Page 90 of Mad As Hell

I couldn’t miss the double meaning. To the world, Adam had sealed his fate when he got behind the wheel drunk, or whatever excuse they were giving this.

But Adam had chosen to hurt me, and in Ryan’s mind, that had sealed his fate, too.

I looked back at the TV. The news had moved on to a segment about adopting puppies. A bulldog was chewing on the visibly annoyed anchor’s fingers while he emphatically told everyone how sweet the pup was.

“Maddie?” Ryan prompted. He gave me a pointed look, still waiting for my response.

This was it. The moment I would look back on and know everything had changed. When I was either all in, or I would forever linger on the fringes.

I’d always known what Ryan was capable of, hadn’t I? He wasn’t a guy who was all talk and no action.

I smiled at him genuinely, my shoulders relaxing as I leaned back in bed once more. “What time is your meeting? Maybe we have time to grab breakfast first.”

CHAPTER 25

MADDIE

It took less than a week to establish a normal, almost domestic way of living with Ryan. By Tuesday, I knew he liked to get up early to run, and I decided to go with him. After I got a little lightheaded the first time, he told me next time I could join him only if I first had one of the chocolate and peanut butter energy bars he had on hand.

The added boost of calories helped, and chocolate, was never a bad idea. I figured the run would burn off what I’d consumed. And if Gary asked, I’d tell him Ryan had insisted, which wasn’t a lie.

At night, we sat at my table and studied. Well, I studied. Missing two weeks at Pacific Cross had set me behind, and I was struggling to catch up on top of my already heavy course-load. Ryan, freaking gorgeous genius that he was, seemed to read something once and remember it verbatim. He switched to helping me study when he noticed I was frustrated.

I saw him like clockwork at lunch and dinner, and Bex always sat with us. She’d thawed toward Linc but was still stubbornly holding Court at arm’s length. Okay, maybe more like at a football field’s length. My best friend was holding tight to that grudge, and she wasn’t sharing her reasons with me.

She’d understood Ryan moving in, and she’d even given her blessing when I’d explained that Adam was the motive. Granted, Adam was dead, but neither Ryan nor I seemed to care about that point.

Gary never said anything about Adam. In fact, he hadn’t said anything to me at all. Maybe he’d had an unfortunate car accident, too.

By Friday afternoon, I was exhausted, and not just from finally getting caught up on school.

It was amazing how exhausting ignoring things could be.

Like when Ryan would brush by me and place a hand on my hip, I would ignore the shiver that rocketed down my spine. When I’d accidentally walked in on him in the shower, I’d ignored that the foggy glass didn’t hide the straining cock he was squeezing in his hand. And I was especially ignoring the tension that kept coiling tighter and tighter between us.

He hadn’t tried to kiss me again since that first morning, and I was starting to wonder if maybe I’d done something wrong. Or maybe he was waiting for me to make a move. Or maybe—

Fingers snapped in front of my face. “Hey, earth to Maddie,” Bex teased.

I blinked and refocused on Bex, who was standing in front of me. I’d completely missed whatever she’d been saying.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, ducking my head so my loose hair fell in front of my eyes like a curtain.

Bex snorted a laugh and moved to my open closet. She flipped through the racks, back to her quest to find me an outfit for the game tonight. I was used to being in my cheer uniform, not figuring out what to wear.

Instead, I was sitting on my bed while Bex picked something out for me.

“Maybe you should stay home and take a nap,” Bex suggested, pulling out a black sweater dress and then replacing it. She glanced over her shoulder and flashed me a smug grin. “I’ll tell Ryan he should’ve let you sleep last night if he wanted you to be awake and coherent for the game.”

I frowned and then sighed. “Actually? That’s what I was thinking about.”

“The sexy details of your nighttime escapades with PC’s semi-reformed bad boy?” She rolled her eyes.

“More like my chaste, PG-rated nights with a guy I’m wondering if I pushed too far away?” I spread my hands out helplessly.

Bex made a face. “Ouch. Really?”

I groaned and fell back on my bed. “I even left the door open when I took a shower this morning.” And Ryan, ever the freaking gentleman now, ignored it and kept getting ready for his morning classes.

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