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“Yeah. At least.”
“Have you seen his royal highness yet?” She shuffles in her seat, moving closer to the table between us as if we need to watch what we’re saying.
“No. Apparently, he’s away for the day, which is fine. I would prefer not to see him for as long as possible.”
“That’s completely understandable. I, for one, am still stunned to hell. Likeliterally.I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. First, I had to get over the shock of you meeting the guy because,hello,it’s not every day you meet someone likeKnight Grayson, then being told everything else… well, it’s a lot for a girl to process.”
“Try being me, Madison.” I rest my hands on the table.
“Oh, honey.” She reaches across and taps the top of my hand. “I’m so sorry. I truly am. I know this is tough, and a definite out of the frying pan and into the fire situation, but… maybe we can hope that it might not be so bad.”
I give her an incredulous glare, staring back at her as if she just slapped me with her bag. “Are you serious?”
“I’m just trying to be positive for you, and…please don’t bite my head off, but it sounded like youmighthave liked him back at the restaurant.” She gives me a careful smile, then purses her lips and gives me a narrowed stare. “It also sounded like more happened between you two that you haven’t shared.” She raises her brows, and curiosity fills her face as fast as light chasing away darkness.
“Enough happened between us to tell me he’s an asshole.” I dodge the spot-on accusation, giving my head a shake to rid my mind of the clandestine memory.
“Okay, asshole it is.” The careful smile returns, but the curiosity lurking in her eyes tells me she’s only backing down because she can see my state of angst.
I’m glad she is, because yes, I did hold back on what I told her. All she knows is Knight and I met at No. 11 and had a drink. I absolutely did not tell her all the sexy, crazy stuff I allowed him to do to me. Apart from being utterly embarrassed and humiliated, I don’t want her to complicate the situation anymore than it is by reading too much into what I did.
Like she is now. I, obviously, know I liked Knight when we met. I just want to forget I did.
“It doesn’t matter what I felt.” I gulp down the rest of my drink. “He was all a lie. Given what I’ve been through, I should have known better. You would.”
She would.Women like Madison don’t fall for such asshole trickery. She would have spotted his deceit straightaway and sent his ass packing before he could even say hello.
The fact that she isn’t commenting is proof enough that I’m right.
“Honey, it might be that I just have a little more experience with men than you.
So, please don’t be too hard on yourself.” She presses her lips together and retrieves another sandwich.
“I just wish I wasn’t at the restaurant that night. I blame that stupid letter from Montrose for sending me there.”
Madison wrinkles her nose. “ForgetMontroseand that fucking Rachel. I pray that nasty bitch gets what’s coming to her..”
Madison was the last person I spoke to before I ventured to the restaurant on doom’s night. Before I even got down to the details of my rejection fromMontrose, she guessed that Rachel must have had something to do with it.
“I’d tell you to fight, but there’s no point fighting for a place like that when they clearly never valued your hard work in the first place.”
“They’re under Rachel’s spell. Even if they valued me, they were probably scared because of what herdaddycould do to them.”
“It’s just not fair.”
I bow my head briefly in unforgettable shame. “It’s my fault I—”
“Don’t you dare, Aurora.” She raises her voice. I lift my head to meet her intense stare. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. Scott was an asshole who never had to answer for his part in this mess. While you’re still suffering for it.”
“It looks like I’m going to be suffering for a long time.”
“Please don’t say that.”
“It’s true. At least for as long as Rachel wants me to.”
As it stands now, I have no one powerful enough to try to fight for me. When Rachel first found out about Scott and me, and threatened to destroy me and my family if I ever thought I could fight her, I should have at least told Dad.
I only kept it from him because apart from being ashamed, I was still grieving for Mom, and Dad had gone into meltdown mode. Back then, he was barely talking. I doubted he even factored in that I was mad at him because he was a mess. Now I’m alone, and the future of my career hangs in the balance of probabilities.
