Page 82 of A Promise For Tomorrow

I swipe at the tear floating down my cheek. “Wow.”

“Wow, is right.Holy fuckballs, Diego. You’re quite the poet,” Lexi approves, wiping her own lone tear from her eye.

“And what do you think my first impression of you was?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, you fuckinghatedme when I was taking you… then again, I was wearing a mask,” he laughs deeply. “There was a moment you woke up on our flight to Miami. You looked up at me in my arms and mumbled, “‘Am I dreaming? You are the hottest guy I have ever seen,’” he mimics my voice then smiles while taking a sip of his drink.

I push myself off his chest, looking down at his large frame eating up the bean bag. Legs spread, relaxed. “I wouldn’t lie about that…” he flirts.

“You’re so full of shit, Diego,” Liam argues.

“Please. Madison was probably scared shitless of you.” Kil adds his two cents.

Feeling likeThe Bone Breakeris telling the truth, I feel the need to defend him. “I can’t speak for what happened when I was semi-conscious anddrugged—” I narrow my eyes at my husband, still bitter about that detail. “What I can confirm, is the minute he walked into my cell, I was smitten. He made me feel incredibly safe, even knowing he was the reason I was there as a prisoner. It was the days he sat outside my door talking to me or leaving me motivational quotes on sticky notes—before I even saw his face—that I knew he was someone I could trust.”

Diego is satisfied with that. “I saved them, you know,” he lowers his voice just for me to hear.

“The sticky notes?” I ask, dumbfounded.

“Yes. To me, they are love notes,” he admits.

Swoon.

I wishthese two would get a fucking room.Then again, I am putting myself through this hell. I could be playing poker right now, ignoring this Godforsaken love fest. Yet, here I am. A fucking masochist, sitting on the edge of this awful bean bag chair, trying to get any scrap of information I can about their time together.

About what their relationship is really like when no one is looking.

I would say behind closed doors, but we all know what they do there. I run a hand through my hair, gripping the back of it.

Conor shoots me a sympathetic look. He was with me on the beach last night as I let it all out. Losing Madison and the finality of her decision is driving me mad. I agreed to let her go… but I can’t. She and I had it all.What the fuck happened to us?

We reach the final question. The last two were easy.Favorite drink.Favorite season.You’d have to be blind and deaf not to know Madison’s favorite drink. All she does is talk about how much she needs a coffee or how it gives her ‘life’. The same goes for Diego—except, he isn’t as theatrical about it.

As for seasons, Maddy is a fall girl. Pumpkin being her favorite seasonal coffee. Those damn Ugg boots she loves somuch are a dead giveaway. Beyond fashion and her studded leather jacket that she adores, Madison thrives when the weather turns crisp. Her mood always changes, like the leaves, adding a little spark of color to her personality. She’s always smiling and headed out to a vineyard or farm. The princess loves a good bonfire.

Don’t even get me started on Halloween. Anything spooky and spiritual has her name written all over it. I swear she and Lexi are some sort of witches with that telepathy of theirs. They are probably reading my mind right now—get out of my head, ladies.

The last question is who made the first move. Con did first with Lexi, asking her to save a dance at the New Year’s Eve Masquerade Gala. Selena and Kil laughed at their turn, agreeing Killian made the first move by asking her out but felt pressured by their fathers to do so. Sel made the firstrealmove, kissing him when he continued to stay a prude. Lexi’s brother and his husband went in for a kiss at the same time at a mutual friend’s party. And Lexi and Maddy’s neighbors met at a cooking class. They were assigned the same station. Simon asked John out for drinks after class.

And now that we are all caught up…I’ve been anxiously awaiting Madison and Diego’s responses. It’ll put things into perspective for me about when Madison really fell for him.

“Maddy?” Lexi asks.

“I did,” she states as my heart plummets.

What the fuck?I expected Diego to have made the moves on her first, considering she was his fuckingprisoner. Did she lose feelings for me before he even laid on the charm with her?

Diego chuckles like a smug arsehole, rubbing a hand up and down Madison’s back, encouraging her to tell the story. Jealousy like no other runs rampant through my body, heating it to the core. I take a healthy chug of my beer as I lean forward to hear this, resting my arms on my thighs.

Madison’s eyes connect with mine for no more than a second before she begins.Was that a flash of sympathy?

“It was after Liam and I had broken up. Diego was consoling me while I was spiraling, questioning my worth and questioning my role in Liam and I falling apart. I knew deep down it was because I had grown feelings for Diego beyond attraction. I continued to mentally fight with myself, trying to convince myself this wasn’t a case of Stockholm Syndrome. That night, I couldn’t deny it any longer. This connection went far beyond attraction or forced proximity. He was someone who understood me almost better than I did myself. Diego, knowing Liam and I had just ended a few moments earlier, continued to respect my boundaries. I was the one who asked him to kiss me.”

“Are you fucking serious, Madison?” I stand, unable to help my reaction to this new information. I knew about her having sex with him on their wedding night, but I chalked that up to her mind being in a haze with everything going on in her life.

She was the one to kiss him first? Did she ever really love me at all?

“Liam,” Killian warns through his teeth. “Why don’t you go take a walk and cool off?”

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