It’s only once, a short laugh that sends shivers down my spine, and my stomach churns with a sickness I can’t escape.
“You think this is funny?” I ask, eyebrows pinching in both disgust and fear.
Toby shakes his head, the gun waving in his hand, and I think my heart stalls for a long, painful moment when he almost drops it.
“This isn’t funny at all, Madison. Which makes it funny, don’t you think?” he drawls, raising his eyebrows as though he expects an answer.
Shaking my head, I tell him honestly, “There’s nothing funny about this, Toby. Nothing. In fact, I’d consider this deeply embarrassing for you.”
Rayne makes the smallest sound at the back of his throat, almost like he’s fighting the urge to shake me and drag me away. I see his whole body twitch, like he’s suppressing his need to step back in front of me, and I take the tiniest step closer to Toby todistract him. I can’t bear to think what could happen if Rayne captures his attention again.
Especially when Toby’s face twists, an ugly expression crossing his features. “I loved you, Madison.”
“You cheated on me,” I remind him, shaking my head at the level of delusion this man is experiencing. “You cheated, and you’ve been stalking me ever since. That’s not love. Or if it is, it’s not a love I want to be a part of.”
“I made mistakes!” he shouts suddenly, and I actively have to fight against recoiling from the snarl on his face. “It was a lapse in judgment, and it won’t happen again. I’ve been trying to tell you that, but you just wouldn’t stop and talk to me. That’s all I wanted, Madison. I wanted a chance to say my piece, to apologize and make things right. I never meant to stalk you, but you just didn’t give me a choice.”
“You’re saying this is my fault?” I cautiously ask, carefully and vaguely gesturing to the gun he’s still pointing at me. “Toby, look at yourself. You’re standing outside my apartment with a firearm pointed at me and several witnesses around us. What about this says love?”
Toby huffs, looking down at the concrete right before he looks up again, a strange look on his face. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d answered me. If you actually replied to a single message. You wouldn’t listen, so I’m making you listen.”
Nodding slowly, I take another step closer, adding distance between Rayne and me in what I hope is an attempt to keep him safe. I eye the gun once before my gaze collides with Toby’s, and I mutter, “Fine. I’m here, and I’m listening. So talk, Toby. But put the gun down while you do it, and I’ll hear you out until sunrise.”
“It’s a bit late for that now, don’t you think?” he snaps, his breathing sharpening. He’s growing agitated, unstable, and my heart starts galloping faster beneath my rib cage.
Thankfully, I notice people stopping farther down the sidewalk. I see several pedestrians with their phones pressed against their ears, some holding them out to record the entire situation. Good. That’s good. That means he won’t get away with whatever the hell happens tonight.
“They poisoned you against me,” he says, voice rising as he aggressively swings the gun toward me, my heart lodging itself in my throat. “You loved me before they sunk their claws into you.”
I shake myself, honesty pouring out of my mouth before I can think better of it. “I loved the idea of us, Toby. When I look back on the entire relationship, I realize I was never really in love with you, but the notion of the happily ever after I thought I was going to get with you. And then you cheated on me with some chick in my guest room bed.”
“It was once, Madison. Once! And I tried to apologize,” he argues loudly.
Taking a deep breath to control the anger that sparks to life inside me, I lash out before my brain can catch up with my stupidity, the fear thrumming through my veins making me reckless. “You forgot your fly was down when you tried apologizing straight after I caught you. Your dick was still wet and hanging out of the hole of your zipper.”
Rayne makes another sound, almost like he’s choking unexpectedly, and I visibly wince.
Wrong time, Maddie, you stupid bitch. Don’t antagonize the bastard with the gun.
A point proven when Toby suddenly looks like he’s one wrong word or action away from snapping. He stuffs his free hand into his pocket as he suddenly declares, “I bought you a ring.”
My stomach drops once more, swooping with a violent dip. “What?”
Toby shakes his head roughly, his words coming out in a wild string of nonsense. “You think those bastards know you like I do? You think they’d go to the same lengths I would go for you? They wouldn’t, Madison. They fucking wouldn’t.”
Then suddenly he throws something at me. I flinch on instinct, stepping sideways at the same time pain slices across my cheekbone. Almost instantly, I feel a trickle of warmth bloom against my skin right before a wet drop slides down my cheek.
“Fuck,” Rayne hisses quietly, making a move as though he’s about to step toward me, but Toby points the gun at him once more.
“Don’t,” he snarls, and Rayne halts his movements entirely, glaring nastily at Toby.
Swallowing hard, I peer down at the ground at what cut me, only to find a ring box. I stare at it through the sting of my cheek as blood drips from my jaw and lands on the ground beside the navy-blue box.
“Pick it up,” Toby demands harshly, and I bend shakily before reaching for the box. “Open it.”
I don’t want to, but I do as I’m told, opening the box to reveal a diamond ring. A severe coldness trickles through my body, and my head snaps up to look at Toby just in time to watch his entire face crumple.
“I had a single lapse in judgment,” he says, his tone changing to an almost pleading sound that does nothing but piss me off all over again. “But I get it. I know now, Madison. I know what I want, who I want.”
