Page 22 of Finding Fate

He laughs as he wraps his arms around Presley, pulling her close. “I tried to tell you. Maddox never has to know.”

Presley laughs. “Did I make things awkward for you two?”

“Maybe just a little. You have zero to worry about there. Ew.”

“Guys, I sent it in a group video,” Sayler says.

“On that note, might wanna suit up,” I tell them, already walking in the closet and grabbing the first matching swimsuit that looks like it’ll fit. “You’re about to see a side of Maddox you’ve never seen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Fourteen

Maddox

“Where the hell is Konnor? I thought he was coming back to finish this weed. I don’t really want it.”

“Knowing him he went to piss and ended up fucking his wife. Just finish it. Or save it.”

I dab it out on the bedliner side of my let-down truck tailgate I’m sitting on and hop down, shutting the tailgate of my Ford Raptor. My phone vibrates in my pocket. Riggan pulls his out at the same time I do. “Did you get a video from Konnor?”

“Yeah,” Riggan says.

I open it and it starts to play. When I realize exactly what it is I’m looking at, every bone in my body goes rigid. Not a damn muscle is relaxed. My chest expands like someone shooting air underneath my skin. My arms bow out. I’m so mad I feel possessed. Tattooed arm wrapped around her. Hand clenching her ass. Lips on her fucking lips. I’m going to kill him.

“You’re too calm.” I take off toward the garage. “Maddox.” Footsteps come up quick behind me and a hand grips my shoulder. “Calm the fuck down.”

I jerk out of his hold and throw my phone at the brick as hard as I can, shattering it. Nothing but a blur of red is there with every blink. I can’t think about anything but tearing him apart. With each exhale comes a growl and every word ends on a roar. With every head twitch more rage engulfs me. I’ve never felt more like an animal in my own body than now. “I’ve warned every fucking one of you. I’m done. One goddamn trigger. One. Get out of my line of fire.”

I rush forward and bolt through the door. Before I can even think of which direction to go, I’m coming into Konnor and Presley’s room and his neck is in my hand against the wall, my teeth bared and veins pumped so full of testosterone and adrenaline I feel like a damn junkie. My name is shouted around the room. “Hit me,” he taunts. “You know you want to. Those girls seem worth it now?”

“I’m going for blood, motherfucker. Then I’m going to beat you with your own goddamn limbs.”

An arm comes around my neck and jerks back. “That’s enough. You’re out of control.” I drive forward swinging. He pulls back harder. It becomes a tug-o-war. I inhale more strength and gain a foot. “Maddox, stop.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” My body throttles forward.

“Gabby! Calm him the fuck down. I can’t hold him much longer. He’s stronger than everyone here.”

A body mounts the front of my body and a hand grips my chin. My chest is heaving so hard it’s starting to ache. Dark eyes. I focus on them. “Stop, Maddox. Your face is blood red.”

“I told you I was fucking done,” I grit. “I warned you at the bar. Everybody keeps pushing me and testing me. I’m not watching another motherfucker lay his hands on you, Gabby, or look at parts of your body that are mine. You’re about to earn someone a cracked spine.”

“Were you going to tell me about you hooking up with Sayler? Or is it okay for you to do it but not me? Huh? How many more, Maddox? I don’t play that bullshit and you know it. I’m a tit for tat kind of bitch.”

Another round of anger pushes through and I jerk forward. Riggan pulls me back again. “That’s no one’s goddamn business but ours. It had nothing to do with me and her. That was between me and Riggan. It always comes back around to you.”

“I love you,” she says, melting away some of my anger. “You better be fucking done.”

“So fucking done,” I tell her. The second her lips come down on mine and my hands grip onto her ass, Riggan lets go of me, and out of my peripheral vision, unable to completely look away from her, I find my way out of the room and navigate to mine. If I don’t suspend some of this energy the walls are going to have holes.

Riggan

I shake my head as Maddox leaves the room, sweating from holding his big ass back. He has a large frame with nothing but solid, work-made, cornbread fed muscle. He has more strength in one arm than probably me and Konnor put together. The girls are on the bed in bikinis and Konnor is standing by the wall with a smile on his face, surprisingly. Little shit. “Have you lost your damn mind? Jesus. I’m getting too old for this shit. Never underestimate the nice guys. You’ve never seen him fight. If he gets on you, you won’t get him off.”

“Uh, Riggan, that was my bad. Not Konnor’s. It was seriously a joke,” Presley says. “I had no idea he was hiding that side.”

“For the love of God, no one touch Gabby!” I point at Konnor. “You, no jokes for a few days. Let it blow over. There was no such thing as Gabby and guy friends. He has to figure that shit out, because you and her are already a thing. He’s a damn bear. Do not provoke him. Do you understand? Next time you can learn the hard way.”

He laughs. “Scouts honor.”

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