Page 60 of Sweet Addiction

Before I can open my mouth to calm the situation down, the sound of feet on the tiles drags my attention away from Peter to my dove who is rushing toward us. All the air leaves my lungs at the sight of her. She is so damn beautiful it hurts. “Dad. Stop,” she shrieks.

“No. I won’t have him upsetting you further,” Peter grits.

“It’s fine Dad. I promise. I want to talk to him,” Madison says softly, stepping between us.

“Peter. Come on, be reasonable. Madi is old enough to make her own decisions. Let her talk to him,” Vanessa adds, tugging at his arm.

Peter’s gaze moves between us all, finally landing on me with a scowl. He points a finger. “You have thirty minutes. If at any point you upset her, you are out of here.” He pins me with one last look before grabbing his wife’s hand and walking away.

Dove watches them disappear, then those beautiful green, emerald orbs shift to me, and everything clicks into place. I’m home. “We can talk in the lounge.” She starts in that direction, me hot on her heels.

Taking a seat, my dove makes sure to put space between us. She doesn’t look at me, instead choosing to pick imaginary lint off her sweater. “Go on then. Say whatever it is you came here for.”

Taking a deep breath, I begin, “I’m sorry.” Her face screws up in confusion but I carry on. “For the article your mother did. For her lies. For not showing you how much I love you. Because I do. I love you more than life itself. I meant every word I said in that room. I know you probably didn’t want me to go public, but I wanted to show you how serious I am about us. I wanted them to know the truth about Scarlett and me. That you are mine.” I blow out a breath, scrubbing a palm down my face. “It was the only way Dove. I had to be honest. About everything. I couldn’t have them thinking you were some homewrecker that went after her mother’s fiancé. Eventually it would have come out because there is no way I am hiding you or letting you go. You are mine baby. And though I am sorry that it brought you unwanted attention, people will eventually get bored with it and move on to something else.” Her eyes glisten with tears, lips trembling. Pushing to a stand, I close the distance between us, dropping down to my knees in front of her. Taking her hands in mine, I close my eyes when I feel her warmth, feel the electricity that flows between us. I never stood a chance of staying away from her. From the moment I set eyes on her, I knew I would have her. “I love you Dove. More than anything. I will never apologize or feel guilty for that. We were written in the stars, meant to be. I will spend a lifetime showing you what you mean to me. Every second of every day, you will know how much I love you. Because I do. You are my queen. The missing piece of my puzzle. The other half of my heart and soul. You are everything Dove. Everything,” I whisper the last words.

She squeezes her eyes closed before they pop open. “I love you too. But what about Mom?” she chokes out.

Climbing to my feet, I drop down beside her, pulling her onto my lap. Pressing a kiss to her head, I say, “She will come around baby. What has happened is for the best even if she doesn’t see it like that.”

She stares at me for a long beat. “She hates me.”

“She doesn’t. She is angry right now. Everything will work out just as it’s supposed to. It might take time, but it will.” She sighs, melting into me and without another word, I capture her lips with mine. Claiming her. Owning her. Loving her.

I will never let anything, or anyone come between us.

Not even her.

Through the hurt, pain, secrets and lies, we were meant to be.

And now that I have her. I will never let her go.

EPILOGUE ONE

Madison

Two months later…

Walking down the hall of Westview, I ignore the looks and whispers aimed my way. Though annoying, it’s to be expected. After all, I am the girl who “stole her mother’s fiancé” as I have been deemed in the media. No matter what Knox said in that press conference and even after my mother released her own statement, corroborating his story, there are still some magazines that have labeled me the other woman.

After the news broke, Mom called me. She shouted and screamed that I had ruined her life. I told her to call me when she calmed down and promptly hung up. I was finally standing up for myself, putting boundaries in place. It felt good. When she did call me back, we had a real talk and are now in mother/daughter therapy. It’s a work in progress but has helped us both in ways I never thought would be possible. Mom has finally started seeing me as a daughter and not a cash cow or object that she can mold into whatever she wants.

Though she knew about my internship and college acceptance to NYU, I did sit down with her and talk through it. I could see that she was angry; she even shouted about me wanting to be like Vanessa. Once I reminded her of what our therapist had discussed, she took a breath and listened to me. I won’t say that she is one hundred percent happy, but she has accepted my decisions. I call that growth.

Although our reality show was canceled, Mom was ecstatic when her agent managed to get her another deal. The Scarlett Grisham Show is now in the works and will follow my mother on her journey through therapy, pregnancy, motherhood and her relationship with Michael Hallihan. Yes. They are now a couple. Though, I don’t think she will ever stop loving my father, the love that shines in her eyes every time she looks at Michael is unmistakable. For the first time since Peter Devereux, her relationship is not for publicity or to further her career, Mom is genuinely in love and it’s nice to witness. No matter what has happened between us, she deserves to be happy.

“You would have thought their interest in you would have waned by now,” Kenzie huffs from beside me.

I glance at her, ignoring the looks of interest from my fellow students. “You know how people live for gossip. To them, I am the queen bee who cheated on their beloved quarterback with a teacher. I refuse to keep trying to convince them that it’s not the case. I don’t owe them anything. If there is one thing that I have learned through all this, it’s that people will believe what they want to,” I say, coming to a stop at my locker.

Kenzie sighs. “You’re right. It doesn’t help that Talan is fueling the fire.” She glances over my shoulder. “I think he likes the sympathy too much to tell the truth.”

Following her line of sight, my eyes land on Talan who is already glaring at me. Since the story broke, I was shunned. People I thought were friends abandoned me. The only one who stuck by my side is Kenzie and now we are outsiders. I shake my head. He knows the truth. Knows our relationship wasn’t real. But Kenzie is right. He likes the attention he is getting by playing the victim. If they only knew how many girls Talan slept with during the time we were “together”. “If that’s how he wants to play it then that’s on him. I know what’s true and that’s all that matters.”

“Yeah, you do. I bet it also helps that you get to go home and screw that fine man every night.” She laughs, linking her arm with mine.

“It doesn’t hurt.” I chuckle as we stride down the hall, remembering how she is right. I do get to do that.

When we came back to LA, Knox insisted that I move into his home. It was non-negotiable on his part. He wanted me with him all the time and because of my rocky relationship with Mom, I jumped at the chance.

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