He watches me, concern flitting across his features as I struggle to dress in the confined space.
“Amelia, stop.Let’s talk about it.”
I pull my shirt over my head, not bothering with my bra, just stuffing it into my pocket.“The last thing I want to do right now is talk to you.Just take me home.Please.”
Maddox sighs but tucks himself away, zipping up his jeans.He starts the engine without a word, but I can feel his eyes on me as I finish dressing.
“Where is home?”he finally asks.
The question feels like a sucker punch to the gut because home was supposed to be wherever he was.
“Rose Bluff Apartments on Willow Street,” I whisper.
The truck moves through the night, silence heavy between us.When he finally pulls up to my building, I reach for the door handle immediately, desperate to escape.
“Amelia, wait.”His hand lands on my arm.“We should talk about what happened.”
I stare at his fingers on my skin.“What happened was a mistake.”
“No.”The word comes out firm, almost angry.“Don’t do that.Don’t dismiss this.”
Anger rolls through me.
“Dismiss what, Maddox?”I turn to face him.“A quick fuck in your truck?That’s all this was.”I thought having sex with him would make me feel powerful, that it would be liberating after everything.But I guess the joke is on me…again.
His eyes darken.“That’s bullshit and you know it.What happened tonight was anything but a mistake.It was long overdue, and I don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen.”
“That’s just the sex talking,” I sneer.
“The fuck it is.”He pushes his fingers roughly through his hair.“You’re in my veins, Amelia.You always have been.Since the day I first laid eyes on you.”
Tears well in my eyes and I shake my head.“Don’t you dare say that to me.”
“It’s true, and I’m tired of acting as if it’s not,” he says, his voice growing louder.“I told myself I wasn’t good enough, and maybe I’m not, but I want a chance to be good enough.”
Something snaps inside me.The anger I’ve suppressed for years bubbles to the surface.“Shut up.Just shut the fuck up.It’s taken years for me to put myself back together.I won’t let you ruin my progress with your lies.So we fucked.Big deal.We can finally say we got it out of our systems.”
His face pales.“That’s not fair?—”
“Fair?You want to talk about fair?”My voice rises.“I ended up with Russell because he found me heartbroken in a field after you abandoned me.He said all the right things.He made me believe that another man could want me even if you didn’t.You broke me, and he stomped on the pieces you left behind.”
“Amelia—”
“No.I was just the girl you fooled around with for a summer.Shame on me for thinking it was more than that, and shame on me for falling in love with you.But I’m not that same girl anymore, Maddox.I’m someone’s mother.I needed to get laid, and you were there.That’s all this was.Now, it shouldn’t be hard for you to walk away.You did it once.I have faith you can do it again.”I yank the door open.“It’s what you’re good at.”
I climb out and slam the door with all my strength, the sound echoing in the quiet street.I don’t look back as I stride toward my building, though I can feel his eyes boring into my back.
Branding me just like his hands did when he fucked me.
ChapterTen
Maddox
Iwake up with the taste of Amelia still on my tongue and the ghost of her touch haunting my skin.I don’t know what the fuck came over me last night, but when I saw her standing in the middle of the street, I knew I was done avoiding her.I didn’t expect things would go the way that they did, though.Fucking her in my truck felt cheap, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever get another chance, and it seems I was right about that.
By noon, I’ve convinced myself I need to see her again.Not because I’m weak—though God knows I am when it comes to her—but because I can’t leave things the way they are.Too many years have passed, and misunderstandings and lies have filled every one of them.
I grab my toolbox from the shed and load it into my truck.The mechanical bull at Rodeo Roundup needs fixing, and I need an excuse to see her, one that is viable and won’t have her throwing me out on my ass.
