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I closed the door behind me and took a step forward, farther into his room. More into his space. He knew I was here. Could feel me. I knew, because his hands clenched into fists.
Sharing one space with Maddox was overwhelming. My body was hyperaware of his presence, his closeness. His scent. The room smelled like him. A heavy musky scent and his cologne. I missed his smell. It used to comfort me on cold nights and make me sigh on warm ones.
“Maddox,” I breathed.
In response, he swiveled around. His face was dark and cold. But his eyes…
“Do you hate me?” There was a manic look in his eyes, a kind of desperation I had never seen before. Stormy. Angry. Crazed. Anguished.
I shook my head, my lips quivering. “I hate you… because I can’t hate you.”
His chest rattled with a sharp breath. “Get out, Garcia.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate you.” His lips spoke the cruel words, his gleaming blue eyes screamed something else.
“Lies,” I whispered. “Lying has become common in our relationship now, hasn’t it?”
He took a step forward, as if he couldn’t stop himself, from wanting to be closer to me. Maddox paused, and his chest rumbled with a growl. “There is no relationship. There is no us, anymore.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Coulter.” I called him out on his bullshit and smiled, because I knew I was right.
“Get. Out. Lila.”
I nudged my chin up, stubbornly. “Make me.”
Maddox stalked forward; his face twisted with fury. He grasped my arm and dragged me out of his room, pushing me out of the door. His grip tightened on me, and his head lowered, our eyes leveled. “You are what killed me slowly… without any mercy, Lila. You used to be my cure. Now, you’re the plague. And I’m dying. You kill me, Lila. Your deceitful eyes. Your wicked smile. Your treacherous voice. So get out and spare me this sweet, torturous death.”
One look.
One second.
One breath.
Our heart broke in unison.
He slammed the door in my face and that was it. He left me with his cruel words, wrenching my heart out of my chest, and carelessly throwing it at my feet.
One week later
I picked up the call, without looking at the caller ID, practically stabbing the green button. I already knew who it was. I had been waiting for her call for hours, sitting gingerly on my bed and trying not to break down from overthinking everything.
Riley’s breathy voice came through. “You were right,” she screeched. “Jesus Christ, you were so right!”
Shock rippled through my whole body, and I forgot how to breathe. Chaotic feelings gripped the center of my chest. “You got it?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna email it to you, right now.” There was some rustling sound in the background, before Riley came back on the call. “Done.”
I opened my email on my laptop, and there it was. Everything I needed. All the proof.
“You did it.” Holy shit. “Is there anything you can’t do, Babe?”
She giggled. “Well, I have lots of contacts.”
“You’re a genius.”
Riley let out a happy squeal, and a laugh bubbled from my chest. “Wait, are you still dropping out this semester?”
There was only one semester left. My last one. Four more months and I’d be done. Have a Harvard degree in my hand, proof that I had accomplished what I had set out to do.
Four years ago, Harvard was my dream.
Now?
Maddox was the destination I longed for. “He needs me here,” I said.
A week ago, Maddox practically threw me out of his life. Granted, yes, I walked away first. But now? Well, I had come to my senses.
I was done with all the lies. And the secrets. I was tired of hiding and walking away from the man I promised to never give up on. It was time to put an end to it.
Maddox had been silently fighting for me… and I had been doing the same. Except, we were too stubborn to admit it. Too prideful.
All this time, he had been protecting me.
And I thought I was protecting him.
But we both fucked up…
“Riley, you always ask me why I left Maddox. The reason why I was so adamant about staying away from him…”
She sighed. “Yes?”
“I saw it in his eyes that day,” I confessed quietly, my grip on the phone growing tighter. “That look. Maddox never thought about having children. I knew he always thought he’d be a bad father. He was going to walk away from Bianca and the baby. I found out he was going to pay Bianca off. He didn’t want anything to do with the pregnancy or the baby. He didn’t think he could be a father, and I needed him to realize that he was capable of being one. On his own. Without being dependent on me to show him the way, to teach him how to do it.”
