Authors: Melissa Johns
He laughed in that devilish way. “No.”
They were interrupted when Amber returned with Alicia. Her face beamed. “Hey, it’s your sexy neighbor.”
Madison
blushed again as Amber stepped in. “Oh no. He’s not sexy. He never will be and if you keep saying stuff like that, it will only feed his ego.”
Madison and Alicia looked at each other in confusion. “Do you know each other?”
Amber laughed as she looked at Mike. “I told you that we don’t look like brother and sister. I’m convinced Mom slept with the milk man for him.”
Mike laughed and turned his attention back to Maddy. “Yes, she’s my little sister, my annoying little sister.”
Amber chuckled. “Don’t embarrass me in front of my clients. How do you know each other?”
Mike smiled. “She moved into the empty apartment next to me.”
“Well, that’s better than your last neighbor.”
Mike nodded. “Agreed.”
Madison held up the dress for Amber and Alicia. They both smiled. “I love it, Maddy. Grab that one and let’s look for one more.”
Amber found a beige dress with a similar pattern. It was longer than the blue dress but both were stunning.
Madison followed Amber into the fitting room. She took off her shirt and shorts and placed them on the empty shelves.
“You can say no if you are uncomfortable but would you mind removing your bra so we can see the dress as it was meant to be seen?”
Madison groaned as she stood there and looked in the mirror. She was already uncomfortable in just her bra and panties. She took a deep breath. “Sure, anything for Alicia.”
Amber turned around to grab the blue dress off the hanger. She smiled as she turned around and slipped the dress into place. She zippered up the back and looked around her into the mirror. “It’s stunning,
Madison.”
She nodded. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She released her hair from the clip as it fell around her face. The color was beautiful against her skin tone. The empire waist was cut perfectly underneath her chest with a line of beads. “I love it. Let’s see if Alicia does too.”
She walked into the main room as Alicia turned and gasped. “I love it, that’s the dress.”
“I do love it, Alicia. It’s beautiful.”
“You are beautiful in it. Amber, I want a total of three dresses. I will email you the other girl’s measurements but this is the dress.”
Amber nodded. “Not a problem. We will schedule a fitting in the next couple of weeks for all of you and then a final fitting a week before the wedding.”
Madison turned around as the back door opened and Mike walked in. He stared at her. He tensed and said, “I need to run. Amber, the pipe is fixed.”
He disappeared out the front door. Alicia turned towards Amber. “Is he always like that?”
“No, that was new. He’s one of the most confident guys I know. I think Madison got his attention in this dress.”
Madison
blushed. “What? Not me.”
Alicia laughed. “Maddy doesn’t have self confidence. She doesn’t believe that her muscular, hot hockey player boyfriend actually loves her.”
Amber looked at her. “Who are you dating?”
“Hunter Longo.”
Amber started to fan herself. “Wow, he’s hot.”
Madison
laughed. “Can I get out of this dress now?”
Amber led her back into the fitting room and removed the dress. As
Madison got dressed, Amber continued to talk. “No wonder my brother was nervous around you. His favorite hockey player is Longo. He’s afraid he will get his ass kicked.”
Madison
smirked. “I’m sure that’s not it.”
“You really don’t know how beautiful you are, do you? Well, it’s none of my business. I’m just the dress designer but believe me when I say it. You are truly beautiful.”
She smiled. “Thank you.” Madison left the fitting room and headed back to Alicia. “Let’s finish unpacking my apartment.”
“Great. We will stop and grab a pizza. I’m starving,” Alicia said.
Madison looked at her. “You feel ok? You are eating a lot lately.”
She gasped. “Are you calling me fat?”
“No! I’m just making an observation.”
Alicia looked at Amber. “Thank you for all your help today. I will be in touch with all the details.”
“Thank you!” She waved as she went back behind the counter.
Madison
followed Alicia to her car. “I’m sorry, Alicia. I wasn’t calling you fat.” She got into the car and reached for the seat belt.
Alicia sighed and started the car. “I know you weren’t. You can’t tell your brother but I think I’m pregnant.”
Madison gasped. “What!”
“Yeah, I’m a couple weeks late. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I don’t want to tell him until I know for sure.”
She nodded. “I won’t say anything. Wow, I’m going to be an aunt.”
Alicia smiled. “And you will be the best aunt in the world. This child is going to love you.”
Madison started to cry. It was at that moment that she finally felt as if she was part of a family. “You and Carter will be incredible parents.”
Alicia wiped her eyes. “No crying yet. We don’t know for sure.”
She nodded as Alicia pulled onto the street and headed towards the pizzeria.
CHAPTER FOUR
A few hours later, Madison and Alicia collapsed onto her living room furniture and took a break. The apartment was organized, cleaned and unboxed.
“Thank you Alicia, it really does look great around here.”
“Not a problem.” She looked down at her phone. “It’s Carter.” She disappeared onto the balcony to take her phone call.
Madison
turned on the television as her phone rang. “Hey Hunter.”
“Hey gorgeous, how was your day?”
“It was good. I picked out my dress for the wedding.”
“That’s great. I think Carter is taking the guys next weekend to get all the measurements for the suits.”
“That sounds like fun.”
Hunter laughed. “We will see about that. I put the tickets for tomorrow night at will call. There are two of them so if it doesn’t work out with Alicia, don’t worry about it. I have a feeling she will be in your parents’ suite anyways.”
Madison groaned. “I forgot about that.”
“Don’t worry about it, Maddy. They are down the hall. You don’t even need to see them.”
“I know. I will just feel guilty if I don’t at least say hi.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty about anything,
Madison! They are the ones who didn’t treat you properly! They are the ones who denied you the love that you deserved!”
Madison
started to cry as she stood up and ran into Alicia as she walked back into the apartment. “What’s wrong, Madison?”
She shook her head as she walked in the kitchen.
“I don’t mean to upset you, honey. I really didn’t but your parents are a sore subject with me.”
“I know they are Hunter but they are still my parents. I’m trying to move on but it’s hard.”
“I love you and I’m just looking out for you.”
Madison
took a deep breath and smiled. “I love you too. I will see you tomorrow night, ok?”
“Are you mad at me?” he quietly asked.
“No, I can never be mad at someone for speaking their mind especially when they are just protecting me.”
“See you tomorrow.” They hung up and she leaned against her kitchen wall.
Alicia came over and hugged her. “Did you want to ride with me tomorrow afternoon?”
Madison
nodded. “That would be great. Are my parents going to be there?”
She nodded. “Of course but you don’t have to see them. Just enjoy being with Hunter’s family. They love you and I know his mom is dying to see you again.”
Madison smiled. “Ok.”
Alicia left shortly after and
Madison cooked herself a small dinner. The sun was setting as she lit the candles on the balcony and ate her dinner. She looked over at Mike’s apartment and noticed the lights were on but he wasn’t outside.
She thought about earlier in the day when they were at the dress shop. His reaction to her in that dress was unnerving to her. She didn’t understand why he left so abruptly. She knew she had self esteem issues but she was trying to move past them.
She got up and took her empty plate into the kitchen. She heard Mike’s door open and slam close as he ran down the stairs. She walked across her apartment and watched him cross the parking lot and onto the beach. He walked down the wooden path and sat at the water’s edge.
She knew she shouldn’t follow him but she decided it was time to make a friend. She grabbed her light sweater and laced up her sneakers. She followed down the same path as he did and walked slowly behind him.
She could see that he was just staring at the water. He picked up a rock and chucked it into the water. She walked beside him and looked down. “You ok?”
He jumped up startled. “You scared me to death!”
“I’m so sorry. I heard you storm out of the building and wanted to make sure you were ok.”
He watched her closely. “Why would you care about me?”
Madison didn’t know what to say. She was taken aback by his stare. “I’m looking for a friend, Mike. I thought you could use one right now.”
He blinked a few times and smiled. “I’m sorry for my outburst. I think she did a number on me and trusting people will be hard for me.”
Madison nodded. “I can understand that,” she paused. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No. I need a friend too.”
She smiled. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Her name is Jennifer and she is trying to destroy me. My family comes from money and is known around this area. We met at a club about six months ago and she lured me in. I’m normally very cautious about whom I date because I don’t want to ruin my family’s reputation but there was something about her.”
He sat down on the beach again as Madison followed his direction. “I’m going to assume that your breakup wasn’t good.”
He chuckled. “You could say that. I invited her into my life. Come to find out, she was sleeping with a friend of mine. I caught them at a club together in a dark corner by the bathroom.”
Madison gasped. “Oh my God, that’s….” she trailed off in thought and blushed.
Mike smirked noticing the change her in breathing. “I’m not going to comment about that right now because of information I learnt about you today.”
Madison got mad. “I’m trying to be your friend but you are turning into a jerk.” She got up and started to walk away from him. She felt his hand wrap around her arm.
“
Madison, I’m so sorry again. You are right. I’m acting like a jerk. I didn’t mean anything by that comment.”
She snapped around. “Yes, you did! You know that I lost virginity today. That means I have no experience in the sex game. But what you don’t realize is it’s because I grew up in a household that overlooked me. I’m the little sister of a hockey superstar. No one cares about her. I missed out on everything in my life because my parents couldn’t give a crap about me. I didn’t have my first kiss until I met Hunter. I only read about the passion that you get from real relationships in my romance novels. So maybe I don’t know what it feels like to be thrown against a wall in a dark corner of a bar and have that kind of passion rip throughout your body but it doesn’t mean I haven’t dreamt about it!”
Mike stared at her and closed his eyes briefly. “I really bring out the anger in you, don’t I?”
Madison
wiped her eyes and couldn’t believe she had just unloaded onto a stranger. “No, you don’t. It’s been a whirlwind the past twenty four hours and I just need some sleep.”
“Come on, I will walk you home. I don’t need you to get hurt and Longo to kick my ass.”
Madison frowned. “You didn’t finish your story though.”
He sat on the wood stairs and frowned. “After I confronted them, she told me that she was out to screw me from the beginning. Apparently, my father’s company put her father’s company out of business. She was out for revenge. She used a fake last name so I wouldn’t connect any dots.”
Madison sat down next to him and touched his arm. “I’m so sorry. That’s horrible.”