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“Are you done bickering?” I asked, giving them all a pointed look.
Slade smirked at me. “Are you ready to pick a winner—either of you?”
I set my free hand on my hip. “In case I didn’t make it clear enough before, I’m not doing any picking at all. I want to keep seeing all of you—and that includes Dexter.”
I gave his hand a light squeeze, and he shot his friends a hesitant smile.
As Slade’s jaw dropped, Beckett let out a low whistle. “You do know how to go after what you want, don’t you, Maddie?” he said with both amusement and admiration sparkling in his eyes. “I won’t stand in your way.”
“Wait, Dexter—holy shit.” Slade laughed, his expression shifting with what might have been pride. “Good for you, letting yourself go for it, man.”
Logan didn’t look anywhere near as happy about the situation. “When the hell didthathappen?” he demanded.
I fixed him with a firm glare. “Just now. But we can always reduce the number of men I’m dating to three if you have so much of a problem with it you want to take yourself out of the picture.”
His jaw flexed, but his posture straightened at the challenge. “There’s nothing in heaven or hell that could make me give you up again, Maddie.”
Something in me released. I hadn’t been totally sure I really could have all of them for however long this lasted until I’d gotten that final confirmation.
“Good,” I said. “Then we all know where we stand.”
“And that’s right beside Maddie, because where else would any sane person want to be?” Slade teased.
A ripple of laughter spread through the room as some of the lingering tension dissipated.
In the middle of the moment, my phone pinged with an incoming text. I grabbed it out of the purse I’d left on the table, assuming it was Summer. How the hell was I going to explain to her what I’d gotten myself into now?
Only it wasn’t from Summer or any of my other regular contacts. I didn’t recognize the number at all. And what the hell was this message supposed to mean?
Next time it might be fatal.
I knit my brow, staring at it as if the words might make more sense if I peered at them long enough. Could it be a wrong number? But what kind of message was that to send to anyone? It sounded like some sort of threat.
I was about to show it to the guys when the phone rang with a call, so abruptly after the strange text that I nearly jumped out of my skin.
This time a familiar name popped up on the screen. It was Holand—Logan’s dad, my stepdad. Why wouldhebe calling me right now? I didn’t usually chat with him on the phone the way I did with my mom.
Logan must have noticed my odd reaction. “What is it?” he asked, shifting toward me.
“I don’t know,” I said, hitting the answer button and lifting the phone to my ear. There was only one way to find out. “Hey, Holand. What’s up?”
“Maddie, I’m so glad I caught you,” Holand said with a faint crackle of static on the line, his tone serious and grave. My body tensed at the sound. He dragged in a breath and went on. “Your mom’s been in an accident.”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Madelyn
By the time I’d lowered the phone from my ear, my mind was spinning with everything Holand had told me. I barely saw the room in front of me.
“Maddie,” Logan said urgently, grasping my upper arm. “What’s going on? What happened?”
My mouth opened and closed a few times before I managed to propel sound out of it. “That was your dad. My mom—she was in a car accident. Bad enough that they rushed her to the hospital. She’s having some kind of surgery right now. She’s alive, but they don’t know what condition she’ll be in when they stabilize her.”
The last words came out in a croak. Beckett grabbed my other hand and squeezed, his eyes full of concern. “I’m so sorry, Maddie. Does she live nearby? Can you go see her?”
All of the guys had gathered around me. Slade was nodding. “Even if you have to miss classes tomorrow, the professors will totally understand.”
Through the blur of shock and worry in my head, a memory flickered up. My gaze dropped to my phone again, my fingers clenching around it.
