Chapter 16

Madden stopped by the gas station to fill up the truck. The pumps were filled. Poppi stepped down from the truck and landed firmly with her boots on the gravel.

“Storms a headed this way!” An older gentleman shouted towards the pair.

Madden nodded as if to thank and acknowledge the man.

“Be quick Poppi!” Madden warned.

She ignored him and walked inside to grab an iced tea and a beef jerky stick. There was a man in his 30’s staring at her in every aisle. He finally approached her after she headed to the back to grab her drink.

“Hey there. What’s your name darling?” He asked.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I’m just in here really quickly for some snacks. No time for chit chat I’m afraid,” she said, excusing herself.

The man blocked her exit.

“Now you are wearing these short shorts and this tiny little shirt. You obviously wanted someone to look at you and I’m looking. Just give me your number maybe and I’ll call you later since you gotta run,” he suggested.

“No thank you sir. Again, just here to get snacks and it is hot as fuck outside so I’m definitely in shorts,” she said, trying to push past him.

He grabbed her arm and pushed her back against the cooler.

“Listen, I’m trying to be nice, bitch. You are really starting to piss me off though,” he said.

She started to scream but the sound was trapped in her throat. Her mind raced frantically as she tried to think of how to get herself out of this predicament.

Suddenly the man was thrown back and away from Poppi. He still had a hold of her arm so it jolted her forward as well.

“I think she is done here. Are you done here Lisa?” Madden said, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

She nodded and buried her head into his chest.

“Dude, she was practically begging for it dressing like a slut,” the guy called.

Madden didn’t hesitate. He turned around and hit the man twice in the face, before escorting Poppi to the front of the store. He threw a $5 bill on the counter and told the cashier to keep the change.

Once he and Poppi were back in the car, they sat quietly.

Madden pulled out of the parking lot. Small sprinkles of rain began to hit the windshield.

As they drove the rain got worse. The drops were now buckets of water.

“I have to pull over up here. I can’t see,” Madden exclaimed over the loud showers.

He pulled into a lot that seemed to be abandoned. The grass was overgrown and the concrete was in shambles. He parked the truck and the rain seemed to slow its pace.

“That was getting scary,” Poppi shared.

“That guy in the gas station was scary. I’m happy I came inside to look for you when I did,” he confessed.

Poppi took a deep breath and put her hands over her face.

“Thank you… for saving me,” Poppi said softly, her voice quieter now, stripped of its usual edge. “I felt so trapped. Like… what was he even going to do in a gas station with people around?”

Rain hammered against the truck in steady sheets, loud enough to fill the silence that followed.

Madden kept his eyes on the windshield, watching the wipers drag back and forth. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I’m glad we didn’t have to find out.”

He hesitated, then added, a little rougher, “And you aren’t dressed like a slut, for the record. I think you look great.”

Poppi turned her head slowly. “I look great?” she asked, her tone light, but intentional.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

Madden glanced over and immediately wished he hadn’t. She was smiling, that teasing smile that always got under his skin.

“Stop it,” he muttered, dragging a hand down his face. “You know what I meant.”

“Oh, I do,” she said, leaning back like she owned the moment. “What I hear is: ‘Poppi looks amazing. Poppi is so sexy.’”

He turned to her again, but this time, there was nothing playful in his expression.

The shift was instant.

Heavy.

His gaze locked onto hers, then dipped, just slightly, to her lips.

Poppi’s breath hitched.

And for once… she didn’t joke.

Didn’t deflect.

Didn’t move.

The truck felt smaller somehow, the sound of rain wrapping around them like a barrier from the rest of the world.

“Madden…” she started, but her voice came out softer than she meant it to.

His jaw tightened. “You should stop talking.”

“Why?” she whispered.

He didn’t answer right away. His hand slid off the steering wheel, resting between them on the seat, close enough that she could feel the heat of him without him actually touching her.

“Because you don’t mean it like that,” he said quietly.

Her eyes flickered, searching his. “And what if I do?”

That did it.

Something in his restraint snapped,not loudly, not dramatically, but enough.

Madden turned fully toward her, his hand shifting just slightly closer, his voice low. “Then that would be a problem.”

Poppi didn’t pull back.

Didn’t breathe.

“Why?” she asked again, barely audible now.

His eyes softened for just a second, then darkened again, like he was losing the argument with himself.

“You know why,” he said.

He scooted closer to her. He moved his hand slowly towards her face. Cautiously.

Like he was giving her every chance to stop him. She didn’t.

His hand lifted, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face, his fingers lingering just a second too long against her cheek.

Poppi’s eyes fluttered at the touch, her body leaning into it before she could stop herself.

The space between them disappeared inch by inch.

Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it.

“Madden…” she whispered again, but this time it sounded less like a warning and more like permission.

His gaze dropped to her lips again.

Neither of them spoke.

Didn’t think.

Just felt.

The moment stretched, fragile and electric, as his face hovered just a breath away from hers.

He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of him, the ghost of what would happen if either of them moved just a little closer. Poppi closed her eyes in anticipation of his lips meeting hers. Madden stroked her cheek.

And then—

Headlights flashed across the windshield.

A car passing by, breaking through the cocoon of rain and tension.

Madden froze.

Reality crashed back in.

He pulled away quicker than he had intended, dropping his hand, turning sharply back toward the steering wheel.

Poppi blinked, her breath shaky, her body still leaning toward where he had been.

Neither of them spoke.

The rain kept falling.

But everything between them had changed.