I sighed and opened the door, swallowing a gasp at the sight of him. Bruises were already forming on his face and he had a busted lip.
“Oh, my God, are you all right?” I exclaimed, forgetting about my anger. I stepped back to let him in.
“You should see the other guy,” he joked, wincing as he smiled. His smile disappeared when he saw my expression. “Sorry, bad joke.”
“I can’t believe you got into a fist fight,” I said, shaking my head. He followed me into the living room. “I’m not one of those women who likes that sort of Neanderthal behavior.”
Mack sat down on the couch and I sat on the armchair next to him. He gave me a rueful look.
“The last time I was in a fist fight was in high school when some asshole pushed his girlfriend.” He grinned at me. “What can I say? I’m just a noble kind of guy.”
I frowned. “I didn’t need you to be my knight in shining armor.” He looked a little hurt so I gave him a gentle smile. “I just don’t need more drama in my life. But I guess I should say thank you for trying to protec
t me.”
“You know, I had a crush on the girl who got pushed around by her boyfriend. That’s why I got so angry.” Mack’s tone was conversational, but his expression was anything but casual. My pulse quickened at his words, but I was unsure how to take his statement.
“Are you saying that I let Logan push me around?”
Mack shook his head. “That wasn’t the part I was referencing.”
I swallowed audibly, but didn’t say anything. What could I say? Either Mack was admitting he had feelings for me, or I was completely misunderstanding his point.
“It happened before I realized it,” Mack said quietly. “It first hit me on Thanksgiving. I realized I was jealous seeing the two of you together.” He shook his head. “I would never be admitting any of this to you if you were still with Logan. But now…” He trailed off and looked at me. “Am I making a fool of myself?”
“No, of course not,” I said quickly. I took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. You were there for me when I needed someone to lean on the most, even though I was a virtual stranger to you. I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated your help. You’ve made me laugh in moments where I wanted to cry.” I bit my lip. “But I don’t feel anything but friendship for you. Honestly, after the whole debacle with Logan, I think I need to take time off from dating, and just be by myself for a while.” I clenched my hands together on my lap, feeling guilty by my rejection. “I’m sorry.”
Mack gave me a sad smile. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You can’t make yourself have feelings for someone if they’re not there. I’m not sorry I told you, though. I just needed to be honest with you, because Logan wasn’t entirely wrong when he said I was angling for a chance with you.” He frowned. “I just would have never acted on it if that jackass hadn’t screwed you over.”
I ignored his comment about Logan, not wanting to think about him. Mack frowned as he studied my face. “And I’m a jackass for hitting you. I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I said. “I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. I don’t know why I thought I could.”
He grimaced. “Does it hurt? You’re going to have one hell of a shiner tomorrow.”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. I smiled. “It’s my first black eye. Maybe it’ll give me some street cred.”
Mack laughed, and I was relieved that despite his confession, things didn’t seem awkward between us. He left soon after, since there wasn’t really anything else to say. I fell into bed after he left, exhausted by the tumultuous events of the day. I told myself that at least things couldn’t get worse.
Chapter Seventeen
I felt more refreshed than I expected the next morning, despite having drank multiple screwdrivers. It was probably a good thing that Mack had stopped by last night, since that had stopped me from drinking more.
I made a pot of coffee and then finally checked my phone, which I had kept on silent since last night. As expected, I had multiple phone calls and texts from Logan, interspersed with a few from Mack. What I didn’t expect to see was the numerous missed calls from Cassie’s mother.
It had been such a long time since I had spoken to her. My stomach was in knots as I listened to the one voicemail she had left despite the multiple missed calls. I was surprised when I heard Mr. Brooks’ voice instead of his wife’s.
“Madison, please call me as soon as you get this message. It’s urgent that I speak to you as soon as possible. It’s a matter of life and death.”
My stomach dropped. I wasted no time in dialing back the number. No matter what had happened between me and Cassie’s parents, I still felt a loyalty and obligation to them.
Mr. Brooks answered on the second ring. He had always been the grounded and calm one, but his voice sounded anguished when he spoke.
“Madison, thank God you called back. I was afraid you were going to ignore me.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Brooks. I had my phone on silent and didn’t hear your message until this morning. What’s going on?”
“It’s Cassie’s mother. She’s been getting progressively worse, and then a couple of days ago she refused to get out of bed. Now she’s almost in a catatonic state except for brief spurts of lucidity.” His voice broke. “If you can even call it lucidity. She keeps asking for Cassie, and now she keeps asking for you. She says that both her children have abandoned her so she might as well just die.” He sobbed, his voice panicked. “Last night she said Cassie was calling her to join her. I don’t know what to do.”