Page 39 of Mad for Madison

“Can I see?” Bradley asked, his face lighting up.

“Shit,” I said. “I didn’t take a photo.”

“I guess I’ll just have to swing by after the party,” he said teasingly.

“Swing by? I was hoping you’d come and stay.” My arm found its way around his waist, and I pulled him closer. He didn’t resist. We hadn’t planned to make a formal announcement tothe crowd at the bar. We would simply stop pretending and then answer all the questions they had.

My nerves were still restless. I kissed Bradley and heard a distinct sound of a wolf whistle. I’d heard them before, although not like this. These cheered us on, I thought.

Bradley leaned in closer, his lips brushing my ear as he murmured, “You’re making me feel like the luckiest guy in the room.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine, one I hoped he couldn’t feel. But if he could, he didn’t call me out on it. Instead, he just looked at me like I’d hung the moon, and for a second, I almost believed it.

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You’re a terrible liar. Half the people here are more interesting than me.”

“None of them painted me naked by candlelight,” he countered, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

That pulled a laugh out of me, one of those real ones that sneak up on you. “Fair point,” I said, grinning. “Although I think I might’ve gotten the better end of that deal.”

His cheeks flushed, but he didn’t look away. Bradley had this way of holding my gaze that made me feel like there was no one else in the world who mattered. Like there wasn’t a whole room of people around us who might be judging him for being with me, who might be wondering how someone like him ended up with someone like me.

But Bradley didn’t care. Not in that moment.

The cheers and wolf whistles from behind us finally registered, and I realized how quiet the bar had gone. When I glanced back, half our friends were grinning like fools, and the other half were looking at Bradley and me like they’d just discovered a new favorite soap opera.

“Way to be subtle,” Tristan called out, raising his glass in a mock toast.

“Subtlety’s overrated,” I shot back, earning a laugh from the group.

Bradley’s fingers laced through mine, his hand warm and steady. I squeezed his fingers, suddenly aware of how much I’d been holding my breath.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice so soft it barely reached me over the noise.

“Yeah,” I said, realizing it wasn’t just a reflex. I meant it. I was okay.

Better than okay.

His smile widened, and he tugged me closer, his free hand brushing against my hip. I didn’t think, didn’t second-guess, just let him lead me back toward the bar where our friends waited with teasing smirks and exaggerated applause.

“Drinks on Madison tonight?” Roman asked, raising an eyebrow.

I groaned. “Only if you’re fine with tap water and regret.”

The group erupted in laughter, and for once, I didn’t feel like the odd man out. I didn’t feel like the guy who didn’t belong.

I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Bradley

I had spent so long hoping to find a rhythm in my life, but what happened was the opposite. The rhythm had found me. Things fell into place in a way I had never expected. My time no longer ran away from me. My hours no longer drained like grains of sand in a glass clock.

I worked. I took care of my little girl. I helped Gran. And I saw Madison. These four pillars of my life existed in a balancethat was impossible to explain or describe. The only thing I knew for sure was that they provided the basis for what I called my life.

“Lily won’t stop talking about you,” I told Madison after he had planned a Sunday for the three of us, visiting an observatory at the end of it and having the luck of a clear sky to see the stars. Lily had a new obsession. “She told Gran everything about you.”

Madison laughed. “Really?”

I nodded. Lily could recite the conversations she had with Madison pretty faithfully. It was uncanny. “Gran wants to meet you.”

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