Chapter 21

21

Ethan

Friday morning arrives far too quickly, and with it, brings a new side to Madeline that I've not seen yet. She's wired over the meeting that's taking place today between Hayden and her manager. Not in an anxious way, but rather there's a hum of anticipation about her. There's also a bold glint in her eyes that I fucking love. Last night, she told me she's not looking forward to today because she's concerned about the repercussions. However, I can see that while she's uncertain about what will happen, she's ready for it. She's ready to have the freedom to move on.

Her alarm woke us at seven a.m. after only five hours sleep, and once I had my taste of her pussy, we fucked in the shower. Afterward, we ate a quick breakfast in her suite and then I came downstairs to the hotel lobby to find a quiet spot to do some work. Hayden wants to talk with Maddie here at the hotel before he leaves for his meeting and I wanted to give her some time alone to mentally prepare for his arrival.

Troy, my assistant, has sent me a list of admin tasks he needs my input on, and I'm knee deep in them when my brother interrupts my focus.

He sits across from me, placing his briefcase on the ground. "I didn't expect to see you here today."

I glance up and find him studying me. Of all my brothers, Hayden's the one who manages us, ensuring no harm comes to anyone. He's the one who pays attention to all the details and sees things others don't. It's why he's one of the top lawyers in New York; nothing gets past him. "You're trying to figure out what Madeline means to me."

"No. I've already figured that out."

I sit back. "What is it then?"

"I'm thinking about how relaxed you seem. Compared to before you left for Europe."

"I was a mess when I left. Anything would seem relaxed compared."

"Well, you could have come home in the same mess." He wears no smile and his voice is tight.

"You're pissed off. Why?"

"I'm not pissed off. I'm just working through my frustration with you." He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, his gaze intense with emotion. "I was worried about you, Ethan. Dad found you in a state, coked-up and fucked up over Samantha, and you took off before we had a chance to get you through that. I understood why you needed to go away, but you shut us out. You didn't let us help you." His voice is thick with the same emotion that blazes in his eyes, which is highly unusual for Hayden. Out of all my brothers, he's the one who keeps his feelings locked up tight. "I swear, if you ever pull that shit again, I'll hunt you down myself and drag you home, kicking and fucking screaming if I have to."

He has every right to say all of this to me. I did shut my family out when Samantha betrayed me. I did lose myself in drugs and booze for a while. And I did refuse all the help they offered. I was an asshole and there's nothing I regret more in my life than the way I treated them over the last fifteen months.

"I'm sorry," I say and I've never meant it more. "You're right. I shouldn't have shut you out."

He watches me for another few moments before settling back against his seat, satisfied with that part of our conversation. "So, Madeline. Her ex is a piece of work. And her manager is even worse. How is she?"

"She's holding up."

"But?"

I release a breath, angry now that I'm thinking about those assholes. "No but. She's stronger than I think she realizes."

He nods slowly, thinking. "Good. She's going to need that strength today. It's going to get nasty with her manager."

There's something in his tone. "What doesn't she know here?"

He picks his briefcase up and stands. "Let's go up to her. I think she should be the first to hear what I have to say."

Ten minutes later, after he meets Maddie and they chat for a bit, he turns serious and, after we all sit, says, "The contract you signed with Darren is a shitshow. And that's being generous. But my job is to get the best outcome for you here and that's what I'm going to do."

It's unlike Hayden to speak so plainly with anyone but his family and friends.

Maddie takes a deep breath and holds her composure. "Okay."

Hayden details the appallingly high percentage Madeline's lawyer allowed her to agree to when she signed the contract with Darren, as well as the termination clauses that aren't in her interest, including a hefty penalty for early termination. He then goes on to tell her all the ways Tucker and Darren have screwed her over with poor royalties for the songs she collaborated on with Tucker, in particular the sync royalties for a song of theirs that was used in a movie. Rather than the same royalty split, Tucker took seventy percent, and since the movie was one of the highest grossing movies of the last decade, the income she's missing out on is significant.

Maddie doesn't crumble in the way I think many people would when given bad news like this. Instead, she sits tall and says, "Right, so that's where we are. How do we get from here to where I want to be?"

Hayden looks at her with respect. "Good question. The answer relies on my determination of a few things first."

"What things?" Maddie asks like she expects this question to be easy to answer. The way Hayden takes a moment to reply, and the way he doesn't rush his words, tells me this isn't going to be the case. In fact, he appears quite hesitant about it all.

"You have a few options," he starts with. "This exercise could cost you millions if you just want to pay the penalty to terminate, or you could choose legal action to challenge the contract in court, which would likely be lengthy and expensive . . . or it could cost you a lot less. It just depends on how aggressively you want me to negotiate on your behalf."

Maddie appears confused. "Well, I guess I just assumed you'd be as aggressive as needed. Am I wrong?"

Fuck, I know where he's going with this and what it tells me is that he really does understand that I have strong feelings for Maddie. He wouldn't be about to offer what he is if he thought she was just casual sex to me.

"You're not wrong," Hayden says. "But there are varying levels of aggressive." He pauses before finally revealing his cards. "It's come to my attention that Darren and Tucker are heavily into illegal gambling. They've made a lot of money from it that they've funneled into offshore accounts. I imagine Darren would be amenable to terminating his contract with you if I were to mention this, and that we could negotiate a better contract with Tucker for your royalties."

Maddie stares at him, stunned. "You want to blackmail them?"

Hayden holds her stare without so much as a blink. I've watched many people underestimate my brother over the years simply because he's a nice guy. The thing is, underneath that niceness is a ruthless and calculating lawyer who doesn't hesitate to act when the situation calls for it. Most people think Gage is the Black brother not to be fucked with, but I know better. Hayden is the one not to be crossed. And when it comes to his family, and by extension, the people his family care about, he will do whatever it takes to help them when they're crossed.

He doesn't answer her question. All he says is, "It's your call, Madeline."

Hayden would never make this offer to a client, only to family, and I communicate my gratitude to him with a nod when he glances at me while Maddie thinks about what he's said.

"I need a minute," she says before leaving us to go into the bedroom.

When the door closes behind her and a second later she commences screaming, my lips pull up in a grin. And when Hayden looks at me with an arch of his brows, I shrug and say, "I guess she's got feelings about this."

A couple of minutes later, she yanks the bedroom door open, strides back out into the living room, and with fierceness that I've sensed in her from the day I met her, she says, "I want you to go in guns fucking blazing."

When she shifts her gaze from Hayden to me, still fierce, but also now a little the fuck am I doing, I nod my support for her choice.

Hayden's phone rings and after glancing at it, he says, "It's my assistant. I won't be a minute." With that, he leaves us to step outside and take the call.

As the door closes behind him, I close the distance between Maddie and me, and pull her in close. "You okay?"

She grips my shirt as she inhales a long, steadying breath. "Yes."

"But?"

"But I want to kill Tucker." Her eyes widen. "Like, for real. Fuck screaming, I'm ready to get a shotgun."

"Well, he is the dickiest dick of all dicks, after all. He probably deserves death."

Her eyes remain wide for a moment longer before her lips kick up slightly, and amusement creeps into those beautiful eyes I think I may never want to stop staring into. Her grip tightens on my shirt and I feel the tug as she tries to drag me closer even though that's impossible. "I like that you do that," she says softly.

"Do what?"

"You calm me down without telling me to calm down. But I know you'd listen to me if I needed to talk it out. And you'd be serious if I wanted that." Her smile is as soft as she is right now. "I don't know what magic you weave, but it works and I appreciate it."

My phone rings in my pocket and I ignore it because I don't want this moment to be broken.

After it stops ringing and starts again almost immediately, Maddie lets me go, pulls my phone from my pocket, and presses it to my chest. "Because I know you like to ignore your phone," she says at the arch of my brows. Then, pushing up onto her toes, she brushes her lips over mine. "Take the call. I'm going to finish getting ready."

I watch her as I put the phone to my ear. "What's up?" I checked caller ID, so I know it's Gage.

"I couldn't get through to Hayden. Can you let him know I'm running about ten minutes late?"

I frown. "Late for what? He's here in Nashville with me."

"I'm late for my meeting with Madeline's manager."

My brain connects the pieces of the puzzle. "Hayden got the gambling info from you...and you're the one who'll ensure the manager agrees to whatever Hayden wants from him." This makes sense. Hayden doesn't deal in dirty work like this. Not when his job demands he remains clean. But Gage . . .Gage is the keeper of secrets and is more than happy to get his hands dirty when needed.

"You didn't think Hayden would walk in there and extort them, did you?"

"Fuck." I release a breath, staggered that my brothers are doing this for me. Because that's what this is; Hayden may have taken Madeline on as a client, but he's going to these lengths for me. And Gage is right there by his side. For me. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well, you owe me. The next time you decide Europe's a better option than home, you'll be sending me a weekly check-in text."

"I'm getting the impression you guys missed me." I'm keeping shit light but I'm filled with massive regret for the second time today.

"I hope you're getting the impression we were worried about you."

"Loud and clear. I'm sorry, Gage. I fucked up."

"Yeah, little brother, you did."

The door to the suite opens and Hayden walks back in with a woman in tow.

"Hayden's here," I say to Gage as I take in the woman. Leigh, Madeline's assistant who I met the night she brought Maddie's belongings to my condo. She's tiny, barely five feet tall, and walks with a confident stride like she's here to handle business. Exactly how she walked into my condo that night. "Do you want to speak with him?"

"No, just pass on my message. I've gotta go. Shayla's blowing up my fucking phone."

We end the call and I let Hayden know about Gage's delay before eyeing Leigh who has taken up residence on the sofa and is tapping and swiping all over her phone with a speed my fingers could never achieve.

She glances up. "Is Madeline ready?" She checks her phone. "We have to leave in ten minutes and I imagine you've slowed her down this morning."

I smirk. "Are you always this stern?"

"She is," Maddie says, joining us while fastening a watch around her wrist.

As I watch Madeline, I'm struck by her beauty all over again. She's wearing her hair up in a ponytail now with some strands falling around her face. And while I prefer less makeup on her, she's glowing with pink cheeks and lips while her big blue eyes are accentuated by the makeup.

"Pfft," Leigh says, drawing my attention back to the conversation. "Wait till you meet Judy."

"Who's Judy?" I ask.

"The sternest one on the team," Leigh says, not really answering my question. Then to Maddie, she says, "Tell me you're ready. We've got a lot to go over this morning and I want to cover it all before Tucker gets in your face."

I frown at Maddie. "You're seeing him today?"

She nods. "We're performing at a thing."

"Together? You're singing with him?" It can't be denied how tense I feel over just the thought of this. The last thing Madeline needs is to be anywhere near her ex.

"No. Not together."

"If I have anything to do with it," Leigh says with conviction, "they won't come into contact."

Hayden interrupts before I can throw out all kinds of demands of Leigh to make sure Tucker is kept away. Demands that aren't my place to be making but that I want to be making. Looking at Maddie, Hayden says, "I'll be in touch."

"Thank you." Her gratitude for what he's doing is clear in her tone and all over her face.

After he leaves, Leigh eyes the time again before looking at Maddie and me. "You two have five minutes. I'll wait outside." Then, giving me what I think must be one of her signature bossy looks, she says, "If Madeline is late today, you will regret it."

"I like her," I say to Maddie once we're alone and I'm reaching for her, bringing her in close. "I like that she looks out for you."

When my hands find her ass, she wraps her arms around me and hits me with a sexy look that I know I'll still be feeling long after she's gone. "Are you going to make me late, Black?"

I grin down at her, enjoying the hell out of having my hands on her. "Can you tell me what Leigh's idea of making me regret that would be?"

"You wouldn't like it, but I'd be worth it, right?" She's still got sex in her eyes and she's still slaying me with that look.

I press her ass, pushing her into my erection. "Possibly."

"Seriously? Only possibly?" She's bantering and I'm finding it fucking hard not to throw her over my shoulder, take her into the bedroom, and forbid her from leaving this suite today.

I drop my gaze to her lips. "That depends on what filthy things you'd do with this mouth."

She brings one hand to my neck and pulls my face down to hers so she can kiss me. It's a quick kiss and I'm nowhere near satisfied with it. "You should spend the day coming up with ideas for me and my mouth."

Fuck.

"Jesus. There goes all the work I'd planned on getting through today." I pull her face back to mine, and turning serious, I say, "My first idea for your mouth is a kiss that's longer than the one you just gave me. And if it makes you late, it'll be worth anything Leigh does to make me regret it." With that, I take what I want. A kiss that I give my soul to. A kiss that demands her soul too.

She's breathless by the time I'm finished with her. And a little overwhelmed, which at first, I assume is caused by the kiss, however, it turns out to be something else entirely. Holding me close, she says, "I'm sorry you got dragged into that video of me."

I'm confused as to why she's mentioning the video again. "I didn't get dragged into it, Miller. I was the cause of it."

"No, not that video. The one that went viral yesterday." She stops, her brows furrowing at my blank look. "You haven't seen it, have you?"

"I try to avoid social media unless I'm stalking you." When she doesn't smile at that, I realize we're dealing with something big for her. "What's in the video?"

She bites her bottom lip. "It's not good and I really hope you don't go looking for it now."

"I won't if that's what you want, but talk to me. Tell me why it's got you apologizing to me."

"It's not really a sex video but it may as well be." She grimaces and I get the impression that she hates having to tell me about this. "Tucker made the video last year. I was practically naked and he filmed me talking dirty to him. He's shared it from an anonymous account and the caption is written to make everyone think you made the video. I'm so sorry."

It's undeniable how much I hate thinking about her with Tucker. Hell, with any other man. What I hate more, though, is that she's dealing with this shit.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," I say, making sure she's listening to every word. "This is the chaos, Miller. You hold your head high and you just keep going. And, baby, let them drag me into it. I don't care. I was made for chaos."

She grips my shirt tightly, fusing our bodies. "I really think you were," she breathes. "And if you keep calling me baby, you and Leigh are gonna have problems because I'm going to be late to everything."

"Fuck it," I growl. And then, without having the first fuck to give about her being late, I throw her over my shoulder.