Page 44 of Love is Angry

“Or you’re trying to trick me again. You know how it goes, though, right? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Nah, nah, nah. No, thank you. Stick to your corner there, I’ll stick to mine, and in––” She pauses to check the time on her phone. “In about six hours, we’ll be out of here and victorious.”

I won’t get through to her that easily. She’s too hurt to even consider trusting me.

“I wouldn’t know where to begin to offer a formal apology, Madison,” I say. “I have hurt you on so many levels. I reckon there’s a penthouse waiting for me in hell. But I am being genuine here. Guess you could say I’ve reached that epiphany point, and I have seen the errors of my ways. At least for tonight.”

She gives me a befuddled look, as if I’m some kind of lunatic. “You can’t be serious.”

“You made a point the other day when you mentioned my mother. I’ve been long overdue for some serious soul searching, and this is me trying to find my way back to…. atonement, I suppose. I don’t think you’re ready for me to ask for your forgiveness but consider this the first step.”

“I’m not sure forgiveness is something you’re ever going to get from me. It’s probably a double-edged sword, though. Yousay one thing now, probably because we’re locked in a cabin together and you’re past the point of exhaustion, but I know how you truly feel, Rhue.”

“You’re not wrong,” I say. “But we can call it a truce for the night, can’t we?”

She thinks about it for a while, then nods slowly. Her lips part as she’s about to say something, when a loud thud outside makes us both jump.

I reach Madison in the blink of an eye as we both look out the window and see Cameron and Lindsey panting and looking as though they’ve just run a marathon. Sweat drips from their faces, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and irritation. My guess is the Acolytes got one of them, at least, where it hurts.

“They need shelter,” Madison whispers.

I briefly glance down and thank the stars that she had the presence of mind to nail a piece of plywood over the corner where I broke the glass.

“Too bad for them, we got here first,” I remind her.

She sighs deeply. “I feel like such a dick, but yeah…”

“Hello? Anybody in there?!” Lindsey calls out while Cameron bangs on the door.

Instinctively, I catch Madison by the arm and pull her close, then clear my throat and fake a gruff voice.

“Get outta here! This cabin’s taken!” I shout.

They both still, while Madison gives me a confused glare.

“Who…who’s that?” Cameron asks, trying to see something through the window. Unfortunately for him, there are ancient lacy curtains pulled over each.

“Mike Brewster. You can stay on the porch if you want, but you’re not getting in,” I say. “They’ll know if you force your way through!”

Madison shrugs. “Yeah, good point. I mean, what stops them from breaking in,” she mutters. “This ain’t exactly Fort Knox.”A minute goes by while Cameron and Lindsey whisper to one another. Madison removes herself from my hold and goes over to the coffee table, coming back with two beers and a clay bowl filled with cheese crackers. “Might as well. We need to keep an eye on them, at least for now.”

“Good idea. I was getting peckish,” I say and grab a fistful of crackers along with the beer. “They’ll give up, eventually. If they see Acolytes coming, they might get desperate, but they’ll be better off running. If sunrise finds them out here and in one piece, they’ll have passed the hazing ritual.”

It’s odd, but nice to see us talking like this. The animosity is dormant, somewhere in the backs of our heads.

I take a second to admire her profile. There’s only a smidge of moonlight coming through the once white curtain, but it’s enough to draw the shadows along her jaw and just under her lower lip.

There’s even a little twinkle in her blue eyes. It’s tiny, but oh, so pretty. Suddenly, I am reminded of why I fell for her so hard in the beginning.

It wasn’t just the beauty. Madison was designed by the gods to give any man blue balls, but it’s the way the design was fit with the smarts that truly makes the formula work. She’s a genius, yet she likes to keep that to herself. She’s sharp and bold, though she often comes across as shy. She’s an introvert, but I see her putting so much work into fitting in here, among these people. Ever a bundle of delightful contradictions.

We watch the two outside for a while but don’t say anything. There’s an ancient rattan sofa on the porch, covered in dried up weeds and dirt. It takes Cameron and Lindsey a while, but they manage to clean it up to a degree where they can actually sit on it.

Madison stirs and rushes into the pantry. She comes back out with a six-pack and a third bag of cheese crackers, nodding at the door.

“Open it for just one second,” she says.

I take a moment to register the demand, but I comply.

As soon as they hear the lock, both Cameron and Lindsey jump to their feet, stupidly hopeful. Following my lead, Madison makes herself sound infinitely more nasal as she tosses the beer and crackers through the crack in the door and onto the porch.

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