Last To Know

20

"That was amazing! Fantastical! Absolutely magical!" I exclaimed, twirling around in the grass.

"Someone make her shut up," Mathias groaned, puking his guts up.

"You're just jealous, because she didn't get sick and you did," Maddox countered. He came to stand by my side, his fingers grazing my hip. I stood on my tiptoes placing a light, chaste kiss on his cheek.

Mathias wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I can't fucking believe people do that for fun."

Maddox rolled his eyes. "Do you think you could try speaking without using a variation of the word 'fuck' in every sentence?"

Mathias laughed. "I don't fucking think so."

Maddox grumbled and turned to me. "He's ridiculous."

"He's your brother," I countered.

"And if we weren't identical I'd never know we were related," he retorted. Mathias overheard and gave him the finger.

"I fucking love you too, princess," Mathias sneered.

Maddox narrowed his eyes. "Now you're just saying it to spite me."

"Yes I fucking am," Mathias replied, trudging through the grass towards the building.

Maddox turned to me, his expression unreadable. "Be glad you're an only child," he grumbled. "Siblings suck."

I laughed, taking his hand in mine. "You love him."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Yeah, I know. That makes it worse."

"Are you guys coming?!" Mathias called over his shoulder. Hayes and Ezra were specks in the distance.

"Yeah, yeah," Maddox waved him on.

"You know," I piped in, my voice low enough that Mathias wouldn't hear, "I'm really surprised he said what he did on the plane."

"Me too," Maddox agreed. "But Mathias is really protective of his family," he glanced down at me briefly, "and he considers you a part of our family."

My throat caught at that. "W-what?"

He grinned, drawing me close so he could press his lips to my forehead in a tender kiss. "You're not going anywhere, Emma."

I closed my eyes, reveling in his words. They were nice to hear. I was falling hard for Maddox and now I was starting to think maybe I wasn't the only one that felt that way.

Once in the parking lot we split up from the guys. The other three headed to Ezra's massive Yukon while Maddox and I made our way to his sports car. My poor little Volkswagen had barely been driven any this summer. I'd probably be lucky if it ran by the time school started.

"You know," Maddox started, buckling his seatbelt, "I've realized something."

"What?" I asked.

"We didn't need these adventures...yeah, they were fun, but we don't need them to have a good time. Being with you is enough."

My heart stuttered, skipping a beat in my chest. Since I was the least romantic person on the planet, I said, "Does this mean we don't have to go on that hike now?" If I recalled correctly the hike was the only thing we hadn't done.

He laughed heartily. "We don't have to do the hike."

"Thank God," I breathed a sigh of relief. "I was already dreading the blisters I was going to get from that."