Who is this woman? What has she done with the old Madison?
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I just really wish you would have told me.”
“I should have. It was stupid, really. I just wanted to keep everything going smoothly. I thought I could make all the bad disappear if I waited long enough,” I admit.
She rolls her eyes and exhales.
“I know. It was stupid. You don’t have to be such an ass about it,” I say.
“What did he say?” she asks, seemingly unaware that I just accidentally called her an ass.
Things are shaky. I didn’t think we could ever get to this, but our terrible moods prevail.
Is this what fighting in a relationship is like? I can’t remember. Is this our first fight?
Hold on, I’ll go grab my scrapbook.
I swallow, but my mout
h feels so dry. She’s not going to like what he told me. But I’m not a dishonest man. When I’m asked the truth, I spill it. It’s better that way.
“He told me to stay away,” I say.
“That’s all he said? That you should stay away?” she asks, face bright red.
I swear, behind those eyes lies a floodgate of tears. She’s one-second away from letting it all out.
“I can’t remember the exact words. It happened really fast. He did an okay job at threatening me, too,” I say. “Don’t worry, I can hold my own. If he wants, I know how to scrap.”
A little light-hearted humor to save the night.
It doesn’t work.
“Yeah? And then what will we do?” she asks.
Finally, she starts to cry.
“I’m here for you,” I tell her.
It’s a big step in our relationship. If it was anyone else, I would have run out a long time ago. There’s just something special about this one, and I don’t give up on special women that easy.
“Look, you can’t protect me forever,” she says, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t need a bodyguard or a boyfriend, or anything of the sort. I think we…”
Her voice subsides as she comes to terms with something big.
I look her dead in the eyes as she takes erratic breaths. She can barely look at me, let alone deal with the situation at all.
“Don’t say it,” I tell her. “Don’t say what I think you’re about to say. It’s not a solution.”
“Why can’t I? You know it’s the only option,” she cries. “We can’t be together forever, Rocco. This was fun and emotional, and I thought maybe I could extend it further. But now it’s clear to me that if I don’t end this, Byron will do it for me. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“What, is he going to kill me or something?” I stupidly spit out.
The way she’s looking at me makes me think I hit the nail on the head.
“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” she repeats. “He will hunt you down if he feels threatened.”
“So that’s it?” I ask. I stand up and start pacing around the room. “You’re just going to throw in the towel and give up? It’s that easy for you?”