Chapter 18

18

Maddie

J ordan goes over and leans down, grabbing Eli by the front of his half-buttoned dress shirt, his right fist clenched as if to hit him. He likely has no idea that Eli is a trained MMA fighter. If Jordan starts a fight with him, he won't win, not even when Eli is on the floor with a bullet wound.

"Jordan, I'm sorry. Please! I'll leave. Right now."

"Do you actually think that decision has ever been up to you since the second I found you in this shithole town? This is for me, Maddie. And for him," Eli says, not sounding the least bit concerned about a fight with Jordan. If fact, he studies me calmly over Jordan's body. "I think you'll enjoy it too, watching the two of us together."

"No, I won't!"

"Is she lying about that too?" Jordan asks Eli.

"Hell, yes."

"Figured," Jordan mutters before he lowers his mouth to Eli's.

The two kiss with tongues shoved deep into each other's mouths like they can't get enough and it's the end of the world.

And I am stunned. Hurt. It's like Jordan is rubbing his big fat lie in my face, proving he would rather be with a monster like Eli than with me.

He said he doesn't know who I am, well, the same goes for him. I have no clue who this man is that I've spent fifteen months living with.

Jordan's phone peeks out of the back pocket of his jeans. I've never gone through his phone, and he never looked at mine because we trusted each other.

Not anymore.

While he's distracted, I pluck the device free to see for myself what he's been hiding.

That has him pulling away from the kiss.

"No! Maddie. Please don't," Jordan begs when he turns around. I've already unlocked the device using his pin, our fake anniversary—zero-six-one-eight.

"Oh, hell no. You don't get to call her that name anymore. I'm the only one who calls her Maddie," Eli says.

Once I'm in his phone, I easily pull up his search history that I've never worried about before. It's full of videos of men fucking other men.

Eli was right. Jordan is bisexual, perhaps he even prefers men.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask him, showing him the screen of one of the videos playing.

"I kept one thing from you," he replies. "Why didn't you tell me who you were, or I don't know, that we weren't actually fucking married?"

"I can't do this right now," I tell him, shaking my head and tossing his phone back to him. "Could you just go?"

"Go?"

"Yes, go and find Eli a doctor."

"Seriously?"

"I don't want to be responsible for killing him. And…I can't look at you right now."

The two of us stare at each other for several long seconds, both of us probably thinking the same thing.

I have no idea who the man in front of me really is or what's going to happen between us.

"Give me the gun. I'll finish this," Jordan says, meaning he'll put more bullets in Eli until he's dead.

"No. You-you can't kill him. And you were just kissing him!"

"Maddie, that evil bastard can't be saved. You know that, right? The world will be better off without him."

"You just made out with him like it was the best kiss of your life!" I remind him. "Now you want to kill him?"

"Jordan just wants me dead before I tell you exactly how much he liked having my dick in his mouth," Eli shouts over to us.

Whoa. I didn't see any of that happen.

"Is that true?" I ask Jordan. "Did you…like that?"

"He fucking loved it!" Eli yells. "He sucked me off for hours. I came down his throat three times."

"Let me kill him, Maddie," Jordan says, jaw clenched tight and cheeks darkening to a deep shade of red. He's embarrassed. Ashamed. And he wants to take those emotions out on Eli. Which isn't fair.

"No. If you kill him, I'll…I'll never forgive you."

"That's bullshit, Maddie!"

"Stop calling her that!" Eli roars.

"He's obsessed with you. Do you not get that?" Jordan asks, pointing at the bleeding man on the floor. "He's not here to find you and drag you home to your father. He's playing with you and with me. And when he gets tired of playing with you…"

"He won't hurt me," I say confidently.

"Yes, he will. And he'll probably kill me as soon as he gets the chance."

"I'll convince him not to."

"Yes, because that worked out so well the first time when you agreed to fuck him for three nights!"

"You can't be mad at me for that," I tell him. "Not when you and he did shit too."

"I was sure he was going to kill me, Maddie. That's the only reason–"

" Bulllllshitttt ," Eli sings. "He was horny for me and my dick, Maddie. Something you can never, ever give him."

"He's lying," Jordan says, but without conviction.

"Look, we can talk about…all of this later. Right now, right now we should probably find someone to just patch him up."

"You want to just patch him up like he's not a psycho murdering bastard?"

"Yes. Please, Jordan."

"Saving him just so he can kill me would be idiotic."

"Eli, promise us that you won't hurt or try to kill Jordan again."

"I can't believe you not only fucked the man who kidnapped me and held me hostage, but that you want me to find him a doctor. I hope he dies."

With that pronouncement, Jordan walks out of the bedroom. The apartment door slams shut a moment later.

"Damn, that was harsh, Maddie," Eli reaffirms but still seems surprised by Jordan's severe words wishing him death. "You really didn't have any clue that your fake husband liked dick? Guess it's a good thing I came along to educate you, right? Marriages are supposed to be based on trust."

"Shut up. Just...shut up and tell me how to get rid of you."

"I'm trying to figure that out myself. Honestly, I want to fuck you both at the same time which is a logistical challenge."

"Just go home, Eli! Tell Daddy you couldn't find me. Then he won't ever have to know you slept with me."

"I can't go back without you. Per Dante, the only way I'm allowed to step foot back in Vegas is with you."

"And why is that?"

"Because I fucked up with Dante again. Finding you was my punishment."

"What did you do this time?" I ask him as I pace around the bedroom, still clenching the gun like it's a lifeline. "Wait. Did Daddy find out about us?"

"No. He still doesn't know I stole your virginity on his dining table, right where he eats his family dinners," he says, making it sound like I didn't just lie there on the table and let him do whatever he wanted to do to me. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't try to stop him, why I didn't put up a fight.

"So, then what is he pissed at you for?" I ask curiously.

"Oh, well, I didn't tell him that I knew your sister and Cole were fucking like rabbits under his roof."

"Wait. What?" That draws my feet up to a stop. "Sophie and Cole, Vanessa's son, are like together?"

"No, Cass. Sophie is a married woman. Someone had to be the Irish fucker's bride. Honestly, Maddie, you should be ashamed of yourself for not asking about your family sooner."

"I tried to ask about them and you said you wouldn't answer me until your balls were empty or some shit, then you just up and left!"

"You could've asked again," he murmurs.

"Whatever. So, Sophie married Lochlan Dunne because...because I ran away?"

"Yes."

"And Cass is fucking Cole? Vanessa's son?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Did Daddy kill him?"

"No. He just made Cass and Cole his joint heirs since Cass is knocked up with his kid."

"Cass is really going to have a baby?" He said she was pregnant the other day, but I still can't believe it.

"Yes, and Cole and Cass were getting hitched the day I left Vegas."

"Both of my sisters are married now? Wow."

"You've been gone for over a year, Maddie. A lot of shit happens in a year."

After a long moment, I ask, "What changed for you in a year?"

"I killed Gavin."

"Gavin? The stripper you were fucking when I left?"

"Yes, the beautiful stripper."

"Why did you kill him?"

"He betrayed Dante and Vanessa. When he was found and dragged back to Vegas, I fucked him while choking the life out of him. Cass and Cole dug a hole and buried him since they were supposed to be the ones to kill him."

"Oh my god."

"I edged him for hours and fucked him the first night he was my victim."

"Edged him like you did to Jordan?"

"Yes. You know, I bet Jordan would let me fuck him too."

"No. You can't fuck Jordan!"

"Why not?"

"Because...because I love him. Even if we aren't really married, I fell in love with him. He's a good man."

"A good man who lied to you. He probably pretends you're a dude when he fucks your ass."

A blush warms my cheeks. "Do you really think so?"

"Oh, yeah. I bet he's a vers, you know, wants to top and bottom. You told me that you two have a lot of anal, even if you don't enjoy it. I bet you would like it if Jordan and I fucked you at the same time."

"Eli!"

"We could. One dick in your pussy, the other in your ass. He loves going down on you too, right? I could fuck him while he eats you out."

"Eli, stop. Please just stop and leave. You don't have to go back to Vegas. You're finally free of my father. You could go anywhere once we patch up the bullet wound."

"Vegas is my home, Maddie. Yours too."

I shake my head in disagreement. "It's not my home anymore. Rockland is my home. Jordan is my home, even if I kind of want to stab him in the dick right now."

"Hey, Sophie actually did stab a man in the dick!" Eli says with a chuckle.

"Sophie? No way."

"Her mobster husband rubbed off on her."

"Is she…happy with Lochlan? Like, is it a real marriage?"

"Unlike yours, yes, it's a real, official marriage. They actually love each other too. Why? Are you jealous you didn't snatch Lochlan up when you had the chance?"

"No. I'll never regret my decision to leave," I tell him honestly. "Even if everything I built here feels like it's falling apart."