Page 168 of Breakaway Hearts

Owen

Always have her back

I’ll pay for it, is on the tip of my tongue. Mads looks so fucking uncertain as she tries to be brave, but she was counting on that scholarship. All I want to do is make her life easier and help her achieve her dreams, but she’s looking at me like she’s expecting me to not understand what she keeps telling me, and is dreading having to turn me down, which I assume would be hard when she really needs it. She’d probably be opposed to my dad sponsoring her, or an internship at Haylie’s firm, but I don’t know how else to help.

I don’t like this, at all, even if I understand wanting to do things on your own, to not get by just off someone else’s laurels and money. I would argue it’s different when it’s the money of the person who cost you the opportunity, but I don’t.

“Okay, change of plans,” I decide, handing her a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from my bureau. “Or we can go downstairs with you in your panties and sports bra, but I can’t promise I won’t growl at anyone who looks at you,” I add when she doesn’t take them.

“You promised to keep me in your room for days, maybe never leave,” she points out.

“I knew you were into that,” I call her on it, since I’d initially used it as a threat. “You’re stressing, and I don’t think you’ll stop until you find a solution. I can’t be said solution, but we have one of those glass boards you can write on downstairs, and we will figure this out.”

“Tonight?”

“Will you be able to sleep if we don’t?”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” she assures me.

When we first get downstairs, Mads humors me, but she clearly wishes we’d just brought the board upstairs and stayed in bed. I would also much rather be in bed with her, but I’m not only about fun times anymore. And it takes less than twenty minutes for all my housemates to join in, as soon as they figure out what we’re working on.

“I’m guessing we’re opposed to Brooks or I…cool, gotchya,” Colt assures Madison when I vehemently shake my head at him. I grew up very privileged, but Colt grew up in a family where you use money to fix absolutely everything. I think Madison expects him to bow out at this point, but I’m not the least bit surprised when Colt produces a list of all active internships and scholarships available to law students. Not that he’d ever need the scholarship, but he ‘knows a girl’ who works in student aid.

“You could take my internship,” he offers, which might seem altruistic, but every message he sent me last summer included a mention of how much he hated it there. Not that he’s trying to be an asshole, he just hates everything about the career he’s studying for.

“How much does it pay?” Mike asks, ready to plug the numbers into a spreadsheet he’s making with Madison’s expenses. At first, it just had books and tuition, which are pretty standard, because Mads insisted she didn’t know any other details, but he hasn’t asked her again since I went to get us snacks, and I’m not questioning it.

That was also the first time I’ve left Madison with a group of guys and not seen her close herself off like she’s trying to become invisible. It might be because she’s so focused on the research she let her guard down, but I’d like to hope someday she’ll be able to trust – not all athletes – but that these guys will always have her back.

“Not a penny,” Colt admits. “But I’ll trade you my hockey scholarship for it. Please? You could be the son my dad always wanted.”

He bats his eyelashes at her, and while I think he was being serious, Mads laughs and shakes her head at him.

“Bolinger looks like it could⁠—”

“He’s a dick,” David shares.

If Bolinger was a hockey player, we might ask for details, but since he’s a lawyer, the four of us just look at him expectantly. I don’t think Dave’s ever been arrested, but I’ve also never asked.

“He was at a charity fundraiser once.” He takes a sip of his drink, which is usually one of his tells, but it’s none of my business. Not tonight, at least. “He smiles for the cameras but looks down on everyone who isn’t born with a trust fund.”

“And Madison has morals so Bolinger is off the list.” Donovan crosses it off before going back to rewriting her resume and cover letter. I was going to ask Savannah, the published author, but Donovan’s an English major, and he’s got a way with words.

We’re at it until three in the morning, but we’ve submitted her application to a dozen internships, grants, and scholarships, with a list of other options if these places are stupid enough to turn her down. Which I am only accepting as a possibility because of her blog post, which implies a bias when lawyers are apparently supposed to be neutral.

“Thank you guys, so much. I could never…”

“It’s our pleasure,” Dave assures Madison, who’s biting her bottom lip like she doesn’t want to cry.

“And just so you know,” Colt says, also picking up on her emotional state. “You’re not leaving Wynchester if you don’t want to.”

“We’re honoring her wishes,” I remind him, because he said it like a promise.

“Of course,” Colt agrees.

“I’m sorry for making you do all this when I could easily just say yes, but –”

“We’re a team, Mads.” I stop in front of my door to face her. “Which can mean me sharing what I have with you or a new Glass Family Scholarship, if you ever want, but it also means working together to find other solutions, because I believe in you, and I know you’ve got this.”