She slid the mask down again, took off her safety goggles. “I asked if there was something else.”
“What’s going on—really going on—between Shane and Fay?”
“As I’m not a part of their marriage, I couldn’t really say.”
“You’re her best friend.” Though he’d never understood the dynamics between hard-ass, prickly Maddie Montesano and his sweet, passive sister.
Didn’t understand it, didn’t particularly like that after all these years the friendship between them had survived, but no one knew Fay like Maddie did. Not even him.
“Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we stay up late giggling, braiding each other’s hair and sharing secrets.”
“You used to.”
She blushed, and he wondered if she, too, remembered it was at one of those sleepovers that his interest in Maddie began. His mouth twisted. Interest. More like an addiction. One he’d been terrified he’d never be free from.
It had started, as so many vices do, innocently enough. It’d been late and he’d still been up, the summer heat and his own constantly spinning mind keeping him awake. He’d gone to the kitchen for a glass of water and was heading back to bed when Maddie practically ran him over as she came out of the bathroom.
That was Maddie. Always rushing, always in a hurry to get where she wanted to be. He’d grabbed her upper arms to stop them both from toppling over and she’d laughed softly as she apologized.
Christ, but he’d always loved the sound of her laugh. Even back then it was low and husky and seemed to rub across his skin like a caress.
Their eyes had met and for a moment, one breathless, perfect moment, everything else in his mind—all his doubts and fears, so many fears—had faded. Because of her.
“That was a long time ago,” Maddie said, her eyes giving away nothing, her laugh nowhere to be found. “Things change.”
That they did. He’d wanted them to. Had needed them to.
“Fay hasn’t confided in you?” he asked, finding it hard to believe that two women who were as close as Fay and Maddie didn’t know every thought the other had.
“I’m not a priest. Maybe she wants to keep whatever’s going on between her and Shane just that. Between them.”
He studied her carefully. “What did you do?”
Her gaze flew to his, startled and, if he wasn’t mistaken, guilty as hell. “What are you talking about?”
But her stiff tone didn’t fool him. “You’re acting defensive. Usually, you’re just...offensive—”
“I’ll show you offensive,” she muttered, hefting the hammer higher.
“Your cheeks are pink, you can’t meet my eyes for more than a few seconds and you’re doing that thing with your hair,” he added, gesturing to her free hand, which was twisting, twisting, twisting a strand at the nape of her neck. “You did something.” A thought occurred to him, had him stepping closer to her, his fingers curled into his palms. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with Shane.”
Her head snapped back as if he’d popped her a good one on the nose. “You seriously want me to bash your head in, don’t you?”
Her voice was low and controlled—unusual for Maddie, who was all emotion all the time—her chin tilted at a definite go-to-hell angle, her eyes blazing. But behind the anger and indignation, he saw the hurt. Pain he’d caused.
He hadn’t thought he had the power to hurt her. As with most of his dealings with Maddie, he’d messed up. He never knew what to say or how to act. How to respond to her blatant animosity, so he did what was easiest for her and Bree and, yes, himself.
He avoided her.
It was a good plan. One that had worked well for him for the past twelve years. He needed to stick to it.
Taking his life into his own hands, he stepped even closer. Hell, maybe he deserved for her to take a shot at him. “Gerry mentioned some rumors about Shane cheating on Fay—”
“And your first thought to that was, ‘Well, hey, I bet Maddie’s screwing her best friend’s husband’?”
Actually, he didn’t let himself think of Maddie with other men. Ever. “That’s not quite how it went.”
“Oh, really?” She crossed her arms. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”
He opened his mouth only to shut it again when he realized any explanation on his part would make things worse. “I apologize.”
“Save it. I don’t want or need your useless apology. And so this doesn’t keep you up at night...no. I’m not, and never have, slept with Shane.”