“Oh, believe me, the woman was never known to mince words. Not even to her own daughter. She told me plenty of times what my faults were.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. He had liked her mother for a split second, but Maddie was so easy to read. He saw the pain in her gaze.
Maddie’s mother had hurt her in such a deep and profound way. Every instinct in Bull told him to protect her. To pull her close and to not let anyone get to her, but he had a feeling if he even attempted to do that, she’d run in the opposite direction.
All the fight Maddie had evaporated, just like that. She collapsed back in her chair and picked up her menu. “I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just eat so we can leave?” she asked.
He didn’t want to do that. Tilting his head to the side, he watched her.
“You know our parents are known to be fucking liars,” he said.
“How would you know?”
“My dad’s dying words were to tell me how much I’d fuck up the club.”
“You haven’t though. You guys are so successful,” Maddie said.
He chuckled. “He told me I didn’t have what it took to walk in his shoes. I’d ruin the club and the entire town with how I’d handle things.” He wasn’t about to tell Maddie that he was the one responsible for killing his father. There were a few details of his life she didn’t need to know.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Then don’t listen to your mother.”
Maddie smiled. “My mother is a little different.”
“How?” He wanted to get the truth out of her one way or another.
She shrugged. “She just was. She told me the truth. Kind of like your brother.”
“What does my brother have to do with this?” If he needed to, he’d kick Grant’s ass all over town for her.
Maddie sighed and tucked some hair behind her ear. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope, and if you want food, you’re going to have to tell me.”
She took a deep breath and put the menu down. “Fine. I will tell you, but you’ve got to promise me you won’t react to anything I say. It’s the truth, and I know it, so I don’t need lies or pity. Got it?”
He liked her like this. Somewhat dominant, hardcore, sexy as fuck.
“Got it,” he said.
Bull didn’t know what he expected. Maybe for her mother to say she had to work harder at school, to get the grades she needed. Maddie had never gone to college, and just a brief background check showed she’d never left town.
“She would tell me often that I was ugly. That I was too fat, and even if I lost the weight, men wouldn’t go for me, because I was never classically beautiful. She always told me that the women who succeed in this world and get the real man are beautiful, slim women, and I didn’t stand a chance right from the start.” She had a smile on her face, her hands pressed together. “Can we eat?”
He was … gutted.
Maddie didn’t even flinch as she spoke each of those words, almost as if she’d been repeating them in her head, over and over, for the past thirty years.
He had to wonder when it all started. When she was a child? Older? A teenager? Either way, Maddie believed those words.
Lifting his hand, he signaled for a waiter to come and take their order. He didn’t even need to look at the menu to know what he wanted, and told the waitress who’d come over.
Maddie gave her order as well, being sure to make the bulk of what she wanted a salad.
The waitress left soon after, and he couldn’t look away from Maddie.
She turned toward him with a sigh. “So, how are you?”
He kept on staring at her, curious as to who her mother looked at. Maddie, to him, was a very beautiful, very sexy, very desirable woman. He knew this for a fact, seeing as he’d spent a great deal of time admiring her from afar.
“You know your mother’s a piece of shit, don’t you?”
“You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”
“It doesn’t stop me from being right.”
She licked her lips, reaching for her small glass of water and taking a sip. He couldn’t help but admire the shape of her neck, seeing the way it moved as she swallowed sips of water. In his mind, he saw his cock in her mouth. Her plump lips wrapped around his length, taking him deep. He’d hit the back of her throat, making her gag on it. She’d be so fucking beautiful, taking it as well.
He’d hold himself between her lips, waiting for her to milk him of every single drop, and she’d drink all of him. Her throat contracting around his spunk as she swallowed every drop.