And everything stops.
"RIO WILDER'S FIANCÉE CAUGHT CANOODLING WITH HIGH-ROLLING EX. TROUBLE IN PARADISE?"
I click the link, my thumb hovering over the screen.
A full-color picture of Maddie,my Maddie, pressed up against some slick douchebag in an expensive charcoal suit. His arms wrapped around her in a bear hug.
Maddie’s face is buried in his neck. The article says his name is Joseph, her ex-fiancé. And he's some bigshot finance guy.
My stomach lurches like I might puke.
Prince Michael calls me on it. “Rio? Are you listening?”
For a moment, I feel like shoving the phone in his face so he can read the story for himself. But I can’t move.
The reasonable part of my brain tries to calm myself down."Chill, man. Photos lie. Let Maddie explain."
But the rest of me? The part that opened up to her last night?The part that tucked her into bed?
That part is seeing red.
I trusted her. I told her I was broken. And this is the thanks I get?
Running to her ex-fiancé the second I turn my back? What’s he doing in Vegas, anyway? Did she bring him with her?! I look up from my screen.
"You don't have to tell me how important the concert is, Prince Michael," I snap, cutting him off mid-sentence. Now get off my back."
Prince Michael throws up his hands and walks off stage.
I look up—and there they are. Maddie and Keith, laughing again.
The same easy warmth. The same openness she had last night when she was writhing in my arms, begging for my touch.
It hits twice as hard now that the tabloid poison is running through my veins.
I jump down from the stage and see Stella supervising the hotel crew refreshing our break table.
We hadn’t fully recognized one another until Prince Michael introduced us yesterday as the hotel’s special events concierge.
It must have been two years since we’d seen one another last.
Today she’s wearing a form-fitting black suit. But I still remember her naked curves from back in the day.
I wonder if she still has that tiny butterfly on her sweet ass.
I wondered the thing when we grabbed a quick drink at the bar for old time’s sake. But I didn’t allow myself to take things any further than that.
Today, aftr seeing that tabloid photo, it’s a whole new story.
“Rio, my favorite rockstar,” she says, breaking away from her crew to smile up at me. “I loaded up the snack table with those Cracker Jacks boxes you wanted.”
Then she catches the expression on my face. “Rough day, huh?”
"Brutal."
Stella glancesover at Maddie. "I saw that tabloid story, Rio. Don't let that shake you. She wasn't even your fiancée for real."
I open my mouth to explain that Maddie had been more than that. But Stella wouldn't understand.
