Beyond Broken(64)

Luke: Caleb, I heard you aren't locking your woman down.





Caleb scowled in irritation, choosing to ignore the text since he had no idea what Luke was even talking about. Then Alex chimed in.





Alex: I think she's too good for him anyway. Seemed pretty indifferent towards him on Sat. night.





Yeah, she was pretty fucking indifferent when she was sucking on my bottom lip that night, asshole, Caleb thought. He knew they were just baiting him, like they were prone to do. 





Luke: Sounds about right after what she told Kate and Christie yesterday morning.





Adam: I'm wisely staying out of this one …





Caleb's eyes narrowed on his phone. What had Maddie told them exactly? His phone was in the palm of his hand before he realized it and he started typing out a text.





Caleb: What did she say?





Luke: Ah, so he finally speaks.





Caleb: Asshole. Cut the shit.





Luke: Maddie's going out with that guy again on Thursday. You know what that means? Make your move already or a certain someone is gonna make his first!!





Caleb stared down at the text on the screen and then his eyes snapped up to the woman sitting on the opposite side of the room. Jealousy burned in his gut.

Before he knew what he was doing, he bit out, "You're going out with that guy again?"

Her brows furrowed as she glanced at him. "What?"

"That guy you were with on Saturday. You're seeing him again?"

Maddie stared at him and then realization hit. "That's none of your business. How did you even find out?"

"From Luke," Caleb grated. "Who probably found out from Kate. Is it true?"

"Oh, what? Are you upset that your little sabotage stunt by the bathrooms didn't work?" she threw back at him, standing up from her chair. She was getting annoyed. Caleb could always tell by the way her eyes blazed and the tops of her cheeks turned a light pink. In some twisted way, it had always turned him on.

Caleb stood and stalked over towards her. "You don't honestly like that guy, do you?"

"At least Paul is nice and we weren't at each other's throats all night, which is something I can't say about you. With you, one moment, we're fine, the next we're fighting!"

"Nice?" Caleb hissed, staring down at her. "Nice is just another way of saying boring. And I guarantee that Paul will bore you out of your fucking mind. You don't want someone like him."

"And now you're the expert on what kind of man I want? You think I like fighting all the time? You think I like it when a guy drives me completely up the wall? Or sends me mixed messages all the freaking time?"

Caleb narrowed his eyes. "I don't think you like it, princess. I think you love it."

Maddie sucked in a breath. "I do no-"

"Yes, you do," he said, taking another step towards her until their bodies touched. "I think you love this. You need to be kept on your toes, don't you?"

Briefly, her eyes unfocused and he knew he was right. But when she spotted the smirk on Caleb's features, she pushed him back. "You're delusional," she said softly.

"I think we both know who the delusional one is here."

Her gaze swung back to his. "Why are you so jealous of Paul?"

He scowled, but the protest to her words died on his lips. Instead, he said, "He irritates me. You won't be going out with him again."

"You want to know what I think? I think he scares you," she declared, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think you don't want to admit to whatever the hell has been going on between us for the past two weeks. But you know what? It doesn't matter anymore."

The muscle in his jaw ticked in time with his pulse. "And why's that?"

"Because I'm done," she said, looking up at him with those big brown eyes that got him into this mess in the first place. At first, Caleb thought she meant she was done with their weird … whatever the hell they were doing. But then she said, "I finished twenty minutes ago."



       
         
       
        

His stomach dropped. Caleb blinked and his eyes strayed to her work station, like the laptop and the makeshift desk would confirm her words. "You're done?"

Maddie nodded and looked down at the floor between them. "Yes."

Caleb's first thought was: I'm out of time. He wondered why he felt so surprised. He knew that she'd be finishing up sometime this week, but it hadn't truly been a concern because a part of him ignored the implications. Now, they were staring him straight in the face.

Maddie would walk out that door tonight and there was no reason for her to come back.