Page 22 of Never Dance with the Devils (Never Say Never #6)

Her lips thin, and thinking I’ve pushed too far, I mentally yell at myself for not letting Maddox handle this shit.

He’s so much better at it than I am, tap dancing here and there, lightly digging deeper without leaving things scorched in the wake of an interrogation into your deepest, darkest secrets.

That’s how he got me to open up, so I should’ve let him take the lead with Kayla too.

Because despite having just laid my biggest shame bare, she’s not obligated to give me her story in return.

I might want to know everything about her, but that’s one of my many issues and not her problem.

But then she slowly reveals, “We weren’t married, but in my innocent naiveté, I thought we were heading that way.

We were young and looking at post-graduation internships.

I was trying to decide if I was going to take the ‘easy route’ at Blue Lake with Dad or strike out on my own somewhere else.

” She glances off to the side like she’s mentally gone back to those days, but when she looks back, her eyes are crystal clear and her voice is steady as she says, “I overheard him talking to someone I thought was my friend. Their tone made it immediately obvious they’d been fucking behind my back, and he was reassuring her that he was only with me because of my last name.

He thought it’d make him a shoo-in at the company, and then into the family.

He told her I was too stupid to even suspect and that they could work together to suck me dry. ”

Worried I was coming on too strong as she spoke, I sat back to give her space, resting one ankle on my other knee as I listened intently, but when I hear what Kayla’s ex said, both my feet hit the floor and I snap, “Excuse the fuck outta me?”

With a completely different reaction, Maddox clasps his hands beneath his chin and grins wide.

“Puh- leaze tell me you’re not one of those ‘take the high road’ types.

I want to hear that your vengeance was messy and dramatic, leaving him on the floor in the fetal position, whimpering your name as you left with his testicles in your tote bag. ”

Her smile is soft and sweet, two things she is not. “A lady never tells.”

Deeply disappointed, Maddox curses, “Aww, shit. Well, tell us his name. We’ll avenge your name, Princess.” He’s entirely serious even though it might sound like he’s joking. I can tell the difference with him, but I’m not sure Kayla can… yet.

“I didn’t say I’m a lady,” she teases with a devilish smirk, “just that a lady never tells.”

Maddox and I meet eyes and then instantly scoot to her sides, wanting to get as close as we can. “Story time,” he begs. “This is gonna be good, I can feel it.”

When he full-body shimmies in excitement, she laughs, a bright and tinkling sound in contrast with the topic, and I know he’s right. “I’m not proud of this?—”

“But you’re not ashamed of it either, are you?” I interject.

Her lips purse delicately as she neither confirms nor denies.

“First off, in my defense, this was years ago. I’d like to say I would handle things differently now, but at the time, petty felt pretty good.

” Having given her disclaimers, she grins, the gratification looking so good on her that I can’t wait to hear how she dealt with the asshole who fumbled a catch like her.

“Like I said, we were weeks away from application deadlines. I encouraged him to apply at Blue Lake, and only Blue Lake. Talked up that we could enter the company together, work our way up together, really laid it on thick. Meanwhile, I planted seeds with Dad that I was breaking up with Bradley and it would be really awkward for us to work at the same place, which technically wasn’t a lie. ”

“Diabolical,” I whisper. Kayla’s eyes jerk to mine sharply, but she relaxes when she sees that I mean it as a compliment.

“It wasn’t all that dramatic, I suppose.

” She sighs. “I began at Blue Lake and Bradley obviously didn’t get accepted.

He had to apply for internships with the next cohort, explaining over and over why he’d been sitting out for an entire year.

If he answered honestly—that he’d bet heavily on a long-shot internship that hadn’t come through—it made him seem like a gambler who couldn’t accurately calculate odds for himself.

If he played it off like he’d taken a break, he was perceived as unambitious and lacking the aggressiveness needed for the cutthroat business world.

He was screwed either way.” She shrugs lightly, unapologetic.

“He’s fine now, at the level he probably should’ve always been, and I’m…

” Her eyes sparkle. “Where I belong too.”

“Yeah, you are,” I praise, gently running my palm up her thigh, and she smiles fully, hearing that I mean that more than just professionally. She is right where she belongs—here with us.

“It took me a while to realize that while he’d broken my trust—an unforgiveable character flaw—I had some blame in that situation too.

Our whole relationship, I’d been trying to fix him, forcing him to live up to the potential I thought he had, whether he wanted to or not.

I had this image of what we could be, what our life could look like all planned out to the n th degree, and I never stopped to wonder if he wanted that too. I certainly never asked him.”

I frown slightly, disagreeing with her on principle because the one who cheats is always wrong in my book, but she keeps talking.

“I thought I was encouraging him, but in hindsight, I was definitely breaking him down slowly—telling him how he needed to improve his interview skills and his resume, buying clothes for him as though what he had wasn’t good enough, and coaching him on how to act at networking events, essentially babying him like I was his mother.

If I’d been older or wiser, maybe I would’ve seen that I was being condescending, or if he’d been able to communicate how he felt, maybe he wouldn’t have decided I was nothing more than a pretty meal ticket.

” She tilts her head, considering her words like they’re the first time she’s had that thought. Who knows, maybe it is.

“In the end, we broke each other in different ways. I don’t know if he learned anything, but I did.

I don’t do rescue mission men anymore, only men who can stand toe-to-toe with me and can take it in stride when I don’t cradle their egos or hold my tongue for their feelings’ sake.

I’m me, unapologetically. People can either handle that or leave, and usually, they don’t get the option to choose. I do it for them.”

She just slapped about a million warning labels on her forehead, put up some yellow hazard tape around her heart, and raised a whole marching band’s worth of red flags while telling us to approach with caution because she definitely bites.

Each signal is more concerning than the last, like she’s been told her whole life that she’s dangerous, hard, unlovable.

But I heard the thread woven through her words too—that she wants to find someone strong enough to stand at her side.

She just doesn’t think he exists. The good news is…

he does, times two, sitting on either side of her.

We’re like the Powerball Jackpot of men for her.

Because if there’s one thing Maddox and I both are, it’s strong.

Not physically, although we’re that too, obviously, but mentally.

Yeah, I’ve been through some shit and done the hard work to address it, but as professional athletes, if we crumbled every time a coach told us off, we would’ve never made it.

I can handle Kayla at her worst. Hell, I welcome it.

“Girl, I like it when you tell me straight out. I can take it,” Maddox vows, thumping his chest. “Good, bad, ugly, dirty … bring it on.”

“Nothing bothers you, does it?” she asks, laughing lightly as she shakes her head. “Alright, Mr. Tough Guy, we shared our dark and dirty pasts. What’s your story?”

She leans toward me, like it’s the two of us against him, and I instantly wrap my arm around her shoulders and grin at him cockily. “Yeah, we’re trauma bonding here. Whatcha got?” Considering I already know the answer to that question, I’m taking twisted delight in making him admit it.

Ducking his head, he confesses, “Is it shitty if I say, nothing? I’m boring as fuck.

I’ve got a good family and had a non-damaging, storybook sorta childhood.

I’m an only child, my parents are still together and love each other in disgustingly adorable ways.

Now that they’re empty nesters, they like to travel around in an RV I bought them with my signing bonus, ‘seeing America’, as they call it, from various national parks.

I think they’re in Yellowstone right now?

” He shrugs like he’s not one hundred percent sure, but I know he has an app to keep track of their location, always making sure they’re safe .

“They send me pictures of trees and trails and sunrises like each one is completely different from the last ten they sent me. I’ll most likely get one tomorrow saying that the picture doesn’t do the clouds and colors of the sky justice, but it was ‘just so pretty’ that Mom had to share it with me.

” He chuckles like his mom is so silly for that, but it’s obvious that he can’t wait for the message to come through.

He’s even shared some of the better ones around the locker room.

“I think it’s their payoff for all they went through getting me through youth hockey.

Dad coached my hockey team when I was little, both of them came to all my games through high school, and now, they watch from wherever they are.

Dad sends me a ‘good game’ text after every one, and Mom asks if I had fun and if I’m eating enough. ”