AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Madeline’s dark eyebrows rose incredulously. “I was under the impression that you didn’t care either way what happened to me.”
“Where on Earth did you get that idea?” Madeline had been in the center of, not only all of my dreams and fantasies, but most of my waking moments too. I was completely and unhealthily obsessed with her. Even if I was awful at showing it.
“You can’t be serious,” Madeline scoffed. “I literally put the ball in your court, and you proceeded to act like I barely existed.”
“No, that’s not how it happened, at least not to me.” I was afraid to take things further because I was paranoid that everything was going to come crashing down around me if I relaxed too much.
“Then how was it? Because to me it looked like you didn’t want to have anything to do with me.” Madeline was getting angry again, her cheeks pinking.
“I didn’t mean to avoid you, I was just in love and didn’t quite know how to deal with it.” The words tumbled out of my mouth, surprising the both of us. Never before had I said the ‘L’ word out loud to a woman.
“....Youloveme?” Madeline squeaked with surprise, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
“If I said yes...would you run away from me screaming? It may feel like we are skipping a couple of steps. I haven’t been able to take you on dates like Adair and Rio have, nor do I really expect you to reciprocate, but if I don’t say anything I’m afraid that I will regret it until the day I die, and that day might come sooner than you would think because life is too short and—”
Madeline cut my jumbled tirade short by pressing a finger to my lips. “Shut up for a second.” She said, and I clamped my lips shut tight.
“So you’re telling me that you’re in love with me. Currently, right now, even though I literally ran off to another country?” I nodded silently, and waited for her brain to catch up.
“Even if I may be cranky and not the bubbly beta that I present myself as sometimes?” I nodded again.
Tears began to swim in Madeline’s eyes. “Even if my issues might make it hard to love me?”
Pulling Madeline’s finger away from my lips, I cupped either side of her face in my hands and kissed her. I hoped that I was conveying everything that I felt for her through the press of my lips.
“Yes, even then. Can you forgive me if my issues make me act like an absolute arsehole sometimes? I promise to make up for eight months of idiocy for the rest of my life, if you just say that you love me too.” My cards were all on the table now. I had no reservations left, and whatever Madeline said next could either shred me to pieces, or bring my broken bits together again.
Madeline reached out and placed her palm flat on my chest, right over where my heart was currently beating at what felt like a million beats per minute.
“Tibby once said that her love for me isn't conditional, meaning that even if I struggled and got stuck on my insecurities and issues, she would still be there on the other side of the tunnel, waiting for me. There is nothing that I could do to make her stop loving me as my best friend.”
“That Tibby is a smart one.” I hadn’t gotten to know her much other than in passing, but it was easy to see why Aria and the rest of her pack were completely head over heels for the feisty omega.
“She is,” Madeline said, finally smiling. “And I’m going to take a page out of her book. My love for you, Adair, and Rio isn’t conditional either. It doesn’t go away because I’m upset or angry with you.”
Pure elation skipped through my body, and I laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. Swooping down, I kissed Madeline again and it was so full of the promise of the future that I could have wept.
“Don’t hurt me like that again, okay?” Madeline murmured against my mouth. “I don’t think my poor heart can take it.”
“I won’t.” I promised with every fiber of my being.
“Idiot.” Madeline said, but there was no malice behind the words as she kissed me again. “Stupid, stubborn,” she kissed me between each of the words.“British,” she tacked on at the end for good measure.
“Is that supposed to be an insult, love?” I asked and was rewarded with a wet laugh. Pressing soft kisses to her forehead, I used my thumbs to wipe the tears off of her cheeks, and we sat on that bench, listening to the ocean for a long time afterward.
