Page 74 of The Love You Win

“Pass? What do you mean, pass? You spent months trying to get me to meet with you. You left me messages begging me to take you back, crying and pleading and promising you’d work harder to be the woman I needed. Now you don’t want to talk?”

My spine straightens, embarrassment flooding me. I don’t want Maddox to think I’m pathetic. I mean, I think I’m pathetic when I really let myself dissect the things that happened after Alex left me. It wasn’t my finest moment. But I was blindsided and embarrassed. Alex left me to tell everyone the wedding was off a mere two weeks before it was scheduled to happen. But Maddox simply holds me tighter and presses a kiss to my temple. It’s a silent promise that he’s here with me and in my corner.

I take a steadying breath and roll my eyes. “God, no. The only thing I have to say is thank you.”

“Thank you?” Alex stumbles over the words, his brow rising in disbelief.

“Mm hm. You totally saved me from being miserable and sexually frustrated for the rest of my life. Honestly, I’m not sure how long I could have kept lying to you about how big your dick is. I mean, you asked almost every. Single. Time. We screwed.” I pitch my voice low in a horrible impression of my ex. “It’s so big, isn’t it, honey? You can barely handle all of this, can’t you?”

Maddox nearly spits out his coffee but manages to hold it in at the last minute. He coughs a few times and pounds his chest. Alex, though? He’s less amused.

“Classy as always, I see,” he says, standing stiffly. His shoulders nearly touch his ears, and his hands flex at his sides. “And here I was going to give you another chance. Maybe I still would, if you come to your senses. This isn’t you, Isla. I could make you something. Make you into someone.”

That has Maddox pushing out of his chair. He’s got a good six inches on Alex, at least, and some of the color leaches out of Alex’s skin. “I’m only going to say this once, Leslie, so listen up.” Alex opens his mouth to object to the name, but Maddox silences him with a look. “You can’t make Isla into something or someone great because she’s already done that herself. She’s bold and intelligent and beloved by hundreds of students and teachers alike at her school. She’s got my whole damned team wrapped around her finger.” Maddox’s hand strokes down the back of my head before tangling in my hair at the nape of my neck. “She’s got me wrapped around her little finger. The only thing you could ever make her is miserable. Now I suggest you get the hell out of here.”

Alex scoffs. “I’m not afraid of you. You’re nothing more than a Neanderthal who carries around a big stick.”

Maddox chuckles at that. “Maybe, maybe not. That doesn’t change the fact that I regularly crush men twice your size on the ice. Buh-bye now.”

Furious blue eyes swing my way. “Are you serious right now, Isla? You’re choosing this guy over me?”

I tug on Maddox’s hand, coaxing him to sit down beside me once again. Too many people are looking our way as he and Alex square off, and I don’t want this to become an issue for either of us. “Honestly, Alex? It’s not even a choice. Have the day you deserve.”

Mouth opening and closing, Alex resembles a fish out of water as he struggles to find something to say. When nothing comes and he notices the curious looks being lobbed his way, he turns on his heel and storms out of That’s Doppio without another word.

My shoulders sag when he’s gone, and Maddox tugs me in for a tight hug.

“You okay, Short-Stack?”

My hands shake and my voice wavers now that the confrontation is over, but I can answer him honestly when I say, “Yeah. I’m good. Listen, I’m sorry I never told you I was engaged, I just…”

“Hey. Nope. You don’t owe me anything, okay? You can tell me about it when you’re ready.” Maddox feathers his thumb over my jaw, studying me. When he’s confident that I’m truly okay, he nods to himself. “How about a brownie? My badass girlfriend totally deserves chocolate after that.”

I laugh, some of the tension draining out of me. He gets me. He really gets me. “A brownie sounds amazing. But only if you share it with me.”

“Anything for you, baby.”

I’m watching Maddox’s tight ass as he strides up to the counter to order when an older woman leans toward me from the next table over.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop,” she says apologetically, “but I couldn’t help overhearing some of that.” Her soft eyes glance Maddox’s way before she looks back at me. “You’ve got yourself a keeper there, dear. Hang on to that one.”

She mirrors the smile that overtakes my face when I say, “Don’t worry. I will.”

Any man who will stick up for you to your ex, then feed you chocolate without having to be asked, is a keeper for sure.

thirty-four

ISLA

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Maddox asks for the third time since we got in his car. He keeps glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, checking on me. It’s sweet.

The smile I offer him is genuine. I was a bit shaken by the whole interaction with Alex, and I’ll probably have a small-scale freakout when I get home and have some time to reflect on everything, but I’m surprisingly good. With Maddox there, seeing Alex didn’t have the same impact it would have had I run into him a month prior on my own. That would have sent me into a tailspin. This? This is nothing a ten-minute conversation with my therapist can’t resolve.

The realization floods my chest with warmth. Maddox is helping me heal. He’s changing the way I see myself and the things that went down with Alex.

He’s amazing, and I need him.

“About Alex? Yes, I’m okay about that.” I roll my lower lip between my teeth and turn to face Maddox. My eyelashes flutter in time with the butterflies in my chest. “But, Maddox? I do have a problem. I think…” I chew on my lip. “I was hoping you could help me.”

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