Strangers and secretsPov: MaddisonI woke up to Kat shaking me awake."Maddie," she called me, her voice, a little too loud and a little too fearful for this time of the day. "The apartment landline was blowing up and I picked the call. There's someone on the line asking for you."I roused into consciousness and looked at her in annoyance for waking me up from a perfectly good dream.She was wearing a loose sweater, the collar stretched and falling down her left shoulder and she was wearing her reading glasses and a giant accounting textbook was stuck under her armpit, in between the side of her arm and the side of her torso and I remembered that she and Olivia took night and evening classes in NYU, three times a week, trying to get their master's degree.She was handing the phone to me and it was shaking in her grasp. The cold, unadulterated fear etched in her eyes made me sit up, albeit sleepily, and take the phone from her hand, groggy and sleepy eyed. I sat up, resting my back ag
Second chancesPov: MaddisonI believed in second chances and William did too and that was the only thing keeping us together at this point, because we should have broken up and gone our seperate ways a long time ago.But I was a lover. A weak one at that. All I knew how to do was love. And all I have ever done is love and remain loyal... but the universe is shitty to people like me, people,who all they know how to do is love and I had a history of repeated heartbreaks and relationship trauma to prove it."I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he kept hugging me close and whispering into my hair. "I'm so sorry, Maddie. I don't want you to leave. I never want you to leave. I'm working on myself and I want to be better for you. I want to be better for us. I want to be better for our future kids. I never want to lose you."I closed my eyes and sighed into his chest. He was saying all the right things... He had said all the right things before and I had let him back only to break m
LeakedPov: WinstonMaddie was avoiding my gaze and i didn't know why.It troubled me. It troubled me a whole lot than I was letting on.She was walking at my side as we walked from the building where I just had a meeting with my board of investors and we were making our way to the car."What's next on my schedule?" I asked her as we got seated in the backseat of my Sedan.I noticed that she pressed herself into a tiny little corner, leaving ample space between the both of us and pushed herself up against the door, her knees together, her fingers clenching her iPad in a tight grip.I almost felt sorry for the poor device.She sat up, almost as if she had been zapped by lightning, at the sound of my voice... Something she had been doing all day, sitting upright, standing straighter, clenching her stomach, fisting her hands... Almost like she was scared of me.But i didn't understand, why would she be scared of m–And then it all came coming back to me.The night I had dropped her off a
ProfessionalPov: MaddisonTurns out that trying to be more professional with Mr Winston was harder than I thought. For starters, he was totally fine with my decision to do a complete one eighty on him.He kept his distance from me. He didn't even look my way. He didn't ask if I was fine or if I slept well. There were no covert looks. No warm smiles. No lasting gazes. No inside jokes. No more inviting me to his office to have lunch with him. There was none of that.I should love this. This was what I wanted, right? This was what I asked for... Right?I sighed as I walked into the building that morning. Olivia greeted me with a cheery wave and smile and I had smiled back tightly at her and kept on working, not wanting to strike a conversation with her...I wasn't in the mood. I walked into the elevator and pushed the button to take me to the suite reserved just for Mr Winston. I got off the elevator the moment I arrived and went to get those early reports printed, made his early morn
Decisions and RepercussionsPov: MaddisonWe finished up our lunch and were heading back to the office in Olivia's Mercedes, since she had carpooled all of us in her car."Speaking on this Mr Winston topic–" Olivia said, strapping herself to her seat and reapplying her lip gloss, whipping open her compact mirror she carried along with her all the time.A cold chill tickled my spine and my ribcage felt like it was constricting my lungs and heart until it became almost impossible to breath and my heart was skipping beats in my chest. "How're you two getting along?" She asked, touching up her mascara and wiping an inexistent smudge from the corner of her lips. "It's best you two maintain a good relationship so that I can get employee benefits for Mr Winston being hopelessly in love with you. String him along if you have to, until i get my money's worth, ya hear?" She said, snapping her compact mirror close and adjusting herself in her seat to key in the ignition.Kat turned around in he
sack lettersPov: MaddisonI was up bright and early the next day, my mind refreshed from my good night sleep and the pleasure of having the bed all to myself throughout the night. Shower was even more refreshing and i dressed in a finely knit cashmere sweater that almost exposed a sliver of skin if I raised my hands too high and a pencil skirt that stopped a few inches above my knee. There was a little slit that exposed some skin on my thigh and I had tied up the simple chic look with a pair of my favourite bombass snow white prada heels. The ones I had gotten on sale and nearly broke a tooth for.I hadn't really dressed up for work in a long time, throwing on whatever official looking pair of clothes I could find, but still coming out looking effortlessly chic. I loved clothes, I loved designs, I've always loved to dream and create and style outfits but I had switched my major to business administration mid–way into my second semester because I had listened to the voices in my head
Telepathic ConnectionsPov: WinstonI could feel the connection between my mate and I going more and more taut with the weight of the distance she had put between us these past few days.But that didn't mean I was immune to how badly every cell in my body was screaming to claim and be claimed by her.I had kept my distance, respecting her wishes and trying to find healthy distractions that would not make me appear in a gossip column of a magazine the next day.I had tried to fuck her out of my system. I had tried and failed. I never even made it to second base with any of these women. I was genuinely not attracted to them. The only person on my mind was Maddie and it seemed that no part of me would rest until I was safe with her.She had walked into office today, looking as beautiful and pristine as ever and I had nearly fallen off my swivelling chair when she showed up at my desk. There was something about her that was even more beautiful to look at today and as we ran through my va
back to lifePov: MaddisonI was feeling refreshed and happier from the awesome dinner I had had with Mr Winston and his college and childhood friends last night.Will had not been at home, probably off looking for a job or something. I had prepared some pasta and left some for him in the fridge to heat up when ever he returned.My mother had wanted me to come visiting this weekend and I stood in front of her door, ringing her doorbell and waiting for her to open the door for me.She didn't take long at all, one moment, I was pressing the button, the next, the door was flying open and she was pulling me into her tight, warm, motherly embrace."Maddie!" She cried, "Maddison, how are you?! How are you?"I hugged her softly, my arms going around her to hug her back as I breathed in her familiar scent that smelled like laundry and detergent and starch. "Maddie, what happened?" She asked when she pulled back from the hug to look at me, concern etched into her eyes. "You were hysterical wh