Page 26 of One Taste
It feels like chaos hasensued all around me as I begin to wake. My phone rings and buzzes on my nightstand. Someone’s also banging on my front door. There’s only a handful of people on the access list, and I know who it is before I’m fully conscious.
Jax isn’t back until late tonight, and my parents wouldn’t be here banging on my door without notice. Mom finds it rude to show up without checking first.
Madison.
Her name and face light up the screen of my phone, and I roll over and grab it. It’s only nine in the morning, which means she must be here to rip me a new asshole about last night. I guess I wasn’t fast enough, and someone got something.
The last thing I want to do is listen to Madison have a hissy fit, but she won'tleave until I answer. She knows I’m home. Clyde let her up here. I force my body to sit up despite its protests. I want to go back to sleep for a little longer.
My sweatpants sit on the chair beside my bed, and I slip them on before making my way to the front door, so she’ll stop banging on it like it’s a fucking bass drum.
Let’s get this over with.
I unlock the door and swing it open, expecting to see an enraged Madison with a paper in her hand as she waves it at me while screaming how I’m an irresponsible ass.
What I wasn’t expecting is a contrite Madison looking much like my little sister from childhood. Madison may be a fierce woman unafraid to speak her mind, but she’s also soft and sweet.
She looks up from her white Converse sneakers, which she was using to bang on the door because her hands are filled with coffees, her phone, and bags, and she gives me a timid smile.
She looks young in her jeans and plain white tee. She offersa coffee. “Hi.”
I take the coffee and invite her in, confused by the situation.Is she here to yell at me?Then why does she look sad and have breakfast? “Hi.”
She heads straight to the kitchen and places the bags on the island. She swipes the screen, and flips it around showing me QRC codes. “I’ve got tickets to the museum.”
The museum. I love it. The Museum of Natural History is my favorite place in the city. As a teenager, I would go there to clear my head and enjoy the history displayed inside. I love the awed feeling I get when I see the fascinating things relevant to the history of our planet, no matter how often I’ve seen it before.
This is an apology from Madison.
I used to drag her there with me. None of my friends ever wanted to go to the museum, even Jax. Teenagers have the awkward phase when they never want to go anywhere alone, so Madison would come with me. She likes it but doesn’t love it like I do. Unlike me, she got bored after about her fourth or fifth visit. She only went to spend time with me.
Stepping forward, I pull her into me and hug her. She bands her arms around me tight and lets out a big sigh as her body deflate against mine.
I kiss the top of her head. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready. Thanks for breakfast.”
* * *
“Want to do the planetarium today?”Madison asks as we walk up the iconic steps of the museum.
When we reach the top of the stairs, I grab her hand and pull her to the side. “We can do whatever you want today, Madison, but I need you to answer something for me first.”
She looks at me a little weary knowing this will be a question she doesn’t want to answer. But I need to know or it will eat me alive inside and make me a bitter son of a bitch. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be that person.
“What’s the real issue going on here? What’s happened in the last two months that has you and Dad up in arms? And I’m not talking about the heart attack. My social life has never been an issue in the past. What’s so different now? Because Dad’s gone? Dad never thought it was a problem before. None of this makes sense.”
She gives me sad eyes and pulls my hand down as she takes a seat on the top step. “Remember when that photo was circulating around Instagram a few months back? The one with you in the corner of the party with the girl straddling you while she devoured your face. Her skirt was all hiked up and your hand was between her legs, obviously touching her pussy. Remember?”
I shudder. “Ugh, Madison, don’t say pussy.”
She rolls her eyes and bumps me with her shoulder. “Remember?”
“No.” I don’tcheck my tags and comments on any social media. I hardly everpost.
“Well, anyway,” she continues, “that was the daughter of Gerry Faust, president of XK electronics. He wasn’t too pleased to see you and his daughter in sexual congress all over the Internet. It seems that she got engaged to some high society family member on Martha’s Vineyard. It's supposed to be the wedding of the summer out there. The fiancé agreed to go through with the wedding, but she had to cut all ties with you.”
What?“Ties with me? I don’t know this chick. I couldn’t pick her out of a lineup.”
“I know. But she painted the situation that the two of you were having an affair. Why? I don’t know. My guess is to save face, so she doesn’t appear to be an even bigger slut to her fiancé and father.”
