In the wide hallway, the walls started to close in on me. I blew out the breath I’d been holding. Holy shit. When Madison said she worked at a country club, I should’ve asked which country club. How the fuck did I miss that detail? Oh, now I remember. Sex addiction. That’s where I’d gotten thrown.
Madison shifted her attention, making eye contact with me, and stopped in her tracks. She held my gaze while speaking with her two companions. A moment later, they rushed down the hall in the opposite direction.
Suspicious, I narrowed my eyes. The situation felt like a showdown at the high-society corral. I’d be fucked if I made contact and fucked if I didn’t. Ingrained mistrust for the blonde staring at me, waiting for me to make a move, tanked the high I had from the last few minutes.
“Cade, is everything okay? Who is that?” Hannah put a gentle hand on my back.
Not daring to take Madison out of my sight, I snarled, “That, Maestro, is my ex.”
“Seriously?”
“I had no clue she worked at this country club. I need to find out what’s going on.” And yet, I remained rooted in place, needing to get my bearings.
Actually, maybe our meeting by chance was a good thing. I could get a more defined feel on my suspicions. But I didn’t like being blindsided by her presence. And I sure as shit didn’t like Madison and Hannah under the same roof. Things felt out of control. Volatile.
Hannah stood proudly by my side, resilient. She crossed her arms, chin up, shoulders back, her body loose but confident.
I glanced at my sisters, who remained a few feet away. They faced us with relaxed stances, but their easygoing demeanor was a front. I’d caught the suspicious narrowing of their eyes. I centered my gaze on Kristen. With an imperceptible nod, Kristen signaled me; she had my back.
A smile appeared on Kristen’s face, one I’d seen a thousand times when she geared up to ask our parents for permission to do something she knew they wouldn’t ordinarily approve of. “Hannah, why don’t you join us? Suzanne’s about to show us the salon and spa area.”
Suzanne nodded with a cheerful grin, oblivious to the thickening tension in the hallway. “I can even get each of you complimentary treatments for the morning of the event, if you’d like.”
Hannah glanced up at me. Everything was there in her eyes: pride, worry, confusion, love. I focused on the last. Her love—all that mattered.
Sudden fierceness flared in her eyes, and she leaned in, whispering, “I’m right there with you, Cade. If she’s reformed, fine. But if she’s Selfish Bitch, I will knock her on her ass.”
I barked out an unexpected laugh at the reminder of the mocking nickname. “Thanks, Maestro. Thank you for knowing exactly what I need.” I bent down and brushed my lips across hers. “Go. Find out what kind of spa these mint-julep drinkers run.”
She smiled and turned as I playfully swatted her ass. While I took a steadying breath, she got swallowed up into the protective embraces of my sisters. They all laughed seconds later. Good. I counted on my crew to keep my girl smiling.
After they rounded the corner, I turned around to face Madison again.
She stood there in all her shellacked glory, proud and immovable. In her element, she resembled the old Madison. Confident. Not in any way the vulnerable coffeehouse version.
I strolled down the hall, assessing her as best I could with a fresh perspective. Common sense told me she held an obvious managerial role, but warning sirens blared in my head that her being in the hallway at the exact moment of our tour couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.
I had no illusions about the situation. Lakemont Country Club was clearly her territory, and she was in a position of power with whatever knowledge she held and I didn’t.
“Madison.” I stopped three feet away, dropping my hands in my pockets. I had no desire to touch her, and she needed to understand that fact with no room for misinterpretation.
The artificial smile that had been curved onto her face faltered. “No ‘hello’? Are we not able to be friends yet?”
I sighed. Did I really need to go through the motions of something I didn’t feel? “Not yet. I’m still trying to figure out how we’re standing in the same hallway.”
Her mouth tightened, spreading into a thin line. “It’s good to see you too, Cade. You look great.”
My jaw tensed, but I worked it loose, forcing myself to relax. “You’re here, I’m here. How do you propose we coexist in the same space professionally? That’s all I’m interested in.”
Her gaze swept down my body and back up. Her lips twisted into a smirk. “I don’t know, Cade. You tell me?”
The question was rhetorical, laced with heavy sexual undertones. Which pissed me the fuck off. Yet in this game, I didn’t hold the cards, she did. Until there was no reason not to, I would play nice. Even though my gut told me she wanted to do everything besides, regardless of her request to be friends. “What’s your position here?” I needed to know what kind of minefield I had to navigate.
“General Manager.”
Fuck.
Impressive, and shocking. Either she’d fast-tracked her education and experience in the two years she’d been away, or she’d taken advantage of more efficient ways of advancement. The latter thought may have been callous, but I had no misconception about what she was capable of. And using her body to climb to the top wouldn’t have surprised me, sexual addiction or not.
Her official position, however, meant she would be as involved in our event at her club as she wanted to be, and likely already had been.
“Did you know I would be here today?”
She gave a slight nod as she crossed her arms. “I did.”
“But you had Suzanne give us the tour.”
The fingers of her right hand drummed onto her left bicep. “There was no need for me to parade you around the grounds. It’s Suzanne’s job.”
“Which is?”
Something electronic chimed, and it wasn’t my cell phone. Madison ignored the sound without so much as a muscle twitch. “Private event coordinator.”
“And who will we be working with on this event?”
Her brows raised slightly. “Who would you like to be working with?”
“I’m good with Suzanne.” The words were flat, not from force but by my lack of emotion in this negotiation. In her. Everything about her being here without my knowing didn’t sit right with me.
Disappointment flickered across her face before she took a deep breath. Then her eyes narrowed imperceptibly, like she was trying to read me. Her head tilted slightly. “Who was the girl?”
“What girl?”
“I know your sisters. The other girl, the pretty waif.”
I smiled. A genuine actual fucking smile lit my face from the inside out, both in thinking about Hannah and in knowing how badly Hannah’s presence likely bothered Madison.
“That’s Hannah. She’s my girlfriend, and our baker.”
Madison countered in a matter-of-fact tone, “We have a baker.”
Transparent. But not unexpected. “She is our baker. The client hired Invitation Only, and we only work with Hannah. It’s a done deal; the ink is already dry on the contract.”
She gave a slight headshake. “Nothing happens here without my approval.”
Ah, power. There was the old Madison I remembered. She loved it, clearly got off on it. But power was a perception. And fleeting.
“Well, tell that to your member, our client. If they want the event in your country club and you don’t ‘approve’ of us running our show exactly as we want, you can tell them they need to find another event company. Good luck with that.”
I turned away to leave.
A heavy sigh huffed out behind me. “I suppose I could make an allowance.”
When I glanced over my shoulder, her arms had dropped, hands fisting at her sides. The concession was killing her. Good. A little pain would be healthy to someone who inflicted it so easily.
I stared hard at her, unblinking. Invitation Only’s business was at stake here, and I needed to define all the boundaries. “Remember, we work with Suzanne, and only Suzanne. We have free reign over everything regarding the event. It’s the only way we work. And no interference. If I even catch wind that you’ve had a hand in anything that goes wrong, I’ll hold you personally accountable. Oh, and our mutual client will be fully informed of our history.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re planning to tell the client about us?”
A wry smile twisted my lips. “I believe in full disclosure, Madison. Clients don’t like surprises. Neither do I.”
For an instant, her expression flashed mild amusement before hardening once again. Like none of my conditions fazed her. Like the obstacles were nothing more than a challenge, a game.
Yeah? Well, game on.
Unimpressed with her as a threat, I turned without another word and strode down the hall. I looked forward to the upcoming dual event going smoothly. In spite of the unpredictable five-foot-eight blonde.
As I rounded the corner, I sensed Madison still stood down the hall. No need to glance at her to know she fumed, wishing she had more control of the situation—control over me.
But she didn’t.
I was happy. In love with a real woman who knew what love meant. And Hannah and I were invincible together.
My step lightened along with my mood. Nothing could touch that. Not the outside world, not fate, and certainly not one Madison Kensington.
The best revenge is living well.