Enough Is Enough

Madison

Five days later, I glanced at Ramira as she put the car in park before turning her head to look at me.

“You need to promise me you won’t murder him, Madison! Joey made me promise to bring you back alive, and I’m not entirely sure how Brennan is going to react,” she told me.

I gave a sarcastic laugh as I turned to glare at the opening gate. “He can go to hell!” I hissed. “He can either start being a man or I’m going to beat him to within an inch of his life. Leah is pregnant, Ramira! Every child should have both of their parents, and he’s the one who’s keeping that from happening.”

As I reached for the door handle, she leaned over to pull the door shut again. “Brennan isn’t your mother, Madison. If he knew she was pregnant, he would be there. And we both know that Leah doesn’t want us to tell anyone. She doesn’t want that to be the reason he comes back. She knows that if he did, it wouldn’t last. She wants him to want her.”

“But he does. This whole thing is stupid,” I grumbled as I pulled away from her to climb out of the car. “They’re both stupid. Between her hormones and his idiocy, I’m ready to punch them both in the throat.”

“Madison!” She exclaimed exasperatedly behind me.

I ignored her as I walked up to Brennan, reaching into my purse. I slammed the envelope I pulled out of my purse into his chest as I kept moving toward his office.

“AND YOU BETTER HAVE OREO ICE CREAM LIKE I REQUESTED!” I yelled over my shoulder.

I was almost to the office door when I heard him yell, “FUCK!” And all it did was make me smile as I got in the elevator. As the doors closed, I saw Ramira’s fake furious look as she tried to coax a pissed-off Brennan back into the office. By the time they got up to the main area of the building, I had a bowl of Cookies ‘N Cream, not Oreo ice cream, eagerly digging into it as I sat at his desk with my feet up on it. I waved my spoon at him.

“Do you have something to say?” I asked, making Ramira roll her eyes.

“You know, Maddie, we should have eased him into it a little more,” she told me, making me roll my eyes.

“Ease him into it? He wouldn’t have needed to be eased into it if he hadn’t been the one that pushed her into it,” I retorted, causing her lips to lift up a little before she managed to still her face back into a neutral look.

Brennan threw the wedding invitation I gave him at me, and I yanked my bowl away to prevent it from ruining my ice cream. I narrowed my eyes on him.

“You’re being a bitch, Madison!” He spat.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I set my bowl down on his desk with a loud thud. I stood up before walking around the desk, each step more calculated than the last as I made my way over to him. I jammed my finger into his chest.

“I’d rather be a bitch with confidence than a pussy who would rather see my woman marry another man instead of admitting I made a mistake and apologizing. I’d rather be an angry bitch than a bitch with his tail tucked so far up under his stomach that if he barked, he’d sound like a fucking squeaky toy.” I tossed my head back to laugh coldly before meeting his eyes. “I have my soulmate. Where’s yours, huh? Oh, yeah. She’s getting ready to marry another man because you are too much of a little ‘bitch’ to own up to what you know is right. I don’t care if you think I’m being a bitch! Everyone has coddled you. I am not going to do it as well. You want the nice Maddie, then fucking grow up. You know you want to be with Leah. You know she feels the same way, but in a month, you have done nothing to get her back. So, her marrying Kaden is on you! You have absolutely no one else to blame.”

“Are you finished?” He snapped. “You have no idea what I’ve been doing. I’ve been in counseling and trying to let go of my past so I can be the man she needs. Do you think it’s easy? Do you think that if it were easy, I would still be struggling?”

“You’re making excuses, Brennan!” I told him as I turned around to go back to my ice cream.

“Well, I’m sorry that the hardest thing you’ve ever had to deal with is your husband having fucked your mother!”

I immediately froze as real anger surged through my veins. I spun back around, and Ramira tried to grab me as I lunged at him, my fist flying forward to connect with his throat. I didn’t even wait for him to hit the ground before I started to kick him, yelling obscenities at him while he tried to block my blows.

“HOW DARE YOU FUCKING SAY THAT TO ME!” I yelled. “YOUR BULLSHIT AND FUCKED UP SITUATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME AND JOEY! WE WORKED OUT OUR SHIT! DON’T BE MAD AT US BECAUSE YOUR BALLS ARE IN A VICE! YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE JOEY HAS BALLS OF STEEL! HE WASN’T A LITTLE BABY BITCH LIKE YOU ARE BEING!”

When I was out of breath, I paused to stare down at him, my shoulders heaving with anger. I kicked him one more time before going back to his desk to sit down. I calmly smoothed my hair back before picking up my bowl again.

“Now, if you are done attacking my relationship, you can join me over here, and we can discuss how to save yours. If you choose not to discuss this, I will take all the fucking ice cream and eat it on my way home. And then tomorrow I will stand at Leah’s side and give her my blessing,” I told him as Ramira helped him sit up.

“I’m sorry, Madison. It’s been hard without her. I am trying so hard to be worthy of her. Imagine how I feel when you walk in here and tell me that I’m losing the love of my life. It’s frustrating.”

“Well, you’ve had a month to get it together. How long do you think she should wait? How long can you wait?”

He sighed as he sat in the chair in front of the desk. “I don’t want to wait, Madison. I want her in my arms. I want her to be mine, but if she is marrying Armadillo, then I don’t know what else I can do."

“So, you’re just going to give up? You’re just going to let her go?”

He lowered his head defeatedly for a moment before it snapped up. He leaned over the desk to snatch up the invitation. “Is this where she’s going to be?”

“Yes. Why?” I asked.

He looked down at the invitation for a second before he sighed as he traced her name. “Because I’m not going to let her marry him without knowing how I feel about her. And I mean everything about how I feel about her,” he answered. “And if she still wants to marry him…I’ll support her, but she shouldn’t make that choice without talking to me first.”

I leaned back in the chair, spooning another bite of ice cream into my mouth. “And you’re going to show up and tell her at the wedding?”

He nodded. “This gives me a little under 48 hours to make sure that Nathan can handle things at Eden while I’m gone.” He paused as anger crossed his face. “Is she happy with him?”

I leaned across the desk to put my hand over his as he crumpled the paper. “I can’t answer that for her. You have to ask her.”

He looked up at me sadly, and my heart ached in my chest for him. “Can you at least tell me if I stand a chance? Or am I holding onto hope for nothing?”

I smiled widely at him as I patted his hand. “I will say that she misses you. Take that however you want to take it, but don’t let yourself down. If you want to try, then try. If you want to run and hide, then run and hide. But just know that this is your last chance. If you want to possibly have any type of future with her, this is your only chance. Don’t fuck it up.”

He gave me a small smile. “Grow some balls, right?”

I burst out laughing as I ate another spoonful of ice cream. “You’re damn right! Big, fat, swinging balls made of platinum! Indestructible balls!”

Ramira chuckled as she patted his shoulder. “Well, you heard her. Better get to growing.”

After a shared laugh, our topic of conversation changed to less emotional things. I loved hearing about how well Nathan was doing with Miriela. I was glad that he had allowed himself to have feelings for her. He was a great man who deserved a love as amazing as the one I shared with Joey. When we left a few hours later, Brennan hugged me tightly at the gate.

“Thank you, Madison. I know you’ve really taken to Leah. I’m glad she has you,” he murmured softly.

I giggled as I leaned back to look up at him. “I taught her how to punch you in the throat.”

He groaned as he shook his head. “I believe it. Ummm, and if you could keep our little spat between us, I’d be grateful…”

I shrugged as I backed away. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.” I waved to him. “I’ll see you soon, Brennan.”

Ramira waved at him as she backed away. As we passed through the last gate, we high-fived. “Well played, Maddie! Everything except your beating his ass, that is.”

I raised an eyebrow at her as I settled into my seat to take a nap. “He pissed me off. I lost control. And I am not apologizing.”

“Didn’t think you would.”

“Besides, the whole fake invitation thing was your idea. I was just the best one to present it to him,” I said. “And obviously it worked.”

“It did. I hope this works. They are both miserable,” she mumbled.

“It will. Or I will come back and punch him in the throat again…”