“Okay. I just want to forget about her and enjoy tonight.”
“Sounds like a plan.” After three hours and about five drinks, Maddy is drunk and is having a blast. I decide it is time to go, because I know she is going to be feeling it in the morning. I settle my bill and start walking toward the door with Maddy. Alyssa steps in front of us. Damn, she can’t take a fucking hint.
“You weren’t going to say goodbye, Carter?” She puts her hands on her hips and pushes out her chest, as if that will change my mind about her. She looks like she is going to hug me and I am just about to tell her where she can stick her hug.
Just then, Maddy swats her hand away from me. “He didn’t say goodbye to you on purpose. He’s mine, not yours.” She grabs me and kisses me. “Remember that next time, you bitch whore.” Maddy grabs my hand and starts to lead me to the door. Drunk, angry Maddy is fucking hot!
I drive us home and Maddy says she is feeling sick. Damn, I let her drink too much. Everyone else is in bed or out when we get home. I take Maddy to the bathroom because I have a feeling she will be using it soon.
“Why did you bring me…me in here?”
Just then, I feel her lurch and rush her to the toilet. She empties her dinner and, I have to say, I’ll never look at crab cakes the same way again. “Stay here, baby. I’m gonna get you a change of clothes.”
“Okay, cutie Carter!”
She is adorable, even now with her head resting on the toilet seat. Maddy got sick a couple more times. After about an hour, I could tell she was done. I help her change out of her clothes and put on pajamas.
“Remember, cutie Carter, no boom-boom in your room-room.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. I help her wash her face and brush her teeth, then hand her a glass of water and Tylenol, hoping it will ease her pain in the morning. We go into my room and lay down together. I wrap her in my arms.
“Carter?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Will you take me to the beach?”
I thought she hated the beach. Was that just an excuse not to go? “I tried to before, but you said you hated it.”
“I don’t hate it. I just said that.”
“Why would you lie?”
“Because the only time I’ve ever gone to the beach is with Chris. He got mad at me for wearing a bikini and looking like a whore. He took me home and beat me for the first time that day. I’d like to go there with you, though.”
Fuck! I hated that motherfucker with every inch of me. My stomach turns thinking of the fact that he ever laid a hand on her. I still had unfinished business with him when he got back to town. “I’ll take you tomorrow, babe.”
“Okay. I love you, cutie.”
“I love you, too, Maddy.”
Chapter Twenty Eight
Madison
The next week goes by really fast. Carter had taken me to Myrtle Beach that day, just like he said he would. He got us a hotel room that night, because he said he couldn’t wait to get me in a bed that wasn’t in his dad’s house.
We went to the beach, but it was chilly so Carter didn’t get me in a bikini like he wanted to. We also went mini-golfing, had dinner, and did some shopping. It was a really great day and to thank Carter, I wore a bikini in the hotel room for him.
After that, we went back home and fell into our normal routine. Carter loved giving me “firsts” on a daily basis, whether it was a movie, food, or anything else he could think of.
Today is New Year’s Eve and I have to work at the coffee shop in the afternoon. Carter was already at the club helping with prep for tonight. I wish we could have been together, but it is one of their busiest nights and there was no way he could get off.
Jason is hanging out at the coffee shop with me while I work. I really liked Jason. He puts up this façade of being an asshole, but he isn’t. The fact that he is willing to sit here with me is definitely an example of that. “Here is some more coffee for you, J. I really don’t understand how you can drink it black, though.” I scrunch up my face and he laughs at me.
“Thanks, Mads. How are you?” I know Jason was worried about how I’ll handle seeing Chris again. School is starting in a week and I have a class with him this semester. Luckily, Carter is in that same class with me, but I am still anxious about it.
It is an amazing feeling that Jason and Shawn have accepted me into their group. Shawn has renamed us the Fantastic Four and everyone, begrudgingly, accepted it. He is on vacation with his family until next week so I haven’t seen him in a while. Most times when Carter can’t be with me, Jason is here. I heard him before Christmas telling Carter he thought he could protect me better than Shawn.
“I’m doing okay. Not looking forward to it but I’ll deal. I have to get back behind the counter, though. Enjoy!”
I am cleaning up behind the counter when I hear the bell “ding,” letting me know someone has come in. I look up and my world comes to a stop. He looks so different, almost normal.
“Madison?”
No. This can’t be happening. “Why are you here?” I barely get that sentence out. I am having a hard time breathing at this point.
“Your boyfriend found me. He said you missed me and really wanted to see me.”
Carter called him? Why would he do that? The walls feel like they are closing in. I feel Jason run up beside me.
“Mads, are you okay?” I can’t answer him. I can feel myself slipping away at this point. “Who are you? What did you do to her?”
“I’m um…I’m her father.”
“Shit! Why are you here?” I can feel Jason’s arms around me.
“Her boyfriend called me and said she wanted to see me.”
No, Carter wouldn’t do that without talking to me first. Would he?
I can feel the memories flooding back as much as I want to stop them. I feel myself sinking down to the floor.
“Daddy, I don’t want to leave!” The school called this lady and now she wants to take me away. “Tell them you want me, Daddy! I love you!” I lost Mommy already. I don’t want to lose my daddy too.
“That’s just it, Madison. I don’t want you. Why would I want a child who killed her own mother?”
Daddy always says that, but I didn’t kill Mommy. I loved my mommy; I still do. I wish she was here instead of Daddy.
“I told her to take you when she called me. You can be someone else’s problem now. I can’t even stand the sight of you.”
I don’t want to go away. I am scared of going to a stranger’s house.
“You are not a good girl, Madison. No one will ever love you.”
“But, Daddy, I love you.” He turns his back on me, and someone comes down the stairs with a bag full of my stuff.
I don’t want to leave.
I don’t want to be alone.
I just wanted to be loved.
Everything seems so blurry, and it is like I am watching what is happening instead of living it. I feel Jason lift me in his arms and take me to the car. I can hear him talking to someone, but everything sounds so muffled.
Carter
I hate that I am working tonight. I want to spend it with Maddy.
“Hey, Carter!” John is calling my name from across the club. I look up at him as if to ask him what he wants. “Someone is on the phone for you. Says it’s an emergency.”
An emergency? As I am walking over, I pull out my phone. I have five missed calls from Jason. I start running to the phone, imagining the worst. “Jason, what’s going on?”