Page 111 of The Battle of Maddox
“This is going to sound so awful and fake, but…the truth is what you saw this morning wasn’t what it seemed.”
Mel and I snorted at the same time.
“It’s true,” Rand said.
“Essie made a copy of my key and stole the door code. She snuck in this morning, and she came into the bedroom. She…did that to me without my permission, without me even realizing it was her.”
“Likely,” Mel said.
“We’ve been trying to get Doxx to drop Essie for years. She’s a leach, and while sometimes she had flashes of brilliance, she was generally a shallow dipstick who didn’t deserve his time of day.”
Maddox’s voice was quiet and unsure. “I’m…going to the police to file an assault report. She put her lips on me without my permission. I want to scrub from top to bottom with lye and bleach. I can’t believe she did that.”
“Assault?” Mel asked.
“I never asked her to come over!” He pulled out his phone and pushed it at me. “I never asked her. She made a copy of my key without my knowledge. She’s been in and out the whole time we were in Europe.”
I took the phone, but there was no missing the sheen of tears in his eyes. I looked at the screen and the messages there.
Essie: You only need to be reminded how good we are.
Doxx: No. Do not come over. I don’t want you here.
Essie: Bright and early, rise and shine!
Doxx: Do not come over.
He had told her no.
Holding out the phone out for him to take, I looked back up at him, and his lip was trembling.
“She’s been in and out,” he repeated. “She was in there some time during the week, logged on to my account on the computer and blocked your number. She blocked yours, Uriah’s, and Nelson’s. She let herself in this morning, and she found me in the bedroom. I thought it was your mouth on me, that you had somehow managed to get in and surprise me. The slamming door woke me up fully, and I found her there.”
He wrapped his arms around himself and the tears spilled out.
To see this magnificent man brought this low broke my heart.
“I kicked her out. I broke things. I called Rand.”
Rand nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I got there as soon as I could, and… Aaron, he needs to go to make a report, but we saw you sitting here. He wouldn’t listen to me that we’d explain later.”
“I couldn’t let you think that…” He smeared his tears away. “But I have to report this. She assaulted me. And I’m afraid…”
I glanced at Mel who looked devastated he’d punched the guy. We hadn’t known.
I stepped into him and wrapped my arms around him. “I believe you, Doxx. I do.”
He sobbed again and pulled me in close. “I was so scared I’d lost you when I found her there. I hadn’t heard from you and then you seeingthat… The only thing I wanted to do was get her off me. I didn’t want her on me or to see me or to be near me.”
“We’ll be okay, Doxx,” I whispered across his skin, to his ear. “I promise. We’ll be okay.”
Mel cleared his throat. “Man, I’m sorry. I thought you were fucking with my friend.”
“Ice will help,” Rand said.
“You can say you got it defending my honor at the battle of Maddox.” I laughed, and he laughed with me.
Rand grabbed my hand and slapped a key into it. “I’m taking him to the police station. Please go back to the apartment. I called maintenance. They’re coming to change the locks. There’s a mess—”
