Page 43 of Ravaged For You

“Do you even like me?”

“Like you?” Maddie scoffs. “What are you, five years old? I don’t even know you, Axel.”

“What do you think of me already?”

She pauses, coming up with a good enough answer. “I think you’re a show pony.”

That actually makes me laugh. Maddie is not amused. “You think I’m shallow, is that it?” I ask her.

“You’ve done nothing but deserve that title,” Maddie replies. “You’re smooth with words and with your looks, but I doubt there’s much introspection going on inside your head.”

Wow. She’s good.

“Oh, that’s harsh. Maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, Maddie, no matter how smart you may be.”

“Let’s sit down then, and you tell me about yourself if you’re so keen to.”

We head back into Lucas’ living room and onto the couch.

I sit opposite her again, but then I have a different idea.

“This is fucking uncomfortable,” I murmur before sliding over to sit next to Maddie. “Being opposite you makes me feel like we’re in some kind of police interrogation room.”

“Oh, yeah? Or are you just finding any old excuse to sit next to me?”

I look her in the eyes, trying my hardest to make her feel uncomfortable. It’s like a little game we’re playing, but Maddie stares right on back.

She’s got a real resistant spark in her. Most girls would already have crumbled under the rockstar gaze by now, but not Maddie here. She can hold her own, despite her geeky, shy appearance.

She’s an innocent angel who’s stumbled into my cave of sin.

The little game is a draw. I decide to speak first.

“Tell me about yourself, Maddie,” I say quietly. I want her to feel like she’s the only girl I’ve ever spoken to in this way. “You said you went through some shit. You certainly must’ve gone through some stuff to talk back to me with your forked tongue. And it takes balls to live on your own in LA, especially the cheap area where you live.”

“Should I be taking all that as an insult?”

“No. It’s a compliment,” I reply. We’re really damn close. I can’t help my attention quickly jumping down to her soft lips and back up to her eyes. Her mouth is slightly parted. If she were any other girl, I would already be kissing her right now, but that’s not in the terms of our silly little contract. I just know for a fact she wouldn’t last one minute alone with my mouth. No girl ever does. “Tell me about where you grew up.”

“I would’ve thought Lucas had his spies figure all that out.”

“Oh, he did. I just want to hear it from your mouth.”

“Well, I grew up in small town Wisconsin. I had a normal, standard American life. Grew up in the suburbs. Not poor, not rich. My parents got divorced, just like most families, and things were pretty messy. As I’m sure they are for most divorced families.”

She’s deliberately being humble. She’s hiding her true self behind a snarky and withdrawn façade, but I’ll break those walls down.

“How was it messy? Elaborate.”

“My parents were obviously two people not meant for each other,” the girl says. “I’ve had a lot of years to reflect back on that. I’m still not fully over it, but it’s the same backstory to lots of people. As I said, I’m standard. Average.”

I lean in even closer to her. Maddie freezes. I see her own eyes glance down to my lips.

The next words I whisper.

“There’s nothing average about you, Maddie. I mean it.”

Maddie suddenly stands up.