“Nice to meet you, Rita.” Maddie painted the most friendly fake smile on her lips she could muster and extended her free hand.
“And you.” Rita shook her hand with a firm grip. “I’d best be on my way.” A forced grin played on her face. She nodded at Alex and walked up the platform leading to the escalator.
Maddie’s heart jumped in her chest. Alex couldn’t have chosen her in a more obvious way. She faced her and dragged her into her arms.
“Are you all right?”
Alex circled her arms around Maddie’s middle. “You’ll take any excuse to hug me in front of my work place.” She nuzzled her nose into Maddie’s neck.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I was out of line.”
“You’re such a nymphomaniac. I can’t take you anywhere.”
“I’m only a maniac for you, babe.” Maddie loosened herself from their embrace. “And you have no idea how happy you just made me.”
“Shunning my stalking, manipulative, cheating ex in front of you, you mean? That was the easy part.” A crooked smile tugged at the corners of Alex’s mouth. Maddie knew she was acting much tougher than she felt. She’d sensed the incontrollable tremor in Alex’s fingers when she’d addressed Rita. She’d heard the uneasiness beneath the steel in her voice.
“Oh yeah?” Maddie didn’t know if she should push for more of a conversation on the topic or not.
“The hard part will be getting you in those cuffs later on, to punish you for your lewd behaviour.”
“It’s best to set the record straight from the start, babe. It’s never going to happen.”
“Have you met these?” Alex flexed her biceps and guided Maddie’s hand toward the impressive bulge forming underneath her jacket sleeve.
“Best get me home now before I have to resort to inappropriate actions in the vicinity of the gym again.” Maddie curled her hand around Alex’s arm at bicep height and coaxed her towards the escalator.
“I do have other ways of punishing you. I hope you realise that.” Alex’s face was all cheekiness. Her dark eyes lighting up and body relaxing. “The weather should be ideal for a leisurely stroll along the Dragon’s Back this weekend. What do you think?”
“I’ll take the hand cuffs.”
ALEX
“Maddie and I bumped into Rita last night.” Alex and Nat sat across from each other at Munchies. Two girls at a table nearby had been looking at Nat longingly for the twenty minutes they’d been there. Nat had been staring back a bit too much for Alex’s comfort.
“What?” This got Nat’s full attention. “An ultimate lesbian drama moment. Tell me all about it.”
“I told her to bugger off.”
“Who? Maddie or Rita?” A huge smile split Nat’s face. “Just kidding, Pizza.”
Alex mock-smiled. “Not even remotely funny, Orange.” Alex took stock of the girls. They looked about seventeen, but were probably in their mid-twenties. They seemed like the exact type Nat would have gone for before things heated up between her and Isabella. “And what are you doing making eyes at those girls?”
“Lighten up. Isabella and I are not exclusive, you know.”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “Does Isabella know that?”
“What do you mean? I know you’re of the more prudish variety, but isn’t that implied at the beginning of any courtship?” Nat openly ogled the girls now and Alex stiffened at the sound of their giggles cutting through the air.
“No. Of course it’s not.” Alex leaned over the table. “Are you saying you’ve been seeing other people?” Alex hesitated for a second. “Since you and Isabella got together?”
“I haven’t been going out of my way to meet them. Isabella keeps me pretty occupied.” Nat met Alex halfway across the table. “And satisfied, I must add. But sometimes, when one is out and about, things…happen.”
“What sort of things?” Alex couldn’t believe it. Maybe she’d been living under a rock of late, what with Rita resurfacing and the intensifying of her relationship with Maddie, but she’d assumed Nat and Isabella were a done deal from the beginning. She’d certainly never suspected Nat was still up to her old tricks.
“No need to make a big deal out of it, Pizza.”
The smug smile on Nat’s face drove Alex crazy. She could deal with Nat the philanderer when she’d been single, but she couldn’t accept that kind of behaviour now she was with Isabella.
“If you’re cheating on Isabella, I swear to you, I’ll never speak to you again.” Alex realised she’d recently fallen victim to over-complicating the matters of the heart in her own life, but this was just ludicrous.