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“I’m good. Tessa cooks every morning.” He smiled. “Got to when you have kids to feed.”
And just like that, Matt envied Zy again. The smiling bastard knew happiness with the woman he loved. Matt would never know what putting a ring on Madison’s finger and planting his seed in her belly would be like. The thought of tying her to him so irrevocably made him hard as fuck.
He needed to downshift fast.
“No doubt. Talk to you later.” Gritting his teeth, Matt made his way to Trees’s desk.
After that conversation, the day seemed to last forever. He found himself sloughing off work and delving into Madison’s life. He felt like a creepy voyeur, but he couldn’t stop himself.
In less than three minutes, he’d learned where she lived, where she’d gone to school, and everywhere she’d ever worked. Along with her social media footprint and social affiliations, he found a prom picture, some photos of her with the girls she’d come to Saturday’s wedding with, and snapshots of her with her dad. An obituary from the local paper for her mother jumped out at him. He hadn’t known; Madison had mentioned that her mother was gone. Then again, Marie Archer had died when Madison was a small child. It was possible she barely remembered the woman.
The elementary school where she taught let out at half past three. He had to summon all his restraint not to hop in his truck and talk to her. He held back for two reasons. First, if he found her alone, he’d get her naked and spend the night inside her. A kindergarten classroom wasn’t the place for that. Second, what could he say, especially when he had no idea how to curb his twisted desires and be the man she deserved?
But knowing she was out there, where he couldn’t touch her, made him half-insane.
He was bargaining with himself, fighting impulses that had him climbing the walls, when his phone rang. He read the display and cursed.
Albany County Detention Center.
Wyoming. Only one person he knew in Laramie would call him from jail. What the fuck had his father done now?
When he’d left home, Dad had promised to spend some time alone and work on himself. Matt suspected now that hadn’t lasted long.
He jogged into the conference room and shut the door, so Zy and Kane couldn’t overhear. “Hello?”
“Matt?” his dad croaked out. “Thank God you answered. I need your help. I’ve been arrested.”
“Arrested?” Dad had been a fuckup for years, but he’d never had a run-in with the law. “For what—”
“N-Nicole, my girlfriend…”
Another one? So he hadn’t spent any time alone after Matt had gone to Louisiana, just jumped into another relationship, as usual. “Damn it, Dad. What happened?”
“Don’t be that way. She was different and—”
“If you two split up and she’s already gone, no. How did that land you in jail?”
“She’s dead. The police think I killed her.”
Matt froze. “What?”
“I swear to God, I didn’t. She just went insane. I had no idea…”
Bracing against the wall, Matt’s thoughts raced. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Not now. I’ll explain when you get here. I need you to bail me out, find a lawyer, and handle the cleanup.”
“Cleanup?”
“Nicole found the gun in my nightstand, and she…” Dad couldn’t finish the sentence. He broke down, weeping silent, grim tears.
“She…pointed it at you? Did you wrestle her for it and—”
“The gun didn’t go off by accident. She committed suicide.”
Matt closed his eyes. “Oh, fuck.”
“She’d threatened before. I didn’t really think she would do it.”
