AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was no way I was going to tell him about being cornered time and again by the TA for my Western Civilizations class.
There was no easy way to explain that the settlement had been from his politician father, who knew his son was a predator and would stop at nothing to keep it quiet.
There was no explaining away why the same man was now the governor, a laundry list of harassment, misconduct settlements and lawsuits trailing in his wake.
His arms tightened around me and I relaxed into the realization I could breathe when Adam held me. I’d always been safe with him, even when I hadn’t wanted to be. He’d been around almost as long as I could remember, almost as long as my own brother, though that was the last association I wanted to make when I thought of him.
I was the one to let go first, he wasn’t, and I sighed regretfully. There were so many things I couldn’t say.
“You owe me dinner,” he teased as he tucked my hair over my ear and tipped my head down so he could kiss the top.
We crept down the creaky old stairs, all three sets, and I stood on the top step of the porch in the cold early morning air as he unlocked his truck.
“Adam…” My voice was soft and hesitant and he paused, raising his eyes to look at me. “I have a weird question.” My quiet voice seemed loud in the silent predawn air.
He inclined his head to indicate I should continue.
“Did I change something between us? Did I do something wrong?”
His forehead creased and I rushed ahead. “You don’t call me Mads anymore and when you call me Madelyn, I feel like maybe it’s because you’re angry with me.”
He cleared his throat and pushed away from the door, leaning over the hood to lock eyes with me.
“When you were a little girl I called you by that nickname.”
It was my turn to wrinkle up my forehead.
“You’re all woman now, Madelyn. That changes things.”
With that he nodded sharply, turned quickly and got into his truck. He started up the engine and drove away without a single look back.
I wondered if he had some experience with that, the not looking back.
I drove back to Ithaca later that week for a face-to-face with Atholton and McEvoy, which was a little silly in my estimation, considering both men lived within forty-five minutes of me. A local meeting would surely have been better than all of us converging on Scott’s farmhouse in Ithaca, but something told me he wanted to observe our interactions and gauge our chemistry.
I was fifteen minutes early and still the last to arrive, pulling into the driveway to find two enormous blonde men, one even bigger than the other, engaged in what looked like a very serious conversation. The bigger of the two looked worried–no, not exactly worried–more like heartbroken. If heartbreak had a look, it was written all over the guy’s face.
Climbing out of Kennedy’s car, I marched toward them and smiled confidently, sticking out my hand. “One of you is Atholton and one of you is McEvoy, but you’re going to have to set me straight.”
“Aaron.” The smaller of the two took my hand first and his handsome face crinkled into an even white smile.
“Aaron…you’re married to a woman named Harlowe, right?”
The man nodded, his smile dimming just slightly.
“I grew up with Adam Beckman.”
A cautious look crossed the man’s face. “Beckman…yeah, you could say he’s not my biggest fan. Though…” He surveyed me critically for a second. “I can see Beckman has a type.”
“Oh, we’re not together.” I shook my head quickly.I wish we were.“I’ve just known him since I was ten. We’ve kind of reconnected since I got home about two months ago.”
Aaron had a funny look on his face, like he’d just found a missing puzzle piece.
“Michael.” The bigger man saved Aaron from an uncomfortable explanation, his hand held out in front of him. “Most people just call me Big Mike.”
Creative, thatmostpeoplecrowd.
“Mike.” I smiled. There was something easy and accepting about these two. “I’m Madelyn. Pleased to meet you. Also happily married, I gather?” I pointed to the thin gold band on his left hand.
