Malum: Part 1 (The Elite King's Club 4)

R: I get it. But I miss you.

T: Wanna come over and meet Micaela? We’re going out tonight too, so you can tag along?

The text reply is almost instant. R: Done. Send me the address.

I send the address and then take Micaela. “I’ll go change her upstairs and then we can start moving what little things I have into the pool house. But I need to go shopping. I have some money left in my account from a while ago, so you up for it?”

Madison grins. “Absolutely.”

Tillie

“I’m exhausted. I still hate shopping,” Madison growls, pushing her hair out of her face.

I chuckle. “I think we’re good though.”

Madison moves her head from where it was leaning against the back of the chair and looks at me, her eyelids weak. “Yes, I think so.”

We order some lunch and dig in. Shopping should count as cardio. “I can’t decide on the red one or the black one.”

“Red,” Madison says around her bite of sushi. “Red is your color, which is strange because of your pink hair, but it works.”

After lunch, we make our way back out to Madison’s teal blue Ferrari. I still can’t get over Bishop buying her this car. We slide inside and as soon as she turns it on, the radio starts playing Juvenile “Slow Motion,” and I crank it up.

Madison chuckles. “Snapchat, now!”

I laugh, tying my hair up into a high ponytail and sliding my Ray-Bans over my eyes. I pucker my lips and start dancing, moving the camera to Madison. She drops it down into third and floors it. The video is cut off by us laughing our asses off. I add it to my story, captioning it “Girl’s night out tonight” with the celebration emoji and champagne glasses.

“God, can we make a rule for tonight?” she asks, turning the music down a little.

“Sure.” I gaze out the window.

“No talking about The Kings.”

“Mads…” I warn, worry taking hold of me. “Are you and B okay?” I love Bishop, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he has never dogged around on Madison. Maybe it does.

“What?” Madison turns to face me, and then sighs, going back to the road. “We might be fighting.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head. “Not really.”

I turn the music up. “Then let’s just drink.”

We empty all our shopping bags out of the car and quickly run across the backyard to the pool house. It’s a small apartment style with a glass wall that looks directly out to the pool. I’ve only been here maybe once or twice, and when I flick the light on, I see not much has changed. The décor is all white and red. The glass wall that looks out to the pool is tinted for privacy. There’s a small L-shaped leather couch that somewhat separates the main living room and the small kitchen. There’s a square marble coffee table that sits smack bang in the middle and a white rug tucked underneath it. To the right is the large king-sized bed with enough pillows to fill two beds and white sheets spread over. Elena had obviously been in here to freshen it up because there’s a candle burning on the coffee table, igniting a sweet cedar tree smell through the air. It’s warm and inviting. There’s also a small crib beside my bed, but not the same as the one that’s in Nate’s room. I wonder when she found the time to buy it and set it up. To the right of the bed is a door that leads into a bathroom. I take a step toward it and peek in. It’s all white marble and has a small counter with delicate soaps. I know that they had this as a guest house, but it’s really nice.

“Well!” Madison says, flopping down onto the couch. “I’m ready to get drunk.” I want to ask what’s wrong with her, but I know she won’t tell me until she’s ready.

I decide to shift the subject to one that’s a little more uncomfortable for me. “Is Tate coming?”

Madison doesn’t say anything, her eyes stay on the ceiling, her head tilted back against the edge of the couch. “She will probably meet us there.” Then she turns to look directly at me. “She’s not been herself lately. Nate and her, they, I don’t know. Is it okay for me to talk to you about this?” She leans forward, her eyes coming to mine. I feel like I might be too sober for this conversation, but I nod my head anyway because I don’t want to seem, I don’t know, vulnerable. Besides, everyone already tiptoes around me where Nate is concerned. I don’t need any more pity.

“Sure.”

Madison exhales. “Okay, so she slept with Bishop’s cousin Spyder the other night, and then all of a sudden, she’s back into Nate, only more forceful this time. It’s fucking strange. She is fucking strange right now.” I don’t know what to say, the fact that Tate has slept with Bishop’s cousin doesn’t surprise me, the girl is the female version of Nate.