“And you? Any siblings?”
“No. But Lucca, Enzo, and Gabe and I grew up together and were kind of raised like brothers.”
“Oh, that must be nice, and you guys are all the same age or close to it.” She didn’t even know how old he was. “My brother and I are ten years apart. So we haven’t been close up until his cancer diagnosis.”
“Yeah. Breast cancer, that must be hard.”
“Wait, how did you know?” She didn’t remember telling him, it was something she kept private because that’s what Henry wanted. Breast cancer was still considered a woman’s disease. She wished Henry wasn’t embarrassed by it and was an activist for it, using his platform of former pro baller to help other men get tested.
Dante’s face looked like a deer in the headlights. “Didn’t you tell me?”
“No.”
“I guess I just assumed because of his mother’s diagnosis.”
Madison didn’t believe him. Not that she didn’t think Dante was progressive, but many people didn’t know men could get breast cancer too. She didn’t know why he would have come to that conclusion unless he knew more than what she was telling him. He hadn’t seemed shocked with regards to anything that she had said.
“Did you have me investigated?”
The confirmation was on his face.
“I can’t believe you.” She pushed back from the table. “Why would you do that? What did you find out?”
“I wanted to know more.”
She stood up. “You could’ve asked.”
“This was right after we slept together. Enzo had told me you needed money bad, and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to scam me to get money if you were pregnant.”
That kind of made sense. She remembered when he came to her place, he had said he needed to protect himself, but she still had the air of being violated. How much did he know?
“I’m sorry, I know it was wrong and I should have told you once we were sleeping together on a more regular basis.”
“Is that why you made the exclusivity clause?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you think I was sleeping with someone else? I was a virgin when we slept together.” Madison walked away from the table. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to hit him, cry, leave, or do all three.
“I know, but I didn’t know you, and I had to be sure I knew what I was up against.”
What had he found out? But she didn’t want to discuss it anymore. It was already ruining what had been a pleasant day.
She knew they wouldn’t be together for much longer, so there was no point making a bigger deal out of it than they already had.
Dante stood and reached for her hand. “Can we start over?” He looked like he was repentant, and she was willing to move past it.
“You’re right, breast cancer is hard. He needs a kidney, and I’m a match so I’m going to give it to him once he is stable enough to go through the surgery.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? It’s a big deal to give an organ.”
“Of course I’m sure. I looked at all the options, and it’s what is best.”
“He must be lucky to have you.”
Madison didn’t think so. She could always be doing more than what she was doing. She agonized over never doing enough.
What about you and your cousins, are you all close in age?”
