Chapter Thirteen
Seven Years Earlier
Something wasn’t right.
Eve, now a sophomore, watched Madden from across the swimming pool, her narrowed gaze hidden behind a pair of black, cat-eyed
sunglasses. Elton was telling Madden about his plans to ask out one of their mutual classmates, while absently tossing the
ball into Madden’s waiting glove. Elton didn’t seem to notice Madden’s grimace every time he trapped the baseball in his leather
mitt or the strain around his mouth when throwing it back.
Eve noticed.
She noticed everything about Madden.
How could she do anything but notice him when he shadowed her at school, a gorgeous savior trying not to be noticed unless
he was needed? His unique way of intervening whenever someone harassed Eve both relieved her and perturbed her. Could she
handle these goons on her own? Yes! Obviously. But, well . . . sometimes, in a period of weariness, she could breathe easier
knowing she wasn’t alone. That he’d come, without fail, and be the voice she couldn’t find.
Other times, she resented Madden intervening because it made her feel helpless.
Dependent on his protective nature.
But . . . he seemed to understand that. And he wasn’t offended by her occasional lack of grace and gratitude. God, that was nice. To have someone stare into the face of her complicated attitude without flinching.
When Eve really sat down and dissected what Madden meant to her . . . she got overwhelmed. And so, she tried extrahard not
to. Especially because of Skylar and her unabashed adoration of the man who’d become her stepbrother’s best friend.
But if Eve had to whisper the truth to the universe, she’d say Madden was the boy she pictured in her mind’s eye when she
imagined her first kiss. Her first time having sex, too, his eyes steady on hers while he moved above her in a slow rhythm,
their fingers twined together on either side of her head. On those days when he walked her to Cat Fight to make sure she arrived
safely, gruffly reminding her to lock the office door in her wake, she stared at that door and wondered if he was staring
back from the other side. Hoping and dreading that he might be, because what could she do about it?
Madden was the closest she’d ever come to trusting another human being. Maybe . . . maybe she even did. Trust this equally
fierce and gentle man completely. With her very life.
Wasn’t that terrifying?
Bottom line, she noticed everything about Madden.
And he’d lost weight.
His usual robust frame had weakened in front of her very eyes over the last month. He’d declined to eat when the Pages invited
him to stay for dinner. One lap in the pool earlier that afternoon had left him short of breath. Pale. Did no one else notice?
Even his performance behind home plate hadn’t been as stellar, his throws seeming . . . labored.
“Just going to use the bathroom,” he said to Elton now, interrupting his friend midsentence. “Tell me the rest when I come back.”
Elton threw up his hands. “How can you stand the suspense?”
When normally Madden would have come back with a quip, his jaw only clenched. He patted Elton on the shoulder and walked toward
the house, his gait abnormally stilted.
Eve chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, then made her decision. She reached over and popped out one of Skylar’s AirPods.
“Going to run inside and grab a water. Do you want anything?”
“Orange juice, please,” responded Eve’s best friend, before she raised her voice and shouted across the pool, “If Elton didn’t
drink it all!”
Elton shot her a middle finger.
Skylar returned with two.
Just your typical afternoon with the Page siblings.
Eve pushed her sunglasses onto her head and crossed the yard, opening the sliding glass door to let herself into the silent
house. Doug and Vivica Page were out training for a half-marathon, leaving her alone in the house with Madden. A situation
she craved and avoided at the same time. But intuition tugged at Eve’s consciousness, begging her not to avoid him today.
Something is wrong.
Eve turned down the hallway leading to the bathroom, stopping short, her ears ringing at the sight of Madden hunched over,
his forearm braced on the wall to keep him standing.
“Mad,” she said, unable to keep her voice free of alarm.
He straightened, but didn’t turn around. A large, but withering silhouette in the late-afternoon dusk. Her heart started to
canter.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, love.”
“I know something is wrong. You can tell me.”
“How can I?” His hand came off the wall to press against his lower back. “If I don’t know what it is.”
With a swallow, Eve moved in his direction . . . and for the first time, she understood his protectiveness toward her. How
quickly it could manifest. Because the need to protect him flooded her in a deluge, so swift her legs became unsteady beneath
the weight.
She stopped beside Madden, examining his profile. “You haven’t been yourself.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You . . . you don’t have to apologize,” she choked out on a humorous laugh. “Let’s just figure out what’s wrong. What are
your symptoms?”
“Besides feeling like absolute shite?”
“Be more specific than shite.”
A beat passed. “They’re going to be wondering why you’re in here.”
Normally, Eve would care about that. If Skylar clocked her spending too much time with Madden and how that would make her
best friend feel. That consideration rode on her back like a clinging monkey. But not right now. Everything got shuffled to
the wayside when his labored breathing started. They were only standing still.
“Tell me, Mad.”
He closed his eyes. “Pain. A lot of pain in my back and sides. These massive headaches. Sometimes I can’t catch my breath.
Like now.”
Eve had never felt more fifteen in her life.
More wistful for adulthood. Knowledge.
This is serious, whispered a voice in the back of her head. This is bad.
“We have to go to a doctor.”
Madden had already begun shaking his head. “No. I’m just training too hard.”
“That’s not what it is,” Eve said, adamantly.
He strove for a jovial tone and didn’t pull it off. “Are you worried I’m not going to be able to protect you as well?”
“No, I’d never worry about that.”
“I do.” His gaze slowly found hers. “I worry if I go to the doctor and find out something is wrong, I won’t be there to look
after you, love.”
That kicked the breath clean out of her lungs. “Is that why you haven’t gone?”
He said nothing, confirming her suspicion.
Denial collided with urgency so quickly, she got dizzy. Didn’t know which to deal with first. “We have to go. We have to tell
someone.”
“No.”
Eve played the only card she could think of. The one that was right there, staring her in the face. Whatever it took to get
him help now. Immediately. “If you get worse or something happens to you, who will protect me then? Who will protect me without making
me feel weak and pathetic, Madden, because you’re the only one who can pull it off . . .”
He was pulling her into a tight hug, then cutting her off. Kissing the crown of her head. And she almost wheezed over the
contact, the warmth and safety of Madden Donahue. A good man, already at seventeen. An honest man.
But who was protecting him?
“Everything okay?” Skylar called from the kitchen, followed by the sound of the refrigerator opening. Though they were still out of sight, Madden reluctantly dropped his embrace and stepped back, leaning against the wall once more, obviously out of necessity. “Oh, there’s orange juice!”
Eve fought for composure, reached down deep for bravery, and called, “Skylar, can you go get Elton, please? Tell him to come
here.”
A brief pause. “Is everything okay?”
Madden didn’t even try to prevent her from revealing his struggle at that point. That’s how she knew they’d reached a critical
stage. Someone needed to act.
“Madden needs help,” Eve called back, barely keeping the hitch out of her voice.
A single beat passed, then Skylar’s footsteps echoed on her way into the backyard, two sets approaching a moment later.
The four of them drove to the hospital in Elton’s truck, Madden beside Eve in the rear cab, their hands clasped tightly together
out of sight. A gesture of comfort. Friendship. Solidarity.
If them holding hands was anything more, now was not the time to examine it.
But as they pulled up to the emergency room and Eve gave his hand a final squeeze, before exiting the truck and running ahead
to explain the situation to reception, she vowed there would be time. If something was seriously wrong with Madden, she’d do whatever it took to be the reliable safety net he’d always
been for her, without her having to ask.
No matter what it took.