Page 228 of Lovers' Dance

Matt shook his head slowly, then moved to the front door. The force he slammed it shut with once he walked out shook the walls. Moments later, the screech of rubber burning asphalt was heard. My knight was gone.

Everyone started talking at once, making vile comments about Matt. My eyes found Aunt Cleo’s.

It was time to cut the apron strings.

“I would like a word with my family,” I said quietly. I don’t think they heard me, so I raised my voice and said, “If you don’t live here, get the hell out of the sitting room.”

“This girl has lost her mind,” Latisha said.

I walked over to the door leading out the sitting room and held it ajar. I was shaking, my whole body was shaking. “Get out. Get out. Get out.”

They must have seen the wild look on my face, because everyone made a beeline for the door I held open. Until the five of us remained. Jenny was sniffling as I closed the door on the relatives hanging out in the hallway. Nosy-ass bastards.

I inhaled deeply and looked at the people who had taken me into their home when I had no home to call my own.

“Do you love me?” I asked quietly.

Uncle David sent me a confused look. “What on earth? Madison, what’s wrong with you? Cussing in front your aunt like that—”

“Do you love me?” I yelled, eyes fixed on Aunt Cleo. “Because I don’t think you do.” The tears were spilling out now. “I don’t think you ever did. I’m a burden, aren’t I? The little orphan that you never wanted. I have done everything you’ve ever asked of me and it’s never enough. Did you hate her that much, Auntie Cleo? Did you hate my mother so much that you couldn’t find it in your heart to love her daughter like your own? What did she ever do to you? What have I ever done to you but try to make you happy?” My nose was streaming now. “I don’t owe you jack shit. None of you. Whatever costs you may have incurred for the time I lived here has been paid. Twice over. What? You think I didn’t know you sold their house, Auntie Cleo? I knew. I saw the papers when I was twelve. And I moved out when I was eighteen—”

“Yeah,” Jenny sneered. “As soon as you got that inheritance you—”

“Shut the hell up, Jenny,” I grated out. “I’m talking to your mother.” I turned back to a shocked Auntie Cleo. “I worked while I attended dance school. I gave you money for bills when I didn’t live here anymore. I did it all because you’re my family, the only family I have left. But you don’t love me. You can’t possibly love me because, if you did, you would have welcomed Matt with open arms. If you loved me, you would have done every single thing in your power to ensure I knew I was wanted, that I was cherished, that I wasn’t alone in this world. Matt does that. He loves me. And I’ve sent him away to spare your goddamned pride. So he wouldn’t be here when I told you all to get fucked.” I wiped a trembling hand across my face and stalked towards the sitting room door.

“Where are you going?” Auntie Cleo finally found her voice.

I turned, doorknob in hand. “Upstairs. To get my stuff.”

She looked at me and I held her gaze. Did she ever love me?

“If you leave this house today, Madison, you won’t ever be welcomed back. If you walk out my door today, as God as my witness, we’ll be finished,” she said in a raw voice.

I couldn’t stop the sound of pain. I swiped at my tears, nodding.

“I know, Auntie Cleo, I know. I’m going upstairs now.”

I opened the door, coming face to face with Uncle David’s nosy family members. Without glancing at them, I made my way toward the stairs. I couldn’t stop crying as I sorted my cases out. After using the phone on Jenny’s bedside table to call a taxi, I rolled my suitcases out of the room. There was one more thing that had to be taken. The voices coming from downstairs were loud. I ignored what was being said about me. Once I’d opened the access to the attic, I went up to get my box of memories.

Ten minutes later, I was in the sitting room with my box and cases. I checked I had my passport, purse, cell and iPad in my knapsack, and I opened the front door.

“Madi,” Aunt Cleo called from the doorway of the sitting room. “I mean it. If you walk out that door—”

“I can’t come back home,” I finished for her. “I know. I’ll always love you, Aunt Cleo, for taking me in. That won’t change.” I wiped the tears dripping from my chin. “But I can’t do this anymore. Goodbye.”

“Where are you going to go?” she called out. “To that man? He’ll throw you away, Madi. You wait and see. You’ll see his kind is exactly like I’ve told you all these years. You’re choosing that man over your family and, when he’s done using you, don’t come crying to me.”

I nodded, shuffling one of my cases out the door. “This has nothing to do with Matt and, don’t worry, I won’t come crying to you. And, for the record, Matt is my family. With him I’m home.” I dragged the other case out. “So it doesn’t matter if I’m not welcomed here anymore because, wherever he is, that will be my home. Goodbye.”

Goddamned holidays…

Matt was perplexed. He was certain the volume of pain he felt couldn’t grow any further, yet it did. He still functioned. The brief conversation he had with Ryan about his itinerary could attest to that. He was breathing, a tad difficult due to the crushing weight in his chest which had no physical cause to lay blame to, but still breathing. And his reflection in the tinted window was a relaxed one. But when would it end? This gnawing pain swelling inside him. This dark desire to rage at any and everything, to inflict pain on someone else to ease his own…to hurt…her.

He inhaled deeply, unfurling his hands from the fists he’d unconsciously formed. How could she? How could she stay when she needed to go? Did she not see those people didn’t love her? How could she not see it? He took another deep breath, cursing himself for worrying about her. Even now, after she’d practically ripped his heart out by her refusal to walk out of that bloody house with him, even now he wanted to protect her from them.

Why wouldn’t the pain stop? It was debilitating. Matt frowned at his reflection. Weak, loving her had made him weak. He had broken his own rule and let her into the secret recesses of his heart. His sweet, dark beauty had done what no one else could boast of. She had broken his heart. He never wanted to see Madison DuMont again.

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