Page 107 of Mad Love

This was bad. So bad.

Madelaine had mostly been guessing, but she hadn’t been too far off in her suspicions. My twin had missed her calling as a PI, because the history of shit she’d unearthed in her seventeen years was amazing.

“What’s going on?” Chase asked, standing wide-eyed in front of the sink filling a pot with water.

“Where is he?” Bex growled, sounding like a feral kitten.

Court, I mouthed behind her back.

Chase pointed at the mudroom that led to the garage. “Pretty sure they’re all out there.”

Bex took off without any further encouragement.

“What the hell?” Chase stared at me.

I shook my head as Tyler emerged from the dining room and asked, “Is she good?”

“Not even close,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair and following my best friend.

Sure enough, the guys were crowded around a table, deep in thought, until Bex yelled for Court again. Court’s head snapped up, concern filling his eyes as he left our friends and came to Bex, meeting her in the middle of an open bay.

“What’s wrong?” His hands reached for her arms, like he needed to touch her to make sure she was all right and unharmed.

Bex knocked his hands away and shoved him back a step. “I want the truth, and I want it right the fuck now.”

Court looked at me, confused, before turning back to the spitfire. “Okay. Maybe it would help if I knew the question, though.”

“Why did you stop being friends with me?” Bex demanded, her tiny hands squeezing into fists at her sides.

Court’s expression went from worried to stony in seconds. “I told you. I was an asshole. I was starting middle school and thought I didn’t want you tagging along anymore. We grew up, and I—”

Bex’s hand cracked across his face so fast I thought I was seeing things. But the sharp slap echoed off the concrete floors and made everyone turn to stare.

“Bex,” I whispered, stepping forward.

To her credit, Bex staggered back, staring at her hand like it had been possessed. “I didn’t mean… Oh, my God. I hit you.”

Court rubbed his jaw, his cheek red. “Yeah, you did.”

“I’m sorry.” Bex shook her head, trembling from head to toe. “I don’t know why I did that. I’ve never hit anyone in my life and—”

“It’s fine,” Court told her with a heavy sigh.

“No, it’s not, but I can’t…” She pulled on the ends of her hair. “Why are you lying to me? Just tell me the truth for fucking once! Do you even know how to do that?”

“I told you—”

“Liar!” She screamed the accusation at him with enough force that he stepped back.

Breaking away from the group, Linc tried approaching her from the other side. “Bex, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that I thought I was going crazy for years,” Bex hissed. “Did you know I had to see a therapist? That I still sometimes have to take anxiety medication for something I thought was a dream?”

Court’s eyes went wide. “What?”

Bex shook her head. “I had night terrors. Everyone told me it was a side effect of the chemo. That it was normal to have anxiety after having cancer. But that didn’t explain the dreams and why, when I woke up, I was always screaming for you.” She glared at Court, who looked more than a little helpless.

“Becca,” he whispered, looking gutted. “I didn’t… Shit, I didn’t know that.”

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