Chapter 5
MADDIE
“Why was he there?” I asked my brother once I begrudgingly got into the passenger seat of his SUV.
Noah turned on his car and backed out of his garage. “Who Cally?”
“Yeah, Matt.”
“Oh, he lives with us.”
I felt like the floor dropped out from underneath me. Matt lived with Noah and Dinah? Okay, that explained a little more of why he freaked out when he found out I was Noah’s sister.
But what the fuck? Why didn’t Dinah mention that to me?
My brother clenched his teeth as he sped off to the other side of town.
Noah didn’t like that I was living on campus, but I wanted that American university experience. I was even playing on the women’s hockey team. It wasn’t the same as back home in Winnipeg; it was just club hockey, but that made it more fun since there was less pressure. I wasn’t known as Noah Kennedy’s baby sister here, and I was hoping to keep that quiet.
“Why are you so agitated?” I asked.
He sighed. “D doesn’t want to quit her job.”
Oh. Yeah, I knew why she didn’t want to quit her day job. Her last book didn’t sell. Like at all.
Despite my efforts to hype it up and reception from other book bloggers, her publisher wasn’t happy with the sales. That was why I came over. I was helping her ramp up her social media presence and brainstorm her next series. I even offered to do admin work for her. She wasn’t doing the bare minimum important things she should be doing. I loved Dinah, but she needed a personal assistant to do all the shit she didn’t want to do. Her focus had to be her writing, and she couldn’t do that if she was bogged down with admin work.
“Did she tell you why?” I asked.
Noah shook his head. “No. She’s being stubborn.”
It was obvious she hadn’t told him she felt like her writing career was in jeopardy. Dinah’s brand was sweet young adult novels, but she showed me a steamy novel she was writing in secret. Only Fi knew about it because she dared Dinah to write it. It was such a departure from her normal stuff, but it would sell. Maybe not under her current name, but it could be successful. She said it was a fun project to help her get through writer’s block. I needed to work on her more because she had something fantastic she needed to explore.
“What?” Noah ground out.
“She wants to do it when she can afford it herself.”
“But I?—”
I held up my hand. “She’s not making enough on her books alone to go full time. If you weren’t married to her, it wouldn’t be a possibility for her.”
“But I make a ton of money, and she doesn’t have to stay in her shitty job that makes her cry.”
I frowned. “It really makes her cry?”
Noah tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I can’t stand how unhappy she is, and I can’t do anything about it. I…” he sighed again. “I love her, Mads.”
“I know! And she knows that, too. Just…support her. Let her come to her own decision.”
I wished I could find a man to love me the way my big brother loved his wife. Someone who wanted to fix all my problems because he could. One day. Definitely not today, especially if my brother never approved of any guy I was interested in.
“Will you reconsider moving in with us?” Noah asked when he found a parking spot on the street near my dorm building.
I shook my head. “I already paid for this year.”
“I’ll pay for it, Madison,” he grumbled.
“Why does it bother you?”
He shot me a glare. “Because you up and transferred here without saying anything to me.”
“I needed to leave Winnipeg, okay? I applied on a whim. I didn’t think they’d accept me.”
“Is this about what happened last year?”
I wanted to run out of his SUV. Of course, this was about what happened last year. Being the subject of revenge porn was never fun. I couldn’t show my face at my old university without someone recognizing me. Or my boobs. Wished I didn’t have to learn the lesson to never put your face in racy photos, but there was no going back now.
The worst part about the whole situation? I felt like I disappointed Noah.
Last year, I met a great guy, and when I told him I was still a virgin, he said we’d take it slow. Then I saw him with his tongue down another girl’s throat at a party, and I broke up with him. Next thing I knew, someone had plastered the sexy photos I sent him all over social media. No surprise who did it.
My best friend Ally thought I was making a mistake transferring to get away from the gossip. Especially when I told her there was only club hockey at Franklin. But I didn’t have aspirations for any of the fledgling women’s leagues out there. Club hockey was fun and let me focus more on my studies. It meant I could play hockey for fun again.
“Madison,” Noah said sternly, still waiting for my answer.
“Yes,” I muttered. “Okay? Is that what you want to hear? Do you want to shove it in my face that I made a bad decision? Like perfect Noah Kennedy’s never made a mistake before. Can’t be Noah! Bow down to the hockey god!”
He rubbed his temple. “Mads, I’m not blaming you. That guy sucks, and if I ever see him again?—”
“I can handle my battles myself!” I snapped. “I was the one who transferred here to solve my problem. It had nothing to do with you.”
He was pissing me off. I loved my brother, I really did, but his overprotectiveness had got to go. Yes, I trusted the wrong person, but Noah didn’t have to keep rubbing it in my face.
I got out of his car in a huff.
“Maddie!” he called after me.
I spun around. “What?”
“I love you, okay? D and I are here for you—that’s all I’m trying to say.”
Of course they did, and I knew that, but I wanted to make my own choices. Not mooch off my older brother.
“Can you let me fight my own battles?”
“Okay, “ he relented. “Okay.”
I waved goodbye to him and tried not to be agitated. Noah wanted the best for me, but it was annoying. I complained to Mom last night on the phone, but she said it was because I was his only sister, and he hated seeing me hurt. Noah cared, but in a very irritating big brother way that made me want to drop the gloves on him.
I rode the elevator up to my seventh-floor dorm room and thought of everything I needed to do for the coming week. I worked ahead and already had a draft of a paper that was due in two weeks, so I was in good shape.
When I moved to Philly, it surprised me to find I had a private bedroom but shared a bathroom with another student in a suite-style room. I had been expecting to share a room with another student. I had chatted with my suitemate Ari a little already. She was a third year, too, but she wasn’t a transfer like me.
She was shy but stood out in a crowd with her brightly colored hair in a mix of blue, purple, and pink. Even though we had separate rooms, we got along great, and she was one of the first friends I made at Franklin. We had bonded over our love of smutty romance books. I was still trying to find my place on the hockey team, and when I wasn’t doing that, I was burying myself in my studies, so it was nice to have one person to hang with. Even if it was just to get dinner.
When I walked into our suite, I saw Ari’s bedroom door open, but alarm ran through me at the sound of her sniffling. “Hey, you okay?”
She shook her head.
I walked into her bedroom and saw her eyes rimmed with tears. “What happened?”
“I told Jack I was bisexual, and he broke up with me.”
“What?” I snarled.
Ari confessed she was bisexual a couple of weeks ago. Her parents were a little confused at first but said they’d love her no matter what. She had been working up the courage to tell her boyfriend. To be honest, I met him once, and he seemed like a douche.
“Why did he break up with you?” I asked.
“He said he didn’t want to be with someone who was more likely to cheat,” she blubbered.
“What an asshole! That’s not how bisexuality works.”
Being a female athlete, I’ve had many teammates who were gay or bi or even pan over the years. Her ex being biphobic pissed me off. I always believed you should love who you love and not care what people think.
“I know,” she agreed.
“I’m sorry, Ari.”
“I really loved him.”
“You wanna grab a drink and complain about the shitty men in our lives?” I offered.
She wiped her eyes. “Maybe. What shitty ones are in yours?”
I groaned. “Remember I told you about the guy I hooked up with at my brother’s wedding?”
“Right, the hockey player who didn’t want to help you with ‘operation lose it.’ ”
I laughed. I had told her about my unfortunate virginity problem, and she made a joke about it being ‘operation lose it.’ Which so far had been unsuccessful. Not that I had been trying all that much.
“He lives with my brother.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No wonder he didn’t want to piss him off.”
I groaned. “You know what’s the worst part?”
“What?”
“He’s still so fucking hot!”
That made her laugh, and I was glad I could make her smile. I couldn’t stand when any of my friends were in pain. Fuck her ex. She’d find someone better. I was sure of it.
She wiped her eyes. “Thanks, Maddie. I think I’ll take you up on that drink.”
“Local Hangout?” I asked.
She nodded. “Gimme a few.”
I went into my room and dropped my bag off. I wanted to change if we were going out. I was wearing yoga pants and a hoodie, fine for lounging around, but not if we were going out. And hey, maybe I’d find someone at Local Hangout to take away my pesky virginity. Probably not, though. That would be rude to do to Ari.
I changed into a pair of jeans and an off-the-shoulder top that was casual but not too much. I checked my phone and noticed a couple of Instagram notifications. I swiped through them, but there was one notification that gave me pause.
MCally14 started following you.
I stared at the notification and then clicked through to the profile. It didn’t shock me when the first image was of Matt Callahan wearing that pinstriped suit at my brother’s wedding. In the photo, he had his arm around my brother, and they wore big smiles. I touched my heart when I read his heartfelt caption.
Congrats to my boy Kennedy on his wedding! Your friendship and mentorship on and off the ice mean more to me than you’ll ever know. Thanks to you and D for basically adopting me!
Matt was much more eloquent in his words than I gave him credit for, assuming he was just another dumb jock. No wonder he didn’t want to piss off Noah by sleeping with me.
That hadn’t stopped him from liking a bunch of my photos, most of them from the wedding. Which meant he had to go far down my feed to look at them. I scrolled down his own feed, but he didn’t post all that often.
Ari walked into my room. “You ready?”
“Yup!”
We rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked the few blocks to Local Hangout. Yes, that was literally the bar’s name. You’d expect something divey for a college bar, but it gave off hipster vibes. Ari loved it because they had great vegan offerings and craft beer. Eh, beer was beer to me, but I’d admit it was better than the swill they had at any kegger.
The bar was packed when we got there, but we muscled our way through and found two spots at the bar. Ari looked sad, so I bought the first round. I felt eyes on me as Ari asked me to tell her something good, and I told her about trying to convince my sister-in-law to publish her adult romance.
“Oooh. I liked her other books. They were cute, but not my usual thing,” Ari said.
“They’re great, but this would be off-brand for her.”
Ari pinned me with a curious look. “You’re a marketing major, right?”
“Guilty! I wrote a paper last year on influencer marketing and impressed my professor.”
I felt someone nudge me, but I ignored it and continued telling Ari my dreams of owning a PR company or working for a major publisher one day. I loved books, and if I got to work in the industry, it would be a dream come true.
“Hey, can I buy you a drink?” a voice purred in my ear.
I reared back, noticing that the drunk guy next to me was too close for comfort.
“No. Thank you,” I told him, polite and firm.
I tried to go back to my conversation, but the guy grabbed my arm. Before I could push him away, a dark shadow crossed over his face.
“Hey, sweet pea. Sorry to keep you waiting,” a familiar voice said from behind me.
Sweet pea? What?
Before I could even register what was going on, muscular arms spun me around, and soft lips pressed against mine. I melted into the familiar kiss, not even thinking about who they were attached to.