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“And you just suddenly came to that conclusion after you took advantage of her?”
“No. Your father helped me reach that conclusion. It might have been different if I was Xander or someone else, but he didn’t want me or my family name anywhere near her.”
“Might be one of the few things we’ve ever agreed on. You were fucking up left and right—and for what? I’ve never understood why you pissed it all away like that.”
I sigh, rolling the last sip of whiskey around the glass and downing it before I explain everything about my father that I’ve already gone through with Madison. And answering a few more details about games I missed that he remembered.
“I wish you would have told me. Xander and I might have been able to help you.”
“Like I told Madison, I was embarrassed. My uncle told me to stay away, even my mother who was tuned out half the time told me to stay away. And I knew I should have… but I wanted that. What you had—or at least what I thought you had with your dad.
And then there was your dad… He was determined to put me at odds with you and Madison. He told me if I tried to contact either of you, he’d disown her. Make her miserable if she chose me. That I’d be responsible for ruining her life and destroying all the opportunities she’d have in her future without me. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t live with the idea of me taking anything away from her that she deserved.”
Tobias purses his lips and lets out a sigh. “Yeah, everything you thought you saw there was an illusion about him being a good father. The man only wants extensions of himself, ways to make his reach extend beyond its bounds. We’re nothing without him in his mind. I hate that he tried to destroy your relationship with Madison. The man is selfish as hell. Thinks he knows better than everyone.”
“Funny that Xander turns out to have the best parents of the three of us, given what a dick Senator Xavier always was about him playing.”
“Turns out, best is relative.”
I nod and slide my glass back on the desk.
“Do you love her?” He gives me a pointed look.
“Always have. Always will.”
“You won’t deserve her, you know. Ever—no matter what you do. Guys like us never do.”
“I know. But I’d rather spend the rest of my life trying and failing than not have her in my life.”
Tobias pours another finger of whiskey and holds it out for me to take, clinking his glass against mine when he does.
“To trying and failing until we get it right. Or death. Whichever comes first.”
We both down it and set our glasses back down.
“Don’t fucking hurt her again.” His eyes lift to meet mine, and I see the threat there.
“I won’t.”
“Good. Glad that’s settled. You want a tour of the house then? I got the old college jersey properly preserved and framed.”
I smirk at my old friend. “Yeah. I’m going to have to see that for myself.”
A few hourslater we’ve migrated from Tobias’s house to his condo that he shares in the same building as Xander. Xander’s hosting his engagement party downstairs, and after stopping at the hotel to change, we’ve come to Tobias’s place to hang out and have a few drinks until the party is in full swing. We’re chatting over a bottle of rosé when there’s a knock at the door. Tobias answers it, and I hear a voice I haven’t heard in years. It’s one I miss hearing tell me jokes and slap me on the back, but a man I know hates me almost as much as Tobias did for what happened between me and Madison under their watch so many years ago.
My eyes drift to Madison, and I see her smile go bright when she sees Xander, and I have to tamp down hard on the jealousy that threatens to claw its way up my throat. She’s done everything in the last twenty-four hours to tell me I’m the only one she cares about, and she’s told me again and again that she doesn’t want him. But the way she jumps up to hug him still makes my heart skip.
“Maddie girl! What are you doing here? I didn’t think you would make it. Harper’s gonna die.”
“Harper might know. I saw Joss yesterday. We had a photo shoot.”
“We?” Xander frowns and then looks up to see who’s with her. His eyes land on me, and the transformation in his body is immediate. “What the fuck?” His eyes go to Tobias.
“Madison works with Quentin these days. She’s his PR person at the Chaos. Trying to get people to like him as much as they do East. Work that magic she has.” Tobias tries to smooth things over.
“Fine. Why the fuck is he at your house? He’s not coming to mine.”
“Xander.” Scarlett’s voice is harsh, and his eyes snap to hers. She shakes her head subtly, but his eyes return to Tobias.
