Page 59 of Madden

Chapter Seventeen

Madden

“So it’s true. You really are dating her?”

I recognize the voice, and the blood in my veins turns to ice.

Hanna.

What is she doing here? She shouldn’t have even been allowed inside.

I slowly turn to see her standing in the corner with her arms crossed over her chest. She narrows her gaze at me, her lips pressed together, her body trembling as she fights off the tears she’s holding back.

“Hanna, I thought we were on the same page. What we had was fun, but nothing more is going on between us.”

“Don’t say that, Madden,” she cries. “Don’t act like you don’t care about me and what we shared means nothing to you.”

Raking my hand through my hair, I squeeze my eyes shut. The week after Brielle was here for the interview, she showed up at my house wanting to “hang out.” She knew our band practice schedule and was hoping to go for another round.

I cut things off with her then, or at least I tried. She reached out a couple more times, repeatedly texting about hanging out. This time, I was stern and told her to leave me alone.

I didn’t want to hurt her and needed her to accept this wasn’t anything serious for me. I thought we were on the same page about it too. We talked about it several times before Brielle was ever in the picture.

Until she saw me with Brielle at Whiskey Barrel, she never gave me any clue she wanted more with me. We rarely saw each other and only exchanged a few messages when we were planning to meet.

“Hanna, we went over this already. I had no idea you thought anything was happening between us. I’m sorry if I’m hurting you, but I don’t share those same feelings. I’m moving on, and who I’m with or what I do now is not your business. It never was.”

She clenches her jaw, her nostrils flaring. She shakes her head, but her eyes stay wide, trained on me.

“You’re making a mistake.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I am,” I retort.

“You’re going to regret this, Madden. I promise you’ll regret hurting me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If I can’t have you, I’ll make sure no one else will either.”

She spins on her heel and disappears out the door before I even have a chance to order her to tell me what the fuck she means.

“Jesus. Madden, are you okay?” Brielle’s soft hands slip around my waist, and I turn to find her concerned eyes on me.

I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and her eyes flutter, leaning into my palm.

“I am now,” I whisper.

It’s late, and the crowd has started to thin out. As much as I’ve loved having our first album drop party, something we never got when we released Wreak Some Havoc, I’m ready to take off and get her back to my place.

“What do you say we get outta here away from all these damn people?”

“I like the sound of that,” she hums, rubbing her lips together.

Trey has Layken sitting on his lap, and Brix stands behind Ivy with his hands wrapped around her waist, whispering something in her ear. Tysin and Kyla are nowhere to be found, and I don’t want to think about what the fuck they’re doing.

“You two heading out?” Brix asks, his eyes flicking from me to where my hand grips Brielle's waist.

“If that’s cool with you.”