AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He blinked as if surprised by the way I spoke to him. He should be. I’d always been soft spoken, but the world had a way of making you loud when nothing else worked to give you a voice.
“I just want to talk. Can’t you give me that?”
“There’s nothing we have to talk about.”
“Maybe you don’t, but there’s a lot I have to say. Just don’t drive away. Please hear me out.”
For as long as I’d known Maddix, I’d never heard him beg anyone. Unless it was about sex.
“Fuck.”
I turned off the ignition and punched the steering wheel. Maddix walked over to the driver’s side.
“Ten years ago, I was an asshole who hurt someone who cared about me, and I’m so fucking sorry. Will you let me apologize properly, please? Half an hour of your time. That’s all I want.”
5
MADDIX
“Really? You want to do this here?”
For a second, it didn’t register what Troy meant. His voice came out quiet and strained like he didn’t want to be in the truck next to me, but I hadn’t forced him. Begged him, yes. When I’d told him what I wanted to say to him had to be done in private, he had come with me willingly, though. I might have left my bandmates hanging. Ryker had looked perplexed when I leaped off the stage and followed Troy out of the bar, but Evan would fill him in.
“Why not here?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He opened the door, jumped out, and slammed the door shut, rocking the vehicle.
Boy was he angry. And he had a right to be.
Please let me find the right words to let him know how sorry I am. That I never quite forgave myself for what my younger self had done to us…to him.
I got out as well and ran after him. He was already inside the old mill. As soon as I entered, a slew of memories overcame me. Of us laughing as we ran up the stairs. Me pushing him up against the wall so I could kiss his shyness away. It had always been that way at first. He would be shy, but after a few minutes of kissing, he would become the more dominant boy I’d craved.
My stomach churned. Now I understood. I had been coming here less recently but still visited. This place held memories I couldn’t let go of. He hadn’t been here in ten years, though. It must have been a punch in the gut for me to bring him here.
“Shit, Troy, I’m sorry.” I ran up the rickety stairs behind him. “I wasn’t thinking. We can go somewhere else and talk.”
“We’re already here,” he said without looking back. “And you’ve wasted eighteen minutes driving all this way.”
He couldn’t be serious about the thirty minute thing, could he? How could I unpack everything in that short amount of time in a way he would understand?
Our footsteps echoed through the silent corridors until we reached a narrow metal door that led to the rooftop. Troy pushed open the door but didn’t hold it for me. I caught it inches from my face, then followed him out onto the rooftop. He stood in the center, staring at an empty spot to the right.
In that corner, I would set up a tent, and we would forget the world existed. Once we’d spent the entire weekend out here all by ourselves. He’d lied to his aunt he was with Ashlee, and my old man hadn’t cared where I went as long as I was out of his way and I wasn’t asking him for money.
Troy turned around slowly, his chest rising and falling sharply.
“I’m—”
He slammed his fist into my stomach hard. Fuck. I doubled over with a grunt and squeezed my eyes shut, taking shallow breaths and waiting for the nausea to pass. Several minutes later, I was able to straighten up. Barely.
“Yeah, you were right to do that,” I said. “I deserved it.”
“No!” he snapped. “You don’t get to tell me my rights with you, Maddix. If I punched you a thousand times, it would still not be enough for what you did to me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
That’s it? That’s the best you can do?
