Page 84 of The Wrong Bachelor

My hands dropped to my side and she moved swiftly past me. I couldn’t just let her walk off alone though. I couldn’t let her leave. I hurried to keep up with her as she stumbled through the darkness to get to the car.

“Please don’t leave like this,” I begged. “Let me explain. Or if you won’t let me explain, just wait until morning to leave. I don’t want you driving when you’re upset.”

She came to a sudden stop and turned to me. “Do you think I’m an idiot?” she asked. “Is that why you’ve been leading me on? Saying all those sweet things to me? Was this some kind of sick game to you?”

“You know that’s not true,” I replied. “I care about you so much. I would do anything for you.”

“Anything but give up your man-whoring ways, right?”

I pushed a hand through my hair, gripping the ends of it in frustration. “Nothing happened,” I said.

“And why her?” she asked, completely ignoring my response. “Of all the girls you could have picked, why did it have to be the one who is set on tormenting me?”

I didn’t like the way her lip trembled when she spoke about Laurie, and for a moment I forgot that we were even fighting. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know that she was behind the graffiti on my locker. I’m sure you were all having a great big laugh at me over that one.”

“What?” I shouted. I was suddenly torn between trying to make Madi feel better and storming back to camp to confront Laurie. I had begun to think she was a just a little misunderstood. Clearly, I was wrong. That girl was a psycho.

“I honestly had no idea she did that. I don’t want anything to do with Laurie. You’re the only person I like; why can’t you believe that?”

“Because they’re only words, Cole. And as much as I want to believe them, I can’t accept them when your actions don’t back them up. I’m done being toyed with and I’m done with this competition. I hope you and Laurie have a great time at the formal together. You two deserve each other.”

With that, she turned and continued toward the car. I started to go after her but felt a hand grab my arm. Willow was standing behind me, and Teagan jogged past me after Madi. They both had all of their belongings bundled in their arms.

“Madi, wait up!” Teagan called, chasing after her. Teagan barely looked at me as she passed. I guess she must have seen Laurie in her underwear too.

“What have you done?” Willow asked, stopping at my side.

She shook her head at me, disappointment playing in her eyes. Even my cousin thought I was a complete tool.

“I didn’t do anything,” I whispered.

Willow sighed and gave a small nod, as if there was a chance she believed me. “It doesn’t look like nothing though,” she said.

I heard panted breaths behind me and turned to see Angus running toward us, half-dressed and puffing with a camera cradled in one hand. He grinned at Willow, nodding for her to go on.

Willow frowned at him though, a disgusted look in her eyes, before she turned to follow the other two girls without looking back. As soon as she disappeared from view, I shouted into the darkness in frustration and punched the closest tree.

Unfortunately, the tree won our brief battle, and I let out another frustrated groan as I cradled my hand to my chest and sunk to the ground. My hand was throbbing in pain, but it was nothing compared to the agony in my chest.

“What happened, Cole? How are you feeling?” Angus asked, pointing his camera in my face.

“If you don’t take that thing away from me, I will break it,” I growled.

Angus must have seen how serious I was because he immediately started to back away. I closed my eyes and my head sunk down to my chest. I didn’t know how to fix this. I wasn’t sure if it was even possible to make things right with Madi again. She had no idea how much she meant to me; how much she had meant to me for all these years.

If there was one thing I knew about myself though, it was that I wasn’t a quitter and I would do everything in my power to get her back no matter what it took. I stood up and started back to camp. I was going to win Madi back; I just needed to figure out how.

22

Madison

Iwas shaking in the passenger seat of the car as Teagan drove us away from the campsite. Tears were streaming down my face, and I kept rubbing them away with the sleeve of my sweater. Dawn was approaching and the edges of the horizon were beginning to brighten, but it was still dark outside and there was nothing appealing about the thought of a new day. All I wanted was to remain in the darkness of night. It seemed safer here; more concealed from the ugly truths I had witnessed in the woods.

“I just don’t believe it,” Willow said. It was the fifth time she’d repeated the phrase, and each time she sounded just as shocked. “Cole isn’t like that.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like him,” Teagan said. She kept darting concerned looks my way. I guess she hadn’t realized just how much I liked the guy.

---