Page 102 of Ever With Me

Of course, a man like Brooks probably wasn’t used to rejection. Who in their right mind would reject Brooks Kent?

She tugged her hand back from his forearm, feeling like a scolded child. “Understood.” Holding her head high, she hurried away from him.

“Wait, Madison,” he called after her.

“I have to go, Brooks. See you around.”

Maddie pushed forward without stopping, afraid that if she did, he might see her eyes welling with tears.

“I already crossed the line with you and regret it. You told me no last time. I accepted it and moved on. I won’t do it again.”

She knew, logically, this was for the best. But why did it sting so much more than she expected?I’ve only known him for a week.

She had to hold it together. Maybe, after the festivities were over, she’d have a serious talking to herself. It was time to keep her head held high. After all,he’daccepted there’d be nothing more between them and hadmoved on.

How, Maddie did not want to know.

28

BROOKS

Fuck.

Brooks’s jaw clenched so hard, he practically had a headache as he sank into a metal folding chair on the lawn in front of a makeshift, roughly hewn stage.

He’d spent almost half his life on stages—they practically felt like home at this point.

This one, though . . . this one he wanted to run from.

But he had penance to do.

He’d hurt Maddie somehow—not on purpose. Considering how staunchly she’d stood up for consent the other night, he would have thought she appreciated knowing that he’d never kiss her if she didn’t want it. She’d drawn clear boundary lines the other day when they’d been making out—he wasn’t about to disrespect that.

Instead, he had somehow upset her.

He adjusted the hoodie he’d donned, using the sides of it to cover his face somewhat. His hat and sunglasses shaded the rest of his face. Being in the back row helped. No one appeared to have noticed him, but then again, the townspeople had left him alone on Thursday after Maddie had threatened them all.

The auction had started a full fifteen minutes earlier and still no sign of Maddie.

This is painful.

Brooks pinched right below the bridge of his nose, where his sunglasses had dug in.Why do I care so much?

He’d tried to keep his distance from Maddie as much as possible since Thursday. Even with Brian’s and Peter’s advice, well-intentioned as it had been, there were still too many hurdles.

His lawyer had emailed just this morning letting him know that Mike hadn’t dropped the charges yet—and that Brooks’s arraignment was scheduled for two weeks from now. And then there was the conversation he was still putting off having with Ava, where he needed to quit his job and put a temporary stake in the heart of his career.

Setbacks.

Maybe necessary ones, but setbacks all the same.

Then again . . . what more did he really want out of his career? He’d had the huge tours and played all the big venues. Put out all the songs he’d been inspired to write. His creativity had long since taken a nosedive, and in this industry, it was better to leave on top rather than hoping that the creativity would simply magically appear again one day.

I don’t love it anymore, so it’s the right time to walk away.

As Kayla had pointed out a few hours ago, he needed to spend more time with his family.That waswhat was important.

He had enough money to last him several lifetimes and had invested well. Set up a trust for Kayla and Audrey.

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