I put my hand on his arm. “What if they’re having sex again?”
He laughed. “Then, I’ll cover your eyes.”
“I’m serious.”
“Relax. They’re not. I just talked to Maddox.”
“If you say so.”
He might be right, but I still waited for him to go inside first.
The sight that greeted us was definitely different than the last time I’d walked in. Addison and Spencer were dancing in the living room, which explained why the music was blasting from the speakers.
They didn’t see us, so Tommy and I stood there, watching them for a few seconds. The two of them were pretty cute together, and I felt a tiny pang of longing for a child. That was unusual for me, as I had never been big on having kids.
Maddox came down the hall with Thane in his arms. “Hey, guys.”
Addison’s head whipped up. She ran over to her phone and turned off the music, and then she surprised me by rushing over and throwing her arms around me. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
I hugged her back. “I’m fine.”
She stepped back. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry.”
She fake punched me in the arm. “Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.” She looked at her husband. “Is Thane ready to go?”
“Yep. You want me to put him in the car seat?”
“Please.”
“Where’s Thane going?” I asked.
“Day care. Come on, Spence. Let’s put your shoes on. It’s time to play with your friends.”
“Fwiends,” Spencer said and sprinted for the door. He came back five seconds later with his footwear.
Addison got down on the floor to help her son. “Maddox and Tommy are going to finish up the windows today, and the boys are going to day care, so I thought you and I could go do something. Just the two of us.”
“That…sounds great.” I was confused as to why she wasn’t yelling at me or at least telling me why she was disappointed in me.
I looked over at Tommy, and he shrugged, as if he knew what I was thinking.
Maybe he did.
Addison stood. “You have anything you want to do in particular?” she asked me.
I shook my head.
“Why don’t you think about it while I run the kids to day care? We can do anything you want, but tonight, the four of us are going out. Maddox’s niece already agreed to babysit.”
“Oh. I didn’t bring anything for going out,” I said.
She laughed. “We’re in Brook Creek. Nobody dresses up here. But if you want, we can go shopping. Shopping is only twenty minutes away.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
23
Tommy
While Maddox and I headed to the backyard, Olivia and Addison left to go to the next town over. It was nowhere near the size of Des Moines, but the next town did have the important amenities you wanted in a city, like a few clothing stores. It wasn’t large enough to have a Home Depot or a Menards though, or Olivia and I could have saved a trip to Des Moines. But then, if we hadn’t gone there, I never would have found out that Olivia was in trouble.
“So, did the police seem concerned?” Maddox asked.
“Not really. But I’m not all that surprised. She defends the people they arrest, and whoever is writing the letters hasn’t done any physical harm to Olivia.”
“If you need me to call the police chief, I will.”
I raised my brow. “You’re friends?”
Maddox laughed. “Friends is a very strong word. We are acquaintances.”
Acquaintances was better than nothing.
“I’ll let you know.”
He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “You’ll let me know?”
“Yes.”
“Not Addison? Not Olivia herself?”
“You literally just said, ‘If you need me to call the police chief.’ Why are you acting like it’s weird that I’d let you know?”
He grinned. “Maybe I was just waiting to see what you’d say.”
I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t follow.”
Maddox jumped down into the window well. “Where’d you stay last night?”
“At Olivia’s house.” I lowered a window down to him.
“But where did you sleep?”
“In a bed.” I hopped into the window well next to him.
He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “In Olivia’s bed?”
“What are you, fifteen?” I picked up the new window while Maddox picked up the other, and we slowly set it in the frame we had already built.
“No,” he answered. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Fine. I slept in her bed, all right?”
“Damn, man, you don’t waste any time.”
“Look at that. Maybe women aren’t scared of me after all.”
Maddox laughed but abruptly stopped. “You didn’t take advantage of Olivia’s vulnerable nature, did you?”
“Believe it or not, she came to me.”
“You could have said no.”
“No, you don’t understand. She came to me on Wednesday night.”
Maddox’s eyebrows almost hit his hairline. “No shit?”
“No shit.” I smirked. “Apparently, seeing you and Addison having sex made her realize she’d been missing something. And I was the one she asked to help her.”
He frowned. “Say that again?”
I started laughing. “Addison didn’t tell you that Olivia caught you two in your living room? FYI, I’m never sitting on your couch again unless you plan to get it steam cleaned.”
“No, Addison didn’t tell me.”
“Huh. Look at that. You two do keep things from each other.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“Who? Olivia? Or Addison?”
“Addison. Why would I kill Olivia?”
“Why would you kill Addison?”
“Because she didn’t tell me that her friend caught me fucking my wife.”
I studied Maddox. “Are you embarrassed?”
He scowled at me. “Fuck no. I don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”
I tilted my head.
He sighed. “Fine. I’m a little embarrassed. When I’m making love to my wife, I don’t expect there to be an audience.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. It was so hot that she needed me to take the edge off.”
I swore I could literally see his chest swell with pride.
“Ugh. Go get a room.”
He looked around. “With who?”
“Yourself. You two make me sick.”
“Us two?”
“Yeah. You and your ego.”
Maddox rolled his eyes at my joke. “I’ll get a room with my ego as soon as you do.”
“Hmm.” I gave it a thought. “That’s
