Page 144 of Messy Strokes (Wrecked Roommates)

“Okay?” Cupping my neck with his calloused hand, he rubs his thumb back and forth across my jaw. “What is it?”

“I kept telling myself to wait for a good time, but I’m not sure thereisa good time, and carrying this around? I can’t keep doing it, Milo,” I ramble. “I can’t keep shoving this secret down.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s about Marty.”

“I told you. I don’t need to know the details.”

“I think you do.”

He pauses, the same pinch between his brows deepening.

“What is it?” he orders.

“It’s about Penny. She’s… I don’t know if she’s…” The words catch in my throat, but the realization dawns on Milo regardless, his hand slipping from my neck and falling to his side.

Pained.

Tortured.

Broken.

I bite my lip to keep it from trembling. “Let me explain––”

A scuff near the hallway’s entrance cuts me off, and we both turn toward it, though I can barely see around Milo’s massive frame still pinning me against the wall.

But I see him.

Marty.

With a shit-eating grin turning my stomach to knots, he saunters closer. “Am I interrupting something?”

Shit.

37

Maddie

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, my panic reaching a fever-pitch as I wiggle away from Milo and pin myself between the man I love most and the asshole I hate with every fiber of my being.

“You weren’t answering my texts,” Marty explains. “So, I figured I’d bring the surprise to you.”

“You need to leave.”

“I wouldn’t be here if you’d shown up like I told you.”

“Shown up where?” Milo growls behind me, tugging at the collar of his shirt as if he’s suffocating the same way I am.

“Don’t you know?” Marty’s tone drips with condescension. “She was supposed to introduce Penny to her grandfather tonight.”

“You’re twisting the situation,” I spit, turning back to Milo, my gaze pleading with his. “It’s not what you think.”

“So, what is it?” His voice is cold. Lifeless. His dress shirt is now unbuttoned at the top, and he’s running his fingers through his hair. But his eyes gut me.

The disbelief.

The betrayal.

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