He stood and pulled me up, then wrapped his arms around me. My throat choked up and only got worse when I felt and sensed more hands on me. We were in a giant group hug, and it wasn’t hokey or corny. It was loving. Supportive. It made me wonder if I’d made the wrong choice.
“It’s okay, Maddox. We’re here for you,” Axel said. “Whatever you need.”
Someone squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll help you move. And Abby and I would love to visit California,” Jury said.
“You’ll be okay,” Mom said. She wiggled her way to my front and hugged me tightly. “Whatever it takes for you and Artemis and your heart to heal. We want you to be whole.”
She squeezed me tighter. “I’m always Team Madd. I’ve known since you were a little boy that you are destined for great things, Maddox. I’m so proud of you for getting into a second law school.”
I couldn’t help it. I clung to her and let the tears fall. Having my mom’s arms around me made me feel like a little boy again like she could solve any problems in my life just by being my mom.
I knew damn well I was lucky to have my family. They’d always be my family and have my back, no matter where in the world I was.
It was time for me to go.
21
Bethany
My eyes kept unfocusing and the black words blended into the white background on the page. It had been like this for a week and a half. Every day harder than the last.
The first few days after finding out Maddox’s huge secret, I was furious. He’d betrayed me by making me fall in love with him without telling me this massive bit of information about himself.
But by Wednesday or Thursday of last week, I was beginning to waffle. By the time Saturday rolled around and it had been a full week, I’d moved from angry and hurt to questioning to full-blown curious.
Now, Tuesday found me in overwhelming regret and guilt. Maddox had this massive secret, and if all the romance novels ever written were any indication, he couldn’t tell just anyone. If anyone and everyone knew, the whole world would know, and it would’ve been common knowledge.
It definitely was not.
Therefore, it stood to reason that they saved telling the secret for the most intimate people in their lives. I’d become one of the people most intimate with Maddox, and he’d decided he wanted to share this massive secret with me, and I’d ruined it by stomping all over his heart. And his dragon’s.
His dragon’s.
Artemis.
His name was burned into my memory. Tiffany had picked up on it somehow during the chaos that happened that night and she’d been repeating it all week. She said he was her new pet dinosaur and kept asking when we could go pick him up. That really didn’t help.
With a sigh, I tried to read the page again. And once again, the words blended together. “Snap out of it!” I yelled at myself. Hopping up, I pushed my desk chair back and jumped up and down a few times. Then, I shook my whole body and rolled my neck, trying to get my blood pumping.
I’d been on so many walks and hikes this week I’d lost count. Getting blood pumping wasn’t doing the trick. Apparently, only time would fix my problem of the overwhelming guilt making me unfocused.
After moving around for a few minutes, I sat back down and tried to read the contract again. I’d been looking for a new contract template online since I had trouble with the last tenant.
Thirty minutes later, I grunted in frustration and gave up. Focusing was way too damn hard. I wasn’t sure how many times I’d read the same paragraph about holes in walls. At least I’d been able to pick up on what the paragraph was about.
As normal, I neatened up my desk and left my office in perfect order before walking out the back door to my car. I figured I’d go pick up Tiffany and take her to the park. Or maybe hike with her, she was old enough to get to the first waterfall without fatigue. I’d tried taking her about a year ago, but I’d ended up having to carry her most of the way back.
As I pushed the button to unlock the car, my phone rang in my pocket. I checked the caller ID. “Hey, Mom,” I said in a fake cheery voice. “What’s up?”
The sound of police sirens in the distance grew louder, making it difficult to hear my mom, but I picked up that she was very upset. “Mom? I can barely hear you!”
The sirens got incredibly loud. They must’ve been on my street or one street over. They stopped suddenly and Mom’s voice yelled through the phone. “Tiffany has been kidnapped!” she screamed.
My world shifted. The ground shook under me, and as Mom’s words registered, Maddox ran around the corner of the house in his uniform. “Tiffany,” I whispered.
All the blood in my body rushed to my head. I was sure I was going to hit the ground. But then, Maddox’s arms were around me, holding me up. The world stopped shaking and my mother’s voice came into focus again.
“Mom?” I didn’t push Maddox away. I was able to focus on my mother’s voice, but only Maddox’s arms were keeping me upright. “What happened?”
Maddox guided me to a bench near the house. I’d been meaning to pressure wash it and spray paint it to make a seating area back here but hadn’t gotten around to it.
“We were at the park. Walter Bearth appeared out of nowhere. He had a gun! He looked drunk and screamed at me that he has rights to his granddaughter and how we weren’t going to keep her from them.”
It was a good thing I was already sitting down because I would’ve lost my footing hearing about the gun. “He took her?”
“Yes! He threatened to shoot
