Page 9 of Defending Madison

He sputters. “It’s been five days. How the hell is it a relationship? You don’t live here. Neither does she. She’s incollege in Boulder. That’s thousands of miles from where we spend our time. She doesn’t have time for you or this.” His hand flaps around. “End this now. You can’t give her what she needs.” He scrapes his hand across his head. “Hell, she’s just a baby.”

“Brian. She’s a woman. She’s brilliant, beautiful, insightful, and analytical. She’s the whole fucking package.”

He grabs my arm and pulls me down the hall. “She’ll never be yours.” He blows out a breath. “Did you forget you’re married?”

“That’s in name only, and you know it.”

“Benny will never understand that you have a wife.” We get to the edge of the stairs. “Get your shit and be ready to leave in ten.”

I pull my arm from his grasp. “I’ve got two more days.”

He shakes his head. “We’ve been called back. Check your phone. You can leave her a note and tell her you’ve changed your mind. It was just a fling.”

“It wasn’t a fling. We found a connection.”

“My sister is young and naïve. Hell, you probably stole her virginity.”

I stand up straight. “One, she hasn’t been a virgin in a while. Two, she’s not naïve. And three, she knows what she wants.”

The area echoes with Brian’s growl. “She wants to be a professional soccer player and win a world championship. Nowhere in her life plan is a man. Especially one who will only see her occasionally throughout the year.”

“Fine. Let me tell her I’m leaving.”

Brian grasps my arm. “No. I’m ordering you to leave it alone. We’re leaving.” I recognize his tone. I’m not going to win this. I’ll get back to her and tell her why I left and find out when we can see each other again.

MADISON

The light brightens my room as I stretch the used muscles in my body. It’s amazing the muscles you use in stupendous sex. I can’t contain the smile. The other side of my bed is cold. I wonder where he went. My pussy dampens at the thought of having Dixon again. I jump out of bed and bound to my bathroom to wash off three rounds of sex. The man is a beast. Twenty minutes later, with my hair in braids, I stroll into the kitchen.

My mother nods. “He left. Well, they left. They headed back to wherever they go.”

Shock slams into my soul as my jaw drops. The little voice that keeps me on the straight and narrow rattles off reasons why Dixon left without telling me. I take down the cereal box from the cupboard, shaking some into a bowl from the dish drainer, and use the milk on the counter to soften my cereal. She rises from the bar stool. “I’m headed out to work. When are you heading back to school?”

There it is. She’s inviting me to leave. Tomorrow is Christmas, but now that Brian is gone, she’ll find church people to spend the time with, so I’m not needed. I frown, feeling abandoned by her as well as Dixon and my brother. “Today. I’ll be gone before you get back. There’s venison in the freezer and some in the garage fridge. You could offer it to your friends at church.”

Her eyes light up. “Oh. Yeah. I will.” She leans in and kisses my cheek. “Be a good girl, Madison. Don’t embarrass me.”

I nod. “I never do.”

She meanders to the front door as I collapse onto the stool to stew in my sadness. No note, no text, no nothing. Prick! Merry fucking Christmas to me. I’ll just go visit my friend, Penny, until school starts up again.

Chapter 4

SEVEN YEARS LATER

MADISON

“Madison?”

“Yeah, Mom.”

“Your phone has been ringing for the last hour. What’s the deal?”

I am always forgetting my damn phone. “Sorry. I forgot it.”

She rolls her eyes as she hands me the phone. “It must be important. It says fifteen missed calls.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” I take my phone from her hand and yep, fifteen calls in the last hour and a half from my agent and a number I don’t recognize. I walk away and hit the last voicemail.

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