Beyond Broken(31)

"It's not finished yet," he said in a rush. "And I still haven't shaded in the trunk right."

Maddie's eyes roamed over the fresh page hungrily. The tree, she discovered, was so much more than she'd initially realized. It was a mechanical tree, with metal branches screwed into the trunk and jagged spikes jutting deep into the earth as its roots. A mechanical bird, with a robotic eye and wind-up wings, sat on one of the branches. And blood was dripping from a large gap in the trunk, roughly closed with staple-like stitches.

It was grotesque, a little disturbing, but darkly beautiful, which Maddie told him. "You're so talented," she added, unable to tear her eyes from the drawing. "Where did you learn how to do this?"

Peter's face resembled a tomato and Maddie figured he'd been tortured enough, so she handed him back his notebook.

"I don't know," he started. "I've always been drawing." He pointed down to the ground, where another book lay by his backpack, a very well-loved copy of a drawing guidebook. "But Caleb gave me that last year. It's helped a lot."

As she stared down at the book, her heart squeezed. Caleb had given that to him? The cold-hearted, almost cruel man who could barely string a sentence together without insulting someone? She wondered if him and Peter were close, even though she'd never seen them speak two words to each other. Peter had been coming out of Caleb's office one day, but other than that, Maddie just figured he tolerated Peter like he tolerated all of his employees.

"Well," she said, after an uncomfortable pause, "you'll have to show me more of your drawings some day. If you want to, that is."

Peter nodded hesitantly. "Okay."

She smiled at him, just as a truck pulled into the lot outside the garage. Brian looked over his shoulder before wiping his hands on the rag hanging from his back pocket. Maddie jumped when he yelled, "Caleb! Luke's here!"

Two people climbed out of the truck. One was a very tall, very handsome man, with blonde hair and the most stunning blue eyes. The other was a pretty woman, her dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a perfectly olive complexion that made Maddie envious.

Caleb had been talking to a 'Luke' on the phone, the first night she'd come to work for him. Perhaps they were friends. And she'd bet all of her Sephora gift cards that the woman he was with was his girlfriend.

No shit, Sherlock, she thought, when she saw them link hands.

"Hey Brian. Petey," Luke greeted with a wide grin when they stepped foot in the garage. His eyes lingering on Maddie curiously. Luke's girlfriend stopped at his side and smiled at her. "And you must be Maddie."

That took her off guard.

A little flustered, Maddie said, "Um, yes. I am."

Smooth.

The only way he could've known about her was if Caleb had told him. Damn, what did he tell them? Did he tell them about Saturday afternoon when she … ?

Her face burned with embarrassment.

Then she heard the devil himself coming down the stairs from his office. She was too mortified to face him, so she looked at her half-empty plate of cookies.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Caleb asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance. He stopped right at Maddie's elbow, joining the circle they'd unconsciously made. His scent drifted towards her since he was so close but she tried to ignore it.



       
         
       
        

"Nice to see you too, honey buns," Luke sing-songed. Maddie would've laughed if she wasn't so taken aback. Luke smiled at her, no doubt seeing her surprise. "We're just meeting Maddie here, isn't that right, my little ray of sunshine?" he asked, looking down to his girlfriend, with eyes reminiscent of an innocent puppy.

His girlfriend rolled her eyes and then looked at Maddie, an amused look on her face. "I'm Kate, by the way. This ridiculous oaf of a man is Luke."

"You wound my masculinity," Luke mumbled.

"Nice to meet you," Maddie said politely, hiding her embarrassment behind a small smile.

Irritation radiated off Caleb in waves, which confused her because she thought that he and Luke were good friends. Hadn't they gone out together last week?

"Luke," he bit out.

"Yes, honey buns?" Luke asked, smiling. Caleb glared. The two men exchanged looks silently until Luke finally said, "I'm just stopping by. We were in the neighborhood," which only served to irritate Caleb more.

"You live in the city," he pointed out.

"And I may have spoken to Alex this morning … "

Whatever that meant …

Apparently it meant more to Caleb, since his hand clenched by her side. "Oh really?"