Page 72 of Seduced in Ink

Her mother opened her mouth to say something, but then her dad walked towards them, a scowl on his face. Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed even louder than before, the chandelier above them shaking. And then power snapped off.

A few screams and a couple of gasps could be heard, and Aaron reached out, sliding his arm around her waist.

“Well, that’s great,” she said.

“Watch your tone,” her mother whispered.

Madison almost laughed. They were in the dark with no power, a storm raging outside, and there was no escape.

And, of course, her mother blamed her.

But Madison honestly didn’t care. And that was something. Maybe this whole fake fiancé thing had worked. She had stood up to her mother, and she was ready to walk away without a second glance. If only Mother Nature would allow that to happen.

Or maybe Mother Nature was giving her a second chance to find her way with Aaron.

Lightning flashed again, and the wind howled. People started shouting, and then all thoughts of Aaron and what they meant to each other fled as a sense of foreboding crept over her.

The storm was just the beginning.

She knew that much down to her bones.

Chapter 17

Aaron cursed under his breath before squeezing Madison’s hip and letting her go only to grab her hand and tangle his fingers with hers.

“You okay?” he asked. He looked down at her, the lights from outside barely enough for him to see her face.

“I’m fine. Mom? Dad?”

“We’re fine. I cannot believe a place like this doesn’t have a backup generator. What are they doing with our money if they’re not taking care of us in our time of need?” her mother asked. While Aaron might’ve thought that the woman was just complaining for the sake of it, he also heard the fear in her voice.

It seemed that when she was scared, she lashed out. It made sense. Aaron wasn’t particularly comfortable right now either with the storm and no power. People started milling around, the large windows on the other side of the room letting in the most light.

“Darling, I’m sure the manager will help us soon. You know Ralph, he’s always been a friend of the family.”

There was a gruffness to Mark McLard’s tone that said he wasn’t having fun with this either. Aaron had never understood the couple more. They didn’t like things out of their control, hence why they tried to control their daughter. When she fought back, they pushed harder.

Aaron just hated that they’d hurt her along the way.

“Okay, what are we going to do?” Maeve asked, and Aaron blinked, even though they couldn’t see him. He wasn’t sure she had ever uttered that phrase before in her life. Given how Madison stiffened at his side, he figured she hadn’t either.

Very interesting.

The manager came forward, a flashlight in his hand.

“The storm seems to have hit us harder than they predicted,” Ralph said. “We apologize. What we’re going to do, is get everyone into a central location. My team and I are working on a solution as we speak. It seems that when the tree fell down and knocked out the power lines, it also hit our generator.”

Everybody began speaking at once. Aaron made sure that Madison was close to him as others moved in on them to get Ralph’s attention.

People talked about refunds, asked about their stuff and other things. Honestly, Aaron could care less. He had Madison at his side, and her parents were near. Everybody that he had a connection to was safe. He was keeping an eye out for Guy, though. Hopefully, the man had already left.

If not?

He’d have to kick the man’s ass, storm or no storm.

“Now, if everybody could come to this side of the room, we’ll be able to keep track of everybody better. Please don’t go off on your own or return to your rooms just yet. We’re still waiting on the lights, and we don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m going to sue your ass,” somebody growled from behind them. Aaron thought it might have been Joyce’s husband.