My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8)(72)

Maddie laid her head against my shoulder. Her hand stayed over her stomach. I never took my gaze from it. I watched her hand for hours, until we stopped at a motel. Even as we ate at a diner, my eyes kept coming back to her stomach. Inside was our baby. Our baby, who Maddie said I wouldn’t hurt.

When we walked into our motel room, I showered. When I came back, Maddie was standing beside the bed. “Better?” she asked. I didn’t answer her question. My blood fucking raced through my veins. The flames were there. But I let them burn. They couldn’t hurt me. Maddie had said so. “Flame?” she asked. I walked to where she stood. Water from my hair dripped into my eyes. It was still wet from the shower. Maddie’s hand came to my face. She pressed her palm against my cheek. Leaning down I kissed her. Our lips touched. You won’t hurt her, I told myself in my head. When I stepped back, I pushed the straps of her dress off her shoulders. Maddie gasped. “Flame,” she whispered. The dress fell to her waist. I moved the straps of her bra down her arms. Maddie unclasped it. I sighed when I saw her. Grasping the dress, I pulled it over her legs. I kneeled down. Throwing the dress to the side, I looked up at Maddie. She was smiling down at me. Fucking smiling. I pulled down her panties, then put my hands on her hips. Maddie held her breath. I looked at her stomach. I couldn’t look before. “Flame, you do not have to…” Maddie trailed off.

My heart fucking pounded as I moved my hands to her stomach. The flames in my blood got higher and higher, but I ignored them and pressed my palms to her stomach… and I left them there. Maddie made a soft noise. I opened my eyes to meet her eyes. She was crying. She was crying… I snapped my hands back. I’d hurt her. She’d been wrong. I fucking hurt her! “No,” Maddie said. Her voice was strained from crying. “No, baby, I am not hurt.” She took hold of my hands and pressed them back on her stomach. “It feels good.” Maddie’s tears fell down her cheeks. “It feels perfect. You, holding our child… is perfect.”

“I’m not hurting it?” I said. Maddie smiled and shook her head. Then she gasped. I felt something move under my palms. I tried to move my hands straight away, but Maddie held them on her stomach. “Our baby has moved.” Maddie laughed. “Flame, our baby has woken up to say hello.” She combed her fingers through my hair. “Our baby has woken to say hello to their papa.” Maddie sniffed back her tears. “Our baby has been waiting a long time for this, Flame. But it was worth the wait. You are always worth the wait.”

My eyes burned and my throat ached. They were strange feelings to me. I kept my hands on Maddie’s stomach. The baby kept moving. I never wanted it to stop. When the movement stopped, my flames flared. “It is okay,” Maddie said, before I could speak. “Baby Cade has just gone back to sleep.”

I looked into Maddie’s eyes. “But the baby is okay?”

“Yes, baby,” Maddie said. “I promise.”

The flames in my blood cooled. I ran my hand over Maddie’s stomach, and then I leaned in. I leaned in and kissed the soft skin. Maddie began to cry. I got to my feet and placed my hands on Maddie’s cheeks. “Why are you crying? Are you sad, Maddie?”

“No,” Maddie said and held onto my wrists. “I am happy, Flame. I am so happy.” She dropped her forehead to mine. “I am so proud of you. I am so blessed to have you as my husband. You are the strongest person I have ever known. You are a fighter. You are my heart.”

“I fight for you,” I said and kissed her lips. My hand moved to her stomach. “I want to fight for our baby too.”

“Make love to me,” Maddie whispered, and moved the towel from my waist. She walked us to the bed and we lay down. I crawled over my wife and kissed her. The flames stirred in my veins, but I let them burn. Maddie had already said if I burned, then we would burn together. But the flames didn’t seem to touch her. I kissed her lips. I kissed her neck and her breasts. Maddie’s hands combed through my hair. I kissed her stomach. I kissed our baby, who was sleeping. When I crawled back up the bed, I said, “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.” Maddie pulled me on top of her. I pushed inside her. My neck strained as Maddie moaned, her arms wrapping around my back. She pulled me closer. I groaned as I filled her. I kissed my wife. I kissed her and started to move back and forth. I locked my stare on Maddie’s eyes and never looked away. She was my everything. I couldn’t live without her. She saved me. She always saved me. She saved me from the evil, from darkness. She saved me from being alone.

“Flame,” she whispered. Her cheeks flushed red, she breathed heavier. I moved faster and faster. The flames built in my blood, hotter and hotter. Blood rushed faster and faster through my veins, until I felt fire ignite. I kept looking into Maddie’s eyes.

“The fire,” I whispered, panicking.

“It will not burn you,” she said confidently. “It will not harm us. It is not evil. You are not evil. You are goodness and light.” Maddie smiled. “And you are mine.”

“Mine,” I repeated pushing harder, and harder. My legs fucking burned. “Mine.”

Maddie’s lips parted and she moaned loudly. “Flame.”

I came. I tucked my head into the side of Maddie’s neck and came. Maddie’s hands were on my back. Her fingers ran up and down, up and down. When I lifted my head, Maddie smiled at me. “Are you okay?”