Chapter 14—Madison

I held it together until I was standing at the door of his bungalow, and then my hands began to shake.

“Madison?”

I nodded. My lips trembled.

“What did he do?” Craig asked.

Tears spilled down my face. Travis and Connor had returned yesterday, and I didn’t want to bother Jessica and Vanessa. So, I’d gone to Craig’s. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else to go, and I don’t want to be alone,” I said.

He put his arm around my shoulders and led me inside. “Tell me what happened.”

I took a deep breath and gave Craig a quick re-cap of what had happened. “It’s not like he lied to me. I knew it was just sex, but I thought maybe I was special to him. Even just a little. I should’ve known better.” I shook my head, feeling stupid.

Craig pulled me next to him on the couch so that my head was resting on his shoulder, and he kissed my forehead. “Steven is the biggest douche bag I’ve ever met,” he said.

“Don’t say that.” I straightened. “It’s my fault for letting my emotions get the best of me.”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t have gotten emotionally involved with Steven, but he’s the douche bag for letting you walk away.”

I really didn’t need him to confirm my stupidity, but at least he wasn’t making me feel any worse than I already did. “Thanks, Craig.” I sniffled and wiped my nose.

“You can crash here tonight if you want. Just don’t try to take advantage of me.”

I laughed. Craig had that effect on me. “Um, I think I’m the one who should be warning you not to take advantage of me. I am vulnerable after all.”

“You could only get so lucky, darling.”

I playfully smacked him. Despite what he said, I knew Craig had feelings for me, and I knew it had hurt him to see me with Steven. If I had just chosen Craig that night things would’ve been different right now. But I hadn’t and if given the chance again, I still would’ve chosen Steven. Like it or not, I was in love with Steven Lane.

* * *

“I think I’m going to ask Jessica to transfer me to someplace else,” I said to Craig the next morning over breakfast at the resort’s beach café.

“Don’t you dare,” he said, pointing his fork at me. “Don’t let what happened with Steven ruin what you’ve worked for. You deserve the promotion you got, and you deserve every tip you earn at Scorched.”

“I know, but it’s going to be weird.” I picked at my food, no longer hungry.

“Who cares? We both know you’re not going to make as much money anywhere else at this resort,” he said.

“I know.” I pushed scrambled eggs around on my plate. “I just wish he would’ve had the balls to tell me instead of letting me find him with another woman.”

“That’s low even for Steven. Is it possible he was telling you the truth?”

I stopped with my fork raised above my plate. I never did give him a chance to explain. What if he would’ve told me the truth? Maybe what I walked in on wasn’t what I’d assumed it was? Oh God! I dropped my fork.

“Speak of the devil,” Craig said, nodding.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Steven coming toward us. What little I’d eaten threatened to come back up. The sight of that woman’s arms wrapped around Steven’s neck, their lips locked, his fingers digging into her arms flashed through my mind. I hated how much it hurt.

“Where the hell were you last night?” Steven asked, standing at the side of our table, arms folded over his chest.

I raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

“I sat on your front porch all night waiting for you,” he said, his voice tight.

“Was that before or after you fucked Blondie McBig Tits?”

Craig snickered, and I shot him a dirty look. I didn’t need him to make this situation any worse, and knowing how Steven felt about Craig, this had the potential to go very badly, very quickly.

“I didn’t fuck that woman, Madison,” Steven snapped.

Was that the truth? God, I wanted to believe him. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.” He sliced a deadly look at Craig as if to tell him to get lost, and I tensed.

“I’m busy,” I said, turning my attention back to Craig. I really wanted to talk to Steven, but what I wanted even more was to hurt him like he’d hurt me.

“Give me five minutes, Madison. I think you owe me that.”

“Owe you?” I tossed my napkin on the table and stood. “What the hell makes you think I owe you anything?”

Steven put his hands on my shoulders and lowered his voice. “Because I never meant to hurt you, and I deserve a chance to explain.” His tone was full of sincerity.

I hadn’t been expecting that. I’d been expecting some angry, sarcastic retort. Still, he was wrong in this situation, and I wasn’t going to let him manipulate me. “I don’t want an explanation, Steven. I wanted you to be man enough to tell me that it was over, but you didn’t, so now I just want you to leave me alone.”

“Not until you give me a chance to explain,” he said.

“Go to hell,” I said, stomping off toward the path that led to the bungalows.

“Dammit, Madison,” Steven said, running after me and grabbing my wrist to slow me down. He spun me around to face him.

I shouldn’t have looked up into his dark eyes. They were my undoing. “Let go of me,” I said, trying really hard to keep up a tough facade. What I really wanted was for him to say he was sorry. But he believed he hadn’t done anything wrong, and the words “I’m sorry” would never come from his mouth.

He released my wrist.

“I don’t know why you care so much anyway. It was just sex.”

Steven took a deep breath, pinched his nose, and lowered his head. I had no idea why he was annoyed. I wasn’t the one who made a date to have sex with him and then thrown myself at another man.

“Madison?” Craig walked up behind me. “We’re gonna be late if we don’t leave now.”

Steven looked up and gave Craig a murderous look before giving me a look I couldn’t read, but I swore I saw jealousy in his eyes. I took Craig’s proffered hand and walked away without another word. Things had come full circle. The first time I was faced with choosing between these two men I’d chosen wrong. I refused to make that same mistake again.