Page 61 of Reckoning

Madeline

Joshua called him on the way home after we’d driven through McDonald’s, and I paused, shoving fries into my mouth long enough to listen to half their conversation. Meyer barely said a word, mainly grunting before hanging up and throwing his phone in the back seat.

“What did he say?” I had to speak around my cheeseburger, not caring about the grease dripping down my face as I spoke. I was starving after what had happened in his bedroom—the fear of having Conrad’s hands all over me and then the multiple orgasms from Meyer.

“He says Conrad called him to the house because the security system was going off. Turns out that someone had just messed up the settings, and it took him a while to figure it out.”

“Do you believe him?”

He laughed. “Not for a fucking second. He shouldn’t have left you under any circumstances.”

I crumpled the paper that had held my burger and tossed it back in the bag before returning to my fries, pausing only long enough to take a deep pull from my soda. The sugar high was fast and real, and I felt more awake than ever. “What was he supposed to do? Ignore your father?”

“Yes!” He hit the steering wheel to accentuate his point. “I pay him an absurd amount of money to listen to me, not Conrad. I doubled it after you showed up to prevent this kind of thing from happening.”

“How did you know to come home?”

“He texted me.” His beautiful eyebrows came together in the center of his head, mouth turning down further as he thought. “Said he’d had to leave to take care of the problem.”

“Sounds like he was looking out for me.”

That earned me a scowl. “Why are you so ready to absolve him? You could have been … hurt.”

I held a fry in front of his face. After a moment, he opened his mouth to pluck it from my fingers. “I don’t know. I don’t think I could handle it if I found out he was playing both sides. It’s already hard enough to know who to trust.”

“You don’t trust me?” He killed the headlights as he pulled onto his father’s property, slowing in order to make it back to his house without hitting any trees or going off the road.

“What do you think?” I licked my fingers before wiping them along my jeans, then grabbed my candy. “You’re not honest with yourself, let alone me.”

We sat in the garage for a few minutes while I finished eating, Meyer drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. “You’re coming with me from now on. I can’t leave you alone.”

“What, you expect me to sit around your office for eight hours every day while you make plans to drop bombs on innocent people?”

“That’s exactly what you’ll do.” He flipped off the car and got out, clearly expecting me to follow him. I frowned at myself. Why didn’t I flee when I had the chance?

Because if he didn’t find me, someone else would have.

My door opened, and he leaned inside the car, grabbing my garbage off the floor and then offering me his hand. I ignored it, only to be pushed back against the car the moment both my feet were on the ground.

“When are you going to give in to me?” he growled, picking up my legs and hooking them over his hips so I was forced to grab his neck. His teeth dug into my collarbone.

“I won’t.”

He bit me harder.

“Meyer! Cut it out!”

I had to steady myself against him as he dropped me back to the ground, turning his back on me as he stalked inside. I stared after him agape. “Hey! Don’t walk away from me!”

“Make up your mind, Maddie.”

I kicked off his shoes as I ran inside, slipping across the hard floors in his giant socks. Had his feet always been this big? “Why did you start calling me that?” I followed him into the living room with the fireplace, unsurprised to find him pouring a drink. But I hesitated when he held the glass out to me.

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want any?”

I bit my lip. “Why are you offering?”

He shrugged and looked away. “I took you out to dinner. Now we’re having a drink.”

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