Page 170 of No Headlines Please

That did it. I jumped to my feet. "You know what? You need to stop, like right now. I don't care what you think you know about him, but the least you could do is be nice." I turned and glanced toward the foyer. "Our suitcases are still packed, you know."

Maisie spoke up. "You could always stay with us."

Tessa glared at Maisie. "Thanks so much for the support."

"I am being supportive," Maisie said. "What? You want her to go to a hotel?"

"No," Tessa said. "I want her to stay with me."

Maisie's chin lifted. "Well, I want both of them to stay with me. And you obviously don't, so…" With a little shrug, she left the rest of it unsaid.

I stared back and forth between the two of them. My whole life, Tessa had been perfectly polite. And Maisie – the whole time I'd known her – had been way too nice for her own good.

To see both of them arguing, especially over me, was suddenly too much.

With a deep breath, I just said it. "Fine! You wanna know what I do for money? I write monster erotica. There! Now, you all know." And with that, I plopped back into my seat and silently dared any of them to make fun of me.

For a long, terrible moment, they all just stared.

Once again, it was Ryder who broke the silence. "Huh. No wonder you like him."

Nobody asked who. They didn't need to.

Apparently, the monster in the room was Maddox.

I honestly didn't get it. Sure, I'd seen the headlines. I'd even read a few excerpts from Sloane's book. But none of that lined up with the man I'd gotten to know.

With me, he'd always been patient, protective, and ridiculously generous.

And honestly, I'd also been more than a little impressed by the story of how he'd thrown that drunk guy out on his ass. Even as far as Sloane, I had never once seen him trash her in the media.

Regardless of what had happened between them, he'd paid a heavy price for taking the high road – a price he was still paying, even now, with Tessa.

Of course, I had no real proof that what he'd told me about Sloane was true. But I did know how he had treated me, even after I'd flipped out on him.

He'd refused to tell anyone where I was – in spite of getting grief for it.

That kind of integrity? To me, it was pure gold.

If Tessa couldn't see that, it was her problem, not mine.

And if she refused to make him feel welcome, we would have to leave, because there was no way I was throwing him under the bus – not after everything he'd done for me.

As my mind raced, it suddenly dawned on me that nobody other than Ryder had acknowledged what I'd just confessed – that I wrote monster erotica for a living.

Talk about awkward.

But then, when I looked to Maisie, she smiled. "You know what?"

I winced. "What?"

"I love those things." She and Griff shared a look. "And besides, not all monsters are bad."

When I looked to Maddox, he was grinning.

I asked, "What?"

With a soft chuckle, he said, "You."