“How so?” Madison asked.
“If I’d been hit or fallen a different way, I could be in a chair too. All this time I’ve been wallowing in self-pity, as if not playing football was the worst thing that could have happened to me, when Jake will never have that chance at all. Never have chances at a lot of things I take for granted.”
Madison slipped her smaller hand into his but didn’t say anything, knowing when to keep silent. He squeezed her hand in gratitude, and they walked into the elevator.
* * *
Madison settled onto the edge of the king-sized bed in the large suite. A totally unnecessary expense, but everyone else seemed used to it, so she’d kept silent at check-in.
She waited for her luggage to be brought up so she could unpack her things, and she hoped they wouldn’t be too badly wrinkled. Especially the dress she’d thrown in at the last minute just in case they went out for fun in Manhattan. Good thing, since apparently they were visiting Alex’s cousin’s nightclub.
When a knock came, she opened the door, expecting the bellman. Instead, Alex stood in the doorway, one arm braced on the molding.
“You’re not the bellman.” She stepped aside to let him in.
“Disappointed?” he asked, looking as off-kilter as he had when they’d stepped into the elevator earlier.
“Don’t be silly. What’s going on?”
He strode to the bed and flopped to his back, leaning against the pillows. “I just can’t get Jake out of my head. He’s so young, and he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, but he laughs and smiles like all’s well with the world.”
She sat on the bed and crawled over, cuddling against his hard body. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into him.
“You gave him something special to remember today. He met his hero, and you treated him like a normal kid. You were great with him,” she murmured.
“Kids are so resilient and accepting. So much more so than adults,” he said.
“That they are.” She paused then said, “Focus on Jake’s smile.” She was at a loss how else to help him out of his funk.
“How did you get so smart?” He toyed with her hair, combing through the strands and twirling it with his finger.
She let out a sigh. “A lot of practice trying not to focus on bad things, I guess,” she said, surprised she was answering so honestly.
“I want to know more about those bad things. More about you. The things you don’t talk about,” he said in a low, soothing voice.
She knew what he wanted. It was a story she
rarely told. Someone had to earn her trust and her heart before she’d even consider admitting that neither of her parents had wanted her. Saying it out loud made her vulnerable, and Madison normally didn’t allow many people that close. She’d kept Alex at a distance the first time they were together, even as she’d known how hard she was falling in such a short time. Because she knew he wasn’t a forever kind of guy, and the truth went to the deepest hurt she nursed in her heart.
But she could no longer hold back from this man. She didn’t want to. He’d been asking for her trust, and if she was going to try, as he seemed to be doing, she had to let him in.
She sighed and said, “My mom left me and my dad. She said she was going to work one morning, and she never came back. When he realized something was wrong, he called her job, her friends, but no one had heard from her.” She shrugged. “We didn’t have any other family that I knew of, so it was just me and him.”
He began to stroke her hair, long, soothing touches this time, keeping them connected as she spoke.
“How old were you?”
“I was twelve, and it was horrible. My father worked really long hours in construction and came home really late. Looking back, I know he went out drinking before coming home. I would let myself into the house after school, make myself dinner with whatever I could find in the fridge or the pantry, do my homework and … cry myself to sleep.”
“Fuck,” Alex muttered.
She was glad he couldn’t see her face and appreciated the strength of his arms wrapped tightly around her. “One day he said we were going clothes shopping. I was really excited because, one, we never ever bought new things, and two, my clothes were getting tighter. I’d started developing and … you know.”
She pulled in a deep breath, the lump in her throat so big it actually hurt. “You’d think this would get easier.” She buried her face against his side.
“Take your time, Angel.” His voice was warm and soothing, but she felt the tension emanating from him.
It wasn’t an easy story to tell. It couldn’t be an easy one to hear. Riley had cried when Madison had told her, and Madison had only given the other woman the bare bones.