The number seventy-nine was for obvious reasons.
And the other number... twenty-nine... well, see, I had wanted to support Madalyn tonight too.
Therefore, I told her to pick a number.
She had.
And when she shared with me why she had picked that number, I felt my heart squeeze.
How in the hell their mother had managed to walk away from the two of them was beyond me.
However, I digress.
Tonight, I wasn’t going to get upset about something that I had no control over.
Therefore, allow me to enlighten you on the meaning behind the number, twenty-nine.
Apparently, before Bronson had made it big in the UFL and before the underground fights he had partaken in, I knewabout them because Cole had told me that Bronson had played football.
And twenty-nine had been his number years ago.
Once I was in my car, I started it up and headed to the high school.
Just then, the music that had been playing stopped, and my ringtone blared through the speakers.
I checked the caller and smiled when I saw Madz’s name.
I hit the little button on my steering wheel that had the receiver part of the phone on it and said, “Hey there, sweetheart.”
“Lila?” Her voice came through the speakers with a tremble in it.
I felt my back lock straight, then I hurriedly asked, “What is it?”
She was silent for a beat, then she said, “She’s here.”
I frowned.
She who?
Who in the world had Madalyn this upset?
And before I could open my mouth to ask her who was there, I knew.
I just knew.
I growled.
That. Fucking. Bitch.
In all the time that I had gotten to know Cole and Madalyn, I knew for a fact that their mother hadn’t called them. Not freaking once.
And it’s been months. Months!
But... my feelings about her didn’t matter.
No.
What mattered were Cole and Madalyn.
