Page 11 of Seduced in Ink

“I don’t know what to say to that,” Aaron said honestly.

“She has good moments. Times when she’s not this person. They just seem to be kind of few and far between these days. I don’t know. What are we going to do, Aaron?”

“Well, it looks like we’re going to dinner.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t know. I said it to take the pressure off you and to prove that you could have anyone you wanted. Though I sort of put myself out there on a platter, didn’t I?”

“It’s going to blow up in our faces. And we both know it.”

He turned to her then and tucked her hair behind her ears. She looked flushed, confused, hurt, and even a little angry.

He was afraid he was the reason for every one of those.

“How about I come over tomorrow, and we talk it out? We’ll figure out what to do.”

“I don’t want your family to hate me.”

He blinked, shocked. “How could they? They love you, Madison.”

“But we’re going to be lying to them. If we do this. We’re going to be lying to them.”

“If we do this, it’ll be my lie. And they will all understand. They’ll just blame romantic, silly-headed Aaron Montgomery. Not you.”

“There’s nothing silly about you, Aaron.”

They were both silent for a moment as Aaron tried to think through her words, as he tried to figure out exactly whathewas thinking.

Instead, he sighed and shook his head. “We’ll figure this out. Together. I don’t know how long we can keep it up, but maybe we can. I didn’t like the way she talked to you.”

“I didn’t like it either. I don’t like it. And I’m going to stand up for myself.”

“Good,” he said. “And while you’re figuring out what to say, I’ll be right beside you. And we’ll get Guy off your back, too.”

“I guess we’re engaged, then?” Madison asked, laughing.

“Hey, now you can be a Montgomery. What do you say about that?”

“I say you’re moving far too fast. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I need the night to think. Because if we go to Mother right now and tell her it’s a lie, she’ll never let me hear the end of it. And I can’t deal with that. Even if it’s your fault.”

Hurt sliced through him, and he felt as if he’d ruined things—something he’d been good at doing recently. “I’m sorry, Madison.”

“No, I am. Because you’re going to be sorrier when this all blows up in our faces. No one’s ever going to believe that you dumped me. My parents sure won’t.” And with that, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him standing there, wondering what the hell he was doing.

Because she had been hurt and bruised and battered for far longer than even he had known her. And he hadn’t been able to see the pain until her mother drew it out.

He wanted to fix it. Like so much in his life, heneededto fix it.

But he had no idea how to go about it.

And, honestly, he didn’t know if he was the right man to do it.

But if he hurt Madison more than she already was? He would never forgive himself.

And he knew his family would never forgive him either.

Chapter 3