“How long?” My voice shook. Logan wasfour. How long was the affair?
Wendi sucked in a breath and exchanged a glance with my ex. It told me enough. Half my marriage? More? Did it matter?
“We should go.” She spun so fast her blond hair flew up. Damien gathered Logan in his arms and rushed out the door, Wendi hot on his heels.
The bar was quiet around me. Blood rushed between my ears and my heart rate crept higher. The wound I’d thought was healed ripped right open, only this time I hurt for my brother. For his loss. For the anguish he must’ve been in.
Teller faced me, cupping my face with a big, warm hand. “Madison, I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve any of this.”
I knew I didn’t, but hearing someone else say it was more than I would’ve asked for before the night of the auction. “I didn’t. Neither did Scott.”
God, had he known. If he learned the truth, he would’ve lost his mind— Oh. My. God.
My mouth dropped open. “The night of the accident. He knew.”
Shock filled Teller’s dark gaze before fury darkened his irises. “Goddammit.”
I needed answers. That was the least our shitty exes owed me. I pulled away from Teller’s comforting touch and slammed out the front door. He stayed on my heels, not leaving me to handle this alone.
Riley was on the sidewalk, hovering by an empty storefront two doors down with a For Sale sign. She’d have to get her sugar daddy to foot the bill since she’d lost the bid for Teller.
Her gaze widened when she saw me, and she waved Logan over. “Come on in. I have some cookies for you.”
To make my fresh wounds burn more, he went right to her and they disappeared inside the empty store. Damien and Wendi stood guard, a united front against me, like I planned to run in and tackle Riley and spirit Logan away or something.
“That’s why he snapped.” I marched closer. “Scott found out.”
The guilt that flashed through Wendi’s eyes recounted the whole story. I could see it playing out. The stools smashed into the mirror. The pool cue shards. The hammer against the booths. The shattered light fixtures. Scott had been angry, and he’d been so damn hurt.
Damien propped his hands on his hips. “Madison. You need to c?—”
“If you tell her to calm down,” Teller growled, menace dripping from each word, “you’re going to find out what I’m like when I’m very much not calm.”
Damien snapped his mouth shut.
Teller stabbed his finger at them. “You two have been lying and using Maddy and her brother for years. You can answer a simple question.”
Damien’s gaze turned hostile. “You know nothing about?—”
“You coerced her to quit school to support you.” People were stopping to listen to Teller’s voice carry across the sidewalk. “You manipulated her into working three jobs to pay for your law degree and then left her with half your debt in the divorce like a goddamn weasel.” His livid gaze bounced back and forth between then. “You each cheated on us. You both financially screwed Madison over, and you still had the audacity to keep the lie going to try and cheat her out of more money. You both are pathetic.”
When we’d been married, I’d have never talked to him that way. Turned out I didn’t have to now. Teller had my back.
“We’re not the pathetic ones,” Wendi sneered, her flinty gaze pinning me “Look at you. Charging out on the street acting like your mom.”
I laughed, bold and obnoxious. “My mom never lied about how she felt about people. You let Scott think he was Logan’s dad as long as it suited you.” Wendi’s eyes went wide and her gaze jumped around. There were plenty of onlookers. Maybe someone was even recording. I had zero fucks to give. “When did you tell him that Logan wasn’t his? When you got mad he was using the bar’s money to care for our mother? Would you have rather he put an old woman out on the street so you could, what? Take another trip to Cancun? Fund Damien’s golf trips?” I lifted my gaze to Damien. “Nice tan, asshole.”
“You’re nothing but Mad Maddy and you always will be,” Wendi shot back.
Tingles spread over my body, bringing warmth where cold rage touched.
Teller slid his arm around my waist. “She’s my Mad Maddy, and she’s fucking perfect.”
I liked that nickname now, dammit.
“I can’t believe this,” Wendi spat out. She crossed her arms. “You two? Tell me, Madison. Are you ready to work your entire life and career around him? Around his family that will always be more important than you?” She stabbed a finger in my direction. “You’ll never be his priority. People wondered why I left him for Scott. For all his faults, at least Scott had ambition. Until he moved me back to this godforsaken town to run that dive bar. I wasn’t going to get dragged back to Bourbon Canyon to...” She lifted her dainty chin. “To become just another bitter Townsend.”
I sucked in a breath. I didn’t feel like a bitter Townsend. I felt like I deserved retribution. After finding out how long I was manipulated, how narrow my life had been because of them, I wanted to explode out of my skin and float away. Teller was anchoring me, his strong arm banded around me, but her words burrowed under my skin.
