“This is going to be so fun.” Alexa leaned over and kissed him.
“If you keep doing that, it’ll be a fucking blast,” he said.
She threw her head back and laughed.
Grinning, Maverick pointed at Dare. “Fifty bucks, brother.”
Dare flipped him off. And then they started moving.
Maverick couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so hard. He hadn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of puking, but between the look on Dare’s face, Alexa absolutely howling and screaming in delight, and the way centripetal force glued her to his side, he was having a great damn time.
“That was fucking awesome,” he said when they all got off. He clapped a greenish Dare on the back. “What are we riding next?”
They rode the Sea Dragon—though Dare called bullshit on the very back, which Haven was only too happy to accommodate. They rode the spinning teacups, which was a funny sight with them in their Ravens colors sitting in dainty pastel cups. They rode the Gravitron, where the floor dropped out from under them, rock music blaring in their ears. They walked through the house of mirrors, where Haven got stuck in a little path of mirrors and couldn’t find her way out—a fact that made her want to go through it a second time. And then they made their way to the bumper cars.
“Now this is more my speed,” Dare said.
“But you were so cute in the teacups, see?” She brought up a selfie she’d taken of them on her phone.
“Aw, that is really cute, Dare.” Alexa grinned at him.
“Baby, don’t show that shit around,” Dare said, no heat in his words at all. Maverick busted out laughing. “You have no room to talk, motherfucker.” Dare arched a brow at him.
Mav held up his hands, grinning and shaking his head. “I didn’t say a word.”
They finally got to their cars, each of them taking their own, and then somehow it ended up three on one, everyone coming after Mav.
“What the hell?” he said, laughing and dodging Alexa as she beelined straight for him. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“All’s fair in bumper cars, Maverick. Deal with it.” She rammed him.
“Aw, you’re gonna pay, little girl. Just you wait.” He went to turn the car, but Dare hit him next. The guy grinned like an idiot. Mav just shook his head.
After, Alexa wrapped herself around him. “I’m sorry I crashed my car into you.”
He feigned a scowl and nailed her with a hot stare. Her playfulness was fucking sexy. “I think I know how you can make it up to me.”
“Hey, Haven wants to do the Tilt-A-Whirl again,” Dare said. “Catch ya later?”
“You bet,” Mav said.
When they were alone, Alexa pushed up on tiptoes and put her mouth to his ear. “Does it involve me sucking your cock?” She gave him an innocent look.
“Jesus Christ,” he bit out, the teasing words sending blood rushing south. “You better believe it does now.”
She bit her lip, her look so full of desire that he wanted to take her behind one of the rides right this second. “Mmm, I’ll look forward to that.” She tugged his hand. “But first we need games and stuffed animals. And maybe cotton candy. Or a funnel cake.”
“Whatever you want,” he said, meaning that in every way he could.
“Oh, I love this one,” she said, pulling him toward the game where you shot water into the mouth of a clown to blow up and pop a balloon. They plunked down their money and took up the last two guns side by side.
Alexa lined up her shot like her life depended on it, and then the game began.
Ding ding ding!
“I won! Oh, my God, I won!” she cried.
“Yes, you did,” Mav said. “What are you going to pick?”
The man pointed to her three options for an extra-large prize. “You get to pick from the black bear, the dinosaur, or the llama.”
She turned to him. “Which one do you like?”
He peered up at them. “I don’t know. That llama’s ridiculous, though.”
“Oh, yay. That’s the one I like, too. I’ll take the llama.”
The man handed it to her, all two and a half feet of fucking weird-ass llama. To go with her cat. Mav chuckled. Who even knew they made llama stuffed animals?
“It’s for you,” she said.
“You won me a llama?” He looked at it skeptically as she pushed it against his chest. The eyeball on the one side of its head wouldn’t stop looking at him.
“Yes! You totally do not have enough llamas in your life.” She absolutely glowed with happiness.
“That is true, Al. Thank you. I think.” He tucked the huge toy under his arm. People looked at him weird as he carried it around, the tall neck sagging this way and that. He just smiled.
“But now I have to win you something. Let’s play that.” He pointed to the dart game.
“Pop three in a row, win a large prize,” the man yelled. “That’s a mighty fine llama you got there.”
Chuckling, Maverick laid out his cash. “Fucking llama.” His first throw popped a balloon. Alexa cheered. The second one did it again.
“Go, baby!” she said.
Number three . . . And pop!
“Yay!” She threw her arms around his neck. “You did it.”
“What’s it gonna be, little lady?” the man asked, pointing to a row of toys smaller than the llama. Thank God.
“Holy crap, is that a hedgehog?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Indeed it is,” the man said, holding one out to her.
“Is it just me or does this carnival have the weirdest stuffed animals ever?” Maverick asked.
Alexa grinned. “I know. Isn’t it amazing? I’ll take it. Thanks,” she said. And then she turned to him. “I’m so happy I could cry.”
Maverick took her face in his hand and leaned in. The llama leaned in, too, which made her giggle. “I’ll hold a carnival for you every day if it makes you this happy.”
“Aw, silly man. It’s not the carnival. It’s you.” She kissed him nice and deep, making him think of her plans for after. When she pulled back, she eyed the llama. “Okay, it’s him a little bit, but mostly you.”
Maverick laughed. “I guess I can live with that. Then what’s next, baby? Because I can’t get enough of hearing you laugh and seeing you smile.”
“I think we need a funnel cake, Mav,” she said, petting her hedgehog.
“Your wish,” he said, seeing the food truck in the distance. “Let’s go.”
“I THINK THIS was my absolute favorite day ever,” Alexa said as they made their way back to Maverick’s truck. They had their llama, their hedgehog, and bellies full of sweets.
“I love you, Alexa,” he said, pinning her to her door. He kissed her slowly, deeply, thoroughly, his tongue leaving no part of her mouth unexplored. Need and lust rose up inside her. She just couldn’t get enough of him, and it was the most amazing thing to know that she didn’t have to get enough, because he’d always be there. And they’d always be together.
She wound her arms around his neck. “Love you, too,” she whispered. “I think we should go check on my mom as quickly as possible so we can get home.”
“Mmm.” He kissed and licked down her neck. “Yeah, we better, before I take you right fucking here.” He pulled away wearing a mischievous grin, his eyes blazing.
She sighed, her body not feeling big enough to contain all the happiness overwhelming her. She wasn’t sure she could ever remember a time when life seemed so full of promise, the future so bright. And Maverick had given that to her.
Mav started up the truck and made his way through the parking lot, the line of traffic to get out moving slow.
She thumbed on her phone. “Oh, shoot. I have a voice mail. I didn’t hear it ring.” She put it to her ear to listen.
Her mother’s voice: “Hi, Alexa, it’s your mom. I realized there were a few things I forgot so I took a cab over to my house. There’s absolutely no rush because I can just take my ti
me gathering some stuff, but drop by and grab me after the carnival. Okay? Bye.”
Alexa groaned, frustration flooding through her. Getting her to leave things behind had been a real struggle, despite the fact that most of it was either trash, so old there was no way her mother even remembered owning it, or something nearly identical to what she was already taking. And now, the first minute they left her alone, she ran back for more. “Crap. Mom went back to her house to get more stuff.”
“For real?” Maverick asked.
“Yeah.” She huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry, but can we go get her?”
“Of course we can. How the hell else is she going to get home?” They finally got to the main road, and he turned in the direction of town.
“Honestly, I think she hoped we’d be a while so she’d have time to collect more things to bring back to the new place. Damnit. I’d really hoped she would see how nice it was without all the clutter and want to keep it that way. Who was I kidding?” Her stomach dropped. She’d been kidding herself, clearly.
“It is what it is, Al. You’ve given her a nice place, and you can help her keep it up if you want, but you can’t force her to change her ways.” He took her hand and held it against his thigh.
“I know you’re right.” And what a difference it was to have someone to help shoulder the burden of dealing with moments like these. She forced a deep breath. It was only some stuff. It would be fine.
Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up to the curb in front of her mom’s old place. The driveway was largely blocked off with the most obvious and disgusting of the trash that they’d carried out during the move. Which was going to make schlepping whatever new boxes or bags she’d packed a pain in the butt, but it was too late to worry about that now.
“I’ll go get her,” Alexa said, opening her door. She caught the smoky scent of a wood fire or a cookout, making her thing of the yummy burgers they’d had at the carnival. God, that had been so much fun.
“You’re not going alone, woman. Especially if she has a bunch of shit to carry.” He joined her and they made their way up the driveway.
Looking at the house, Alexa couldn’t help but think that it seemed dark, although there did seem to be some light—
Not light, a flicker. And a pale haze hung in the air. The scent of wood burning. And then she knew. Oh, God, she knew.
She gasped and bolted. “Maverick, the house is on fire!”
“Alexa, wait!” Maverick yelled.
But she couldn’t. Her mother was in there. In that death trap of a house—even with everything they’d removed, it was still loaded down with crap all over the floor. Her heart pounded and her ears rang. The world closed in on her as she burst through the front door—
“Oh, Jesus,” she moaned. Smoke hung thick in the dark air, a roiling, looming beast. She stopped short inside the living room. Fire engulfed the kitchen at the back of the house and was crawling into the living room, climbing up the walls, licking at the ceiling, and consuming the piles on the floor. “Mom!”
Maverick was right behind her. “Get out. I’ll find her.”
“No, I’m not leaving without her,” she said, coughing. But at least she could call for help. With shaking hands, Alexa dialed nine-one-one.
“What’s your emergency?” the operator answered.
“House fire with injured people inside at 825 Walnut Street. Hurry,” she yelled, coughing again. The dispatcher asked a few more questions, but Alexa finally cut her off. “Just hurry.” Because the heat was making it hard to breathe.
Maverick turned to her. “Alexa, I’ll find her. Go.”
“I’m not going without her and we don’t have time to argue. This place is going to go up fast so we can’t wait for help. Let’s just find her and we’ll all go together.” She turned on the flashlight on her phone, but the light almost reflected off the smoke. “Mom? Answer me!”
“Cover your mouth and nose with your shirt,” he said. She did, pulling it up over her face. “Cynthia!” he yelled, as they made their way farther in. He tripped over something he couldn’t see, going down on a knee. God, the floor was a hidden debris field.
The fire popped, spraying an arc of embers as the fire found more fuel and spread surprisingly fast. Alexa screamed and ducked, but they had to keep going. Moving slow because they couldn’t see what was underfoot, they made for the kitchen. God, this was her nightmare come to life. The thing she’d always most worried about with her mother’s hoarding, ever since that fire when she was a kid. They got as close to the kitchen as they could with the fire consuming the doorway.
The heat threatened to sear her skin and wrung sweat from her body. Her chest was so tight that she couldn’t get a deep breath, the asthma she hadn’t dealt with in so long kicking in. “Mom!” she yelled, finding it harder to project her voice. “What if she’s in there?”
He moved past her one more step, the flames stretching out above him now.
A giant crack and a big piece of the ceiling caved in. Right above Maverick. The fiery debris rained down on him, taking him to the ground.
Alexa screamed and lurched toward him, thinking of nothing but needing to help him. She grabbed the flaming Sheetrock and lumber and pushed it off of him, the fire lashing at her skin and making her cry out.
“I’m okay,” he said, crawling through the debris. Together they beat at his cut and shirt and jeans where they’d caught fire. “I’m okay.” But nothing about his voice sounded okay.
“Mav’rick,” she moaned, tears from the smoke streaming down her face. And from her realization. “We . . . have to go . . .”
He pushed onto hands and knees. Then stared down the hall. “Fuck, Al, look.” He pointed.
And, oh, God, it was her mother, illuminated by the spreading flames. She was sprawled on the floor in front of her bedroom door.
“Stay back,” he said. “I’ll get her.” Maverick rose but stumbled, clearly hurting. He used the wall for support until he finally got to her mom. As she watched, Maverick grabbed her mother by the legs and pulled, stumbling a little as he moved. It felt like forever until he returned to where Alexa waited.
Feeling a little light-headed, Alexa retreated toward the door, almost immediately tripping over something on the floor. She felt around with her hands, finding junk everywhere. She had to try to clear a wider path for her mom. Her chest felt like it could explode from the clenching tightness, but none of that mattered. She grabbed what turned out to be a broken metal table lamp and used the round base of it to shove and push at the piles.
“That’s good, baby. Go out. Go on now.” Maverick stumbled again.
“I’ll help,” she said, not sure if he could hear her. She came around and grabbed her mother’s arms. Made it a few steps. But dizziness washed over her. She went down to her knees. Damn asthma. “Take her,” she yelled as loud as she could. “And come back for me.”
“Fuck, Alexa! Follow me, baby. Keep moving.” It was like he found a new source of energy, because he was suddenly upright again and pulling her mother hard. “Come on, Alexa!”
She tried. Managed to get one foot underneath herself again. But her breaths were shallowing out and her chest hurt so bad.
“Goddamnit. I’ll be right back, baby.” He disappeared into the foyer with her mother. Relief flooded through Alexa, because they were getting out. Oh, God, they should be outside by now. The thought made her try to crawl again.
Just keep moving, Al. Mav will be right back to help. She got her other foot underneath her. There.
A voice. There he was, standing in the doorway to the foyer. She held out her hand and looked up, blinking. Her eyes stung like they were filled with crushed glass.
“Imagine my delight at seeing you two arrive. And here I’d thought I was only going to get the satisfaction of hurting your mother.”
Grant?
Rage and hatred surged through her, jolting her to action. She got her feet under her, then finally stood up. “You are . . .
a . . . sick . . . bastard,” she managed.
“I’ve actually heard that before,” he said with a shrug. “I didn’t much like it back then, either.”
She glared at him, the firelight throwing demonic shadows across his face. “Why are you doing this?” She forced herself upright, hoping he couldn’t tell how unsteady she was. The heat was nearly unbearable.
He held up the neck of a broken bottle, then tossed it aside. Which made her wonder where Maverick was . . . and why he wasn’t coming back. Dread snaked ice through her veins. “Because I can. Because I have to,” Grant said, an odd flatness in his voice. She shook her head, trying to make sense of the man before her. But failing.
And the fact that Maverick still hadn’t come back? Meant Grant had hurt him. She had to face that fact, didn’t she? Fury unlike anything she’d ever felt before blasted through her until it became her blood, her cells, her very DNA. She was going to kill him. She was going to revel in it. Even if she died herself.
Oh, God, Maverick! Please, be okay!
Turning, she picked up the lamp again.
He shook his head. “You can barely breathe, let alone lift that thing, Alexa. Face it, I’ve won. I told you to just give in and do things my way. Now, this is my way.”
Maybe he had won. Probably. But she moved closer, closer, struggling for enough air to think. But what she was doing didn’t require thought. Only instinct. To avenge. To survive.
Lights suddenly flashed outside, and Grant glanced to his side. Which was when Alexa swung the heavy metal lamp with all her might.
The lamp crashed into his right kneecap, and the crunch was a sickening thing. He let out a howl and fell forward, his knee at an unnatural angle. He tried and failed to catch himself, then tripped over the mess covering the floor and went down hard. He moaned and shifted, and she couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not. Either way, he was down and her path was clear.
Gasping for breath, she looked at the fire quickly engulfing the living room and closing in on where he lay. And left him to it.
Stumbling to the foyer, Alexa could barely walk. And then she found Maverick lying face down across the threshold of the open front door, something wet darkening his hair. He’d come for her, just like he said. And Grant had hurt him. Oh, God, let him be okay.