Freedom Series: Chasing Butterflies

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Just as they made it out of the door a fiery red came flying towards them like a meteor headed for earth.

"You!" Was all Nova received, before Mrs. Collins raised her hand swiftly, ready to strike. 

This angered Maddox, who had failed to react fast enough to protect Nova from the whirling chair,  as he felt Nova cower into him he quickly stepped in front of her acting as a shield. She swung her hand with enough force and speed, so much that if a fragile human-like Nova would have tried to block it she would have surely broken her arm, intent only on physically maiming her target. She was stopped soundly however by Maddox's firm grip. 

He could already see the beginning of her change taking place in her blue eyes that had begun to burn with energy. The highly dominant and protective mother wolf was beginning to show forth more and more by the minute, Maddox's Beta status being the only thing that kept her wolf in check. She recognized a more dominant wolf than herself and a for more seconds of fighting conceded and ripped her hand away from his. However, she still blocked their way.

"Step aside Veranda," Maddox said firmly, leaking an unbreakable command into his voice.

"Why?! So you that can let this-this, home-wrecker! Off with no consequences?!" She screeched, attracting the attention of the late night staff who all stopped what they were doing, watching the scene unfold before them.

"This is not her fault, this is nobodies fault! We both know this, Veranda!" He insisted, taking up a more defensive stance in front of Nova, just in a case it came down to a fight. 

Veranda suddenly stood up straight and walked past them both without another word, knowing that she had been beaten. However, she couldn't help but bump the brown-skinned girl's shoulder, rather roughly, sending an unpleasant shiver throughout her.

Any other time Nova would have said something to the rude stranger for her petty actions, however, she got this strange but very clear feeling that this redhead was not a stranger in the Wholefoods store and was not someone to be messed with.

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"Whew talk about tense!" Maddox laughed nervously as he blasted Blessings by Big Sean, speeding down the road in his midnight Audi Convertible. 

Nova sat in the passenger seat a little bit quieter as she thought about Veranda. That crazy woman would have hit her had it not been for Maddox. Instantly horrible memories began to seep into her mind, vivid images of her father raising his hand in a similar motion to herself, her mother and her brother. She looked down and noticed that her hands had begun to shake violently so she tucked them away in her sleeves, hoping that Maddox hadn't noticed. She glanced at him out of the side of her cautiously, as they came to a red light and studied him. 

If you had not been with him tonight than you would never have known about the disaster that had just taken place from his appearance. His fluffy black hair that had previously been blowing haphazardly all over the place now fell playfully over his face, hiding what she knew to be his steely gray eyes, his pink lips were pulled into an easy going smile while he mouthed the words to the song currently playing, seeming without a care in the world.

As if he felt a pair of eyes on him he turned his head and gazed at her, tilting his head slightly to the side, a playful look on his face. His actions actually reminded her of a dog...or more like a puppy. However, the look in his eyes was completely human. 

It was also not how you looked at your best friend. She thought to herself, even though she found herself leaning towards him. She didn't know why she was moving closer, or what she was going to do when she got to the middle console, but what she did know was that he was leaning towards her as well. It was almost as if something was physically pulling her towards him, it was faint but if nurtured, she knew it would grow into something great, something beautiful even.

Suddenly the honk of a car horn and the screech of tires had her cry out in shock and jump back as the vehicle that was behind them sped around and flew past them going through the now green light, screaming some very explicit language at them. Maddox laughed and yelled "your mother" out of the window, putting his own car in driving and speeding off.

 Nova had been worried that after their little moment things would have been very awkward in the car however they spent the rest of the car ride in a comfortable silence. It was as if they had both reached a silent agreement not to speak of what had almost happened and to just wait and see how things turned out. She scolded her traitorous face as a wide smile crossed it and turned to look out of the window, dreaming of what could be.

Thanks to Nova's amazing navigating skills and Maddox's "uncontrollable charm", as he put it, they were able to reach her house in under 20 minutes. Maddox put his car in park out front of her house and stopped to inspect the little shack of a house. Looking at Nova, however, he saw the clear pride in her eyes as she gazed at the house and decided not to look at it like a shack, but as a shack with character, which he voiced to Nova who promptly rolled her eyes and shoved him. He opened his door and speed walked around to help her out of the car, pulling her unnecessarily close to himself.

"Thanks." She said, a little cautious of their close proximity and shied away, however she wasn't able to escape his hand that still held her lightly.

"No problem." He replied, his signature goofy grin present. He looked down at their joined hands, caressing her softly and looked at her through his eyelashes. "Are you okay?" He asked, truly worried about her.

"I'm fine, really." She whispered, shyly looking down. "It takes more than a room full of angry snobs to put me down." She crooned, laughing slightly.

"Just making sure." He murmured, bringing her hand up and kissing it. She looked at him weirdly and stuttered, tripping over her words. "What?" He questioned, teasingly raising an eyebrow as he watched her struggle to form words.

"Nothing you're just...acting kind of weird." She mumbled slowly. Before he could make a witty reply, the sound of a door opening and heavy footsteps stopped him in his tracks. He to face, who he presumed to be, the elder Akecheta sibling, Nigel. He watched as the male walked down the porch stairs slowly, eyeing their joined hands, as he came to a stop, leaning against the chipped white picket fence. 

"Sup," Nigel said, taking his eyes off of their conjoined hands and looking Maddox directly in the eye. He took a slow sip of his soda that he held in his hand and gave them both a pointed stare. One that Maddox was positive could only be made by a protective older brother who was in the presence of a boy that may or may not like his sister.

Nova quickly dropped her hand from Maddox's and took a hasty step away from him, proceeding to make introductions.

"Nigel this is Maddox; Maddox this is my brother Nigel." She said, indicating the implied people.

"Nice to meet you, your sister is a wonderful person," Maddox said, extending his hand to Nigel.

"I know," Nigel answered, simply eyeing Maddox's outstretched hand before tilting his can and drinking some more of his soda.

"Right," Maddox said, recognizing that this was not a protective older brother but an over-protective older brother, this was a different breed. "I'll be going now see you at work Nova." He said, waving.

"Bye. And thanks for the ride." She said, giving him a quick side hug. "Sorry for Nigel." She added, whispering in his ear to him and he simply shrugged.

"Anytime," Maddox said, and he meant it.

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Whew! I made it to chapter 7. Of course, it's a little late, sorry, I'm not even going to explain what happened lol. I just hope that you all enjoyed it and would love to hear some feedback.

What do you think about Anderson? Would you prefer #teammaddox or #teamanderson?

Also, who has protective or over-protective brothers too?

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Have a blessed day!