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She nodded. “He said something about Sadie’s obsession with priests biting them all in the ass. Oh, and they know Beck has them in her crosshairs. I don’t know what it means, but that’s what I heard.”
I shook my head as I took in all the details she threw at me, wondering if it was the truth, or if this was her way of trying to salvage things between us.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
My mind was full of too much shit, and I couldn’t think straight with those big brown eyes staring at me, begging me for…something.
Maddie opened her mouth to say something, probably to tear into me for my curt words, but then she snapped her mouth shut, and I started to worry. Gone was the woman who was full of fight, who never met an argument she shied away from, who was quick to tell someone to fuck off without considering their size or power.
She didn’t tear into me; she didn’t even roll her eyes or grunt at me in anger. Instead, tears shimmered in her eyes and her shoulders fell in disappointment, or resignation, I couldn’t be sure because she turned on her heels and walked away.
It felt like she wasn’t just walking away, it felt like she was leaving. For good.
I should have gotten up to stop her, to run after her and tell her that I was confused as fuck, not angry. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t move at all. My ass was stuck to the seat while my mind raced with all that Maddie had revealed. All the trust she put in me without regard to the danger she might now be in. In one fell swoop, she’d proven her love and her loyalty without regard to her own safety. How did I repay her? By being a dick. A silent, withholding asshole who didn’t deserve her.
“Fuck. Maddie, wait!” Finally, I pushed to my feet and rushed through the condo toward the front door, but when I got there all I saw was her taillights turning out of the parking lot.
“Phone.” The word was so loud in my head, it was as if my guardian angel shouted at me to get busy.
I went in search of my phone and called her, knowing if she heard my voice, she would come back to me.
“Hey, this is Maddie. Leave a message.”
“Maddie, call me. Please. It’s Jameson.” I tried her two more times, and her phone went straight to voicemail both times.
“Dammit!” She was ignoring me and I deserved it, but that didn’t mean I was ready to let her ignore me or walk away. I called again. “Maddie, I was an asshole, and I’m sorry. Come back so we can talk.”
What the fuck kind of idiot lets the woman he loves walk away with tears in her eyes?
A special kind of idiot.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Madison
“We’re sorry, the voice mail messaging service has not been set up—”
“Goddammit!”
I ended the call before the message ended and tossed my phone on the bed with more force than necessary. Every damn time I tried to call Molly, I got this stupid message. I tried again, determined to get her stubborn ass on the phone.
I wondered why Molly was afraid, now that I knew Mueller helped her. But if Mueller was a good guy like Jamie said, what did that mean for Molly’s fear? Was it genuine, or did he help her and she’s worried her captors are still looking for her? I didn’t know jack shit, and it pissed me off. It pissed me off more that she wouldn’t call me back, too.
Then again, I shouldn’t be all that surprised that even my own damn sister ghosted me. Jamie had practically kicked me out of his house, all because I refused to believe the bogeyman was no longer the bogeyman. Yeah, I might have fucked up but he did too.
Maybe it was time for me to do what Molly tried to do, stand on my own two feet. If my sister and my closest friend wanted nothing to do with me, why in the hell was I living in a gorgeous mansion with a bunch of people I couldn’t trust? I could work from anywhere. I didn’t need to be within spitting distance of the Ashby wi-fi connection to work for them. I could get my own apartment someplace in Glitz or even Vegas proper since I could afford it now. Mayhem, of course, was out of the question, but I had options.
I had choices.
Even if I didn’t like the idea of moving forward on my own, without my sister, I grabbed my laptop and pulled up a website dedicated to Las Vegas area rentals. Maybe I’d find a nice one-bedroom apartment with a view of the strip. Maybe I’d get a gym membership and join a book club, something to claim my life as mine and mine alone.
