Small Town Murmuring

As expected, with Madeline putting it out there the way she did, I was incapable of staying away from her now. Along with the good, some bad came from Madeline hopping on my bike that night and for months after. Word had gotten around real fast about my "cock-blocking" Shane. So for the most part, the guys who so blatantly sniffed around her before, weren't so barefaced about it anymore. At least not when I was around. But the bad thing was, just like the guys who knew better than to fuck with a girl who I may or may not have staked my claim to outright, word had spread among others in town. But I dreaded most what might happen if her mother found out.

To make things worse, the more I attempted to be cautious and keep her at bay, the more Madeline was bound and determined to force me to stop fighting the inevitable. As discreet as I was whenever hanging out with another girl, somehow I got the feeling it always got back to her anyway.

Fucking small towns.

Each time I saw her after having just spent time around other girls, Madeline would be laughing it up with other guys. I hadn't seen her around Shane since the one night, but I now hated any guy I saw her indulging with her bright smiles.

Every time I'd gone out with the intention of not reacting to her around guys, something new happened. Apparently, her sister attended weekend nursing classes. So one night, as we were out by the lake, everything was as it should be. I hung with the guys, pretending not to be continually distracted by Madeline. Then Shelby had some kind of diabetic incident and nearly passed out. With Maggie's nursing experience, she was all over it. I wasn't even sure what was going on until I saw all three girls get into Shelby's car with one of a couple guys. One of them appeared to offer to drive Shelby home while his friend followed in his car since Shelby was in no condition to drive. Madeline looked far more concerned about Shelby than the fact that she was driving away with two dudes because the entire time she hadn't even glanced my way.

As insane as it sounded, every minute that passed and those guys weren't back I got hotter. I could only assume they stayed and hung out with the girls at Shelby's. I was this close to just leaving when more than an infuriating hour later Madeline and her sister arrived back at the lake with those same guys.

Not even her glancing my way with a reassuring smile eased the tension that'd begun to build from the moment I saw her leave. It didn't help that, while she was gone, the girls hanging out with my brothers and me got a little friendlier. As soon as Madeline picked up on that, she was back to laughing it up with the guys, who apparently either didn't know, or didn't give a fuck, that she might be my girl.

"Let it go," Xavier said under his breath.

Clearly, I'd been glaring because of Madeline, and Xavier caught me—again.

"What is it with you and this girl?" Xavier muttered under his breath, sounding a little frustrated, but kept his tone calm. "Look around you, dude. There's plenty others."

I didn't bother looking around because I could hardly keep my eyes off Madeline now to notice anyone else.

"I don't know what it is." I saw the surprise in his eyes when I actually answered, since I never bothered to respond to any of my brother's comments about me being hung up on Madeline. "But it's like she's fucking plagued me from the very first day I spoke to her, and she just keeps getting deeper and deeper under my skin."

Xavier stared at me for a moment, not nearly as concerned as I know Dad would have been if he'd just heard me admit to this, but he didn't look thrilled either. "Yeah, well, don't forget what Dad said, man. You don't want any beef with that crazy Hellman lady."

Seeing one of the guys reach out and touch the clip on her hair had me standing up ready to rev my bike to life. Thankfully for me, Nolan couldn't stay gone too long. He was home again for the weekend from his internship. "Nolan," I said without taking my eyes off her. Nolan turned to me curiously. "Go talk to Maggie, will you?"

He turned to Maggie, who was leaning against the car, talking to the guy who'd driven Shelby's car home. I didn't have to ask my brother twice. I was only surprised he hadn't noticed Maggie being back yet.

"I ain't bailing anyone out," Xavier warned as we both geared up to head in the twins' direction.

"Yeah, you will," I said.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Nolan laughed.

"Fine," Xavier conceded. "But I'll let you sit there for a while and think about your actions."

Nolan laughed, and if I weren't so fired up, I might have been laughing too. Before I even got there, I could already tell Madeline was pleased that I was heading her way. She pushed away from the car she'd been leaning on with a subtle grin.

Just like with Shane, I didn't acknowledge the guys when I drove up. "Need a ride?"

Nolan pulled up right behind me, and the sisters exchanged glances. "Yeah, it's near curfew," Madeline said but then turned back to the guys. "Thanks for helping out tonight. That was real sweet of you guys."

The guys nodded but didn't say what I was sure they were thinking. We could take you home too.

After playing the heroes, they probably weren't expecting this, I was sure. They likely anticipated having the twins to themselves eventually. Maybe even imagined a better way of being thanked. The very thought had me gnashing my teeth, but Madeline was by my bike now. She made a face but didn't protest when I placed the helmet on her head.

We had another one of our moments, only this one felt even more intense. I knew it had everything to do with the fact that this was getting real. Doing even this out here for everyone to see was proof enough that I was nuts to think this wasn't going to happen. As much as my head tried to fight it, my heart wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

Madeline climbed on my bike, and it felt like that spot on my bike was made for her. She felt perfect back there. The warmth of her body against mine was pure heaven. Nolan and I rode them back to about a block away from their home, since, despite my being so blatant now, I was still leery of her mother.

I helped her as she climbed off my bike as I always did now by holding her hand. Our fingers intertwining and lingering that way for a while was as far as I'd let things go. Using my other hand because I wasn't ready to let go of her hand yet, I helped her get the helmet off.

"You were gone a while," I said at the risk of ruining the moment, but my dumb ass was incapable of holding back my curiosity about why that was. "Shelby okay?"

She tilted her head with a knowing smile, as if she knew why I was really asking. "She's fine. Her blood sugar gets a little too low sometimes. Mrs. Connor . . . uh, Shelby's mama, insisted the boys have some of her derby pie as a thank you for helping Shelby home. Even gave them an extra pie to take home to their mama."

It was only then that it hit me. "Their mama? They're brothers?"

She nodded again, a hint of humor dancing in her eyes. "Twins. Only not identical like Maggie and me."

I had no idea. For as much as the Hellman twins had invaded my life, I knew nothing about those other twins. Before I could think more on that, she went on with a gleam in her eyes. "Mrs. Connor's always teasing us about how cute it'd be if Maggie and I wound up with the only other pair of twins in town."

"Is she now?" I swallowed hard, staring at her, not even trying to hide my annoyance about that last comment.

She turned back to Maggie, who was still standing over by Nolan's bike, several feet away, but appeared to be waiting on her. Madeline nodded as if to say she was almost done then turned back to me.

"I didn't tell Mrs. Connor this, but there's only one set of brothers Maggie and I have ever been interested in." She shrugged with a sweet smile. "Actually, scratch that. I can't speak for Maggie. That's her business to tell. But you already know who the only one I want is."

Just like that, my heated insides were doused with an invisible shower of comfort as she smiled beautifully one last time, before mouthing the word goodnight and walking away.

With instances like this happening again and again, it wasn't long before my family caught wind of what was happening, and they weren't thrilled. I couldn't deny that my interest in riding her around was more than just me giving her a lift and that it happened on a whim. Hell, I was even carrying a second helmet around now whenever I was fairly certain I'd be running into her, because each time I gave Madeline a ride, she protested about taking mine.

But my father's reaction to the small town murmuring that had started up about Madeline and me surprised me. I'd been avoiding being alone too long with him or Ama for that very reason.

Late one night when I was closing things down with him, I mistimed his walk to the back, thinking he'd be longer. He walked back into the front of the shop just as I was pulling out the second helmet so I could stash it in my saddle bag. I'd be heading straight to the lake from here and anticipated another dose of Madeline on the back of my bike.

"Is that for the Hellman twin?"