Page 87 of Broken Player

"Um. Your mom?" I answered as if it should be obvious.

He scowled at me. "You know what I meant."

"I know." I ran my hand through his hair.

"So?"

"When you were in the shower this morning, that came. A guy rang the doorbell and delivered it to me."

"And you opened it?" he asked, his voice on edge.

I nodded. "And I'm not sorry I did. You feel like you have to handle all of this on your own, but you don't. I'm strong enough to stand by your side and help. I'm not some helpless girl anymore, Maddox."

He deflated a little. "I know you're not. I love your strength. I love how you challenge me, how you're my equal. But you shouldn't have to deal with this alone, either."

"I wasn't alone. I took Connor. We verified Yates sent that before I decided to get a little payback. I know it wasn't much, but I needed to do it," I explained.

"Do what exactly?" He watched me carefully, but his grip tightened around my waist, and I leaned against him, suddenly exhausted from this entire day and wanting nothing more than for him to carry me to bed.

"Beat the hell out of Yates," I blurted like it was no big deal.

His eyebrows shot up, and a slow smile stretched across his face. "You beat him up?"

I nodded. "Kneed him in the balls, too."

"That's my girl," Maddox laughed. "I think you deserve a reward." He stood, carrying me with him, the picture of his mother and brother fluttering to the floor, already forgotten.

"You're not mad?"

"I'm only mad I didn't get to witness you being such a badass. I bet it was sexy as hell." He kicked the bedroom door open and threw me down onto the bed. I squealed as I bounced in the air before he crawled over me. "And now I'm going to show youexactlyhow much I worship the ground you walk on."

I lifted the steaming mug of coffee to my mouth, slurping the bitter liquid so it wouldn’t burn my tongue. Ryan left a few minutes ago, and now I was sitting in the quiet of my kitchen, figuring out what to do about Yates fucking with my family.

I had to hand it to the douchebag. He’d taken shit further than I ever thought he would. He seemed like the kind of guy who backed down when threatened, who ran home to daddy sniveling about life beingunfair.But he surprised me when he found Russell, and when Ryan handed over the picture of my mom and brother last night? I was fucking floored.

So many emotions spiraled through me. I was fucking pissed, worried, and I didn’t know what to do about my mom and brother. Russell could fuck off as far as I was concerned. There was absolutely nothing I wanted from him. But did I want something from them?

My front door opened and closed, whoever it was not bothering to knock. I glanced away from the wall I was staring at to catch Connor striding across my house. “I heard you and my girl got into some shit last night,” I prodded without so much as a fucking hello. I was still pissed at him for not, at the very least, giving me a heads up.

“Your girl is a complete badass,” he said as he pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. “See for yourself.” He pulledhis phone out of his pocket and tapped a few times before sliding it across the table to me.

Picking it up, I hit play and watched as Ryan beat the absolute fuck out of Yates. My chest swelled with pride every time her knuckles connected with his face. But when he pulled her hair and punched her in the face, I clenched my jaw so hard I thought I heard a tooth crack. “He hit her?” I asked, my voice deadly calm, but the murderous rage was simmering inside of me. He fucking put his hands on her, and I wanted him dead.

“Yeah, but keep watching.” Connor nodded back at the phone gripped tightly in my hand.

Ryan proved time and time again she could defend herself. “Wow.” I slid his phone back and shifted in my seat, trying to hide the sudden hard-on I was sporting because Ryan pummelling Yates was hot as fuck once the anger subsided a little.

I still wanted the motherfucker to disappear in a shallow grave somewhere in the fucking expanse of north Texas. My mind wandered to all the ways I could make it happen.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. She’s got a bigger set of balls on her than a lot of men I’ve met. And that was all her idea. She was mad as hell when she saw how exactly Yates was coming after you. She had this fire lit in her eyes, and I’m sure you’re not exactly thrilled that I didn’t stop her from going after him alone, but she’d made up her mind. No one was going to stop her from doing this. The best I could do was go along and make sure she didn’t get hurt.”

My shoulders deflated a little. “Thanks for that,” I mumbled, taking another sip of my now lukewarm coffee.

“I’ve got good news.” Connor stood from the chair and grabbed a mug from the cupboard, pouring himself some coffee.

“Better good news than Yates getting his ass beat by my sexy as fuck girlfriend?” I wondered with a smirk.

He nodded before sitting back down across from me. “Sebastian made the offer yesterday, and this morning he got the notice that Yates accepted it. Since you just went straight up cash, as soon as it clears escrow, the place is all yours.”

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