The Key To Micah's Heart (Hell Yeah!) (35 page)

“Look at the notes, Micah. They’re from five years ago. You know what I think? I think Madison Fellows fell on hard times early in her twenties. Maybe she partied too much or hooked up with the wrong guy, then she needed some money and decided to give hooking a try.”

Micah’s temperature spiked. “I’d tread lightly here, Saxon. You’re talking about the woman I love.”

Yea, love.

He’d said it.

He’d been denying it for some time, and now the truth just burst from his lips.

“I’m your friend. What am I supposed to do? I’m just trying to protect you, Micah. Austin probably isn’t the only city where she’s been picked up. Hell, there’s no telling how many different names she’s used. Do you even know if Madison Fellows is her real name? I think her hooking got her fired and she was on the streets for a while before she decided to do temp work. Tell me, Wolfe. What do you really know about her? The way Kyle tells it, she lived at your place the entire time you were on the run in Mexico. Then you come home and she goes with you on this lavish book tour. I’d wager a guess that she didn’t foot the bill for the trip on her temp’s salary.”

“You’re full of it, Saxon. Why don’t you get the hell out of here before my lady hears you?”

“She’s here?”

“We just got home. We’re tired. She went to take a shower.”

Saxon scooped the dossier up off Micah’s desk and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“We might as well just ask her.”

Micah followed him. “You hold on a minute.” He stopped Saxon with a hand on the elbow. “I’m not going to let you just waltz into my bedroom and confront the woman I have very strong feelings for.”

Saxon jerked his arm away. “Either you go in and ask her or I will.”

Micah gave his friend a hard look. “You best be right about this, partner. Because there’ll be hell to pay if you aren’t.”

Saxon steeled his determination. He was fiercely protective of his friends, especially Micah. “We’ve known each other since we were kids, Micah. I only have your best interest at heart. Here. I’ll let you go talk to her.” He held the folder out to Micah.

Thunderpunch stood guard at the bedroom door. “You wanna let me in, buddy?” Micah asked before rapping a light knuckle on the door. “Madison? Can I come in?” He looked back at Saxon who stood his ground. Micah knocked again. “Fellows? I’m comin’ in.”

Micah pushed the door open and stepped into the room, Thunderpunch hot on his heels. They both looked around the room first, then in the master bathroom, but Madison was nowhere to be found.

“Where is she?” Saxon asked when Micah and his furry partner came back with only each other for company.

“I don’t know. She was in the shower. Madison! Are you here?”

They searched the place together but Madison was nowhere to be found.

“Where are you going?” Saxon asked when Micah broke for the door.

Micah pulled open the front door and right away he saw her car was gone. “Fuck!” He cursed loud enough to be heard in Lubbock. “Are you fucking happy?” Micah stormed by his friend.

Saxon felt like an ass. “I didn’t even know she was here when I arrived.” He’d come over here to present Micah with what he’d found. He was still confident in his findings, but he hadn’t known how strongly Micah felt for Madison until this moment.

Micah went to the kitchen and gathered his phone. “Get the fuck out,” he ordered with a pointed finger when Saxon came to the kitchen to talk to him.

“Fine. Don’t blame me for finding out the truth, Micah,” Saxon said before slamming the door on his way out.

“Madison. It’s me. I don’t know what you heard or thought you heard, but come back. We need to talk. Baby, call me when you get this.” He hung up and immediately called her cell again.

Madison drove through the tears. Micah had her car fixed while they were away, but she wasn’t sure the poor little engine would hold up against the push she was giving it. She ran stop signs, weaved across traffic and screeched to a halt in her parking spot back at the apartment. The building looked drab compared to the lavishness of Micah’s place. She’d only been back a couple of times in the last weeks, but it was still home, still somewhere she could rest her head.

As she turned off the car, Madison felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. Pulling it from her pocket, she saw there were at least seven missed calls from Micah and that he’d left a message each time. There were also a dozen texts or more from him, but Madison refused to look at any of them. How could she have been so foolish to believe he’d ever feel anything for her? All it had taken was for one of his friends to come in waving false accusations in the air and Micah had believed them.

“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!” Madison scolded herself, hitting the steering wheel harder with each word. “Rudy was right about Micah.” She crawled out of the car with her shoulders slumped, the feeling of defeat and anguish heavy on her heart. “What would a good-looking rich fella like that want to do with me? He’s probably back there right now having a big laugh with the rest of his buddies. I bet he called them to brag the second he saw I was gone. God, Madison. What is wrong with you?”

Before she went inside, Madison turned the sound on her phone off and put it in the very bottom of her purse. She didn’t intend to use it again. If she ever saw Micah again, she would return it and she’d stop the service to the number as soon as she got her next bill.

The stairs of her apartment building offered some comfort as Madison ascended them. The very act of putting one foot ahead of the other gave her something to do. Micah had been correct at their first meeting, she was indeed Cinderella and the clock had struck midnight, time for her to return to life in her ramshackle apartment and rusty pumpkin-mobile.

Her front door had been properly fixed while she was away. “Damn you, Micah.” She didn’t understand why he’d bothered. Just as she was about to open the door, it flew open from the other side.

“I’ll be back in a bit. Just going out for a drink or two.” Rudy said over his shoulder, looking back into the apartment.

Madison gulped in a breath of air. “What are you doing here?”

Rudy sneered at her. “Looks like the bitch is back,” he said, spitting on the already dingy carpet of the hallway. “I was just about to leave, but I think I’ll stick around to properly welcome you home.”

Sunny came to meet her daughter. “Oh, honey, there you are. We’ve been so worried. Where have you been?”

Where had she been?

Madison had spent her entire life asking her mother that exact same question. “Mom. What are you two doing here?”

“I’m sorry, baby. Rudy got into a fight with his boss up in Fort Worth about a week ago. We came home to Austin to see if we could stay with you but you weren’t here. I still had a key so we’ve been staying here, waiting for you to come home. What’s wrong, baby? You look like you’ve been crying.” Madison turned to leave, but Sunny caught her. “Where are you going?”

“I guess I’ll go to Angel House.” The situation back at Micah’s had been heartbreaking. To know the man she loved believed nasty things about her hurt Madison to the bone. But coming home and finding her mother and Rudy was just too much for Madison to handle.

“Not so fast. We still need money.” Rudy said.

“Not now, Rudy,” Sunny spoke up, but Rudy just pushed her aside.

“No, she owes us. We raised her, fed her, clothed her. It’s time she paid us back and if you won’t shake her down, I will.”

Madison could see this was going downhill fast. “I can’t be here right now, Mom. Just leave me alone.”

Rudy reached for her, but Sunny held him back. Madison ran down the four flights of stairs as fast as she could, jumping behind the wheel of the car as if it were her only sanctuary.

“Arghhhhhhh!!!!” Madison screamed into the steering wheel as she drove down the street.

She glanced back in the rearview mirror only to see Rudy standing on the sidewalk giving her the finger.

Micah had been her salvation, her safe haven and now that wasn’t an option. The only other place she felt at home was at her own apartment, but seeing Rudy and Sunny there had ruined any chance Madison had of finding peace tonight, so she drove around, parking in a Hardee’s parking lot for almost an hour.

Even though she had nowhere else to go, she didn’t look forward to staying at the shelter. Even the thought of seeing Sonya didn’t cheer her up. She might find refuge at Angel House, but it would also remind her of Micah and Madison didn’t know if she could deal with that right now. She looked for any excuse to delay the inevitable, deciding she might as well fill up her gas tank.

Stopping at a station, she pulled up to the gas pump. Taking out her wallet, she thought how little money she had left. Not working for the last few weeks hadn’t been very smart. Taking a twenty out, she paid for ten dollars’ worth and pocketed the other ten. She’d be eating tuna for the next few weeks.

Leaning on the top of the car, she waited for the gas to fill her tank. Everything felt strange, like she was trapped in quicksand. Breathing wasn’t an easy task. Once she was through, Madison got behind the wheel and decided to just leave.

“I’ll just get on the interstate and drive.”

It didn’t matter that she had no destination, she’d been driving and parking around Austin for over two hours now, leaving the city was just as good an idea as any other. If she didn’t feel any better, she might even decide to sleep in her car. She could pull up behind a Chipotle and just close her eyes, shutting out the world, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d done it.

Maybe she did it just to torture herself, but she decided to take the familiar route down I-35 and pass the exit to Angel House just one more time. This would be her last connection to Micah. Just having some type of plan made her feel better. She turned up the radio and sang along loudly with a dancy tune. Feeling thirsty, she fished around under her seat for a half bottle of water she could remember tossing down there.

“Awww. Success.” Finally, something was going right. She found a bottle of water right where she remembered. “I guess Jet forgot to clean the car out when he was done with it.” Her comment gave her a little chuckle and the first semblance of a smile in hours.

But the smile was short-lived and came to a screeching halt when a horrible booming noise came out of nowhere, jarring her car and webbing the windshield right in front of her eyes. Madison screamed, jerking the wheel. She tried to regain control, but at the rate of speed she was going, the car fishtailed, spun and sideswiped one of the huge cement pillars holding up the overpass before careening into the guardrail.

Madison wanted to cry out, but she couldn’t. All she could do was think of Micah. His face was the last thing on her mind before blackness claimed her.

Panic…

Micah was upset but he wanted to give Madison some time to cool off before going after her. He’d always reckoned it was easier to baptize a cat then it was to convince an angry woman to calm down. He’d give Madison an hour to clear her head before he went to her place to track her down for a talk.

He didn’t see her car in her usual spot when he pulled into the apartment parking lot. “Of course she wouldn’t park in her spot. She knows you’re on your way over to talk to her, Wolfe.” He parked and walked up to her apartment. “Madison?” He knocked on the door. “Open up, baby. We need to talk.”

Sunny opened the door and with her eyes droopy she invited him in.

“Is Madison here?” Micah asked.

Sunny went back to her spot on the couch and curled up under a patchwork blanket. “She was here a while ago. But she left.”

Micah looked at the woman in front of him. He’d never seen her before, but she looked like an older version of his Madison. “You must be Sunny. I’m Micah.”

“Oh, I could tell right away who you were.” Sunny offered him a broken smile. “You’re the good-lookin’ fella she was all gaga over.”

“I sure hope so. I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty gaga over her myself.” It was then that it dawned on Micah, if Sunny was here, Rudy was probably here too. He stood from the couch. “Is your husband around?”

Sunny snorted. “Blah. Rudy? He went out.”

Micah didn’t like the vibe he was picking up. He should’ve found Madison here. This was her home. He came expecting to find her crying and upset with him, but she wasn’t and that worried him. “Where did you say she went?”

“I didn’t say. But your best bet if you’re trying to find her, is probably at Angel House.”

Micah already had Angel House on his list for the next stop, but he was shocked that Madison wasn’t here. “Did she say anything while she was here?”

“Not much. I could tell she was upset about something. She just said she couldn’t be here right now. I could tell she’d been crying. What did you do to my little girl?”

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?”

“Handsome fella like you. I bet you break hearts daily.”

“Used to break hearts, Miss Fellows. Those days are behind me now. All I want to do is protect Madison’s heart. She’s the only girl for me. All I want is to know where she is and that she’s okay.”