Page 28 of Mad As Hell

“Shit. Are you sure? That’s setting this whole thing in motion, Ry. There’s no going back,” he warned me. “When I said to handle it, I didn’t mean like that.”

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure.”

“She’s worth it?”

I pressed my lips together. “She’s worth everything.”

His lips pulled back in a slow smirk. “It’s about fucking time you pulled your head out of your ass. Go get your girl, man.”

I snorted and turned away to do just that.

CHAPTER 8

MADDIE

I didn’t actually break down until I made it to my room and was in the shower. I stepped under the spray, still fully clothed, and tried to wash the gunk down the drain as best as I could before stripping and dropping my ruined clothes in a corner of the shower stall.

They were going in the trash; I wasn’t going to even bother getting them cleaned.

I stood in the shower for as long as possible, already having decided that I was giving myself a pass for morning classes. If Gary had a problem with it… I would deal with that later.

Right now, I needed to get my head on straight.

It’s not like I was a stranger to bullying. Being an awkward preteen with a junkie mom hadn’t exactly curried favor with my Michigan classmates. I was used to the name calling, the jeers, and even being pushed around. In the past I’d kept my head down and focused on moving through the day until the bullies found a more reactive person to torment.

Somehow I didn’t think that approach would work at Pacific Cross. I had a feeling that if I tried to ignore Brylee, she would only take it as a challenge and up her antics. The kids here had been taught torment and hell in a master class. I was just now starting to realize that I’d been in the remedial version my whole life.

I twisted the shower knob to off and reached for one of my ridiculously soft towels to start drying off. I went through the motions on autopilot, letting my mind go blank as I re-dressed and then toweling my wet hair.

Maybe I could trick myself into being an emotionless void so whatever they had planned next wouldn’t hurt as much.

I jumped as someone knocked on my door.

It was probably Bex. She’d been texting me nonstop since I’d run from the dining hall. I’d ignored all the notifications as she blew up my phone.

Sighing, I crossed to the door and jerked it open. “I’m fine, Bex.”

My breath caught as ice blue eyes stared back at me.

“Ryan.” My heart tumbled into a chaotic rhythm as I drank him in. I hated that even now I still wanted to throw my arms around his broad shoulders and bury my face against the firm muscles of his chest.

The tears I thought had dried up threatened to spill over, and I barely managed to blink them back. “Go away.”

Ryan’s hand flew out and slapped against the wood as I started to close the door on his beautiful, somber face. “Can we talk?”

I yanked the door open a couple of inches and wedged my body into the small opening. It was pointless. We both knew he could be inside this room in seconds if he wanted to. The thick, defined muscles he was barely hiding under his casual t-shirt and jeans weren’t just for show. The fact that he was actually pausing and asking for permission instead of storming in showed just how far we had come.

Or how far we’d fallen.

“No,” I said stubbornly, my pride refusing to let me give an inch. It might have been a few weeks, but the pain and humiliation of that night was fresh and raw. An exposed wound that was still festering and bleeding.

His blue eyes softened, the gentle expression on his face almost undoing my resolve. “Maddie.”

I flinched away from the door, physically jolting at my name. “Don’t.”

He leaned slightly into the open space I’d created, the warm, almost hypnotic, notes of his cologne mixed with a fresh scent that was completely Ryan making me dizzy. “Mads. Let me explain.”

I stared at him mulishly, forcing myself to remember how he’d humiliated me. How he’d destroyed me. Just when I thought I’d figured things out, Ryan Cain had gone and ruined me in ways I’d never expected.

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