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The redhead looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Um…it’s too late for that. Don’t you think?”
“Why do you say that?”
She looked taken aback. “You don’t know? You’re not screwing with me?”
“No. I’m genuinely asking you where I can find your best friend because I fucked up, and I want to start over.”
The uneasiness returned, followed by apologetic air that instantly told him he wouldn’t like whatever she said next. “It really is too late. She and Todd Pershing got engaged two hours ago.”
As her words sliced through his brain, she held up her phone, displaying a picture of Madison in a fancy black dress with a smirking poser at her side, arm draped over her shoulders like he didn’t have a care in the world, and a giant oval diamond winking on her ring finger.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Madison Archer planned to marry another man.
“She’s not kidding, buddy,” Nash uttered beside him. “TMZ is reporting the story. They apparently got engaged at a historic inn over champagne and a violin serenade. Word is, they’re talking about tying the knot in the spring.”
Every part of him went rigid. Shock. Denial. Betrayal. Fury—all pelted him like a hail-fire of bullets, along with the searing certainty that happiness was forever beyond his reach.
Matt opened his mouth, but he could only utter the one word chanting through his head over and over. “No.”
Haisley’s face softened. “Based on everything she said, I really believed you didn’t give a shit. She did, too.”
When he should have grabbed Madison and never let go, he’d retreated. He’d gone up in his head, worried about the wrong what-ifs, and let the only woman who’d ever meant a damn thing slip through his fingers.
Why the hell hadn’t Madison told him how she felt?
Matt swallowed and pulled his truck keys from his pocket. “Where can I find her? I have to talk to her. Now. I need to see if—”
“Don’t. Please. She’s finally settled. Her fiancé is rich and well educated, but more importantly, he seems to want her and puts her first. You don’t know how badly she needs that.”
But he and Madison had something special she couldn’t possibly share with Mr. Silver-Spoon. “She needs to know that I’m an option, too, and that I’ll put her first.”
“But you haven’t.”
No, but he would. And he’d teach her to communicate with him, goddamn it. He’d learn, too. But first things first. “Where. Is. She?”
“Spending the night with Todd. It’s their first time together. He waited until she was ready, and he put a ring on it.” Haisley’s muted words were like a sucker punch, nearly doubling him over. “She already picked an option, Matt, and she swept all the others who have used and ignored her in the trash. If you’ve had a change of heart, you’re too late. In less than twelve hours, Senator Pershing will be making the rounds on the Sunday morning shows to tell the public all about her and Todd’s romantic engagement. And to fundraise. There’s no way Madison is going to change her mind now. I’m sorry.”
With that, Haisley motioned to her girls. The trio of them all sashayed out the door and into the humid, August night. Around him, Matt was hyperaware of the lights flashing, the music thumping, the billiard balls clinking, and Nash staring with pity. He felt rooted in place, as if time had stopped because hope he hadn’t even realized he had for a future with her had abruptly died.
“You look fucking white as a sheet. Let’s get out of here. We’ll hunker down at your place, polish off a bottle, and—”
“No.” He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t fucking fathom how everything had gone so wrong so fast.
“Okay, if you want to be alone, I understand. Let me make sure you get home. Once I know you’re good, I’ll come back. Haisley is gone, but I can still get laid. There are plenty of hot girls here. Hi.” He waved to a brunette wearing a microscopic T-shirt on the other side of the bar.
Nash was willing to do without the woman he really wanted because she didn’t want him. Matt tried not to be bitter about the fact that, from now on, that would be his new norm. He failed miserably. All he saw, felt—ached for—was Madison.
Goddamn it, he wished he could go back in time, to the days he’d been tied up with his father in Wyoming and answer her texts. Better yet, call her and tell her that he missed her, and instead of being embarrassed about his dad’s bullshit and worried about his own proclivities, admit what was on his mind. Hell, if he could even turn back the clock to their last conversation and handle things differently…
But he couldn’t. Their ship had run aground and was sinking fast. Nothing remained but memories. Madison had grabbed onto a life preserver—one that just so happened to be connected to one of the richest, most powerful families in America—and jumped. She’d made sure she would be just fine.
That left Matt with a choice: go down with the ship and let it drown him in pain or pull himself out of the wreckage and move on.
For a long moment, he closed his eyes. This fucking wasn’t what he wanted. If Madison were still an option, he’d pick her every time. But she wasn’t. And Haisley had made it crystal clear that nothing he did could change that.
“You stay,” he told Nash. “Go chat up the hot brunette. I hope you get lucky, man.”
“Where are you going?”
