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"Hey, Coach," Maddy flashed him a flirtatious smile. "What's up, Addison?" Her brows furrowed.
"Can I please share your room?" I begged. "They lost my reservation, and the only bed available is in Maddox's room." Her eyes went wide.
"Yeah," she said. "My roommate is out with an injury, so I'm alone anyway." My entire body relaxed as I blew out a sigh of relief. "Come on. I'll take you up."
"Thanks." I smiled once we were riding the elevator up.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes on me.
"I'm tutoring Maddox," I muttered, avoiding eye contact.
"What?" she snapped. "Why?"
"Because it's my job," I answered. She narrowed her eyes at me. She didn't believe me.
"What's going on?" she asked. "There's no way you would tutor him again willingly. It's no secret that you've refused to tutor him several times." She was right. I shrugged, hoping she would drop the subject, and thankfully she did.
"Well, I'm sure Maddox will be happy to have you as his tutor again." Maddy smiled. I rolled my eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. "You know he's never said anything about seeing you here on campus."
"That's because he doesn't recognize me," I muttered. "And I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible."
"Maybe he hasn't seen you yet," she said when the doors chimed open.
"He's seen me," I corrected her, following her out of the elevator.
She laughed. "Addison, just because he's looked your way doesn't mean he's truly seen you." She flashed her key card in front of the lock, which flashed green. "Maddox hasn't really seen anyone since you left. I know you don't believe me, or maybe you don't care, but he was pretty fucked up after you left."Here we go again."Not that he didn't deserve it because he did." I rolled my eyes. I didn't believe her. If Maddox was fucked up after I left, it had nothing to do with me. "Who knows, maybe you'll be able to bring back the old Maddox."
I scoffed, falling back on the vacant bed and staring up at the white popcorn ceiling. I wasn't sure how Maddox would react when he did recognize me, but I doubted he would be happy to see me. The old Maddox wasn't real. He was a figment of our imagination, a scam, a fake. This was the real Maddox, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
TWENTY-SEVEN
ADDISON
Chewing on my lip, I sat at a small table in the lobby, waiting for Maddox. My legs bounced rapidly as I scanned the room, thinking he might not realize who he was meeting, but he was nowhere to be seen.
My heart pounding against my rib cage, I grabbed the schedule and scanned it again for the fifth time tonight, making sure I had the right time and place, and it said the same thing as the last four times I checked. He was late. Thirty minutes late.
I dropped my head to the glass table. A mixture of relief and annoyance that Maddox hadn't bothered to show up washed over me.
"What are you doing down here?" Asher hissed. My head snapped up to see Asher standing shirtless in the lobby. Annoyance covered his facial features. I opened my mouth to answer, but he didn't give me a chance to get a word out. "Where's Maddox?" I shrugged, opening my mouth again, but he cut me off. "You're supposed to keep him in line, Addy."
"I didn't agree to that." I scowled. "I agreed to tutor him, not babysit him, and I can't tutor him if he doesn't show up."
He huffed out a laugh. "I don't think you willingly agreed to any of this, but we both know what the consequences of not doing what I tell you are, don't we?"
I clenched my jaw. "This wasn't part of the deal, Asher."
He laughed, "Deal?" There was no humor in his tone. "There's no deal; either you do what I tell you, or you know what will happen." He slapped his palm flat against the glass table and I jumped. "Curfew is in fifteen. We will pay if Coach does bed checks and he's not there. If I have to pay, you will have to pay." I swallowed hard.
"Asher," I said. "How am I supposed to control him?"
"I don't care," he muttered. "It's not my problem."
He stormed off, disappearing into the stairwell.
I didn't even know where to start looking for Maddox or what I would do when I found him.
Pushing out of my chair, I froze when my eyes locked on Maddy's. Had she been there the whole time?
