Page 56 of Bad Wolf

Today though, there’ll definitely be a chance of us crossing paths, because when the cutest person on the planet, a.k.a. Jack Madden, invites a girl over for Sunday dinner, who am I to decline?

For Knox, nothing will have changed. I’ll still be the girl he put in her place and told she was “irrelevant.” I’ll have to just pull up my big girl panties.

I came here looking to set the record straight. To tell him all the things I’ve kept bottled up all these years. To apologize.

To atone.

And even though I did what I thought was for the greater good, Madonna said it best when she said, “the road to hell is always paved with good intentions." So, here I stand, eating a chalky plant-based paste with a hint of mango flavoring in what is obviously my purgatory.

Is a life with Knox present but not in it worse than how I was living before? Only time will tell.

I said I’d grab my new life by the balls, but my heart has some catching up to do. She keeps me awake at night, yearning for someone that doesn’t want us anymore.

If I see him today, I’ll just have to play it cool. Civil. I’m choosing to stay, I’ll deal with the fallout and a certainly frosty Knox.

I pick my outfit wisely. A task I seem to be doing far too much of lately. I’m going for laid-back; jeans, a bralette and a sweatshirt. The weather guys are all in a tizz because we’re about to get a bout of unusually warm weather, but when I checked earlier it said it was going to be overcast and dreary all day.

The door to the apartment slams just as I’m applying a hefty dollop of concealer. I jump so high I nearly poke myself in the eye.

“It’s me, Wren. I’ll just grab a quick shower and then we’ll drive out to Coralie’s.” The sound of running water drowns out my reply as I fight to hide the dark circles under my eyes.

There’s a knock at the door and I rush to get it. Two smiling faces stare back at me.

Jenna, who envelopes me in a tight hug, and another, much younger girl who I know is Kate, although we’ve never met.

“Hi, you must be Kate.”

“That’s me, and you must be the famous Wren!”

“Notorious,” Jenna fake coughs and I narrow my eyes at the pretty baker.

“Shall we fill Little Miss Kate here in on all the hellraising you got up to when we were teenagers?”

We laugh just as Scott walks out of the bathroom. A dark grey terrycloth towel tucked in at his waist.

“Oh, great, you’re both here. Give me a sec.”

Jenna lets out a barely audible squeak-gulp as all three of us track Scott’s movements back into his room.

Scott is undoubtedly one fine specimen, and although you’d have to be blind to not see the uncanny resemblance the Maddens have to one another, this sexy fireman does absolutely nothing for me.

Poor Jenna on the other hand, has stopped breathing.

“How is it even possible that there are six of them?” Kate wonders aloud, restarting Jenna’s brain. She and I just shake our heads. It’s a phenomenon.

A hotness phenomenon.

* * *

As promised, we’re on the road in no time and I learn a little bit more about Kate.

Freshman at NYU studying early childhood education. Her schedule is crammed but she tries to spend time with Jack, Coralie, and Gunner whenever she can. She skims over what brought her into the Madden fold, and something pulls in my chest.

“You did what you needed to do. I respect the hell out of you for getting out when you did. The worst thing a parent can do is drag their child down with them.” I pat her arm and catch Scott’s gaze in the review mirror as he turns into what I now know is Gunner’s driveway.

“You say that like you’ve been there yourself,” she says, unbuckling her belt.

I nod. “Got the heartache, debt, and lack of degree to prove it.”

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