Page 99 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“Yes. We know each other from college,” Clemens continued happily. “Maddie practically invited me to meet her here today. To talk about old times.”

Matt pressed his lips together. She had not. He waited for Maddie to tell the clown exactly that, but she remained silent.

“Maddie?” Matt murmured, taking a step forward and putting a reassuring hand on her neck. She sank into his touch and then came back to life. She glanced up at him hesitantly, almost apologetically, as if it was her human failing that had led to this unpleasant situation, not Clemens’.

“About old times…What? Clemens. What are you doing here?” she finally asked slowly. “I still don’t quite understand.”

Clemens laughed. “Well, seeing you. Aren’t you happy?”

Maddie blinked, looked at Matt, and then back at Clemens before smiling warily – not with her eyes, but wide enough to deceive everyone except Matt. “Yes, of course. Nice to see you again. I just…didn’t expect you to come here. That’s all.”

“Well, I have to persuade you to come to my wedding! Maddie, you’ve never said no to me before, so why start now?” He winked at her and grinned. “You can skip ice hockey. Really, Maddie, I can’t do it without you.”

Maddie flinched at the last sentence and Matt wasn’t the only one who noticed. Clemens’ gaze kept searching Maddie’s face, as if he wanted to memorize her every reaction. It was as if he was looking for…confirmation.

The question was why? He couldn’t handle her indifference?

Shit. He was actually here because she had declined to meet him for the first time in five years.

“I don’t think I’ll be going, Clemens,” she said slowly, her voice still icily civil. “I’m sorry, but as I said, I hope you have a nice wedding.”

“What? But why? You’re my oldest friend,” he blurted out, sounding almost hurt. But only almost. There was a glint in his eyes.

Oh, Matt didn’t like that, oranythingabout this situation.

However, it wasn’t his fight. It was Maddie’s. He had no right to interfere, so he focused on controlling his fists. Just the thought of how much that bastard had hurt Maddie…

“I don’t think it’s appropriate, Clemens,” she said calmly, giving his arm a quick squeeze. Shit, she didn’t honestly believe his pity act, did she? “Because of our past, you know?”

“Our past?” Clemens raised his eyebrows in surprise. But there was that glint again.

“Your breakup,” Matt coolly helped him out, so Maddie didn’t have to – so she didn’t have to take on the degrading task of reminding the man that she’d once loved about their nights together.

Shit, how Matthatedhim.

“Breakup?” the asshole repeated, blinking in almost convincing confusion. “No, Maddie and I weren’t together.” He took on a businesslike tone that Matt would have gladly shoved down his throat. “Did you tell him that? Really, we just had a casual fling, that’s all.”

Maddie opened her mouth but still said nothing.

He waved her off. “That’s old news. We were friends and parted on good terms. It would make me happy if you came to the wedding, Maddie.”

Maddie blinked, took a deep breath…and Matt waited for her to burst. For her to finally stick it to the guy like hedeserved. However, she merely smiled tightly and nodded. “It was probably a misunderstanding back then.”

Clemens raised one corner of his mouth. “Exactly.”

Matt stuffed his fists in his pockets because of that expression on his face — smug and sosure. So cheerful.

Oh, that bastard. He had known it, just as Matt suspected. He had known that Maddie thought they were soul mates, that she had been in love with him, and had imagined a future together.

Matt was as sure of that as he was that Maddie had done his laundry again yesterday without asking!

Maddie had never been wrong. She and Clemens had been together. In a relationship. By every definition of the word. When Maddie had caught him with someone else, he had preferred to convince her that she had misunderstood their relationship rather than be man enough to break up and apologize to her!

Clemens knew what he had done to her just as he knew that he had won a fight that Maddie didn’t even realize they had fought.

A rage so hot and destructive boiled up inside Matt, he felt as if his organs were going to melt. This guy had hurt Maddie — and now Matt was going to hurt him. He…

Maddie grabbed his hand and squeezed each of his fingers.

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