Page 41 of Recklessly, Wildly Yours

“It turns out I wasn’t,” I grunt, the words ripped from my chest. I pull Madeline in close again, a hard urgency to protect her driving me. My body is wired, my jaw is tight, and I have to force myself to loosen my grip a little so that I’m not crushing her.

“Do me a favor and get out of here. I’m not in the mood for trouble tonight.”

I do him that favor. For Madeline. Keeping my arm around her, I steer her away from the bar toward the river a few blocks away.

“Thank you,” Maddie says as I let her go once we’re away from the bar.

I force a breath, trying to loosen the knot of tension in my chest. “I’m not sure I helped you back there.” Fuck knows how videos of us surfacing on social media will pan out for her. Videos of me threatening people.

She shakes her head. “We don’t deal in doubt, Black. And at this point, I don’t think it matters what else is posted about me online. People are gonna think what they want, right?”

Fuck me. She’s made a 180 since we talked earlier and certainty looks fucking good on her.

“I take it you and the security guy go back,” she continues.

“A few years, yeah.”

“And you and trouble are besties?” Her eyes twinkle with fun.

“Let’s just say that some of those grays you saw in his hair were caused by me.”

“How bad are we talking here?”

“You wanna know if I’m a bad boy, Miller?”

“Oh, I already know you are. I just need to know what to expect going forward.”

“My bad boy days are behind me. You don’t need to worry.”

“I don’t know if I believe that. Not from what I just saw.”

“That wasn’t me being a bad boy. That was me making sure those assholes wouldn’t hurt you. And if something like that happens again, I won’t hesitate to protect you again. That’s what you can expect going forward.”

She turns silent while looking up at me with eyes that hold a universe of thoughts and feelings. But while she doesn’t respond to what I’ve just said, the way she moves closer to me while we walk tells me everything. She’s grateful.

From the little I know about her, I’m not sure Maddie has ever had someone in her corner like I am now, and that pisses me the hell off. This woman deserves so much more than she’s ever been given.

“Okay,” I say as the river comes into view. “Are you ready to give your lungs a workout?”

She glances around, taking in the people we can see. “I don’t know, Ethan. Screaming in a public area doesn’t seem like the best idea.”

“There’s hardly anyone around.” There are only five people in sight. “Besides, it’s dark and I know a place tucked away from view. And if anyone comes running to see why you’re screaming, I’ll deal with them.”

She scans the area again before taking a deep breath. “Okay, but let the record show, I think it’s a bad idea.”

I take her hand. “The record knows exactly where you stand on this and it thinks you might enjoy this, even if just a little bit.”

When we make it to the sheltered area that’s hidden from everyone, I let her hand go and turn her to face the river while I move next to her. Then, I start a conversation that I hope will help her access her anger. “How did you find out Tucker was cheating on you?”

She stands perfectly still, not answering my question. It’s dark, so I can’t see every line of her face to get a read on her, but her stillness and the way her breathing turns shallow give me the information I’m after. Finally, she looks at me and I see her torment. She still doesn’t answer my question, though.

“Well?” I prod.

She releases a breath and turns back to the river. “Things had been off between us for a while and then he came home the night before our wedding smelling of another woman’s perfume, so after he passed out, I checked his phone. It wasn’t hard to guess his password. I found messages that went back years, from women he’d had one-night stands with and women he’d carried on affairs with.” Her chest rises and falls as she closes her eyes briefly. When she speaks again, pain bleeds into her words. “His actions were so blatant that night. Coming home smelling of her ...he didn’t even care if I knew.” She finds my gaze again, her face a mess of hurt. “And that’s what hurt. He didn’t care about me. He never cared about me.”

The fucking asshole.

“And?”

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