Page 40 of Echoes of Temptation
“I’ll admit that it took me a while to work through everything,” I admit. “I understand that I was a virtual stranger to all of you so taking me at my word when you didn’t even know me was an impossible ask. I know that now. But I just felt so betrayed.”
“It’s not an excuse on our end,” he says, but I simply shake my head.
“Then when you said what you said,” I continue. “It felt like the final shot to my already wounded soul. I was practically numb when Patricia and Madison took me. I didn’t fight back. It took several days before I even acknowledged that they had me tied to that chair. I tell you all of that so that you can truly see me when I say this.
I’m okay. I forgave you all so long ago even though there wasn’t really anything to forgive. I’m a very empathetic person.I think it’s why I’m so good at my job. Why I can connect with my students as deeply as I can. I feel things on an emotional level more intensely than a normal person. Which is why what happened affected me so greatly. Sometimes I need to sit back and thoroughly look at what caused such a reaction. Which is what I’ve done. I’m ready to move forward, King.”
I place my hand gently on his mouth when he starts to speak.
“But I’m still an emotional person,” I tell him as he presses soft kisses to my palm. “I have self-doubt issues because of my weight and it makes me delicate and vulnerable. You’re a very outspoken man. And, sometimes with you being so candid about things and me being so sensitive, we’re going to crash. You need to know that being my friend isn’t easy. I don’t try to be difficult, but I also won’t hide who I am. I’ve had this same conversation with Bitsy. She’s very confident in who she is. But she’s blunt.”
I smile at the memory of her telling me that I need to pull my big girl panties up and go to therapy. She’s the reason my mind is where it is today.
“My sweet baby,” King says from behind my hand. With a final kiss to my palm, he gently pulls it away from his mouth and places it on his chest. “First and foremost, the way my brothers and I treated you was uncalled for. You had every right to be angry with us. We should have believed you and done everything in our power to protect you. Because we didn’t, you got hurt. Secondly, what I said to you is unforgivable. No matter my reasoning behind it. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I love the fact that I can’t see what your skeleton looks like. I like knowing that when I make love to you, I don’t have to hold myself back out of fear of hurting you. You are so fucking sexy and I will do everything in my power to prove that to you.”
Oh my.
“The guys want to apologize. Family means everything to them, to us, and they’ve been planning this day for weeks now.”
“I have a thing tonight with my friends,” I remind him.
“I know, baby,” he smiles. “Speaking of those friends, they have given all of us hell since the day we forced you to leave. Bitsy and Sophie spent eight weeks over at Knox’s house. With the kids, of course. They wouldn’t talk to any of us. The only reason Knox did was because it was his job. But, outside of work talk, he didn’t speak to us either. Even now, they don’t act the same around us like they used to.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, lowering my head. I know all of this, of course, because they’ve told me. I’ve begged them to stop ignoring their family because of that one little incident but they were royally mad at them. Something about them not being who they thought they were.
“Bitsy even called her father on us,” King laughs. “I’ve never seen Ghost look so guilty once Bitsy’s dad, Cap, walked out of their meeting. Even Ma and Pops, the club’s parents, have looked at us with disappointment.”
“I didn’t mean to cause all of this,” I tell the floor. “I felt so bad when my friends told me how everyone was acting. I begged them to stop. It’s not worth all of that.”
“I disagree, Madeline. We deserve their disappointment. What happened with you has caused us all to reevaluate who we are as a club. We’ve changed because of you. You’ve made us better. We should have believed you, a victim, but I was drowning in my own pool of emotions and my brothers were simply backing me up. I’ve always relied heavily on facts. On physical proof. It’s saved my life, and the lives of others, many times over. I saw the proof and all else faded.”
King places a finger under my chin and forces my head up until my eyes meet his.
“The day I left you at school, I was planning on calling up your father and quitting because I didn’t want to be paid to protect the woman I was about to claim. But, I had that damn meeting to go to first and that’s where I was shown the video of Madison. Seeing your face on that screen froze my heart and everything I had felt for you. I don’t want to ever forget what I did, what I said, to you. I want to remember for the rest of my days. I don’t deserve to forget. But I will never let something like that happen again.”
Tears roll down my face. I’ve forgiven this man but he’s saying words that I didn’t even know I needed to hear.
“Be ready tomorrow at noon, Madeline. Be good for me.”
Leaning in, he presses a firm kiss on my lips before walking away.”
“Wait,” I call right before he gets back on the elevator. “How did you get the new codes?”
With a wink and a smirk, he walks into the elevator.
“I hate you. I’m not giving you my passcodes anymore.”
Seconds later my best friend responds.
“You love me, and you know it. He was an ass, but that man loves you. My gut told me to trust him. Also, yes you will. It takes you weeks to memorize the new lock codes. By then, the security have them changed again. You’d be lost without me.”
He’s not wrong. I tell Dillon the codes because nine times out of ten, I forget them or enter an old code to my floor. You only get two chances. After that, everyone who lives on my floor is locked out until someone from security arrives and lets us in. That’s happened to me at least seven times now.
The elevator simply won’t open and alerts security after two wrong attempts are made. I was once stuck on that dang thing for an hour. The security in the building is worth it, but my sanity isn’t.
“Whatever. Give Molly my love.”
“What about me? I want your love, too.”