“It’s… Ah, what was your name…” Adam glances at the ground as though he’s trying to remember Maddox’s name. Fucking asshole. I know he’s being a dick. He knows precisely who Maddox is. He knows his name because he searched my phone for it that night. Searched my fucking socials for any trace of a message from him.
Adam takes a singular step forward as he looks up at Maddox. I can see the vein in Maddox’s neck straining as he remains rigid.
I swear he isn’t breathing.
“It’s Maddox, isn’t it?” Adam taunts. “Maddox… Ah, what was the last name?”
Maddox’s shadow fully engulfs Adam as he rounds over him, daggers in his eyes. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut your fucking mouth.”
Adam grins. “Threatening me isn’t exactly the way to continue keeping your identity secret, is it?” he says. “One little call… how do you think your fans will react when they find out the kind of person you really are? WhoDaddywas?”
Maddox lunges.
A yelp leaves me. Reed grabs my arm as I slap my hand over my mouth, his entire body jerking forward to stop Maddox from doing something rash—
Maddox is utterly still.
He’s frozen a whisper from Adam’s figure, body stilled mid-swing. His fist is curled, elbow bent.
I’ve never seen his face as dark and deathly as it is now. I don’t know how he’s controlling himself, how the very mention of his father and Adam’s threat didn’t send Maddox hurdling the jerk into the wall and beating him until long after he begged him to stop.
Yet, somehow, Maddox remains steady.
“Mads,” Reed manages, and I’m aware that the look in Maddox’s eyes has him on edge, too. He doesn’t want to see Maddox fall into Adam’s trap.
“Mads,” I repeat, though my voice is sticky.
“He isn’t worth it,” Reed adds. “He’s just trying to get a rise out of you.”
Adam sneers at Reed’s claim, though his stare doesn’t move from Maddox. “Go ahead. You’ll be proving my point.”
I can see Maddox’s jaw trembling at the weight of his pressed teeth, see the blackout in his gaze as if Adam had triggered a part of himself that he’d tried to bury.
“Mads,” I try again.
Because I know Adam.
I know he’s riling inside at this display, probably feeling pure satisfaction at Maddox’s reaction and thinking of all the ways he can use this to his advantage.
Maddox finally relaxes his arm.
I don’t take a breath. Not yet. Not as Maddox presses his hands to the lapels of Adam’s sports coat and straightens them tauntingly, and definitely not as Maddox picks a piece of lint off Adam’s shoulder.
“Come anywhere near my family again, and I won’t fucking stop,” Maddox practically growls in a voice so hoarse and low that aside from Adam, only Reed and I hear it.
Maddox takes one step back and with good timing.
“Hey, there he is!”
The DJ approaches with a broad smile, his words cutting the tense air. He pushes his arm around Adam’s shoulders, clearly having no idea what’s transpired, and smiles between Maddox and Reed.
“I was wondering where this guy was,” he continues. “I wanted you to meet him before you left. This is Adam. We’re trying to convince him you guys won’t be inciting any riots during your concerts this weekend.”
And it visibly dawns on Reed and Maddox as they realize what’s happening.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Reed says.
Though Reed’s words don’t draw me out of the daze.
