“I thought you might decide to do that.  You’re a good woman, Madison Cole, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, especially not J,” she said, and I loved her a little more for her unconditional support.

“I’m going to miss you.  Maybe you should move here too,” I said, meaning every word.

“Never say never, huh. Gonna visit you real soon, though,” she replied, “And I’ll kick J’s ass if he is being a fucker to you.”

I had no doubt about that.  “Okay, I’d better go.  Can you tell Blake I will call him tomorrow?  I love you, honey,” I ended the phone call.

“Will do.  Love you too, girl,” she said and hung up.

I took a deep breath and went back inside, hoping to say goodbye to Crystal and convince J to take me back to the clubhouse.  I didn’t want to hang around here for much longer.

Brooke and Crystal were back in the living room with J, and they were all laughing at something on the television.  J looked over at me and then tapped Crystal on the shoulder.  “Say goodnight to Madison, angel.  We have to go in a minute,” he said, and I was relieved that he had the same plans as I did.

Crystal gave me a long hug and I whispered in her ear, “I love you, baby girl, and I’ll be back to see you soon.”

She kissed me and then left with Brooke to go to bed.  Brooke nodded at me as they left the room.  I wasn’t sure what that meant but she didn’t seem to be as hostile towards me as I thought she would be.

“You ready to go?” J asked, without as much as a glance in my direction.  He was already heading towards the front door, my answer clearly not even important.

I didn’t bother answering him, simply followed him out to his bike.  Without uttering a word to each other we rode back to the clubhouse and my resolve to stay away from him was strengthened.

Chapter 10

Jason

I collapsed onto the bed, thankful as fuck that today was over.  I didn’t have it in me to bother heading home so I was just crashing in my room at the clubhouse.  The ride home from Coffs Harbour had been long, probably because I couldn’t concentrate with my dick doing the fucking happy dance that Madison’s tits and pussy were pressed tight to me.  It had been just over three hours of torturous bliss; her on the back of my bike again was something I had never thought would happen, but I was sure as fuck glad that it did.

And then she had gone and pissed me off, and I had said stuff I wish I could take back because I didn’t really mean it.  Fuck, I had really hurt her; I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice.  Maybe it was my way of pushing her away.  There was that old familiar pull to her and I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to even consider getting close again.  But, fuck, I just had to be in the same room as her, and I wanted to touch her and bury my dick as far in her as I fucking could.

Watching her get into an argument with Scott and then listening to her tell me off had been both infuriating and a relief.  It was good to see the old Madison back.  She had slowly disappeared on me after the incident with Rob all those years ago and the drinking had only made it worse.  It had fucking killed me to see her lose her spark.  Madison was the kind of woman who didn’t let any man walk all over her, and after we broke up, I had been horrified watching her allow Nix to control her.

The night I had found her beaten up was one of the worst nights of my life.  If I hadn’t let her go, hadn’t given up on us, she wouldn’t have ended up with Nix and he wouldn’t have laid a finger on her.  I had sworn death after that and had meant it.  Scott and her father had been with me on this, but then club politics got in the way.  If we had followed through on our threat it would have ended in all out war between Storm and the Black Deeds, and our club wasn’t ready for that back then.  We’d spent the last two years getting our shit in order, getting ready to strike and take the fucker down.  Getting Madison out of the picture had been an important part of this plan even though I hadn’t agreed with it at first.  I had wanted her back with me, where she belonged, but Scott had ordered me to make sure she left town.  I had done this alright; I’d killed any love she might have had left for me the day I told her to get the fuck out; the day I had told her I didn’t love her anymore.

Looking at her now I knew we had done the right thing.  When she left, she had been drowning in alcohol.  I hated watching her do that to herself; I felt useless, unable to make her see what she was doing.  My mother had done the same thing and it was like watching re-runs of shitty television; seeing the same old crap over and over, hating it more each time.  Now, Madison had her life together so it made the last couple of years worth it, even if she didn’t want anything to do with me now.

I was almost asleep when Scott bashed on my door.  “J, need you man.”

“Fuck!  Really?” I yelled back.  It was just after midnight and I was wiped.

“Yeah, need you to check on Madison,” he replied.

Shit.  Even in my sleepy haze I was now wide awake; just the sound of her name stirred me.  I sat up and reached for my boots.  “Hang on, be there in a minute.”

Scott was pacing at the bar when I found him.  He looked up and I was instantly alert.  Scott was known for keeping his shit together, but right now he looked stressed.

“What’s happened?”I asked.