27. Madison
Madison
“Adrian. Please, I can’t—” My voice trembled as I attempted to distance myself from him.
Adrian was furious, and rightly so. I had just told him that I couldn’t accept his proposal because, in reality, a massive part of me was no longer confident in our relationship anymore.
“Can’t or won’t? Let me guess. This is about Chyler and Alexis, isn’t it?” Adrian snapped with blind fury as he took another step toward me, backing me up against the wall in the foyer. I had just returned home from my dinner date with Chyler.
“No, I—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Madison. Why can’t you think for yourself for once?” When was I allowed to? He always held control over my decisions.
Adrian’s words always cut deep. I never understood how I could love a man like him so fiercely when all he did was instill fear in me.
“You don’t understand; you’re overreacting, Adrian. Please—”
“Her or me.” He clipped, no further explanation necessary on his part.
“What?” I blinked, taken aback by his demand, even though I knew what he expected to be my answer.
Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and attempted to process what he didn’t say—that I needed to choose between him and my sister, but we both knew that wasn’t a real choice.
“You need to decide, once and for all. Chyler or me.”
“That’s not fair, Adrian. I love yo—”
“If you loved me, this wouldn’t be a decision you’d have to contemplate. You should already have the answer.” Adrian wouldn’t let me finish a single sentence.
Constantly cutting off my words just as he wanted to cut me off from my only family.
I didn’t have it in me to give him the answer he wanted because, while I still loved him regardless of his poisonous behavior, I would never consider choosing a man over Chyler.
Blood always ran thicker than water; even though she wasn’t blood by birth, she was blood by heart, and no one, not even Adrian, could change that.
“Silence won’t save you, sweetheart.” Adrian wrapped his hand around my throat, and I gripped his wrist with mine. “Answer me.” He seethed through his teeth.
“C—Chyler.” I managed to get out before he threw me into the nearest wall, explosively enraged with my decision, seeing me as nothing more than a piece of discarded trash.
As I slid down the wall, I curled in on myself, terrified at what he would do to me now that I had given him the answer he didn’t want to hear.
But all Adrian did was adjust his cufflinks before exiting our home—exiting my life.
“She’s doing it again…” Alexis mumbled as she sipped from her coffee cup before setting it down gently on the table. She lounged back on the sofa, fanning her arms out behind her.
“Oh, leave her be, Lex…” Chyler sighed breathily, setting her stern eyes on Alexis. “Quit judging her, for fucks sake; this was supposed to be a casual brunch, not an intervention.”
“What? She keeps doing th—”
“Lex!” Chyler barked, cutting her off. “Enough. You’d act the same way if you—”
“If I what? Went through the same shit as her?” Alexis scoffed, rolling her eyes as she licked the corner of her upper lip. “Did you forget I was—”
“The reason we crossed paths with Adrian in the first place? Yes. I’m well aware that you were the fucking problem.”
“Lex, Chy, stop with the bickering…” I spoke up calmly. “Can’t we have just one nice girls’ day for once? Without all the added drama and accusations? What’s done is done…”
My daydreaming and short attention span were becoming an issue, but I couldn’t help myself. No matter how hard I tried, my mind just wandered away on its own.
“You say that now, but what happens when you snap from all those repressed feelings? Ow!”
Chyler elbowed Alexis hard in her side as she spoke.
“What Lex means to say, but with poor fucking execution…” She glared daggers at her, and Alexis clamped her mouth shut. “Is that we can see when something is bothering you, and clearly, it hasn’t gotten any better since the last time we hung out.”
Chyler was right; nothing had improved since we last spent the day together, just the two of us—at least, not regarding my mental state.
Relationship-wise, things couldn’t be more perfect between Marcus, Dean, and I.
I had finally started allowing myself to believe in loving them—something I never thought I would come to terms with, not for a long time.
I always thought I would end up being the hopeless romantic, incapable of love.
How fucking tragic would that have been…
Marcus opened my eyes while Dean—
“Madison.” Chyler groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as Alexis giggled softly to herself .
“I’m—I’m sorry.” Fuck, I really needed to sort my shit out. “You’re right… you’re both right. I’m a hot mess, and I don’t even know where the fuck to begin.”
“How about we start with the obvious?” Alexis arched her brow mischievously. “Marcus and Dean?”
Chyler leaned forward, resting her forearms on her thighs and biting her lower lip in anticipation—dying to hear what I had to say about the two men that I had been fucking around with for months—Marcus, almost a year.
I only ever gave them vague details about our relationship, nothing more, especially not the fact that I had been developing genuine feelings for both of them now.
That I had whole-heartedly fallen for Marcus and Dean.
The boys had been gone all day—working, of course—so naturally, when I got back early from my brunch date with Alexis and Chyler, I made myself comfortable in Marcus’s bed, his sheets enveloping me in his stimulating scent.
“Have you left this room at all today?” He chuckled, attracting my full attention like a bee to honey.
Marcus was leaning lazily against the doorframe, his shoulder pressed against the wood, his hands in his pockets, and the sleeves of his white button-up rolled halfway up his arms .
My eyes slowly raked up and down his body, thighs pressing together under the duvet the longer I stared, and when my eyes met his baby blues—I stopped breathing altogether.
Fuck he was always so goddamn hot.
“Yes, but when I got home, I just wanted to relax, and your bed was overly inviting.”
“Home?” Marcus arched his brow with a smirk. Oh shit…
“What time is it? I thought you and Dean had to work late.” I rushed out, trying to change the subject of my verbal slip-up.
I glanced out the window to see if I could gauge the time based on the sun, which was still in the process of setting.
“Plans changed. Dean is grabbing us some dinner and should be home in about half an hour.” Marcus rakishly grinned before pushing himself off the doorframe and prowling across the room toward me.
When he reached the edge of the bed, he bent forward, pressing his fists into the mattress, the muscles in his arms flexing with the movement and making me weak.
Breaking eye contact with him, I nervously cleared my throat and ran a hand through my disheveled hair.
Chyler, Alexis, and I had an intense discussion about love and relationships. Both of them gushed over Atlas and Derek like lovesick teenagers.
It made me realize that no matter how long I tried to avoid or delay the truth, it was still there, staring me right in the face like a beacon of blinding light .
“Marcus.” I sucked in a breath as my eyes reconnected with his, and I leaned forward, gripping the front of his shirt in my fist and dragging him into bed with me. Marcus chuckled as he collapsed onto the mattress, his nose just barely touching mine.
“What is it, kitten?” His eyes dropped to my lips as I licked them and swallowed in anticipation of what I was about to confess.
I hesitated with my words. They were sitting right on the tip of my tongue, yet I felt frozen, unable to speak.
Come the fuck on, Mads. Jesus Christ. Tell him already!
“Marcus, I—”
He pushed himself forward, capturing my mouth with his before I could finish another word. His tongue twisted and tangled with mine as I groaned at his taste, leaning back and pulling him over me.
Marcus released my lips, and I found myself breathless and panting with intense desire as he stared down at me, my chest rising and falling with every deep inhale.
Fuck it.
“Marcus, I love you.” I threw out the words before they became trapped once again.
When he didn’t immediately respond, my heart squeezed inside my chest. I knew he loved me; he had said it once before. But saying and feeling it for the first time made the time between us pass differently—a single second feeling like an eternity.
“What took you so long…” Marcus breathed with a yearning smile before pressing his soft lips to mine—on ly this time, the passion behind our kiss buzzed throughout my body like a static charge— electric .