Page 52 of Mad Love

Staggering back, I could only gape in horror. Her hands were pressed to his chest, and it definitely didn’t look like she was pushing him away. He had one hand wrapped around her hip and the other cupping her face as he kissed her.

“It’s fake,” I managed, desperation filling my veins. It had to be. “Some sort of photoshop shit.”

Ash shook his head. “I don’t think it is, bro.”

With a roar of rage and pain, I grabbed one of the chairs and hurled it against the wall. Chunks of plaster and drywall went flying as the chair exploded like toothpicks.

Ash was on his feet in a second. “Dude, calm down. This probably isn’t what it looks like.”

“It doesn’t look like my girl kissing another guy?” I snarled, ready to throw a fist at his face.

“Ry,” he snapped. “Think about it. Do you think Maddie is doing this because she wants to? Do you honestly think she’d fucking replace your ass?”

No.

I sucked in a deep breath, forcing myself to chill by taking deep breaths and reminding myself that Maddie wouldn’t betray me. My gut told me there was more to this, even if the photo was pretty fucking damning.

It was like the engagement party all over again, but I wasn’t ready to let history repeat itself.

Not until I talked to her and heard her side of things.

“Maddie wouldn’t do this unless Gary was forcing her.”

“I agree,” Ash said.

I met his gaze. “We need to find her before he makes her do something like actually marry this fucker.”

CHAPTER 20

MADDIE

Somehow I managed to sleep for over twelve hours. I blamed the drugs still lingering in my system. Waking up from a dream where Ryan and I were sitting on the beach in front of his house, his fingers lazily tangled with mine as I sat between his legs and he peppered kisses from my shoulder to jaw and I turned my head for a full kiss… only to open my eyes and realize I was still in hell?

Yeah. That sucked.

“Good, you’re awake,” Mom said as she burst into my room and headed for the large window to yank open the curtains. She beamed at me and clapped her hands. “Time to get ready for the day.”

I couldn’t help but stare at the bruise on her cheek. Not even makeup could hide the black and blue tones completely.

Sitting up, I considered trying to plead my case again, but ultimately swallowed down the argument. She’d made her choice, and it hadn’t been me. Hell, at this point, we probably had matching bruises.

Planting her hands on her hips, she stared down at me. “Out of bed, lazy bones. Your father has been lenient—”

I couldn’t suppress a disgusted scoff. “Right. Really patient. He waited all of, what? Twelve hours from the time he had my marriage dissolved to whore me out to someone else?”

“That’s enough, Madelaine,” she snapped.

I reared back, eyes wide. “What did you just call me?”

Her chin lifted a haughty notch. “Your father and I discussed it, and we think it’s time you accepted that you are Madelaine.”

My fingers curled around the soft comforter. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“No, we aren’t,” she stated. “It’s who you are. It’s who you agreed to be. And there will be less confusion or chances of slipping up if we all get used to the change now.”

“Changing my name won’t change who I am,” I ground out. “It won’t change the fact that Gary is a murderer and you’re a junkie.”

She crossed the room and slapped me across the face. “Shut up. I’m not sure why you’re so damn determined to make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

---