Talk to me, Baby.
Maddox shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell. I’m just so fucking exhausted and stressed about the upcoming midterms.”
Lies. He was lying…
And when he lied… he didn’t meet my eyes.
“Maddox–”
“Maddox?” I turned to face the voice who cut me off.
Bianca.
What the hell was she doing here? The last time I saw her was at the club six months ago, where she threw a bitch tantrum after Maddox ‘broke-up’ with her. Not that they were ever dating, but she was slightly delusional.
Out of all his conquests, Maddox liked Bianca the most. Or I thought so…
She was the one who lasted the longest, and the only one who got away telling the whole university they were dating, and he never put a stop to it. Until he threw her to the curb after the bitch fit.
I looked for any bitchy signs, but her face was smooth, and she actually looked shocked at the sight of us. So, this wasn’t a planned encounter.
This library on campus was open twenty-four hours, but, late as it was now, there was barely anyone here, except for a few students scattered around each study corner.
I waited for Bianca’s sneers and drama, but she gave us none of that.
It was then I noticed, she looked completely different than her usual appearance. Bianca always looked like she had just walked out of Vogue magazine or she belonged on a billboard.
She had bare-minimum makeup on her face, her curly blonde hair, which was always perfectly styled, was in a messy bun, and she was wearing… a baggy sweater and yoga pants. Bianca looked pale, and it was a weird combination, since she always looked her best.
Her eyes bounced between Maddox and I, before she plastered a fake-ass smile on her face. “Long time no see.” She was definitely not speaking to me. “You look… good. Um, did you get my text?”
Her text? She was texting him…? Bitter jealousy clawed its way to my throat, and my chest burned with it. Was this why he was so distracted the last few days? Like he had something else on his mind and barely… speaking to me.
I knew Maddox had a lot of fuck buddies; although none of them were his girlfriends, they still had him. Whether it was briefly or not.
I had decided to look past it… but I wasn’t okay with them hanging around him or texting him. Maddox had told me he blocked most of them.
Bianca eyed my man, and I didn’t like how she was acting like I wasn’t even there.
I convinced myself I wasn’t a jealous person.
But I felt… bitter and angry. The mere thought of Bianca texting Maddox, even though she knew he was taken and after they ended on such a bad term, had me wanting to claw her eyes out. The little dragon as Maddox liked to say, red and fierce, that lived inside my chest, rattled against my rib cage and wanted to be let out.
I was really trying to not let any negative thoughts get to me, but it was hard, as the little dragon grew bigger and bigger inside me, but she, thankfully, held her fire.
The only relief I got was that Maddox barely spared her a glance. He looked down at his textbook again, thumbing through the pages. “I got your text, and I didn’t find a reason to reply. As you can see, Lila and I are busy right now.”
Bianca’s expression fell, and she finally glanced at me. “I think,” she started, suddenly looking nervous, “I should apologize for how I acted last time.”
I blinked, slack-mouthed. Was she on drugs? Or high? Bianca was apologizing, and she actually looked remorseful.
I cleared my throat. “You should. You were awful and extremely rude.”
She gasped, as if she wasn’t expecting me to agree. I gave her an internal eyeroll. If she was expecting me to sugarcoat things for her…
Yeah, right. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Her face flushed, and she chewed on her lower lip. Where was the high and mighty Bianca? This one was nothing like her.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”
Maddox grunted in response, and I sat there, speechless. Bianca fidgeted with her hands, as she waited for me to give her some kind of reaction. I sat forward in my chair and leveled her with a hard look. “I don’t do well with name-calling, and if I remember correctly, you called me a bitch, for no reason whatsoever,” I told her bluntly.
Her face turned red, and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but I cut her off. “The last girl who called me a bitch, I broke her nose.”
That was in high school, back when I had to defend myself against wealthy, filthy rich princesses who thought everyone had to bow down to them. Ha, right.
Bianca’s throat bobbed with a hard swallow. Once I was sure she got my message, my lips widened with a smile. “Apology accepted. Have a good day,” I dismissed her.
Maddox raised his head, gave her a final stare – his eyes darkened, and his face flashed with an unreadable expression. Like he wanted to say something, but he was too angry to. He was so confusing!
As soon as she stepped away from our little corner, my nerves eased up, but I was still strung tight with… strong, vivid emotions. Jealousy.
God, I loathed that word.
It made me feel insecure.
And… small.
Like, I wasn’t good enough or… I didn’t think I was good enough.
I hated, hated feeling like that. Especially after the way Maddox had been acting lately.
“She texted you?” I blurted out, but then winced. My annoyance had been so evident in my tone that I flushed. I was acting unreasonable, I told myself.
“She did, a few times. I didn’t reply,” Maddox responded.
A few times? But why… why now? He and Bianca were long over, and she had moved on to the next available man.
My chest squeezed. “Oh.”
Maddox made a sound at the back of his throat, a deep rumble coming from his chest. My head snapped up, as he pushed his chair backward and leaned back. His eyes explored me lazily, and his lips twitched with a cocky grin. His whole demeanor changed. Gone was brooding Maddox.
I was about to get a whiplash with all his mood changes.
“You’re jealous,” he deadpanned.
“Excuse… me?” I sputtered.
He grinned harder. “You were practically spitting fire.”
Even though that might have been true, I was outraged he brought it up like this. Especially after acting so shitty the last few days. “I wasn’t… jealous. I just don’t like the fact that your ex is texting you.”
“She’s not my ex.”
“Right, she was just a fuck buddy.” As if that made it any better.
“So, that was you pissing all over your territory?” Maddox smiled crookedly, and my cheeks heated up.
God, did he have to be so blunt…?
“Don’t be an asshole,” I hissed.
“You look cute when you’re pissed, Garcia.” My teeth rattled at his teasing tone, but I chose to ignore the bait. Looking back down at my textbook, I thumbed through the pages.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Maddox moving. He dragged his chair closer and next to me. Great, now he wanted to talk.
First, he acted so strangely the last couple of days, making me question everything. Then, here he was… teasing and being cocky like nothing else mattered. Maddox Coulter was complicated, and I accepted that fact a long time ago.