“Cheating? How?” I ask.
“They were sabotaging the cabins. Our keys work on all the girls’ cabin doors, so they were messing them up before the judging, then cleaning them up after.”
“You’re kidding,” I say with a nod. “How did Dirk figure it out?”
“One of the girls confessed,” Emma says.
I bite my lip. Confession is good for the soul. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me. I have so many stupid secrets of my own, it is time to come clean.
The girls finally leave, and I look at my breakfast, appetite returning. Sneaking past Marge is going to be a challenge, but I have to find Logan and explain before it is too late.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I hobble down the path with the crutches Marge lent me toward the noise pouring out of the auditorium. Sadness overtakes me. The kids shouldn’t have their summer ruined, not like this. Marsden has been arrested and will be charged. This is time for celebration.
I turn the corner and rest against the wall for a minute, armpits already aching. Across the way, my girls are chatting with Kat. She hugs them and my blood begins to boil.
“Kat.”
Her head whips around, then she glowers at me. “What did you tell them?”
I shrug. “The truth.”
She presses out a laugh. “You’re just trying to get back at me.”
“You think that’s what this is about?” I shake my head. “Why are you lying? You were there. I stopped him. I saved you and you left me there. I’ve spent the entire night trying to figure out why. Do you really hate me that much?”
Sadness falls over her face. “No, I don’t hate you. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stop him. I thought you got away.”
“Good thing for me Logan’s been on a mission to fix his past mistakes or last night would have ended terribly worse.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Haven’t you noticed the circles under his eyes?”
She furrows her brow, but says nothing.
“He must have been out at night all week, looking for Marsden, trying to redeem himself for something that happened to you, and you don’t even care. He’s nothing but a trophy to you.”
“I do care. I love him!” she hisses. “How dare you say that.”
I shake my head. “You have a weird way of showing it.”
“Stop judging me. You think you’ve been through something? Huh? Little miss perfect? Pulling out the helpless card to get Logan’s attention. You don’t know shit!”
I watch her, when the truth comes to me. She couldn’t go get Logan, or she would’ve had to explain why she was out after she promised to text him first. Dirk was her only viable recourse because apparently he didn’t think camp was dangerous with all his security guards around, to the point that he encouraged their hookups. But why the money? Who was paying who?
“Was that meeting planned?”
“What?” she laughs.
“There was money on the ground that you took, that he said you’d stolen.”
“That was mine.” She shakes her head, but she can’t look at me.
Why would she meet him and bring cash?
I rethink things for a moment and for a split second, pity overtakes me. Instead of a beautiful woman at the pinnacle of perfection with everything I want, I see a scared girl whose secrets are catching up to her.
Then the name Michelle suddenly clicked.
I step forward. “I found a business card in your locker this week with a note on the back, saying they knew who that person was. I couldn’t understand your reaction when Marsden showed up the first time. You fell apart, claiming it was something that happened to you before, but then you’d sneak out at night like it was nothing. But it’s because you knew Marsden.”
She backs up and shakes her head. “No. I’ve never met him before.”
“Yet he called you Michelle. Funny thing is, that’s the same name on the business card under your locker.”
The color drains from her face. “That isn’t my card and that doesn’t prove anything.”
“We can go to the cabin right now and I’ll show it to you if you want. We could even call the number. I bet your voice is on the message.”
Her mouth falls ajar. “You may think you know something, but you don’t. We’re leaving once the kids are gone. It’s over, Maddy. No more being the victim. No more tricks.”
My heart twists. I know my time has run out to stop her, but I’m not going to keep my mouth shut.
“Logan will figure it out. That you’re the one turning tricks,” I say. “Maybe not today, but for his sake, I hope it’s soon.” I eye her up and down. “What about Dirk? You gonna break his heart, too?”
Her smile falls and I don’t see her hand flying through the air until it connects with my cheek.
“Ouch!” I hold the stinging skin. Then I realize that I need to learn a lesson from her mistakes. That, or my secrets will take me down, too.
She blows out a breath and turns on her heels. “Have a nice life, Maddy.”
I smirk. “Logan doesn’t deserve this, and neither does Dirk. Oh, and you’re welcome.”
“For?”
“Saving you.”
She grits her teeth. I know she has to be thankful, but her self-preservation won’t allow herself to acknowledge that.
“Stay out of our lives.”
She turns and stops. Logan is standing a few feet away.
“Logan,” she breathes. Once she recovers, she stumbles toward him.
He holds up his hand. In it is what looks like a shirt.
“I can explain,” she says, approaching him.
He shakes his head. “No. I’m done listening to your excuses.”
“No, Logan. Please.”
“You were there,” he says plainly, shaking the shirt. Then his face hardens. “You were there.”
“Logan, I promise you. I just… I couldn’t talk about it, because… because of the past.”
“I believed you, even after everything, and you lied to me. To my face. You caused this. You brought Marsden here. Maddy stopped him. You put her in danger, why?”
Her lip quivers. “I don’t know.”
She tries to hug him and he pulls away. “No, Kat. I’m done.”
“What?”
“It’s over.”
My heart is racing and I can barely breathe.
“No, Logan. No! Please.” She reaches for him again, crying.
He pushes her away. “It’s not just that.”
She sucks in a sob.
He blinks slowly. “Dirk told me about you two.”
“What? No. He’s lying. I love you.”
He shakes his head. His eyes lift to find mine, tortured and shattered.
I tear up, heartbroken over his loss and mouth that I’m sorry.
Kat swings around and glares at me. “This is your fault. You’ll pay. You’ll pay!” She takes off running.
“Logan,” I whisper.
He stands there, his eyes clouded with anger, and I know exactly how he feels. “I’m sorry, Maddy. For everything.”
We stare at one another for a good long minute. I want to go to him, console him, but I’m no better than Kat. Our whole relationship is built on my lies.
His eyes lose focus and then he turns. I start to sob once he’s gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I flip the closed sign on the café doors and finish wiping off the tables. The new pumpkin latte and chilly weather brought in more customers than normal, leaving me exhausted and my ankle aching. But I don’t care. After everything, I am thankful to have a job.
Once camp shut down, Joe and Glenda decided on an early retirement and sold their home, leaving me without a job once again. If it wasn’t for Marge, who knew intimately how my mother could be, and her offer to stay with her, I might still be sleeping on Mom’s couch, or homeless.
But the events leading to the closure of Redwood Springs prompted me t
o rethink my life and make some changes. No more lies. No hiding my past. If people don’t like me for who I am, then they aren’t worth it.
With the court trial looming, I assume Logan and I will be called as witnesses. Whenever I do see him, no matter the cost, I’ll confess my secrets. He didn’t deserve how I treated him, and I regret lying every single day.
The door opens. I swivel around. “We’re closed.”
My heart stops for a second as I look into Logan’s eyes.
“Hey,” he says with a sheepish smile and I’m catapulted to the day we met.
My knees grow weak just at the sight of him, then I recover.
My eyebrows press together. “How’d you find me?”
He lowers his head. “You were hard to find, considering your phone’s been disconnected.”
I’d done so to get rid of Gage once and for all, and for fear Kat might hunt me down.
“Oh, right.” I blink at him, then it dawns on me. “Sydney told you.”
His coy smile lights up my insides and the love I’d shoved into the deepest part of my heart pulls out a battering ram and shoves its way out.
I take a deep breath. Though I should be mad at her, I can’t help but be grateful. “Why are you here?”
He takes a step forward, his face now somber. “I came to apologize.”
“Apologize?” I gulp. “You came all this way to tell me you’re sorry.”
He nods. “I think about what happened every day and how everything went down, and how I left.”
“Me, too,” I want to say but don’t.
“No, Logan.” I hold up my hand. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t tell you about Dirk when I knew.”
He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have listened if you had. I wasn’t listening to anything.” He lowers his eyes. “I was just trying so hard to redeem myself to someone who didn’t really care about me, or wasn’t capable.”
My shoulders sag. “Logan.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I’ve had a long time to think about this. I tried to force feelings that hadn’t been there for a long time, because I thought I owed it to her. But you. You changed everything.”
I hold my breath.
He walks forward. “Since we met, every instinct pulled me toward you. When you were near, I was aware of your every breath, of your every movement. With you, it was easy. Nothing to prove. And since you’ve been gone, I can’t think. I can’t eat. I’m constantly reminded of you.” He moves closer. “I thought it would go away. But it hasn’t. Every night when I close my eyes, I see Marsden on top of you, and the thought of him doing anything or of losing you has ripped me apart. I knew even then I was with the wrong girl, I just didn’t know how wrong she was for me. And I’m tired of fighting my feelings.”
I push out the breath I’m holding. “Then don’t.”
His lips come down on mine and something inside me breaks free. I finally feel whole, like two puzzle pieces fitting together. I melt into his touch, the warmth flows all over me. And I just want him, forever with him. No matter how crazy it all is, I’m still completely madly in love with him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he says as he pushes my hair off my face and kisses away my tears.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But I have to tell you something.”
He stops kissing me and narrows his eyes.
“I haven’t been honest. There are things I have to tell you, the truth, mostly. I just…”
“Later.” He leans over and smothers me with kisses again, and my eyes roll back. He’s intoxicating, filling my body with such euphoria, that it’s so easy to let the past stay in the past. I fight it, and push away, though I don’t want to.
“No, please. If we’re going to finally do this, you have to know the truth about me first.”
His eyes narrow.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “I’m not going to school at U.C. Davis. My parents are divorced. My mother is an alcoholic. And… I got the bruise on my face because Gage slammed on the brakes and I hit my face on the dash. Also, we were already broken up when I came to camp.”
When he doesn’t say anything, I open my eyes.
His lips are pressed into a line, and for a moment I can’t read him. My heart thunders. Have I just lost him when I finally had him? Then the corner of his lip turns up. “Is that all?”
I blink at him. “Do you want there to be more?”
He shrugs. “No.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? You’re not mad at me?”
He shakes his head. “Well, I’m disappointed you couldn’t tell me the truth, but… maybe now you’ll trust me with your secrets.”
My mouth falls open.
Logan gives me a look, then laughs. “You’re adorable, you know that?”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“Actually, I have a confession of my own.”
My heart jolts in fear. “What?”
He pauses for a moment, making the fear grow. “I may have sent a few rogue texts to you this summer… about missing you.”
“What?” I say.
He gives me his amazing smile before he scoops me up into another hug and presses his lips to mine with another amazing kiss.
“I’ve been mad about you, Maddy, even then,” he breathes into my ear. “And whatever I do, I want to do it with you.”
Goosebumps shoot down my spine, and my head spins. I can’t imagine anything better. “Okay.”
“And I’m not letting you go…”
I sink into his body and hold on tight. “Good, ‘cause neither am I.”
THE END
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DID YOU ENJOY TRULY MADLY DEEPLY?
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OTHER BOOKS BY BRENDA PANDOS
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
The Talisman Series
Emerald | Sapphire | Onyx | Out for Blood | Blood Wars
:::
URBAN FANTASY
Mer Tales Series
Everblue | Evergreen | Everlost | Evermore*
:::
DYSTOPIAN
Lost in Time Series
Glitch | Switch |Hitch
:::
NEW ADULT
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brenda Pandos is the author of several paranormal/sci-fi books, The Talisman Series and Mer Tales, and Lost in Time. She lives in California with her husband, eight chickens and a grumpy cat, and loves to be contacted by readers.
Connect with me online:
FOLLOW AT: twitter.com/brendapandos
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VISIT AT: brendapandos.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to my PA, Julie Bromley for heading up my fabulous street team and keeping me organized. Hugs and kisses to my amazing beta readers: Stacey Nixon, Debbie Poole, Nicole Hanson, Julie Bromley, and Jessie de Schepper. And to the rest of my street team: Rhonda Helton (my #1 fan), Tery Mitchell, Sarah Erhart, Claire Taylor, Julie Burns, Kerri Simpton and Nastasia Nazar: for your love of reading, of my characters and my stories. To Karen of Crain Editing, thank you for all you do!
To my readers: Thank you for sticking with me on another wild journey with Logan and Maddy. If I could reach through this device and hug you… okay, that’s kind of creepy. Just consider yourself hugged. Thank you for giving me the greatest career ever. Every tweet, message, email and review (well, not the bad ones) inspire me. I think of your disappointed faces when I don’t write, and strive to put down words every day. I hope you fall in love with this next group of characters and give them life by telling others about them.
Brenda Pandos, Truly Madly Deeply: Volumes 1-4
Truly Madly Deeply: Volumes 1-4 Page 31