Page 82 of Reckoning

Meyer

Fifteen minutes later, we were far enough away from the building that Madeline took off the sunglasses and hat she had worn to hide her face. We’d left Joshua behind, agreeing we couldn’t trust him enough to string him along for this. My eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror, trying to see if we were being followed. So far, we were alone.

Shawn stopped us in the garage where he was waiting for us. “Where do you think you’re going?” He stepped toward Maddie, but I shifted in front of her. He scowled. “You’re insane if you think I’m letting you take her out of here.”

“Get out of our way, Shawn.” I hoped my voice sounded menacing. In reality, I felt powerless. Madeline had destroyed me, first with the truth and then with … with herself. The person she’d always been that I had tried to keep at arm’s length, thinking that I could have her soul without giving her mine as well. The woman who looked into me and saw someone who could be better, even as I hurt her again and again.

What I was feeling toward her wasn’t possible. I had wanted her to be a thing, a doll I could put on a shelf and wind up with orders and demands and favors. I couldn’t pay back Eva for leaving me to Conrad’s violence so many years ago, so I thought Madeline would have to do. But she’d managed to break me down instead.

Shawn reached for Maddie’s arm again, trying to pull her away. I felt a snarl of possession, the caveman part of me rearing up in defense at this competitor trying to steal my woman away. Not now, not when we were finally bare in front of each other.

Maddie put her hand on his wrist, stilling him.

“You need to let us go, Shawn. I have to get him out of here.”

And just like that, the dynamic shifted. I wasn’t secreting her away; she was the one stealing me. I sighed as my shoulders fell, letting down my guard. It didn’t matter around him. She could take care of it. Shawn was as surprised as I was at the change in the air, stepping back and letting his hand fall. Maddie stepped forward beside me.

“He needs a doctor. Can you help us?”

Shawn pursed his lips, then stepped back. With his hands off Madeline, I pulled her back tighter to my side. “My private doctor. I’ll text Meyer his address.”

“Tell it to me. We left his phone upstairs.” She fished in her bag for a receipt and a pen, writing down the address as he rattled it off. “I don’t want Conrad tracking us.”

Shawn’s eyes widened. “You think he monitors Meyer’s phone?”

“I know he does.” Her eyes narrowed. “It’s chapter three of the abuser’s handbook.”

I huffed, running my uninjured hand through my hair. I didn’t want to be talked about as though I wasn’t even present.

They both noticed, shifting uncomfortably.

“Is there somewhere we can go, Shawn?” Madeline stepped closer and wrapped her hand gently around my arm. I looked down at her, my heart suddenly swelling. She gazed up at me with such concern, but it didn’t make me feel vulnerable. It made me feel whole. I couldn’t stop myself from leaning down to kiss her.

Shawn handed us the key to his downtown apartment, and a minute later, we were pulling out of the underground garage.

“Pull over,” Madeline said now, unbuckling her seat belt.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m driving. You can’t shift this stupid car with that hand.”

When we crossed in front of the car, I caught her briefly to kiss her again. I couldn’t stop. I felt raw, flayed open. I thought that this moment was going to pass, and I’d never get the chance to touch her again or be brave enough to love her. She looked at me as we kissed.

“We’ll make it through this together.”

I could only nod.

We drove across town to a lavish townhouse where Shawn’s doctor lived. We paid with cash for an X-ray housed in his basement that showed a fracture to my fifth metatarsal. The doctor wrapped my wrist and two of my fingers with a splint to help it heal. While I was signing the final paperwork, the doctor pulled Madeline out of my sight. I felt myself panic, not wanting her to disappear, but she reappeared a moment later.

“Are you okay?” I asked, suddenly worried she had sustained some invisible injury.

“It’s all right.” She stroked my hair and kissed the bandaged fingers softly. “Let’s go.”

In the car, she told me what the doctor said. “They thought the attack on the wall had been meant for me. I told her the only person you were trying to hurt was yourself.”

I found myself angry at the pity I saw so clearly on her face. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

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