My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8)(3)

Styx looked to the door. Mae was there, looking at me. “Flame? Maddie needs to speak to you.”

I jumped from my seat and went outside to the hallway. Maddie stood against the wall with Bella. She smiled when she saw me. I took her hand. Something was wrong. Why was she here? Bitches didn’t come to church.

Lately, she’d been feeling sick. I didn’t like when Maddie was sick. It didn’t happen much. I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t stand her being in bed, not feeling great. She needed to always be okay. She needed to never leave my side.

“You okay?” I tried to search her face. I couldn’t read people well, some not at all. But I could read Maddie the most. I knew everything about her. I made sure I did. Right now, her skin looked pale. “You’re still sick. You need to go to bed. I’ll take you home. Let’s go.”

Maddie pressed her hand on my cheek to stop me. My racing heart immediately slowed. Her touch always did that to me. I’d gone from not being able to be touched at all to needing my bitch to touch me, hold me, never fucking let me go. If I didn’t touch Maddie every time I saw her, I lost my fucking mind. If I didn’t know where she was every moment of every day, I couldn’t fucking focus. And if I went more than a few hours without seeing her, talking to her, the flames came back. I felt them under my skin, starting to burn. They always came back. Only Maddie could keep them away.

“I’m okay, baby,” Maddie said. I snapped my head round at the sound of a baby crying. Bella was holding Charon, rocking him in her arms as she walked up and down the hallway, speaking to him in a soft, sweet voice. I suddenly felt ice cold as I stared at him, cheeks red and tears in his eyes. My throat closed up and I couldn’t fucking breathe. My eyes were locked on Styx’s kid. On him looking up at Bella. Then his hand came out and reached for Bella’s. Every muscle in my body tensed as his little hand wrapped around her finger.

“Flame…” Maddie’s voice sailed into my ear, but I couldn’t get my fucking eyes away from Styx’s kid holding Bella’s finger. I was sweating. I could feel my head getting hot. “Baby.” Maddie moved in front of me, blocking my view. All I could see was her face, her fucking beautiful face and big green eyes. Maddie put her hands on my cheeks and guided me to face her. “Come back to me.” Her green eyes locked on mine. “You are okay. Whatever is wrong, it is okay. You are here with me, in the clubhouse.” The weight on my chest started to lift as I stared into Maddie’s gaze. I followed her breathing, trying to breathe too. “That is it. Breathe with me. Come back to me.” Maddie took hold of my hands. My forehead dropped against hers. Maddie’s hands were so small. But they held mine tightly. I could breathe better when she held me.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked. I nodded against her head, but I didn’t move away. The pain in my chest was still there. So, I stayed with my wife, holding her hands. Maddie’s hand came to my cheek. She pulled her head back and looked into my eyes. She still looked pale.

“You’re tired,” I said. I knew now when she was tired. Her eyes were duller and her shoulders were lower. “You should be in bed. You’re still sick.”

Maddie smiled. “I am feeling much better, baby. I promise. I am going to the hospital to see Lilah and the twins.” Maddie smiled so fucking wide and beautiful it punched me in the gut, taking away the last of the chest pain that had grabbed hold of me. “Our niece and nephew, are healthy and here safely, Flame.” She squeezed my hand tightly. “I cannot wait to meet them.”

Mae came toward us with Styx. His mouth was at her ear and his arm was around her neck. Zane followed behind them. “Zane will take them to the hospital. Told him he has to check in and turn back if there’s any sign of trouble,” Styx signed.

Trouble. Something was happening out there. Some fucker had started messing with us. Leaving shit at our gates. Goats’ heads. Some fucked up symbols written in blood on the road to our clubhouse. No one had attacked. Tanner couldn’t trace shit so far. But some cunts were watching us. I wanted to lock Maddie away in our cabin and never come out. If I ever found out who was trying to come at us, I’d fucking kill them, hack up their bodies so bad no fucker would ever recognize them.

“Flame?” Maddie’s voice pulled me from my head. My fucking head that was filled with death and blood and the need to kill whoever was skulking at our motherfucking door. AK told me it could just be low-level gun dealers trying to mess with us. I didn’t know. “Flame?” Maddie pressed a kiss to my cheek. The feeling of water running through my veins spread over my body. She was my fucking holy water, taking away the sin that festered in my flesh. “Everything is okay.” Maddie’s fingers ran over my forehead. “Calm your busy mind. All is well.”

It was well. Maddie said so.

I pulled her against me. My arms wrapped around her and she held me back.

“Come here, Charon,” Mae said as she passed by us and went to Bella and her son. My stomach turned and stretched again as Mae took him from her sister and kissed his cheek. Charon made a cooing noise when Mae held him, and my eyes squeezed shut. I saw the cellar my poppa kept me in for years. Felt the rough dirt at my back… Eleven… Eleven breaths… he didn’t breathe a twelfth time…

“I am going to the hospital.” My eyes opened. I was holding Maddie. Her arms were around me. I wasn’t in the cellar. She ran her hands up my arms. Her touch kept the flames away. Only she could keep them away. I needed her to keep them away now. “I will be there a while.”