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“How can you be so certain when I don’t know if I’m supposed to be heartbroken because he cheated on me? Or if past me would have forgiven him?”
Adira’s mouth twitches like he wants to say something but needs to think each word choice through first. “It’s complicated.”
“That’s what he said too.”
“Hang on. Let me speak.” He stops on the pavement. “The reason no one wants to tell you about what happened is because it could cause a trauma response.”
“It must have been bad then.” Unforgivable. Heart-shattering. “Did it… break me?”
“I wasn’t there. I only heard about it later,” he says. “I know Rogue regrets what happened though. And I know that you forgave him for it. The two of you are endgame, Ivy.”
“There they are,” someone shouts.
More voices join the fray. It sounds like a stampede a moment before a group of shutterbugs surround us. They push their cameras into our faces, asking questions about drugs and my mental health. About my brother. About Rogue. Our marriage. About my injuries. About my shopping.
My pulse races as I twist about looking for an exit. I’m separated from Adira almost helplessly. Like I’m caught in a riptide.
“Ivy,” he yells after me, but he’s stuck on the outer edge.
I’m jostled by one after another as I try to avoid their lenses. I’ve been mobbed before at events with Nicole and my brother. But never like this. Never with me being the center of attention. Then Rogue’s there… with me… in the thick of it. His strong arms wrap around me and draw me under his arm. Angle me into his body. He lifts his jacket to block the cameras from capturing any part of my face.
“Back off,” he snaps at the crowd as our bodyguard cuts a path to the car.
“Can we get a picture of the newlyweds?” someone yells.
“What is it like being married to the famous playboy?”
“Hey, Ivy. Why do you stay with him when he hurts you?”
“What?” I glance around to see who asked the question. But I can’t make out a single face. They all blend together in a blur.
“Give my wife some space. Can’t you see you’re scaring her?” Rogue growls as he helps me up into the back of the Range Rover. Adira is already waiting in the front seat. Rogue climbs in behind me.
And still the crowd are screaming questions I don’t have the answers to.
“Are you okay?” Rogue is in my face. Worry in his blue eyes.
“I wasn’t ready.” Not to be surrounded by paparazzi. Or bombarded with questions. I wasn’t prepared to find myself married to Rogue freaking Maddox and in the middle of a scandal. “I wasn’t prepared for any of this.”
“If you’re hurt.” He starts checking me over.
“I’m not.”
“But if you were…”
His worry touches my heart. I frame his jaw with my hand. “I’m not.”
“You’re not?” He’s breathing hard as his gaze locks with mine.
I fall into it. I need to feel the connection between us. I need him. He claims my mouth in a scorching kiss. Sweeps his tongue over my teeth and owns every inch before he draws away.
It’s over too soon. It’s not enough. I want more. I kiss him back with everything I have to give. Our mouths cling and taste and drive the flames inside me higher.
His hand finds my knee and my thighs part on instinct.
“Fuck.” Rogue rips himself away from me. His mouth is glossy from our kiss and he looks deliciously rumpled. He thumps his fist against the roof of the Range Rover as he sits back against the seat.
We’re not alone. I forgot. It felt like we were the only two people in the world.
