Crazy Beautiful Love (18 page)

***

“We’re really
getting it.” Jared grinned at me as we arrived back home after spending the
afternoon practicing how to break in to different types of garages. Joey’s
friend was some guy from Russia or some Eastern European country, and he was
one of the biggest criminals in the world. He had stolen a Picasso from some
museum and had been trained by some of the best thieves in the world. We were
definitely learning a lot, but I still wasn’t quite happy with everything that
was going on. We didn’t know the name of the buyer, we didn’t know who Joey’s
contact was, and the teacher told us to call him Tolstoy, which I was almost
certain wasn’t his real name. There were so many unanswered questions, and I
was starting to worry about everything. It all seemed a bit convenient that
Joey would find out about this Bugatti and we would be the ones approached to
get trained and to steal it. And the owner would be out of town and we would
get one million dollars. But Jared vouched for Joey a hundred percent and I was
trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as he really seemed to be
trying with the whole Maddie situation.

Maddie hadn’t
contacted me and it had been about a week since I had seen her, and I was
growing antsy. The house was spic and span and had been for a few days, but it
seemed like it had all been for naught as she hadn’t called me. I had been
planning on surprising her with the invite once she called me, but now I was
starting to wonder if she hadn’t already given up on me. At first, I had been
shocked that it was taking so long. I had assumed that she would be in contact
and apologizing to me within a day or so. But then no call had come through,
and I realized that she must have been a bit more upset than I thought. But now
it had almost been a week and nothing. I had been unable to sleep well, and Maddie
was constantly on my mind, and I was irritable.

“Yeah, as long as
everything goes according to plan, we’ll be fine,” I snapped, and I saw Jared
and Vincent exchange a glance. I ignored them and ran up the stairs and to my
room. I pulled out my phone for what seemed like the hundredth time that day,
and saw no missed calls or texts. I called my voicemail to make sure I hadn’t
missed a call or a voicemail notification. I threw the phone on the bed when I
heard I had no new messages.

“What the fuck,
Maddie,” I muttered under my breath as I fell to the bed. “Where are you?”

I looked up the
ceiling and felt my heart sink into the mattress as I wondered if she had
finally decided that I wasn’t worth it. She was gorgeous; she didn’t need to
put up with my crap. Maybe she had met a new guy, someone who had a real
future, who wasn’t a criminal. Someone who could take her out and have a good
time, someone her parents would be happy for her to date, someone who would
invite her over right away. Maybe she was done with me. I thumped the mattress
as I thought about her sweetly kissing someone else. I felt murderous inside.
She was my Maddie. I couldn’t bear to think about her with anyone else. Not
now.

I hadn’t admitted
it to anyone, not to her and not to myself, but Maddie was fast becoming my
world. When I was with her, I felt like a man, like I could do anything. I felt
like she saw the person inside me, the person only my brothers knew. She
laughed at my jokes, and when we were together, I felt like I could be anyone,
do anything, and I wanted to change. I wanted to be a better man for her. I
wanted to climb mountains. I wanted to build ships. I wanted to show her that
the man she was falling for was a man that was worthy of her love and
affection. Because I had believed her. I had allowed a small part of me to
believe in her girlish dreams and jokes. A part of me had pictured Maddie as my
wife and as the one I spent the rest of my life with. I would never have
admitted it to her, but when she had told me I was the man she was going to
marry, a part of me had lit up. I had laughed off her comment, but it had made
me feel special and delighted inside. I had begun to hope that perhaps there
was a possibility of more in my life. Maybe I wasn’t going to be tied down to
my lonely existence. Maybe with her I could achieve something I had never
allowed myself to believe was possible. I had believed her when she had said
she was willing to wait and be patient for me, but she had lied. She had
already given up. I grabbed my phone and stared at the screen again, feeling
like a foolish schoolboy. The screen displayed the time, and even though I
stared at it, willing it to ring, it never did.

“Fuck it.” I
pressed the numbers I had memorized from looking them
up
 
on
the computer screen the day before
and waited for the phone to ring.

“Hello,” a lady
answered the phone and my mouth dried as I realized that it must have been her
mother.

“Hi, is Maddie
available, please?” I spoke slowly, hoping she wouldn’t ask who was on the
phone.

“Sure, one moment
please.” I heard her put the phone down. “Maddison, there’s a call for you.”

“Who is it?” I
heard Maddie’s voice in the background and my heart skipped a beat.

“A guy, maybe
Joey?” her mom answered and I froze, pissed. Why would Joey be calling her?

“Hello.” Her voice
wasn’t its usual vibrant self, and I was immediately worried that something had
happened.

“Maddie,
it’s
Logan.”

“Logan?” Her voice
changed slightly, and I grinned as I realized she was happy to hear from me.

“Yeah, how are you?”

“I’m okay, you?”
Her tone changed back to one of nonchalance, but I didn’t let it bother me. I
had heard the initial happiness in her voice.

“I’ve been
better.”

“What’s wrong?”
Her tone immediately changed to one of concern. “Is everything, okay?”

“You didn’t call
me.”

“I was waiting on
you to call me.”

“I thought you
would call me.”

“I’m the girl,
Logan. I don’t want to be chasing you.”

“You weren’t
chasing me.” I shook my head and laughed. “I wasn’t running anywhere.”

“I didn’t want to
keep coming after you if you weren’t interested.”

“What are you
talking about?” My jaw dropped. “Why would you think I wasn’t interested?”

“Are you joking,
Logan
Martelli
?” Her voice sounded shocked. “You have
never come after me; it’s always me coming after you.”

“I told you that I
liked you. That we were dating.”

“You also don’t
want me to get to know your brothers better, and you won’t tell me why you hate
my dad. You don’t call me. I haven’t seen you in a week, you never initiate
hanging out. You always seem like you’re angry with me half the time.”

“I’m not angry
with you at all.”

“Then why are you
so mean to me?” Her voice cracked. “A girl can only take so much. I know Jared
and Joey said to expect you might not be very nice to me at first because that
was your personality, but it’s hard.”

“I’m sorry,
Maddie. I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t realize that you were that upset.”

“You didn’t
realize I was upset?” She laughed gently. “Are you joking?”

“I mean, I
realized you were being emotional, but you know, I just thought that was your
personality.” My voice trailed off. I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell
her that I thought that was just how girls were, up and down all the time.

“Oh, Logan. What
am I going to do with you?” She giggled.

“Come over for
dinner tonight and hang out with my brothers and me.”

“Are you sure?”
She gasped. “I don’t want you do to something you’re not comfortable with.”

“I’m sure.” I
laughed. “I’ve been waiting to ask you all week.”

“So why didn’t
you?”

“Because you
haven’t called me,” I admitted, realizing how weak that sounded now. “I know,
I’m a bit of a
doofus
. I’ve never really been in a
relationship before. I’m a bit of a mess.”

“I thought you
said you’d had girlfriends before?”

“Well, I mean, I
use the term ‘girlfriend’ loosely.” I laughed. “Have I dated girls and had some
fun? Yes. Have I been in a real relationship, per se? Maybe not. At least not
with someone I like so much.”

“You like me.” She
giggled.

“Don’t you like
me?” I needed to be reassured that she still cared for me. I wasn’t sure why it
was so important but I needed for her to tell me. I needed to know that the
feelings that were building up were there for both of us.

“Of course I like
you, Logan.” Her voice was soft and sweet, and all I wanted was to have her
there with me so I could hold her close to me.

“How much do you
like me?”

“How much do
you
like me?” she questioned me back.

“I like you a
lot,” I whispered into the phone. “A whole lot.”

“I like you a
whole lot, as well.” She laughed. “So what time should I come over tonight and
what should I bring?”

“There’s my eager
beaver.” I grinned into the phone. “Just bring yourself. Come over as soon as
you can.”

“I have to get
ready.”

“Come as you are.
You always look beautiful.”

“What should I
bring?”

“Yourself.” I laughed.
“And maybe you can spend the night as well?”

“You’re asking me
to spend the night?” She sounded surprised.

“If you want to.”

“Well, duh.” She
laughed, and I could hear her running up the stairs.

“How long will you
be?”

“A few hours.”

“That long?” I
frowned. “I want to see you now.”

“I’ll try and be
as quick as possible.”

“Good, hurry.” I
hung up and jumped off the bed. “Jared, Vincent, where you guys at?” I shouted
as I ran down the stairs.

“What’s up?”
Vincent called out to me from the kitchen where he was eating some carrots.

“Maddie’s coming
over tonight.”

“No way.” Vincent
grinned at me and Jared looked up with a surprised expression. I knew he had
thought it was over between us.

“Yeah, and she’s
staying the night, so don’t be wise guys, okay?”

“Okay.” Vincent
laughed. “Whatever you say.”

“What do you
expect from us?” Jared cracked open a beer and stared at me as he drank slowly.
“Shall we line up like some sort of welcome committee meeting the queen?”

“You’re such an
ass, Jared.” I glared at him. “You’re the one who told her where to meet me in
the first place. Don’t go getting upset because it didn’t go as you planned.”

“You better not
tell her about the plan.” Jared leaned forward. “No talk about the Bugatti
tonight.”

“Of course not.” I
didn’t tell him that my reasons for not wanting to tell her were different. I
was worried that she would look at me differently if she knew I was planning on
breaking into a house to steal a car.

“So what are we
going to do?” Vincent stood up and walked over to us quickly. I knew he was
scared that Jared and I would get into another argument and possibly start
fighting.

“I figured we
could order a pizza and a salad or something and play some cards.” I looked at
them both casually. “Do you think that’s okay?”

“Sounds fine.”
Jared shrugged. “Get ham and pineapple on the pizza.”

“What are we going
to do about Dad?” Vincent looked worried. “He’s going to want to know who she
is. What if he comes out of the living room?” He chewed on his lower lip and I
could tell he was nervous.

“I figured we
could play upstairs in my room or something.” I took a breath. “I don’t want to
involve Dad right now.”

“Yeah, no point
getting him upset over nothing.” Jared made a face. “It may not even work out
much longer.”

“What does that
mean?” I glared at him.

“You know what it
means. Do you really think little Ms. Perfect is going to date you forever and Daddy
is going to accept you?” He rolled his eyes. “But whatever, I’m not trying to
be a jerk. Bad things come to those who wait.”

“What the fuck
does that mean?”

“Her and her dad
will get what’s coming. Whether you do something about it or not.”

“You better leave
her alone, Jared.” I moved closer to him and I could feel my blood boiling. “I
swear to God, if you do anything to her, you will no longer be my brother.” The
kitchen went silent and Vincent and Jared looked at me with shock in their
eyes. I felt sad that I had said the words, but I wasn’t going to take them
back. Maddie was very important to me, and I wasn’t going to let anyone say or
do anything to her that could cause her hurt or pain. I didn’t care why they
were doing it. It wasn’t going to happen on my watch. I hated her father with a
passion, but I loved her more than I hated him. My vision seemed to go blurry
as the realization hit me. I loved Maddie. This was about more than like or a
summer fling or crush. This was about more than seeing where a relationship
could go and getting to know each other. I already loved her. I knew without a
doubt in my heart that she was the one I would dream of until I was old and
gray. And I wasn’t scared or worried. I was just happy and excited. And all I
wanted to do was to see her and kiss her and hold her tight. I wanted to stare
into her beautiful violet eyes and kiss her sweet luscious lips as her soft
fingers played and tugged in my hair. I could lie next to her and stare at her
for a million years and never feel bored or tired. I had missed her something
rotten that week, and I knew that I didn’t want to spend my lifetime without her.

“Wow, you’re so
far gone,” Jared finally spoke. “I sure hope it doesn’t blow up in your face.”

“Let me worry
about that.” I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. “I just need you to be
here for me and give her a chance.”

“Okay.” Jared
looked away. “But only because I love you, brother.”