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“Maddox. Why are you here?”
Not quite what I was hoping for, but not surprising. “You had a heart attack. I was worried.”
“Idiotic boy.” His voice was slurred. “Don’t you have better things to do? That contest?”
“We thought you were dying.”
“I’m obviously still here. You didn’t answer my question.”
Because there was no way things were unfolding like this. “I figured it was rhetorical. I’m here to make sure you’re all right.”
“You shouldn’t be. Go home.”
I stared at him in disbelief, slack jawed. Seconds ticked by, and his words sank deeper. Deeper.
What the fuck?
I wasn’t going to pick a fight with a man in ICU, but God I wanted to scream at him for being an asshole. “Good point. See you around.”
It was the best I could manage without letting my anger out. I’d spent half of yesterday worrying about him. Dived into some serious self-discovery last night because of it. Just wanted to see this morning that he was doing all right.
Yup. He was fine. Same asshole he’d always been.
As I stalked out of the hospital, his words echoed in my head. Don’t you have better things to do? That contest?
The exchange played on repeat as I reached my SUV. Bounced around and around as I drove back to the hotel. Mocked me as I let myself into the room.
“Are you all right?” Alys asked the moment she saw me.
“Never better.” Fuck you old man. “We’re going back to Onyx’s.”
“Your Dad—” Onyx snapped his jaw shut when I shot him a look.
I shook my head. “Fine. Same dad as always. Let’s go.” Dad thought that I thought this stupid contest was more important than him? Fine. It would be.
23
Alys
Onyx took his own car. Maddox drove me and himself back to Haddarville. I was worried about him. The kisses last night were incredible. It wasn’t like we were a couple, but there was a promise…
This morning, though, his usual Maddox cheer was gone. He’d only said whatever words were necessary to pack up and leave since he returned from visiting his dad.
I wanted to ask him over and over are you all right? What happened? I wanted to push the issue until he gave me an answer, but that wasn’t practical. Each time I nudged him, his response was, “I’m fine.”
Finally, I couldn’t take the brush-off anymore. “You’re obviously not fine.”
“Sometimes I forget how big an asshole Dad is. Can we leave it at that?”
No. But I couldn’t force Maddox to talk. I wouldn’t. “Okay.”
We parked at Onyx’s, and Maddox loaded his arms with his laptop bag and mine, as well as grabbing a suitcase.
“I can’t believe we made Onyx drag all this shit half an hour away, just to turn around and bring it back. Fucking idiotic of me.” As Maddox hauled everything inside, his grumbling continued. “Seriously—what was I thinking?”
“You made the decision you thought was best at the time.” I doubted that was comforting.
He shook his head and waited for Onyx to join us. “We should do The Motels cover today.” Maddox switched gears in a blink, but his tone was still gruff. His expression sour. “Any chance Aubrey is free? Do we need her? I don’t mean that in a cruel way. Can we do it without make-up? I don’t want to bother her if she’s busy. Everyone has already given us too much of their time.”
