Page 85 of The Wrong Bachelor

“Seriously, are you okay, Madi?” Teagan asked.

I nodded, but it was hard to lie when my tears were giving me away.

“You know, for someone so pretty you sure are a sore sight when you cry,” Teagan said. “I knew you had to have a fault somewhere.”

I gave a small laugh. She wasn’t the first person to tell me I was an ugly crier, and she probably wouldn’t be the last. My face seemed to swell whenever I cried and everything went red. It looked more like I’d been in a fistfight.

“You should never cry. Like, ever,” Teagan added.

I uttered another laugh through my tears. I appreciated her trying to make me smile, but it didn’t seem to lessen the pain of Cole’s betrayal. I shouldn’t be so upset. We hadn’t even begun to date. I guess I just fell for him so hard and so fast, I didn’t realize how deep I’d gone.

“You really liked him, huh?” Teagan continued.

I nodded, and the pain in my heart flared up again. “I thought he liked me too,” I murmured.

Why couldn’t Cole and I have just continued trading insults like all good enemies did? Why did he have to go and make me like him? I was almost angrier with him for doing that than I was at him for fooling around with Laurie.

Teagan shook her head as she turned her gaze back onto the open road before us. “Laurie is such a nightmare.”

“Agreed,” came Willow’s response from the back seat. She moved forward and leaned on the center console. “So, are you going to stay in the competition?” she asked, looking up at me.

“No. I can’t,” I replied.

“And you shouldn’t have to,” said Teagan. “Talk to Angus. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Have you met Angus?” I asked. “He doesn’t exactly take no for an answer.”

Teagan shrugged. “Well, if he refuses you, you can tell him I quit too.”

“And me,” Willow added.

I sighed and nodded. Trying to convince Angus to let me out of the show a week before it ended was the last thing I felt like doing, but there was no way I was staying.

“He’ll understand,” Willow said. “He has too.”

I hoped she was right.

* * *

“Madi,it’s just one more week,” Angus said. “And it’s for charity.”

I was standing on his front doorstep, trying to convince him to let me leave the show. He couldn’t seem to understand why I was so desperate to quit though. His charity argument was beginning to feel really old. It was how he’d roped me into the contest in the first place, and he’d already raised more than double the amount of funds he had targeted. I wasn’t going to be guilt-tripped anymore. I was also beginning to suspect Angus cared more about the number of viewers than the money they were raising.

“To be honest Angus, this whole experience has been pretty horrible for me. You told me I would be eliminated at the first ceremony, but instead I’ve been stuck in this competition for weeks. I lost my boyfriend, I’ve had people call me names and then I had to deal with that crap Cole pulled last night. I’m done.”

“Please don’t do this,” he said. “We have thousands and thousands of people invested in the outcome. We will lose a lot of money in donations on Sunday night if people can’t vote for you.”

I lifted a hand to silence him. “This isn’t a discussion. This is a courtesy call. Like I said, I’m done.”

Angus huffed out a breath and leaned against his doorway. “Let me edit the footage to make the audience less likely to vote for you come Sunday,” he said. “Just give me one last ceremony for Cole to eliminate you."

“Does it look like I’m willing to come to one last ceremony?” I waved a hand at my face, which was still red and blotchy from crying earlier. “And why would I want you to make me look bad so people don’t vote?” I felt like I might start crying again if Angus kept pushing me.

“Please don’t cry,” he said. He actually looked fearful at the prospect. I’d heard some guys couldn’t cope with crying girls, but I’d never actually encountered one.

“Will crying get me out of the contest?”

Angus blew out another breath. “Look, I’ll try to make things work without you,” he said. “But if I can’t, I’m going to need you to be at the ceremony on Monday.”

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