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He’s breathless and tormented, staring deep into my eyes with what I can only describe as equal parts hatred and want.
“I know what you’re doing,” he clips out.
Blood heats the surface of my skin as his rejection wraps its ugly claws around me. It doesn’t make sense, and I don’t even know why I’m so upset, except that this is what my life has come to. I’m sitting on top of a man who hates me, trying to tear his clothes off while he’s looking at me like I’m the devil incarnate.
It’s too much.
“Go to bed, Bianca,” he says.
When I don’t move, he does. He sets me aside and stands, barely glancing at me.
“Go to bed,” he repeats.
And then he walks down the hall, leaving me alone.
Chapter 32
Madden
—PAST—
“Tori, open up.” I bang my fist against her front door for the third day in a row. “I know you can hear me.”
Her car is in the driveway, and her mom left for work ten minutes ago, so I know she’s here. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what happened at the party the other night. I’ve barely eaten. I can’t sleep. It’s been driving me fucking crazy.
I’m about to give up again when a hushed voice speaks from inside the house.
“Just go away, Madden.”
“Tori, please come talk to me. All I’m asking for is five minutes, and then you’ll never have to see me again.”
There’s a long silence, and I catch the window shade moving before she calls out again. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
Another pause. The door cracks open, and she peeks out at the street behind me, scanning it. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but she’s fucking rattled, and I don’t like it. The hollows beneath her eyes are dark, and her hair is a mess. She’s wearing a sweater that practically swallows her whole, and I’ve only ever seen her in tight-fitting clothes before. I know it wasn’t my imagination running wild the other night. Something happened to her at that party.
“Tori?” I glance down at her, and she jolts at the sound of her name.
“How do I know you aren’t here to hurt me?” she says, using the door to shield half her face.
“Why the hell would I come here to hurt you?” I ask.
She considers it for a moment and then shakes her head. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“I came to see if you were alright,” I tell her. “I’m worried about you.”
She squeezes her eyes shut and exhales a shaky breath. “Why?”
“Because of what happened at the party. I don’t know what went down, but it looked like someone put their hands on you, and I want to know who it was.”
She opens her eyes, and they cut over my face. “I know what you’re doing. Do you think I’m stupid?”
I don’t even know how to respond to that, so I don’t.
“Look, Madden.” Her eyes dart behind me again, checking the street. “I had rough sex with some random guy. In case you haven’t heard, that’s kind of my thing. I’m not upset, and you shouldn’t be, either. So are we good now?”
I don’t believe her, but it’s clear she’s not going to open up to me.
“If you need someone to talk to, I can help you—”
She snorts in disbelief. “Seriously? What do I have to say to make you go away? As far as I’m concerned, that night never happened. I’ve already forgotten it, and you should, too.”
“Come on, Tori,” I bite out as she closes the door. “Something happened. You can’t pretend it didn’t.”
“Don’t come back here,” she says. “I never want to see you again.”
“Adam.”
“What’s up?” He barely glances at me before returning his attention to his phone, whipping his fingers over the keyboard as he types out a message.
“I need to talk to you about Tori.”
His fingers still, and he blinks up at me. “What about her?”
“Did you see who she was with at the party the other night?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t even know she was here.”
I collapse into the chair across from him and lean into my elbows. “She had bruises all over her, and she looked totally freaked.”
“What happened to her?” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I scowl. “She wouldn’t tell me. But someone roughed her up. That much was obvious.”
“Dude, have you forgotten who that chick is?” Adam snorts. “She likes the freaky shit, and she loves attention even more. Don’t go getting pissy because she jumps from one guy’s dick to the next. That’s just Tori. It’s why I never locked her down.”
“It’s not like that,” I grunt. “I don’t care what she does or with who. But something about this just wasn’t right.”
He stares at me for a minute, like he doesn’t understand why I’m pursuing this. “How do you know?”
“If you saw her, you’d understand. She was upset. She was running from someone, and she had bruises around her throat. It didn’t look like it happened voluntarily.”
