Page 63 of Mad As Hell

She whirled and stormed out of the front door, slamming it for good measure.

I flinched at the sound as the blood in my temples seemed to pulse. Rubbing my forehead absently, I looked over and saw Linc wandering into the hallway, shirtless and eating a pancake with one hand.

“What’d I miss?” he asked.

“Fucking nothing,” Court hissed before stomping to the front door and yanking it open.

Ryan snorted, but it sounded more like a laugh. “Where are you going?”

“To make sure Bex actually makes it back to her room without anyone giving her shit,” he replied curtly before closing the door, thankfully a lot more softly than my best friend had.

“I don’t think she wants company.” I frowned at the door, imagining Bex yelling at him when he caught up.

Linc smirked and leaned against the wall. “She won’t notice. She never has before.”

I turned and stared at him.

“He’s been doing this shit since…” He seemed to hesitate and look at Ryan before speaking in a quieter tone. “Since Madelaine really started laying into Bex and he found out about it last year. He’s kind of been her shadow around campus. He’s still pissed he missed Dean drugging her, but, to be fair, he had seen her change into her pajamas and get ready for bed that night. He didn’t know she’d showed up at the party.”

My brows shot up. “He’s been stalking her?”

“More like guarding her without her knowledge,” Ryan corrected with a grin.

“Stalking,” I reaffirmed. “She has to know.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Linc said quickly, shaking his head. “Look, Bex and Court are… complicated. He feels like he failed her twice now.”

“There’s a lot of that going around,” Ryan murmured.

My heart clenched a little, but I ignored him.

Linc rubbed the back of his neck with the hand not holding a pancake like a taco. “Court won’t hurt Bex, Maddie. I promise.”

“Oh, well, if you promise,” I said in a voice thick with sarcasm. As much as I was trying not to be bitter about that night, apparently the mental chat I’d had with my heart about letting my brain do the thinking about Ryan hadn’t immediately extended to his friends.

He sighed and shook his head while walking closer to me. “Maddie, I’m sorry. I sided with Ryan, and I should have remembered you were my friend, too. I should have given you a chance to explain.”

I nodded and let my shoulders relax a bit. “Thank you for apologizing.”

“Cool.” He flashed me a quick smile before shoving the rest of the pancake into his mouth.

“Did you even consider a plate?” I stared at him.

He finished swallowing. “For what?”

“You know what? Never mind.” I turned to Ryan. “Ready?”

He smiled at me in a way that quickened my pulse and turned my bones to jelly.

I mentally groaned at myself, because that definitely wasn’t how I was supposed to feel when a friend smiled at me.

* * *

The cafe in town that Ryan drove us to had a line curled around the brick exterior. I almost hesitated when Ryan pulled us to the front of the line, but ultimately let him do what he wanted, because it was easier than arguing about it. He pulled open the glass door with the word Monica’s engraved on it in a sweeping script.

Inside, the place was packed. People waited on benches near the hostess station, and Ryan bypassed them all to walk up to the flustered girl furiously checking a laminated floor map of the tables. She grabbed the phone that started ringing with a forced, but chipper, “Monica’s” before turning to the messy map in her hands with a frown.

“I think we might want to go somewhere else,” I murmured, kind of glad he was once again holding my hand as we navigated the crush of people.

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