Page 89 of The Encounter
By the time they crawled into bed that night, the house was decorated, he had a tree up in his living room covered with lights and ornaments, and a happy woman tucked up against him.
Life couldn’t get much better than this.
28
“Madelyn Carter, who apparently goes by the childish name of Maddie, has convinced Jace Locke to spend his hard-earned money on a custom necklace for her. It seems the woman has him wrapped around her poorly manicured finger. What Jace sees in her, I’ll never know.” - Samantha Barnes, Celebrity Status
Tears sprangto Maddie’s eyes as she gripped the paper in her hands.
“You’ve got to stop reading that,” Kayla said.
“I can’t help it! I know there’s going to be something written about me, and you keep this trash around the house,” Maddie snapped. She set the paper down and clenched her eyes shut while taking in several deep breaths. “I’m sorry. That was unfair of me.”
Kayla sat on the couch next to Maddie and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I realize it’s hard to avoid, but no good comes from reading it. It only upsets you.”
Maddie leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “I don’t understand why she feels the need to attack me all the time. How can one person have that much hate toward another?Especiallysomeone they don’t even know!”
“I don’t know. It’s truly disgusting, but you getting upset by it is giving her more power.”
Maddie groaned. “I know.”
“So, come on, let’s get you ready for your big date night with Jace’s parents, and you can forget all about the trash that is Samantha Barnes.”
Maddie stood and gave one last glance to the tabloid before following Kayla up the stairs toward her bedroom. She had spent nearly every night with Jace since the incident at the club, and last night, he had asked her if she’d join him for dinner at his parents’ place.
After she had met them at the ball, the nerves had downgraded. His parents seemed like wonderful people and had been nothing but nice to her. But part of her wondered if they read the tabloids and believed the information being spread about her. She hated to admit that she was worried they would dislike her because of the poor things being said about her in the paper, especially from Samantha—someone they have known for several years. It couldn’t have made her look good.
“Things seem to be getting pretty serious between you two,” Kayla said, as she added product to Maddie’s hair to help tame some curls.
“I could say the same about you and Robert.”
Kayla glanced at Maddie in the mirror. “Oh please. You know it’s not like that.”
Maddie didn’t know how Kayla felt about Robert, since she constantly deflected. But Maddie did know that Kayla always downplayed anything she cared a modicum about.
“Are you sure about that?”
Kayla ignored her, only confirming Maddie’s suspicions. She cared a lot about Robert.
“You’ve been spending the night at Jace’s nearly every night.”
“And I suspect Robert has been spending the night here every night.” Maddie raised an eyebrow in the mirror at Kayla.
Kayla rolled her eyes. “So what?”
“Kayla,” Maddie said, and waited for Kayla to stop what she was doing and meet Maddie’s eyes in the mirror. “It’s okay to care about Robert. He seems like a great guy.”
Kayla half smiled.
Maddie continued, “Plus, we know you two have great sex, so there’s that.”
“Right?” Kayla giggled. “By the way, I never told you I’m sorry you guys walked in on that. It wasn’t intentional.”
Maddie laughed. “I’ll never believe that. But it’s okay.”
Kayla went back to Maddie’s hair, placing it all in an intricate updo. “But seriously, you and Jace seem great together. I’ve never seen you so happy.”
“I don’t think I have ever been so happy. Things are aligning really well between work and my personal life. If only Samantha would back off a bit, things would be amazing.”
