Page 120 of Ever With Me

In love? No. But well on his way to falling for Maddie?

He closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath.

Absolutely.

“She’s my girlfriend,” he answered simply.

“So you mean to tell me you’ve been holed up in the middle of god-knows-where, playing house with this woman? For real? This isn’t for your image? What about your career?”

“You know what the thing is, Ava? You wouldn’t be freaking out about how to solve my problems if I didn’t make you a lot of fucking money. So maybe you hold all the cards and maybe you don’t. But it doesn’t matter anymore. Because I’m done. I’m terminating our relationship, effective immediately.”

“Now listen to me, Brooks?—”

“Anything further you have to say can go through my lawyer.” He hung up before she could continue.

Damn, that felt good.

He drew in a deep breath, setting his hands on the railing.

Maybe it had been because he’d spent the night with Madison Yardley.

Or that he wasn’t going back to LA yet.

But for the first time in a long time . . . Brooks felt free from everything crushing him under a merciless heaviness, dragging him under the surface.

He could finally breathe again.

32

MADDIE

Lindsay openedthe door to her apartment with a wide smile on her face. “Yay, you’re here!” she said, throwing her arms around Maddie’s neck. “I was wondering if I’d ever see you again.”

Maddie rolled her eyes and handed her the bottle of wine tucked under her arm. “I missedtwofamily pizza nights. It’s not like I went to Timbuktu.” She was determined not to feel the slightest shred of guilt for spending every night after work this week with Brooks. He was all alone up there at the lake house—and they had a lot of catching up to do as soon as she walked through the door.

Which had been fun.

Sex in every room of the lake house, on multiple surfaces.

She’d never felt so close to being a sex goddess in her life before.

“Two is too many, which is why I called this emergency girls’ night.” Lindsay tugged her in through the door, nearly knocking them into Travis, who was pulling on a black leather jacket.

“You leaving?” Maddie asked Travis with a wry lift of her eyebrow.

“Are you kidding? I’m not about to hang around and watchThirteen Going on Thirtywith you all. I have manly stuff to do. Like poker nights and playing with cars?—”

“Don’t forget to pick up the dry cleaning while you’re out, please. Also, the groomer said to pick Ratchet up at seven. And tell the girls at the senior center bingo night that I promise I’ll come by next week, and I miss them.” Lindsay planted a kiss on his cheek and winked.

Maddie chuckled.

Travis muttered a grumble. “I’m only going because my grandmother likes for us to go occasionally.”

“And we all love Bunny. I get it.”

“Oh, by the way, tell your new boyfriend that his car will be ready next Tuesday. I finally got the windshield in.”

“I’ll let him know,” Maddie said with a wave as Travis backed out the door.

---