I stared down at the bulge that was straining against his boxers. “You want me to…”
Rocking back onto his knees, Maddox shook his head. “I’ll come later on. Don’t worry.” After digging into his wallet, he produced a condom. I glanced up at the canopy of emerald trees rather than at the sight of him sliding on the protection. He eased himself between my legs. “Lane, look at me.”
When I met his gaze, he gave me a half smile before slowly entering me. With one thrust, I was his. There was no pain—years of intense ballet had somewhat prepared me. I guess there was something to be said for all those lifts and stretches.
His mouth sought out mine, and his tongue plunged inside me, mimicking his lower body. As the pressure built, my fingernails scraped along his back. Before I knew it, I was coming again. “Maddox!” I cried, gripping his shoulders.
He thrust harder and faster until a low groan erupted from his lips. He shuddered and then collapsed on top of me. With his breath warming my chest, my fingers went to his hair. “That was amazing, Maddox. Everything I ever hope it would be and more.”
When he didn’t reply, I kissed the top of his head. “I love you. I always have, and I always will.”
My words caused his head to snap up. In the moonlight, disbelief flickered in his eyes. He blinked a few times like he was trying to clear his mind. Then when he looked at me again, pain etched across his face. “Oh fuck…”
Jerking away from me, he shot to his feet. His naked form began pacing in front of me.
“What’s wrong?”
Maddox laughed maniacally. “What’s wrong? You seriously have to ask that question?”
“Yes. I mean, you’re freaking out, and I don’t understand why.”
Maddox reached down and snatched up his pants. “Christ, Lane, we just…I…SHIT!!” He jumped in the legs of his pants with lightning speed.
I ducked my head and fought to catch my breath. Gripping the edges of the blanket, I pulled them around me to cover myself. Desperation wracked me to my core as I tried processing what the hell was happening. How could he go from having sex with me one minute to being almost repulsed by me the next? Was it because I said I loved him? My chest threatened to cave in like the time I’d had the wind knocked out of me after falling off the jungle gym at Maudie’s. Ironically, Maddox was at fault for the pain that time too since he had pushed me because he wanted to go off the slide.
“You regret making love to me?” I questioned in a whisper.
After zipping his pants harshly, Maddox stared down at me. “Lane, you’re like my kid sister, and I just screwed you—fucking defiled you on an old blanket of Maudie’s.” He shook his head. “Jesus, I screw up everything!” He raked a shaky hand through his hair. “Let’s not forget that you’re sixteen—practically jailbait.”
“I don’t care about any of that. I care about you,” I countered. I couldn’t stop my lip from trembling when I added, “I do love you, Maddox.”
“I can’t do this,” he moaned.
“You don’t love me,” I said, more for myself as an acknowledgement than for him. In almost slow motion, I raised my head up to meet his gaze. Tears pricked my eyes, and I couldn’t fight them no matter how hard I tried. My water works sent Maddox scrambling away. I didn’t bother calling after him when he started sprinting back to Maudie’s house. What was there to say? I had been rejected in every way, shape and form.
We left the next day for the second leg of Dad’s book release tour. I never told anyone what happened—not my mom or Maudie. I’d read the letters he sent to my parents, which he happened to tack my name on to the top of, and I’d sign the cards and care packages we sent him. But he never tried to make things right, so I finally just wrote him off.
Until now.
As I made the familiar pilgrimage into Maudie’s the next morning, I kept craning my neck over my shoulder or darting my gaze around the parking lot. You could say I was on high alert for any sign of Maddox’s presence. Yesterday, I’d managed to avoid him after our too-close-for-comfort encounter. Luckily for me, Maudie seemed to be using Maddox’s brute strength out in the warehouse. Summertime was one of the busiest seasons because we sold fresh fruit and vegetables from local orchards.
I didn’t have smiles or waves for the workers. Instead, I just power-walked right on by them to the time clock. I fought temptation as I passed Eula and the intoxicating smell of her fried pies. When I breezed into Maudie’s office, I found her with a hammer in her right hand and some nails in the other. “Morning sunshine. I was just about to hang my painting.”
“Morning to you, too. Need any help?”
“No, I think I’m good. That is if I don’t have one million interruptions today with all the delivery trucks.”
As if on cue, her speakerphone buzzed. “Maudie, we need you out in receiving. There’s been a horrible mix-up with the vegetable deliveries.”
Maudie rolled her eyes. “Speak of the devil.” She huffed and put the nails and hammer down. “Mind restocking the Peach Fuzz and Apple Core drink shelves?”
“Sure, I’ll get right on it.”
Maudie smiled and patted my back. “That’s my girl!”
The rest of the morning flew by as I restocked and reorganized all of Miss Maudie’s fruit juices and teas. Drew was good to bring me boxes and take the old ones outside, and we even managed a few short conversations. I thought it was sweet he actually wanted to be around me, but I liked it even more that it kept Maddox away.
I discovered Drew was commuting to Kennesaw, he had two little sisters who drove him insane, and he was holing away money for an apartment when he transferred to Georgia Tech. He found out I was an only child and then jokingly pegged me for an elite snob when I told him I’d gone to Westminster Prep School before going to Agnes Scott. When I finished, I helped him take out the last group of boxes. I didn’t realize how long we had been yacking until Maddox’s voice boomed behind us.
“Hey Drew, whenever you’re done drooling over Lane, could you come out to the warehouse to help with those produce crates?”
As Drew flushed ten shades of red, I fought the urge to smack Maddox. “Uh, yeah, I’m coming,” Drew replied.
“Talk to you later,” I said.
He nodded before scurrying away. I caught Maddox’s eye, and he gave me a wicked grin. I responded by shooting him a death glare before stalking back inside. I ran into Maudie after I slammed the back door. “Lane, are you all right?”
“Fine.”
Maudie gave me a suspicious look before saying, “I was coming to see if you were ready to eat lunch? I made some of that chicken salad you like.”
“That sounds great.”
She smiled. “Go on and get the stuff out of the fridge, and I’ll grab us something to drink.”
“Okay,” I replied, as I started across the store to her office. I scooped up the bread and chicken salad container in my arms and thought of Maddox’s comment to Drew. If he kept it up, we’d never be able to have a decent conversation the entire summer. He was such an infuriating egomaniac.
Huffing, I plopped down in Maudie’s chair. The exertion sent the wheels into overdrive, catapulting me backward. The loaf of bread and container went flying out of my arms. They fell to the floor just as the chair smacked against the wall. Well, at least what I thought was the wall.
I started sliding back to the desk when I heard something crash onto the ground. “Shit!”
The last time I’d seen the painting was this morning when it was on Maudie’s sofa, so it was only natural to assume it was either there or had made its way onto the wall.
Nope, I was wrong.
A quick glance at the wall showed the nails primed and ready to hold up the painting. I could only assume that she hadn’t been able to lift it herself and had brought it over to the desk to call for someone to come and help her when she’d gotten interrupted with something or another.
When I finally dared to pick up the painting, my stomach lurc
hed. The canvas had separated from the frame. My shaky fingers ran over the edges. Fortunately, I didn’t feel any rips or tears in the painting itself. But the frame was totally ruined. “Oh hell no!”
The door creaked open, and I whirled around. Maudie bustled through the door with our drinks. She stopped dead in her tracks at what must’ve been the horror on my face.
“Lane, what’s wrong?”
“I…uh…um…”
“You’re pale as a sheet.” She set the apple cider glasses down on the desk and then started feeling my forehead. “No fever.” She eyed me from head to toe before lowering her voice and asking, “Is it woman troubles?”
Her concern made me feel even worse. “No, Maudie, it’s nothing like that. It’s just…I’ve done something terrible.” At her widening eyes, I quickly rushed on, “Trust me that I didn’t mean to do it, but it happened all the same.”
“Well, what is it?”
Grimacing, I murmured, “I accidentally broke your new painting.”
Maudie gasped as her hand flew to her throat. She stood motionless for a moment before she stooped over and snatched up the frame. As she did an inventory of the damage, the breath I assumed she’d been holding whooshed out. “Lane, it’s okay. We can fix this. I’ll just get one of my woodworking buddies to get the canvas back into the frame.”
“Are you sure?” I felt horrible because it seemed I was getting off way too easy.
Maudie nodded as she fingered along the painting edge. Suddenly a frown dotted her brow. “Now that’s funny.”
“What?”
“It feels like there’s something stuck behind the canvas and the frame. Like a piece of paper or something.” Maudie’s tongue poked out as she tried pinching the paper’s edge. When it didn’t budge, she examined her swollen, arthritic fingers before glancing over at mine. “You better give it a try.”
Maudie held the painting steady for me. Using my index finger and thumb like a pair of tweezers, I grasped at a thin piece of paper. Slowly, I wiggled it back and forth to get a better hold. But just when I was making headway, it got stuck.
I froze and then glanced up at Maudie. She gave me an encouraging smile. “If you have to break more of the frame, go right on ahead. I gotta know what’s behind there!”
“Okay, then.”
I applied more pressure to the wood. With a loud pop, the frame and canvas completely separated on the bottom. My fingers once again delved inside, and I slid out the paper. It was yellowed with age and smelled of musty earth. Rectangular in shape, it had been folded over twice.
“Guess we better see what’s inside?” Maudie suggested.
Gently, I unfolded it. I stared down at strange lettering and symbols. Flashbacks of watching The Goonies and Pirates of the Caribbean with Maddox and his sister, Neely, flooded my mind. “Yeah right,” I murmured in disbelief.
“What do you mean?” Maudie asked.
“It looks like some sort of treasure map.”
Maudie’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “I can’t believe it.”
My fingers ran over the parchment. “It’s definitely old, and the paper feels like…”
Maudie took the map from me and felt along the paper. “Animal skin.”
“Weird, huh?” I glanced at the map’s writing. “There’s not an ‘x marks the spot’ kinda thing like you see in the movies, but it certainly looks like these symbols and letters are leading to something.” I shook my head. “Of course, I can’t imagine there being an actual treasure, least of all why someone would have gone to the trouble to put it behind the painting.”
We were interrupted by Maddox sticking his head in the door. Just the sight of him caused my stomach to churn. “Hey, I was just about to take that delivery to the Perkins—” He hesitated at what could only be the bewildered expressions on Maudie’s and my faces. “Is something wrong?”
Maudie furiously beckoned him with her hand. “Shut the door!”
He ducked inside, arching his brows questioningly. “Did somebody die or something?”
“No, no, of course not,” Maudie chuckled. She took the map from me and handed it over to Maddox. “What do you make of that?”
Not wanting to be too close to Maddox, I inched further away from Maudie. His blue eyes scanned over the paper before he flipped it over. “Is it some kind of Cherokee document?”
Maudie smacked her hand to her forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize what the lettering was. It’s definitely part of the Cherokee syllabary.”
“Think you can read it?” Maddox asked.
Maudie shook her head. “Unfortunately no. Even if I had a copy of the alphabet in front of me, I would still need a linguistic expert.”
I eyed the map again. “So you really think it could lead to some buried Cherokee Indian treasure?”
Maddox snorted. “Don’t tell me you two think this is some kind of treasure map?”
Forgetting that I was trying to ignore him, I countered, “And why couldn’t it be?”
“Um, maybe because it makes absolutely no sense? I mean, we’re talking about the Cherokees, not pirates.”
Maudie grinned as she wagged a finger at Maddox. “Ah, but what about the legend of hidden Cherokee Gold?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think I quite remember that one, but I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me.”
She nodded. “Before everyone headed out to California in 1848, we had our own little gold rush right here in Georgia over in Dahlonega. Of course, the land where it was found belonged to the Cherokees. All that untapped fortune belonging to Indians didn’t sit well with the government, so they found a way to take it. They set up a land lottery and awarded it to white men. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the removal of all Eastern tribes came in shortly after.”
Maudie drew a pained breath. “Since the Indians were allowed so few personal belongings, many chose to hide their gold before they left. Many intended to one day return to their homeland and claim their wealth. Sadly, those who didn’t die along the harsh trek, never made it off the reservations of Oklahoma.”
“That’s so awful,” I murmured.
Maddox rolled his eyes. “And that story is supposed to validate that this piece of animal skin is a treasure map leading to hidden Cherokee gold?”
“Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, it just so happens that many Cherokees left both written and verbal instructions with family members on where gold was hidden. It’s feasible that this could be one of those very messages, which in turn could be considered a treasure map of sorts.”
Maddox’s expression remained skeptical. “Yeah, well, that’s cool to believe. Whatever floats your boat.”
Maudie laughed. “Don’t worry, silly. I’m not grabbing my shovel and running off treasure seeking.”
“I’d hope not.” Motioning to the door, he said, “Okay, so now that the excitement is over, I’ve really got to get that delivery over to the Perkins.”
She nodded. “Go right on ahead.”
“Later then,” he replied with a wave. Before he closed the door, I heard him grumble, “Hidden Cherokee gold.”
Once he had gone, Maudie turned to me. “Think you can man the fort for a bit?”
“Sure, why?”
She grinned. “I’m going up to the house right this instant and putting this baby in the safe!”
I laughed. “Sounds like a good idea to me!”
About an hour after Maudie returned, her voice rang over the loudspeaker. “Lane, you have a phone call.” I shoved the bottle of tea in my hand onto the shelf and hurried down the aisle to Maudie’s office. When I got there, she smiled. “It’s your dad. He’s holding on line four.”
I eased down into her high-back leather chair. I pressed the flashing light and said, “Hey Daddy.”
“Hey Pumpkin. I’ve got some bad news of the book kind.”
“Oh, what’s up?”
“My editor called, and they’ve booked me on the last l
eg of this Southern Secrets tour with a bunch of other mystery writers. The first signing is tomorrow morning in Charleston. Mom and I are packing up to catch a flight out this evening. Do you want to come with us?”
Jackpot! This was the perfect way to get out of working with Maddox. But saying yes meant tagging along with Mom to a bazillion antique stores while she ooed and aahed for hours, not to mention having a history lesson at each and every tourist trap imaginable. Ugh, that did not sound like a good idea at all. No, instead of being bored out of my mind, I would stay. After all, three years had passed, and I was more than capable of being able to tolerate Maddox’s presence.
“As tempting as that sounds,” I began, laying it on as thick as I could, “I better stay here and work. I couldn’t leave Maudie in the lurch.”
It was then a middle-aged man in a black suit barged through the door. The man’s dark eyes locked on mine, and he gave me an unapologetic stare. I cupped my hand over the receiver and asked, “May I help you?”
“I need to see Maudie Sinclair. Immediately.”
The man’s tone and body language told me he meant business. “Um, Dad, I have to go. You and Mom have a safe flight.”
“Okay. Love you honey.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up the phone. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Is Maudie expecting you?”
Out of nowhere, his dark expression lightened. His lips curled into a toothy smile—the kind infamous of game-show hosts and creeps. “No, not exactly. I need to see Mrs. Sinclair about some unfinished business. Of course, I wasn’t expecting such a pretty young thing to be in her office.”
Yuck. Definitely a creep.
“Let me get her for you,” I said, as I rose out of the chair. I clicked on the pager and then my voice rang throughout the store. “Maudie, you’re needed in your office.” I edged around the desk, trying to put more space between the Creep and me.
Thankfully, Maudie was nearby. At my weirded out expression, she raised her eyebrows before turning to ‘the Creep’. “May I help you with something?”
“My name is Jensen.” He glanced from Maudie over to me. “Thank you for your help, but would you mind excusing us?”