We walked into the house and into the kitchen. Vincent was sitting at the table, and he stood up to give us both a big hug. We were all relieved that part one had gone so well, but I think we all realized that we were far from in the clear. Jared and I exchanged a look, and I knew that there was something else going on, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to frighten Vincent, but I was scared. But I wasn’t scared about what might or might not happen with the Bugatti. I was scared that I had lost Maddie forever, and I knew that if I had, my life would never be the same again.
Chapter 12
Logan
I tried calling Maddie about ten more times that night, but I didn’t leave any more messages. I was too scared I would say something that would make her not talk to me ever again, though that was already a real possibility. She hadn’t answered any of my calls or returned any of my text messages. I was full of worry and stress, and I knew that Jared and Vincent were avoiding me because they were scared I would go off on one of them. They were right to avoid me because I was just looking for an argument. They were still riding high from the thrill of stealing the Bugatti, and while I was happy that we had been successful, I was gutted that Maddie wouldn’t speak to me. I tried calling one more time before I jumped out of bed and pulled on my shoes.
I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Jared and Vincent were playing cards. “Hey, where are the keys to the Mustang?” I held my hand out. “And don’t even say no or I will take the Bugatti, and I don’t think either of you want that to happen.”
“Let it go for the night.” Jared grimaced at me. “Just let it go.”
“Let what f**king go?” I turned towards him with a hiss.
“Let Maddie have some time to think about things,” he continued in a steely tone.
“You’re happy about this, aren’t you? You don’t want me to be happy with Maddie. Did you tell Joey? Was he waiting to poach her away from me?”
“You sound crazy, Logan.” Jared shook his head. “Trust me, I’m not happy about this.”
I turned away from him and back to Vincent. “Are you giving me your keys?”
“Logan,” he began and I glared at him. He closed his mouth, sighed, and handed me the keys from his pocket. “Be careful with her.”
“I always am.” I grabbed the keys away from him. “I’ve never gotten a single scratch on her.”
“I mean with Maddie.”
“I’ll see you guys later.” I turned away from them and ran to the front door, ignoring the shouts of my dad from the living room. I jumped into the Mustang and drove as quickly as possible. I needed to apologize to Maddie in person, I needed to look into her eyes and tell her that I f**ked up and wanted to make it up to her. I needed her to see the sincerity in my eyes, and I needed her to know why I hated her dad. It was time for Maddie to find out the full story behind my hatred of her father. I needed her to understand that I while I hated him, I could never hate her. I only hoped that it would be enough to warrant her to give me another chance. Because if it wasn’t, I didn’t think I would ever feel whole again.
I parked in my usual spot and pulled out my phone and sent her a text message. “Maddie, I’m outside your house. I will be slamming the door down in ten minutes if you do not call me back or come out. I’m not leaving until you come out or the police escort me away.” I hit send and waited. I stared at the house I had sworn I would never visit again and prayed that I would see her walking out the door to come and see me. Just as I was about to text her again, a car pulled up in front of the house. I peered over my steering wheel and watched in shock as Joey jumped out and walked around to open the passenger door for Maddie. She got out slowly, and I saw her laughing about something. My heart constricted as I watched her smiling at Joey. She looked beautiful and happy. She was wearing a white summery dress, and her long dark locks were flowing in the breeze of the night. My fingers gripped my cellphone so tightly, I thought I was close to breaking it as I watched them standing there, talking. I thought I was going to murder someone when I saw Joey lean down and give her a kiss on the lips. It wasn’t long, but those few seconds were like the cruelest torture. I felt as if the world was ending, and I was getting to see my worst nightmare play out in slow motion. I let out a huge breath as I saw Maddie pushing him to go in the car, and I grinned to myself. That’s my girl, I thought. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if she had let him go into the house that night. I might have committed murder, and then he’d never have been able to orchestrate the sale of the Bugatti. Jared and Vincent would be stuck with a stolen Bugatti in the front yard and a brother in jail. And I still wouldn’t have Maddie.
I jumped out of the car as soon as Joey passed me in his vehicle, and I ran up to Maddie as quickly as possible so I could intercept her before she went inside. “Maddie,” I called out as she was opening the door. She looked at me with a frown and paused.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, and all I wanted to do was swoop her into my arms.
“I need to talk to you.” I smiled hopefully. “I’ve missed you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” She shook her head and made to open the door again. “Just leave me alone.”
“Listen to me, please, Maddie. Give me five minutes, please?” I pleaded with her.
“No.” She shook her head and she avoided eye contact with me. I walked closer to her, and stopped right in front of her.
“Look at me, please, Maddie.”
“No.” She shook her head and looked over my shoulder.
“Look at me, please.” I sighed and I reached my hand over to her face and lifted her chin up, so her eyes would look directly into mine. “Maddie.” I said her name slowly, as she finally made eye contact with me. I froze as I stared into her hurt, wide eyes. My heart felt as if I had just run a marathon and emotions ran through me as I took in her appearance hungrily. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. “Maddie.” I said her name again. “I’ve missed you.”
“You don’t get to say that.” She bit her lip and turned away from me. “You don’t get to come here and pretend everything’s okay.”
“I came to apologize.” I took a deep breath. “And I came to explain.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to know.” She shook her head, and looked away from me again. “I don’t trust you anymore.”
“I love you, Maddie.” The words tripped out of my mouth and I saw her jaw drop as she looked at me uncertainly. “I love you.” I said the words again and laughed. “I didn’t think I’d ever say those words.”
“I don’t care.” She shook her head, but I could see her lips were trembling.
“Please, Maddie.” I reached down for her hands. “Can we just speak?”
“No,” her voice broke. “I can’t do this anymore, Logan.” She shook her head vehemently. “I knew it was going to be hard, getting to know you and trying to break through. But I can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t deal with you. You don’t trust me and you never will.”
“I didn’t see your invitation until the day after the party,” I interrupted her. “I didn’t know, Maddie. I thought you were just—”
“It doesn’t matter.” She pulled away from me and shouted. “It doesn’t matter when you saw the invitation. You should have had faith in me. You should have trusted me. You should have known me better than to think I was ashamed of you. You broke my heart, Logan. Not because you f**ked me and set me up so my father, my own father, would hear and see. But because you did it because you didn’t trust me.”
“I wasn’t thinking, Maddie. Please.” I looked at her with distraught eyes. “You have to understand, I was just so hurt, I couldn’t think straight. I messed up, I know. But I do trust you. I love you. I will never doubt you again.”
“I can’t just forgive you, Logan.” She shook her head and there were tears rolling down her face as she looked at me. “You betrayed me and my feelings.”
“Don’t you love me, Maddie?” I grabbed ahold of her and pulled her towards me. “Don’t you love me?” I crushed my lips down on hers and tried to kiss her. She pushed against me, but I continued, trying desperately for her to remember the connection we had. Our chemistry was unbeatable and I hoped that the feel and taste of me would awaken her from her numb state.
“Stop it.” She pushed me and broke her face away from me. “You can’t just kiss me. It’s over, Logan. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“You told me once that I was the man you were going to marry.”
“I got it wrong.”
“You told me that our story was like that of a movie.”
“So?”
“So the guy always gets the girl in movies.” I stared at her. “That much I know.”
“Well, maybe it’s a different guy who gets the girl.”
“No.” I shook my head. “When two people are fated for each other, no one can break them apart.”
“We aren’t fated for each other.” She shook her head. “It’s over, Logan.”
“You don’t mean that.” I ran my hands through my hair. “You can’t possibly mean that.”
“I’m just a silly, spoiled schoolgirl, Logan.” She sighed. “You knew that when you first met me. You were right. I’m fickle, I’m capricious. I don’t want you. I don’t need you. I don’t love you. I’m over you.”
“Liar.” I shook my head, refusing to believe it.
“I’m over you, Logan.” She shrugged carelessly. “I don’t care if you believe me. You need to go. This is not a good place for you to be.”
“I love you.” The words came out bitterly, and I laughed. “Ironic that now that I’ve met the love of my life, she doesn’t want me. Seems to be the story of my life. Once a loser, always a loser.”
“Get over yourself, Logan Martelli.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the front door. “You need to leave, and I need to go in, or my parents will wonder what’s going on.”
“Come talk with me in the car.”
“I have nothing to say.” She made to go in the door, and I grabbed her arms and held them up so she couldn’t move.
“I won’t let go until you come to talk with me in the car.”
“Let go of me, or I’ll scream.” Her eyes bore into mine.
“Scream then.”
“The police will come.”
“I don’t care.”
“You’ll get arrested.”
“I don’t care.”
“Fine.” She squirmed away from me. “Just let go of me. I’ll give you five minutes.” We walked to my car quickly, both of us breathing rapidly. My head was a flurry of emotions and I felt as if I was going to break down and shout. I had to get her to give me another chance or there was a real possibility that I was going to do something stupid. We got into the car in silence, and I turned to face her with a weak smile.
“You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you.” She nodded without smiling.
“You’re dating Joey now?”
“No.” She shook her head and looked away. “Kind of.”
“I see. That was fast.” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.
“He asked me to dinner, and I said yes.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve known him all of my life, our dads are best friends, they always hoped we’d date. I figured it couldn’t hurt. I needed to figure out some stuff.”
“I’m glad you decided to date someone in your league,” I spat out bitterly.
“We’re not dating, and I don’t know what you’re talking about when you say ‘league.’” She sighed, and I watched as she played with her fingers.
“I don’t trust him.” I leaned towards her. “I don’t want you to date him.”
“Are you joking?” She laughed. “You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t date. And trust me, I know who I can and can’t trust.” She rolled her eyes and said something under her breath.
“Maddie, I love you. I made a mistake. A big mistake, and I hurt you. Please give me another chance.” I leaned forward to kiss her again, and for a moment I felt I had gotten through to her. Her lips melted against mine, and she kissed me back. My tongue slid between her lips eagerly, anxious and happy to taste her again. I felt like I was inhaling manna from heaven, and I moved closer to her, so I could run my hands through her hair. I felt her fingers in my hair, tugging on the strands as she kissed me back. I slid my hand to her breast to caress it, and then she jumped back and broke the kiss. Her eyes looked at me feverishly and my heart dropped as she shook her head and grabbed my hands.
“Listen to me, Logan.” She spoke slowly and steadily, and I sat there staring at her, wondering how I had could have ever doubted her. “You are a special, wonderful, brilliant man. You’re not less than anyone. You are handsome, and kind, and funny, and you are loving and sweet. And my heart will always have a place for you, but I’m not the one for you.” She shook her head slowly. “I love you, but I can’t do this.”
“Give me another chance,” I begged her, my head caught up in the wonder of her words. “I f**ked up. I know. I will do anything to prove myself to you.”