talk to Steele. Even if it was just to gain some closure about where the fuck we stood with each other. It'd been a month since we fucked, and we'd barely spoken. That shit wasn't healthy, especially when we literally lived under the same roof.
I pulled up my metaphorical big girl panties and knocked on his bedroom door.
There was only a moment's pause before he answered and stared at me with a small frown pulling his brow.
"Madison Kate," he said, his pretty lips turning down slightly, "what's up?"
I blinked at him a couple of times. "Uh, wow. Okay." I ruffled my fingers through my loose, dusky rose waves and shoved aside the sharp knife of hurt at his nonchalance. "Last time I saw you, I'd just been stabbed and thought I was dying... Guess I expected more than 'what’s up' when I reappeared." I frowned, but he just stared back at me, his face impassive. "You know what? This was a dumb idea. I guess Archer was right for once; you really did get me out of your system."
I turned to leave, not even remotely interested in putting myself out there for Steele to trample all over. Kody could keep his fucking favor.
Steele's hand shot out, though, grabbing my wrist and hauling me into his room. The door slammed behind me, and my stomach fluttered with nerves.
"What did you just say?" he demanded, his beautiful gray eyes narrowed in fury.
I glared back at him, my own anger freshened up. "You heard me, Max." I don't know why I insisted on using his first name like that. Probably because he clearly hated it more than I hated being called by my full name. What were we, if not antagonistic assholes, really? "Archer bragged that all it took was one night with me and you were over your infatuation. I thought he was just being a prick, but I guess not."
Steele's jaw unhinged slightly, and I couldn't stop my attention from wavering to his tongue piercing for a millisecond.
"Are you kidding me right now?" he asked with a bitter laugh. "You must be. You're smarter than that, Madison Kate."
I ground my teeth together at the way he said my name. Tit for tat, I supposed.
"What else am I supposed to think when all I get from you is 'what's up?' like that?"
His fingers still circled my wrist, his grip tight enough to hurt. I wasn't pulling away, though. Hell, I was lost in a hailstorm of emotions that his touch had ignited. I was fast coming to the realization that I not only wanted Archer to be wrong because he was an insufferable asshole, I wanted him to be wrong because I still wanted Steele. Badly. Way more than I'd thought. Denial and I were way too well acquainted with one another these days.
"You're unbelievable," he muttered, dropping my wrist and turning away from me.
I rubbed at the spot his hand had touched, feeling the ghost imprint of his grip as disappointment flooded through me.
"Me?" I replied, shoring up my crumbling defences once more. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, Max."
He swung around once more, his eyes blazing. "Madison Kate, you're the one who ran away. Not me. You ran from me a month ago after we slept together—"
"I did not!" I exclaimed. "My stalker took pictures of us and threatened you. I stayed away to keep you safe, you dense, arrogant, pig-headed moron."
His eyes narrowed further, and he advanced on me. The sheer anger radiating from him made me back up a few steps until my back pressed against the door.
"You ran. I'm more than capable of handling myself, and you know it. We all are. You used it as a convenient excuse to hide from the fact that you'd started letting us in. You'd started letting me in, and it terrified you. So you ran." His words were cold and biting, and it tore me up inside to hear. But... he wasn't wrong. That was the most painful part.
"Then on Halloween, when we tried to give you the truth about your mom and Zane, when we tried to show you the falsities within your own memories, you ran again." He sucked a breath, his nostrils flaring and his mouth a tight slash across his face. "You ran and you nearly fucking died, Madison Kate." His voice cracked over that last part, and a gut-wrenching flash of vulnerability passed across his face.