” my voice was deep. “Please stop reminding me that you’re not ready. It won’t happen until you’ve said it can happen, all right? I don’t need it.”

“Okay,” she whispered, sounding insecure. “Will you still come get me?”

“Course I will,” I was already walking out the front door. “I’ll always come get you, sweets.”