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“I’ll take care of it.” Lynx took a pull of his beer.
“She’s been sucking your dick, hasn’t she?” Hero narrowed his eyes at Lynx. “That’s why you haven’t gotten the job done.”
Lynx flipped him off. It was no secret Hero didn’t like Carla.
“Hey, y’all. It’s a great night for a party, doncha think?” Madeline smiled at the crowd. My God, she was beautiful. “You probably won’t know this song. It goes way back to my childhood when I was a silly, prepubescent girl obsessing over it… and a boy.”
The crowdoohedlike crazy, heads turning my way.
She wagged her finger, shaking her head. “No, no, no…. I know what you’re thinking, but that was alongtime ago. Storm is hotter than the fresh-faced, pretty boy I used to dream about. Storm ismyman. Don’t you forget it. You hear me?”
The crowd shoutedYesfrom every direction.
“Good.” Madeline blew me a kiss, then nodded to the band.
Sugar nudged me. “I adore your girl.”
My heart squeezed tight in my chest. It pleased me how everyone took to Madeline, especially my aunt.
But hearing how Madeline obsessed over this song because ofhim, the boy she once loved, didn’t sit right with me. I wished her friends hadn’t pushed her into singing it. Or Madeline could have flat out told them no. She tried. Why didn’t I help her? Obviously because I wanted to hear her again. Angel sang like no one in this world. But I didn’t want this. Shit, my gut was tight. Did she still think about him?
Her voice silenced everyone.
Sugar set her hand on my shoulder as if knowing I needed to be anchored to my seat. Emilee was in a trance. Steph swayed to the beat, and Lynx bobbed his head. Hero sat stoically but I knew my brother was more smitten with “Roja” than he let on.
As I watched Madeline, a memory from the past roared toward me like a freight train. I was transported back to Lake Waleska, where I’d spent the best week of my life with the Hamilton family. Why I remembered the song crashed into me. Toby’s firecracker of a little sister had listened to it at least a million times at the lake. Toby had given her shit about it and made her cry. He was such an asshole, back then. We both were cocky and arrogant. When school started, we were going to be badass seniors.
That little firecracker had a massive crush on me. I adored that little girl…
Wait, what was her name again?That little girl. Abby? Caddy? No. Shit. Um….
Fuck.
Madeline’s voice cut through my thoughts as she belted out “Bleeding Love.”Maddy. That was her name. Madeline. Maddy. Basically the same name. It couldn’t be, could it? Their names. This was all just a coincidence, right? It had to be.
But as she sang that stupid song, all I could think about was her intro and how she said it was about her childhood crush. A shiver worked through me. It couldn’t be. She was Angel. Not little Maddy“firecracker”Hamilton. But fuck, what if she was? Why hadn’t I ever asked Madeline what her last name was? Or what the silver H meant on the charm bracelet she kept in her underwear draw.
Shit…Fuck!The pang in my chest turned into a stabbing pain and my heart jackhammered against my ribs.
I studied my woman, trying to find similarities, but there weren’t any. Sure, they both had brown hair and blue eyes. So did a lot of women.
My beauty sang her heart out, gazing at me with love in her eyes and swaying her body all sexy-like… Shit, it couldn’t be the same girl.
They weren’t the same.
They fuckin’ weren’t the same person!
“Woohoo, Maddy!” Steph yelled.
Maddy.
My gut twisted, nearly bent me over as bile crept into my throat. The sound of the crowd roared in my ears, but it wasn’t enough to stop the memories of that fateful day from rushing back…
“Jump already, ya pussy!”
I stumbled over my goddamn feet, laughing at my stupid, drunken self. Toby hissed with laughter, holding his gut beside me. His fourteen-year-old brother Tommy looked scared shitless.
The little wuss. We were toughening him up. All year he’d been begging to tag along on our shenanigans.
