Page 42 of Cry Madness
Fuck.
“I sought a restraining order after he…”
“After hewhat, Alice?”
“He left a painting of my severed head on my easel at school.”
“Jesus Christ,” I growl.
He’s a goddamn dead man.
“When Officer Monroe went to serve the restraining order, Rook was gone, but the damage was done. People saw it and the rumors started. But I was determined not to be run out, until printouts of it were slipped under my dorm room door. I’m sure it was just some assholes who thought it was funny. It wasn’t.” She shrugs. “That’s when I decided to come home.”
“You should have called me.”
Alice falls quiet, bows her head, and fidgets with her hands. I hold her tight in my arms, sitting on the ground, like we’ve done a thousand times before when we were kids. But this time, it’s different. It feels like so much more. I wish I could drain every last drop of sorrow from her little body. “I know.”
“You shouldn’t have stayed away from me.”
“I know that, too,” she whispers. “But it just hurt so much to be near you.”
“Does it still?”
My heart sits in my throat waiting for her answer.
“No,” Alice finally confesses after a painfully long beat, and her whispered admission lights me up. She leans her head against my chest, her hands settling on my thighs, and I squeeze my eyes shut as I ride out the wave of bliss that washes through me. “Maddox?”
“What is it, Malice?” I pop open my eyes and cover her tiny hands with mine. Our fingers automatically intertwine.
She toys with the thin silver chains on my pants. “Now you understand why I freaked out about you sneaking into my room.”
“Now I understand,” I echo. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
Her chest rises and drops on a soft sigh. “Once I knew it was you, I wasn’t scared.”
Only this woman can pull a smile from me when all I want to do is rip that motherfucker’s throat out—with my fucking teeth. “I won’t be a creeper anymore,” I promise her.
She’s quiet for a bit, then, “I wouldn’t mind it if you were. But I should, right?”
“No, Alice, you shouldn’t. It’s me, and I may be a giant pain in your ass, but I’ll never hurt you or do anything you don’t want. That’s why I stayed away when you asked me to.”
“I listened to the playlist you made for me almost every day.”
“So did I.”
Her small smile is devastating. “I do have one question, though.”
I draw in a breath, bracing myself for the worst because I’m not too proud to admit that this moment with her feels too damn fragile. “Fire away.”
“How did you break into Tiger Lily?”
I exhale a relieved sigh. “I stole the key to the little door of your old playroom in the basement.”
“Oh, my God, Maddox, seriously?”
“It was that or scale the side of the friggin’ house, and yeah, no. I’m not spry enough to attempt parkour.”
Her laughter floats around us before she falls quiet again. Then she shocks the hell out of me by saying, “I love you, Maddox. I’ve always loved you.”