by Doyle, Dawn
“What are you going to do?” she sighed, already tired. “Don’t bring your ‘Mad-dog’ ideas in here, please. I’ve heard the stories of you planning your shenanigans with other team mates, and I watched your last game.” She took an exasperated breath, and slowly exhaled when I grinned. “That looked like synchronized hell on ice.”
I snapped my fingers and shucked my arm. “Dang, I was going for synchronized sexiness. I knew I should’ve pirouetted instead of cha-cha-cha’d,” I joked, and Pete’s deep belly laugh sounded from the kitchen.
“You’re a twisted, yet thorough young man,” Brenda said, and I bowed slightly to thank her. “But, this is still a business, and we want no trouble.”
I lifted my eyes and held her gaze, all humor gone. “Please, Bren,” I whispered, all humor gone. My window was almost closed. It was now or never. “It’s about Kaia.”
Her graying hair swished when she snapped her head toward Anton, then back to me, her stiff expression mirroring what I saw when I noticed my statement had caught Pete’s attention. “Give me one minute, honey, and when I’m in place, you have five minutes to do your thing and get your behind out the door.” She eyed Anton’s table, shook her cloth and began wiping the already clean surface of the red counter-top. “Got it?”
“I’ll have it done in four.”
Without moving my head, I watched Brenda walk from around the counter as she always did. The moment she took her place, blocking the view from the security camera to Anton’s table, she struck up a conversation with the Wranglers fans sitting there, occupying their attention.
Then, when they were taken in with her cheerful southern drawl, and magnetic personality—not as powerful as mine, I might add—I made my move.
“Hi,” I said, sliding in the booth next to Anton and rested my arm across the top of the seat, cornering him.
“Uh, Maddoc,” he said, his gaze bouncing between me and his female companion. His face drained of color, and I grinned as though we were the bestest pals in the whole damn world. I wanted to fucking strangle the asshole. “Wh-what are you doing here?” He glanced warily to the gawking company opposite us, then back to me.
I let the smile drop slowly from my face, my eyes remaining on his as my jaw hardened. “Hey, there,” I said, then slowly turned my face to the girl before finally tearing my furious stare from Anton.
“Hi, Maddoc,” she replied in confusion, her dark, over-colored eyebrows dipping in the center, her fake lashes almost touching them. I didn’t miss the slight blush across her cheeks under her make-up. “Anton, I thought we were going to be alone tonight?”
“Oh, I’m not staying.” I said with a wave of my hand. “Just wanted to say hi to my pal.” I turned to Anton again and winked. “Right, buddy?” When he just stared at me, his lids wide and his lips in a straight line as though pleading with me to leave, I reached over with my left hand and patted his face harder than necessary, my right arm still over the back of the booth. I pressed my thigh against his, shoving him closer to the corner. “Have a nice time with Eleanor tomorrow.” I thumbed toward the girl, and moved back a little, and saw fear in Anton’s stiff posture and raised brows.
“I’m not Eleanor,” she said, looking between us.
“You’re not Eleanor Eustace?”
She shook her head. “Eleanor’s my roommate.”
I gestured to Anton who looked like he was about to piss his pants. “I could’ve sworn you wrote down you were hooking up with her tomorrow at Clarence Park.” I pointed at him and tipped my head to the side. “Three thirty, right? I could be wrong, though.” I lightly slapped my hand on the table. “Oh, my bad,” I said with a chuckle, then clicked my fingers as I turned to the girl. “You’re Sally Greenwood. The other girl he was fucking behind Kaia’s back.”
Anton tried to stand, but I slipped my hand to his shoulder and sat him the fuck down. “Babe—”
“Anton, what’s he talking about?” Sally whispered in disbelief, her face reddening so much, it matched her hair.
“Kaia. Kaia Levine? Heard of her?” I asked, not giving Anton a second glance when he struggled under my grip.
Good luck, asshole, I grip twigs harder than this, so you’ve got no fucking chance of moving.
“Please, Mad—”
I ignored him and continued describing my girl. “Senior, big blue eyes, dark hair,” I couldn’t help smiling as I thought of her, “beautiful, tiny thing, two huge brothers.” I gestured to Anton’s black eye and swollen nose. “The ones who did that.”
“Anton?” Sally whispered again, still in a daze as though making sense of the shit I’d dumped right on top of her curly haired head.
I beamed, admiring my handiwork that was written all over Anton’s zombie-white face. “Cat got your tongue?” I asked when his mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.
“You said you fell down the stairs,” Sally stated with a sharp bite to her tone.
I laughed hard. “Classic.” I lifted my hand. “The ‘oh, I fell,’ trick.”
Sally leaned forward. “He told me he went to see Kaia about continuing his tutoring, but he had a small accident.” Fire had begun to grow in her eyes, the flames growing higher the more I stoked.
I shook my head. “Oh, you poor, misled girl,” I coo’d with glee. “You see, they were dating for just over two months. When she caught him fucking Eleanor,” I tipped my head toward her and raised a brow, “which I now know you’re not her, Kaia dumped him.” I sat back and shrugged a shoulder. “Almost four months ago.” I waited for that to sink in, mentally high-fiving myself right at the moment she figured it out.
“Seriously?” she screeched. “Anton, we’ve been dating for five months! You said Kaia was your tutor, and you didn’t want people to know you needed help.” She dropped her head into her hands.
I winced in sympathy, but more for Kaia because she'd been played. “I guess he lied, Sally. He followed her home and tried to get her back, but when he told Kaia’s brothers lies, they whooped his skinny ass.”
“You prick!” Sally jumped up out of her seat. “And you’ve been fucking my roommate all this time, too?”
“Don’t make me hurt you, asshole,” I growled. “Tell the fucking truth right now, or what I promised I’d do to you will happen right here, right now.” I gave no fucks that the diner was busy, or that my actions would probably get plastered all over social media within seconds, I’d drag that motherfucker out and beat the living shit of him.
“Yes,” he admitted quietly. “But, Maddoc, I didn’t sleep with Kaia. Okay, we dated, yeah, but she wouldn’t give it up to me. I tried, but she refused.”
I fell back against the seat at his admission while Sally’s eyes bugged out of her infuriated head. Kaia hadn’t slept with him, wouldn’t sleep with him, and he’d been furious. Fucker wrote it down in great detail what he thought about her ‘holding out’ on him.
Asshole.
God, I felt sick to my stomach for her. What she’d said back home in the pool house was so much more than what I thought.
“Oh, my fucking God! Seriously? You’re gonna say that crap right in front of me?” Sally yelled. “Do you have no fucking shame, you piece of fucking shit?”
Anton lowered his head, glancing at me from the corner of his beady eyes. “Are you happy now?”
My grin took over my whole damn face. “You have no fucking idea.” I patted his shoulder, slamming my hand down to make sure I left a mark, then slipped out of the booth when Sally lunged for her full glass of Coke.
The sounds of a splash and a male gasp sounded behind me as I tipped my head down and held the peak of my cap over my eyes.
I walked toward Brenda and smiled when she held her fist out, which I bumped with mine on the way past. “My work here is done.” I heard one last voice before the door closed—Sally’s, and her closing statement that sealed Anton’s fate with the rest of the female population of Westchester College.
“I’m pregnant, you son of a bi
tch!”
I laughed my fucking ass off as I walked to my truck. When I pulled away from the curb, I made sure to stop outside the window where Anton sat, and rested my chin on my hand. When he noticed me, his eyes red and his mouth downturned in self-pity as Sally continued to scream at him, I mouthed ‘you’re welcome,’ then pressed down on the gas to make my way home.
Kaia would hear about this, no doubt, and I wanted to be there to witness it, but there was something else I had to do first.
Kaia
‘Hey, cupcake, sorry I had to take off after you award-winning speech, I definitely wanted to hang around after, but I had to go and pick up a special something.’
I stared down at the texts maddoc had sent. Not only had he made fun of me again, but he’d left me wondering what the hell he was up to. A couple more had come through afterward, but I was still in the dark.
‘I got what I went for, and I’ll be on my way back first-thing. I’ve got training in the morning and classes right after, but I’m free all night.’
I’d sent one text back. ‘I’m busy.’ Heat rose up my neck just thinking about his reaction when I opened my door to find him standing there, and worse as I thought about the empty spot when I’d finally gotten the courage to face him.
And as I continued looking down at the rows of messages, reading through the text that had come every hour, to every few hours, to nothing, I wondered why he bothered at all.
‘Are you free now?’
‘Are you asleep?’
“Good morning, beautiful. Text me when you wake up.’
‘Sleeping in, cupcake? You’re going to be late for class, and I know you don’t like to be late.’
‘Okay, I’m sensing you’re mad. Can I call you?’
‘Kaia, what’s wrong? I’m hoping you’ve lost your phone so you can’t text.’
‘Nope. No lost phone. Just ghosting me.’
‘Seriously, on a scale of one to ten, how mad are you?’
‘Ooh, more than ten. I get it. I took off, I’m sorry, but I can explain.’
That one bugged me the most. He could fucking explain? I’d had enough of the ‘I can explain’ bullshit from guys.
‘Kaia, can you talk to me?’
‘Have I screwed up?’
‘For the four hours I’ve waited for your reply, I take that as a yes?’
‘That bad, huh?’
‘If it helps, I wasn’t making fun of you.’
‘I really wanted to be your donut, cupcake.’
‘Just let me know if I blew it.’
‘I guess that’s my answer.’
I wiped the tear that escaped against my wishes, and locked my phone again. “Fuck!” I picked it up and read over the messages again, one by one, until I got to that last one. More tears fell, and I held the button to switch my phone off when another message came through, but from an unknown number.
‘Hi, Kaia, this is Willow. I’m sorry to text you out of the blue, but Maddoc gave us a surprise visit the other day. He was happy for a little while, but he was so miserable a couple of hours later. He hasn’t told me much, other than he overheard some important information but didn’t stick around for the result. Whatever it is, he’s been so upset and I don’t know what to do to help him. He left early this morning even worse than before. Do you have any idea what’s wrong?’
How could I answer that? Maddoc was miserable? How? And why was I asking myself so many damn questions?
For all the time I’d known Maddoc, or knew of him, he was never miserable. He was always laughing and joking about something, I’d even seen him so furious when Trent said things about Willow, that it was like he was another person. But miserable?
I shook my head as guilt tore through me. Maddoc hadn’t screwed up this time; I had. I’d needed to tell him that no matter how much I wanted that…Donut…I couldn’t. God, I cringed just thinking about that stupid analogy.
I type out my reply to Willow, deleting and redoing as my shaking fingers caused me to mis-type over and over.
‘I think I might have something to do with that.’
Two words came back. No inflection, no emoji’s, just a straight, demanding message.
‘Fix it.’
***
I was already late for class, and as I rushed through the hallways to the lecture hall, the voices still talking about Anton’s predicament echoed around me, seeming to come down from the vaulted ceilings of the old building.
‘Sally’s pregnant,’ ‘Anton was dating Eleanor too.’ ‘Did they know about each other?’ ‘How could they not? They were roommates.’ ‘Sally must’ve known, why else would she stay quiet about Anton being her boyfriend?’
I held back my smile as the people around me continued to laugh at how Anton was outed, in Riley’s, and nobody knew what was going on until Sally started screaming at him.
I pressed my hand on the black door, the metal of the rectangular plate saying ‘push’ cold against my palm. The moment I walked in, a few people turned to see who’d entered, a few lingered on me, but others turned back around, too interested in their own things, which I was glad about.
My usual seat was empty, as was the one next to it where Maddoc had taken upon himself to sit. I paused to look around, and saw he was back where he’d always sat, the entire row full, with the fair-haired girl next to him chatting excitedly and leaning into him more than I liked. Maddoc’s chin was tucked into his chest as he looked down at whatever he was doodling on his paper. His black cap was pulled low, and he still wore a black hoodie with his team’s name emblazoned on the back in matching letters, the bold font outlined in red and white. His long legs relaxed to the side into the aisle, his left bent, keeping the walkway clear for people to pass without tripping.
“Hey, I thought you’d changed seats?” I asked, standing beside him.
His head snapped up, his green eyes wide, and he straightened in his seat. His mouth fell open, and his gaze quickly ran over me before meeting my eyes again. “You want me to sit by you?”
I beamed. “Of course. We’re friends, right?”
Maddoc’s smile spread over his face, and he began to gather his things.
“I thought you were talking to me?” the girl sneered.
Maddoc turned around and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Did you see my lips move?” he asked, and her mouth dropped open. He gestured to the front of the class, and winked at me. “After you, cupcake.” When we sat, he faced me, and stared. “So, are you gonna mention the weird vibe here, or am I?”
“I guess you just did,” I replied, flicking my eyes to him once while I continued grabbing my stuff from my backpack just as the professor walked in.
“Then I think we should discuss why you ghosted me the past couple of days.”
I paused, then slowly adjusted my position so I was angled toward him. I didn’t miss how his gaze shot up from wherever they’d settled. Somewhere near my seat, hovering in that area. I checked, and saw the only thing he could’ve been looking at was the exposed fabric of the chair, or my denim-covered ass.
I raised my brow, and he had the audacity to smile wide like he hadn’t been caught checking out my rear. “Well,” I drew out, then leaned toward him, and lowered my voice. “After…you know what…I was…” I looked away in embarrassment as the familiar warmth flooded my cheeks. I pulled myself together, chiding myself for not just spitting out what I wanted to say. “I finally pulled myself back from the breakdown I was about to have, and you disappeared.”
“Something came up.”
“So I heard.”
Maddoc grinned, his smile so wide I was mesmerized. His pink lips stretched, showing his dazzling teeth, perfectly aligned, except for one that had a slight chip in it. His eyes crinkled as he continued beaming at me, the color of his irises like glass as they reflected the sunlight coming through the windows. His tongue poked out and ran over the bottom lip before gently tugging it between his teeth. It popped back out right away, and I bl
inked fast, whipping my head up to meet his eyes.
“What did you hear?” Maddoc asked, now closer than before. So close that not only was his smell overpowering, but just his hard breaths had mine hitching in my throat.
“Uh.” I swallowed hard and focused on a point over his shoulder. “Just that Anton got his ass handed to him at Riley’s.” I chanced a glance at him, but my gaze froze on his. “I heard a guy with a green hoodie and a black cap”—I looked pointedly to the one he was wearing—“left just before Sally threw her soda in his face.”
Maddoc’s smile changed, his lips closing to hide his teeth as he shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
My lids narrowed as I considered him. “Something came up…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Somebody told you where he was, didn’t they?” My heart raced as I waited for him to answer. “You knew what he was up to.”
His head lifted again at the same time his arm slid over the desk. I flinched when I felt his hand cover mine, the heat of his palm sending a blazing trail up my shoulder. The tiny hairs stood on end, followed by goosebumps. “Babe, when we turned over his dorm, I saw some evidence that showed what he was doing,” he explained, his voice low and calm, whereas I was fuming inside. His eyes searched mine, bouncing between them as though trying to read me. “I wouldn’t have done anything, but I couldn’t sit back and ignore the details I read of when he’d been meeting up with you, Sally, Eleanor…” His nostrils flared and his lids twitched as though he was reigning in his temper again. “The sick fuck mapped out everything.”
I ground my teeth, my temper raising, too. “He never accounted for the possibility of me going back there for my necklace,” I muttered. He would’ve gotten away with his continuous duping if I hadn’t.
Maddoc’s thumb drew circles over the back of my hand while nodding and keeping eye-contact. “Why did you take it off?” he asked, and I flinched. “You always wear it, so why would he have it? And your earrings?”