Post by Addison's girl on Dec 16, 2013 6:10:18 GMT -5
moonlightingfanfic.proboards.com/thread/35/matter-trust
David raced up the spiral staircase after Maddie. He knew he was wrong this time, and he hated to upset her, especially now that she was carrying the Bean. Why couldn’t their relationship ever go smoothly? Did every couple fight as much as they did? He highly doubted it, but he knew he’d rather fight and disagree with his complicated blonde than be in total accord with any other woman.
He got to the door before she had a chance to slam it in his face and lock it. He pushed it open carefully, anxious not to hurt Maddie if she was still on the other side. But she wasn’t. She had locked herself in the bathroom. David sighed and ran his hands through his hair before he banged loudly on the bathroom door. “Yo, Maddie!” he yelled. “Come out. We have to talk.”
From inside the bathroom Maddie’s voice shouted. “Go away, David!”
David rattled the doorknob. “No can do, Maddie. If you don’t come out I’ll be forced to knock the door down, cause I ain’t going away til you come out to talk to me!” He banged on the door forcefully then rattled the doorknob again.
“Leave me alone!” Maddie cried but she did unlock the door. She didn’t want David to break down the door which she knew he probably would attempt to do. She walked slowly out of the bathroom, arms crossed, lips pressed together, eyes firing blue bolts of lightning his way. “What do you want?” she asked icily. “You’ve made your position perfectly clear.” She held her chin up. Why couldn’t their relationship ever be easy? She knew she was not wrong this time. After his reaction when she made plans behind his back you would think he wouldn’t have done it himself! She gazed at David who looked remorseful and so very adorable that she felt her anger draining away. Damn that man. Why did she want to cuddle and strangle him all at the same time? She must be crazy. Yeah, nuts about the green eyed devil looking at her with sorrow etched on his face.
David shook his head as he sat on the front of the bed and reached out for her with both hands. “No, I’m sorry, baby,” he said earnestly. “I was wrong.”
Maddie was happy to hear David apologize and to see that he seemed to be serious about it, but she wasn’t ready to completely forgive him. She kept her arms crossed but didn't move away when David put his hands on her hips. He had been wrong for not discussing it with her, and she was still angry at the idea of him working in a bar, even if it was his brother's.
“Yes, you were!” she told him firmly. He nodded in agreement, and her anger melted a little more. She guessed that he was entitled to make the same mistake too. She unfolded her arms, and immediately David took her hands and pulled her into his lap, wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She could feel the beating of his heart against the side of her breast and closed her eyes to regroup. How easy to just fall into his arms, but she had to let him know how she felt about this latest brainstorm of his. “I don’t like your idea one little bit!” she made clear.
“Okay, babe but I can’t pull out now. I made a promise.” She frowned, and he nuzzled her neck. “Don’t you want me to help Richie?”
“Don't be unfair!” she scolded him. “Of course I want you to help Richie, David. But I don’t like the idea of you reverting back to party boy Addison.”
“Maddie, are you nuts?!” he blurted out and declared adamantly: “This is a job! I’m not going to be doing it for fun or to score with women.”
Maddie looked at him with blue lasers. “Don’t even think about that, buster.”
David felt a little pang of irritation deep down inside, because she had shown a clear sign of always thinking the worst. Why would she think he was looking for a chance to party? But since he clearly had made a mistake this time and was relieved she seemed already pacified, he suppressed that emotion and laughed. “Please! I have all I want here,” he assured her and she sighed when his hands began to lazily move over her curves; he felt her resistance ebb as his cock lengthened under her ass. “I love you, baby. I waited for you for almost three years, and now that I have you I don’t need or want anybody else.” He began to kiss that spot.
Maddie felt her legs open involuntarily when David’s mouth moved over that spot. She did believe him; she trusted him. Well she did, didn’t she? She still had some fight left in her and didn’t want to succumb to him so easily. “You have to promise that you won’t make any big decisions without talking to me, David. I promised, and now you need to make the same vow.”
David pulled his head up to look into her eyes. He bit back a remark that helping out Richie for a few weeks was hardly a big decision; instead, he raised his eyebrow, and a smirk ran up his face. “Okay, let’s make a pact.”
Maddie stared at him with blue steel, but underneath he could see the amusement in her eyes. “Funny, Addison.” Maddie couldn't help but move her butt over the boner that was deliciously poking against her. “But you’re so good at breaking pacts.”
“So are you,” David laughed, knowing that she had forgiven him. He hated their fights, but he loved their making up. “I promise, babe. I’ve been a bad boy, but now I’m gonna be a real good man.” He moved his mouth against her ear. “And make you come over and over. Sounds good?” he purred.
“Sounds wonderful.” She nearly swooned as David peeled away her clothes and laid her on the bed beside him. He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her lips until she felt her head spin, and soon her hands were busy unbuttoning, unbuckling and unzipping him. She needed to feel him close to her heart and her body, skin to skin.
At first, Maddie protested when David turned her around so that she came to lie on the side with her back to him, but then he pulled away the soft hair from her neck and brought his lips down on her spine right below her hairline and baby-kissed his way down from there while his hands never ceased to stroke her feverish skin. He ran his hands over her thighs and her hips up her sides and then moved them in lazy circles over her back to her shoulders, then ran them down her bare arms. When he reached the spot between her shoulder blades with his lips, he took her wrists and moved her arms slowly over her head. She held on to the headboard, and David's hands wandered down again and landed on her round swollen breasts.
David continued to leisurely kiss and nibble his way down her spine, and the feeling of his hot lips and tongue brush over the sensitive skin of her back made her squirm and moan. His hands caressed and gently massaged her aching breasts, and Maddie pushed her ass against the length of his massive boner, her hips starting to rotate all by themselves.
“Soon, baby,” he murmured against her skin and moved his hand sneakily between her legs from behind; she eagerly opened them for him. David felt her sticky sweet readiness and let his long skilled fingers play over her swollen nub while he kissed her between the dimples above her butt.
“Oh... David...” she moaned, and when he had reached the point where her butt cheeks were parting, he gave her right cheek a light love bite which made her gasp and then licked all the way back up again along her spine, all the while massaging her throbbing core with his fingers in a steady, but increasing rhythm. Finally, he had arrived at the base of her neck again and moved his lips over that special spot, and when she cried out his name in ecstasy and started to shake uncontrollably with her climax.
It was an incredible turn-on for him when he felt her hotbox quiver underneath his hand, and he cupped it and held on tightly to enjoy the feeling of what he alone had evoked in her. When her orgasm had subsided, he pulled her hips towards him and pushed himself deep into her still throbbing core. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he started to move his hips and rotate inside of her, making her squirm against him, pushing back so that she could take him in even deeper. Maddie let go of the headboard and put her hands on his, delighting in the feeling of his strong hands holding her close while he was fucking her deliciously nice and slow with deep, lazy strokes. She pressed her back against his chest and reveled in the feeling of his skin against hers while she felt the heat inside her building up again. Their bodies moved in sync, and the movements became faster.
“Oh yes, oh please...” she gasped breathlessly, and David knew she was ready for another high C. He increased his pace, and soon they exploded into a million pieces together.
Shortly after that, they were both fast asleep, still snuggled together in that spooning position, David had pulled the sheets over them and let his hands rest on her belly; a smile played around Maddie's lips when she drifted over to dreamland. She was in the safest place in the world.
***
Despite their solid relationship and her trust in David, Maddie could not relax the first night that David was tending bar at Philly on Melrose. When he left the house in his tight black jeans that were much too tight for her liking and a plain white t-shirt that was molded to his body and revealed his muscular chest and arms – she wanted to beg him not to go, but of course she couldn’t do that without looking like an insecure, jealous woman. Maddie had pondered that notion as she thought about all the young, hot women that were probably all over David – was she insecure? Wasn't that ridiculous? After all, she was the Blue Moon Shampoo girl! Maybe a little now that she felt so big and swollen with the Bean. And just the thought of him flirting with another woman – his intoxicating green eyes roaming over another woman’s body – made her choke down a red hot fury and a blinding jealousy. Maybe, probably, she rationalized, it was the pregnancy hormones that were turning her into a crazed woman pacing around the house; checking the clock every 5 minutes, willing the hands to move quickly to midnight when his shift was over. David had compromised and promised to be done by midnight and Richie said he’d take over the last couple of hours of the shift.
Maddie finally sat on the couch and opened the new mystery novel that everyone was raving over but stopped after she realized she had read the first paragraph over and over with no comprehension. All she saw on the page was David’s luscious lips curved into his panty melting grin as he served drinks to a bevy of what looked like in her mind to be half-naked playboy bunnies. She put the book down and resumed her pacing. She felt the Bean kicking and moving probably trying to tell her to calm down – that she knew her daddy was a good man who would never hurt them. Maddie petted her belly as she sat once again and turned on the TV. “I know, Bean,” she murmured ruefully. “I always seem to think the worst. Maybe you can help me see the best.”
But as the night wore on and there was no phone call from David Maddie began to get angry. She knew every bar had a phone. He couldn’t take 5 minutes to call her? She knew David loved being the center of attention – quite the social director. He probably was having too much fun. No, come on – this is work. He's just doing it for his brother. Maddie began to pace again and finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
She was awakened a couple of hours later by the sound of David’s key in the lock. She sat up quickly and pretended to be engrossed in her book. She looked at the clock and saw it was close to one a.m. He was late too! She swallowed her anger as he strode into the living room and bent down to kiss her.
“Hey babe. You didn’t have to wait up for me,” David told her between yawns. “I’m beat. I’m gonna jump in the shower and head to bed. You coming up?”
David smelled of smoke and perfume. She put the book down on the coffee table carefully and took a deep breath. Maddie really didn’t want to fight, and so she tried to curb her irritation but when she noticed what looked like lipstick stain on his shirt she lost her temper. “You’re late!” She accused as she jumped off the couch faster than a pregnant woman should be able to do. She pointed her finger at him like a deadly weapon. “You said you’d be home by 12:30!”
David knew he was later than he had thought he would be but was hoping Maddie was asleep when he got home. The bar had been so busy that he only realized what time it was when some young thing asked him the time. When David saw it was half past 12 he flew out of the place like a bat out of hell. He knew had promised Maddie he would quit at midnight, but did she have to start a fight as soon as he walked through the door? He was tired and cranky and really not up to defending his honor or proving his love for her tonight. He kept his voice neutral trying to avoid a fight. “Sorry sweetheart, the bar was jumping and I didn’t know what time it was. Soon as I realized it was so late I booked it home.”
“So busy you couldn’t even call me to see if I was alive or dead?” She knew she was being overly dramatic but she once again couldn’t stop herself.
David realized he should have called her. But the bar was so busy he didn’t even have time to pee that night. Richie and his partners were overjoyed at the success of the bar. It had turned into a hotspot overnight. David was thrilled for his brother. He didn’t want Maddie to mar his happiness. “I really wanted to call, but honestly, I didn't have the time.” He ruffled his hair. “It was crazy! I hardly had the chance to pee.”
Maddie looked at him furiously. “But you did have time to get lipstick on your shirt?”
What was she saying? Maddie approached him and put her finger on the red stain on his shirt right below his breastbone. “Here.”
David thought – he knew – that he hadn’t been that close to any woman. But then he thought about the drunk chick that he and Leo had had to put into a cab. He explained what happened to Maddie and she seemed mollified. Secretly, David was getting a little miffed but did his best to hide it. Really, he had gone to do a 6 hours bartending shift on a Friday evening after having worked full time in the office, and that was a pretty exhausting thing to do, but he had done it gladly to help his brother – and all she had for him were accusations, reproaches and suspicions? He thought of Terri's words about hormonal women and swallowed his annoyance.
“Maddie, honey, don’t you trust me?” David’s voice was soothingly sweet knocking down her defenses and she so wanted to believe him that she felt herself thawing toward him. “I’d never hurt you, baby.”
“Yes, I trust you David,” Maddie quickly told him, but a pang of guilt hit her as an ugly little voice in her head asked: you do, huh? She wanted to trust him so badly, but her being who she was it was so difficult for her to trust completely. And didn’t only a fool trust 100%? she thought quietly. But she didn’t want to argue and she did believe his story so she forced a smile to her lips.
He pulled her in his arms. “Maddie, Maddie, Maddie... I love you, silly girl. Don’t you think I’d rather be home fucking you over and over than working my butt off serving drinks?”
Maddie shrugged but couldn’t help snuggling into his arms. “I don’t know...”
Unseen by her, David's features hardened a little, and he frowned. Enough now! She was giving him the feeling that he had to prove he deserved her trust, and he really didn't think that was justified. Despite himself, he moved against her and she could feel the length of his boner slowly grinding into her. His hormones took over, and the vague hint of anger at the back of his head was muffled by his horniness. “Do you want to come, honey?” he purred turning her knees to jelly.
“I thought you were tired.” Maddie couldn’t help moving her throbbing core against his massive boner.
David chuckled as he quickly moved her against the wall and pulled up her nightgown with one hand while the other pulled down his zipper. The sound of his zipper always made her gasp with excitement. “Never too tired to fuck my woman,” he assured. He pulled down her panties and thrust into her with one deep push pressing her against the wall. As David made passionate love to her Maddie forget her insecurities – but unfortunately not for long.
The following week passed quickly. Richie and Terri were getting along wonderfully, and both were secretly surprised how good the Lamaze lessons worked; Agnes and Bert were starting to plan their wedding, and Maddie was trying to hide her jealousies and unsettled feelings from David. That Thursday morning David was out in the field with Viola, and Maddie was once again delegated to office work. Sometimes she felt more like a secretary than a detective, but although she was bored and wanted to be out with David she knew the Bean’s safety was more important. She sighed deeply as she opened the mail.
Maddie looked up when she heard Agnes’ voice followed by a knock at the door. “Miss Hayes, I have some more mail.”
“Come in, Agnes.” Eagerly, she waved her hand to beckon her friend and secretary near.
Agnes knew something was bothering her friend and boss and wanted to get to the bottom of it. She hated to see Maddie looking so glum and trying to hide it from David – she wasn't sure if he had noticed it, but there had never been any flies on her. She placed the mail on the desk in front of Maddie then sat in chair the clients used. “How are you?” Agnes prodded. “You okay?”
Maddie began to nod but then found herself shaking her head. “Yes, no. I don’t know.” She put her head in her hands an sighed again.
“What’s going on?” Agnes knew that their friendship now allowed her to poke at her. “The wedding is in a couple of weeks. The baby is doing great. The business is booming. You should be walking on air,” she told her tentatively.
This time Maddie did nod. “Yes, you’re right, Agnes,” she agreed. “And I know that, but – well…” She didn’t know how to tell Agnes her fears without sounding doubtful and anxious. But she was doubtful and anxious even though her brain told her she was being ridiculous she couldn’t stop the jealousy raging through her body.
“Well?” Agnes inquired.
“I hate that David is working at Richie’s bar.” Maddie blurted out and then pushed her hair off her forehead. “I know he is doing it to help his brother but a tiny part of me thinks he may be having fun.”
Agnes gave Maddie a clueless look. “And fun is wrong?”
“When its around other women you’re damn straight it is!” Maddie replied sharply.
“I’m losing you, Maddie...” Agnes slightly shook her head.
Maddie stood up and began to pace around her office. “David is a bartender, and even from my meager experience at bars I know that the bartender is usually surrounded by most of the single women at the bar.”
Agnes frowned. “So?”
“So?!” Maddie echoed incredulously and stood rooted to the spot before Agnes. “Agnes, would you like the idea of your Bert flirting and laughing with other women?”
Agnes laughed as she thought about Bert as the object of another woman’s attention. But then she realized that she would be jealous too. But she would trust him, of course. “Sure I wouldn’t be thrilled with it, but I trust Bert.” She tilted her head a little and threw Maddie a questioning glance that made her shift her feet uncomfortably. “Don’t you trust David?”
“Well, yes, of course I do,” Maddie sputtered and assumed her pacing again. She was trying to and hated that she still felt so insecure. Where did that come from?
“Then no problem,” Agnes declared firmly.
Maddie was thinking of how she could be sure of David. Suddenly, she had an idea. She stopped pacing and stared at Agnes with blue gems. “I want to trust him completely, but I admit trusting isn’t easy for me,” she told her honestly. “But maybe I can be certain that David is not doing anything he isn’t supposed to be doing!”
Agnes narrowed her eyes, not sure what Maddie was getting at, but her gut told her she wasn’t going to like it. She remained silent as Maddie told her the plan. Agnes' jaw dropped. She had seen a lot of crazy things going on at Blue Moon for the last three years, but this had to be the craziest thing ever – and not in a good way.
“Maddie!” she exclaimed indignantly and jumped to her feet. “No! How could you even think of doing that!” Agnes shook her head so hard that her earring jingled.
“I’m a detective. I can pull it off!” Maddie replied with fervor.
“That’s not what I’m afraid of!” Agnes clarified. “What is David finds out what you’re doing?!”
“He won’t!” Maddie grabbed her purse.
Agnes jumped out of the chair. “Where are you going?”
“To get what we need for tomorrow night!”
“I want no part of this!” Agnes shouted.
Maddie turned to her friend with a frown covering her face. “You're my Maid Of Honor. You have to help me!”
“But that's crazy, and completely over the line!!” Agnes clenched her hands to fists.
Agnes and Maddie argued for a few minutes about Maddie’s inane plan but in the end Agnes found herself reluctantly agreeing to help – with the main purpose to prevent her friend from doing something really stupid. She couldn’t let her do it alone. Her hopes were that Maddie’s plan didn’t bring on a disaster.
***
Maddie and Agnes took their places at a small table for two just next to the shining oak bar where David was serving drinks; they were placed strategically so they both could oversee what David was doing. Agnes felt ridiculous in her get up; she looked over at Maddie and despite her annoyance and irritation had to stifle her giggles. Maddie looked even worse than she did. Both women were disguised as middle aged businessmen. Maddie had on a three piece suit with a vest that hid her baby bump, a brown wig, huge glasses and a fake beard and moustache. Although the disguise was ridiculous, it was well done: not overly exaggerated, and the wigs and moustaches of a decent quality. Agnes who was similarly disguised could barely tell that it was Maddie. Agnes felt torn; although she wanted to be there for Maddie she really didn’t feel right about spying on David. He had been her friend for a long time and she knew that he was a good, decent man but she couldn’t let Maddie do this alone, especially because she knew that without her calming influence, she would probably do something very stupid. She was her friend too; although Maddie's not-so-subtle emotional blackmail had irked her a little. She sighed deeply.
Maddie threw Agnes a cross look. “Sshh, Stop sighing,” she shushed her. “We’re supposed to be having fun.” Maddie looked at David who was shaking up a drink for a gorgeous red head. Did he really have to move his hips so seductively as he shook the drink? She watched as he handed the woman her drink and bit her lip when she saw how the redhead held on to David’s hand a bit too long when she paid her bill. Maddie let out the breath she didn’t even realize she was holding when he only laughed as he shook her off and immediately went to take someone else’s order.
“See?” Agnes whispered. “He isn't interested in other women.”
Maddie didn't reply; she was too busy scanning the bar with a sharp eye. There had to be twice as many women as men at the bar tonight. Her eyes fell on a sign proclaiming Friday as ‘Ladies' Night’ when all drinks for women were half price until midnight. That didn't exactly enlighten her mood.
“How long do we have to stay here?” Agnes wanted to know. She felt foolish and uncomfortable and hated lying to Bert. She had told him that she was going shopping with Maddie and Terri. If he found out what they were up to he would be furious. Her honeybun idolized David Addison – well, so did she, if she was honest – and would be upset to know that Maddie needed to spy on him to prove his fidelity. Agnes was a bit peeved at Maddie too although she understood the other woman’s feelings – to a degree. But in her eyes, she was going far over the line. She was just going to sigh again when Maddie pointed toward the bar.
“See that woman over there?” she muttered under her breath.
Agnes peered toward where Maddie was pointing. “Which one?”
Maddie nodded toward a brunette who was dressed in a skin tight red mini dress and stiletto heels. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of David the entire time Maddie had been there. “Her! The hussy in the red dress.”
Agnes nodded. “How can you miss her?” Agnes watched as the woman reached across the bar to touch David’s arm as he made her drink. Uh-oh. Agnes felt Maddie stiffen beside her.
David wished the brunette in the tight red dress who told him her name was Linda would go away. She was making him feel very uncomfortable. She hadn’t left her spot at the bar since she had come in ‘Philly’ almost two hours ago. Other women flirted with him, and as part of his job he flirted back but he sensed this one was different. He really didn’t like the way her eyes roved over his body like she wanted to eat him alive. Laughing to himself he realized that now he truly was a one woman man and that maybe not even a year ago he would have had this hot piece pressed against the wall in the back fucking her senseless. Now he had no desire to even touch her. She was beginning to annoy him with her pouty red lips and her loose hands.
“If she touches him again I may pull her hair out!” Maddie hissed and felt her fingers turn into claws under the table. “And why isn’t he moving away from her?”
Agnes saw the scene objectively. He was trying to move away but the woman wouldn’t release his hand. “Calm down, Maddie,” she whispered. “He is…” Agnes saw the woman pull David’s head close so that she could kiss his lips. Before she knew it Maddie was out of the chair and heading to the bar and that red dressed floozy before Agnes could stop her.
Maddie saw that tramp pull David’s head down to meet her lips and she lost all sense of reason and control as she made a mad dash to claw that bitch’s eyes out!
Before David had the chance to pull away from Linda, he felt her being wrenched away from him by a heavyset man with a crooked moustache. His first thought was that this must be Linda’s boyfriend or husband but then he heard ‘him’ yell at Linda to keep her dirty fingers off of him. For a moment David thought he was stuck in a nightmare. Why was Maddie’s voice coming out of the mouth of this fat man? Then it hit him as he looked closely at the man who wasn’t a man at all but his lunatic girlfriend.
“What the hell...?” the woman in the red dress shrieked.
“Maddie?” David was shocked.
Maddie pulled the woman away from David. “Keep your hands off of him, you slut!” Maddie screamed like a banshee. “I swear I’m going to pull out every last strand of your hair and if you ever just look his way again I’ll claw out your eyes! Get it?” She was just about to make good on her promise and pull hair when she felt two strong arms pulling her away from the woman.
“Whoa! Calm down, guy,” said a firm deep voice beside her ear. It was Richie.
David jumped over the bar and pulled Maddie away from Richie. “This ain’t no guy, this is my nutty fiancée!” In the blink of an eye, he had put together two and two and figured out what was going on here.
Richie’s eyes grew wide as David pulled the fake hair off of Maddie’s head and face. “Whoa Maddie.” He shook his head. “Are you on a case or something?” Richie was confused; his future sister-in-law looked like a vengeful goddess ready to strike.
“Yeah me. I’m the case.” David snarled. He stared at Maddie with green ice. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Get your mitts off me!” she snapped, nearly spitting fire, and tried to wriggle out of his grip, but there was no way – David didn't loosen his grip at all.
“Shut! Up!” he told her in a voice so low and furious that she couldn't do any other thing.
David saw a similarly dressed ‘man’ trying to slink out of the bar unnoticed. He immediately shouted to the bouncer. “Yo Hank! Stop that man and bring him here.”
Agnes was mortified when she was apprehended by the bouncer and dragged to David. She wished the floor would have opened up and swallowed her when David pulled off her disguise. She immediately detected a slight hurt in his eyes when he looked at her with scorn, and it made her cringe inside. “Maybe I could expect this from the nut over there,” he nodded to Maddie who was leaning against the bar staring at David with angry eyes, “but you, Agnes?” He shook his head. “Why?”
Maddie was furious. How dare he call her nuts? How dare he be angry when he had been just about to kiss another woman? She felt like strangling him. She was so hurt, angry and embarrassed that she felt herself holding back her tears. Damn David Addison!
Agnes didn’t know what to say. She had known all along it had been dead wrong, and it was going to turn into a disaster, but she had gone along with Maddie’s scheme anyway, so she knew she was also to blame. “I’m... I'm sorry,” she stuttered and added almost tonelessly: “I just didn’t want her to come alone.”
David nodded. He had already suspected something like that; probably, Maddie had let poor Agnes little to no choice. He turned back to Maddie. “You!” he pointed his finger at her.
“Don’t you dare ‘you’ me! You jackass!” She snapped, out of her mind with rage. Before she knew what she was doing, Maddie kicked him in his shin.
“Ouch!” David bent down to rub his injury. “You are fucking nuts!” he steamed. “You’re the one who deserves a kick. Or a damn good spanking!”
Surprising enough, she didn't reply. Green eyes glared into blue ones – both angry, both embarrassed – both confused and hurt.
David dragged Maddie out of the bar by her arm without another word to her. He couldn’t form a coherent word; he could barely see straight from his white-hot fury, let alone talk without exploding. “Can you take over, Rich?” he threw over his shoulder.
Richie nodded. “Sure thing, bro. Go easy on her.”
David didn't reply. “You too,” he called to Agnes. “Come on.”
Agnes shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I called Bert and he’s on his way.” No way was she getting in the car with David and Maddie who both looked like murder was not far from their minds.
“Fine,” David replied curtly. “We'll wait here with you then until Bert gets here. I won't let you wait alone here in the street.” He grabbed Agnes' arm too and led them outside with Richie on their heels.
“Dave! Wait!” he called.
“What is it?” David turned to Maddie and Agnes. “You wait here,” he ordered, and strange enough, not even Maddie dared to object although she was still fuming inside, filled with self-righteous cold fury.
David went back to talk to Richie for a moment and left the women standing side by side in their ridiculous outfits.
Maddie had her hands clenched to fists. “I don't believe this!” she hissed. Agnes just pressed her lips together and didn't answer. Maddie threw her a sideways glance and was surprised to see something on her face that was rarely ever spotted on the features of La Dolce DiPesto: anger and disapproval. She didn't look like any of it was directed at David.
Finally, the Maid Of Honor spoke. Although David was standing a bit away from them, she lowered her voice. “You better not say or do something you might regret later.”
Maddie narrowed her eyes. “That is really none of your business,” she replied in a warning tone.
Agnes' curly head flew around to her. “Well, you made it my business, remember?” she snapped, and Maddie was so taken aback she looked at her secretary/friend/Maid Of Honor with eyes wide open. “You should realize,” Agnes went on, “that Mr. Addison hasn't done anything wrong!” She was so upset that she even forgot to call David by his first name.
“Are you kidding?!” Maddie gasped. “You're not being objective because you're so fond of him!”
“I am being objective!” Agnes contradicted indignantly. “You are not! All you saw were the women approaching him, and that of course made you mad. I watched him, and all I saw was him trying to get rid of the red dress woman and acting only professionally otherwise!” Agnes shook her head. “If you had watched him with a fair eye instead of a green one, you would have seen that he was trying to pull away from that girl!”
“You're on his side?” Maddie asked incredulously. Suddenly, her irrational fury took over again, and she added acidly: “Of course.”
Agnes drew a deep breath, more anger and hurt showing on her face. “I came here with you although I didn't want to,” she reminded Maddie in a very upset voice, shaky because she was on the verge of tears, “so don't you tell me I'm a bad friend. That's mean and I don't deserve this! I'm on nobody's side.” She was working herself into a fury now. “I've been on the side of getting you two together for three years, so don't tell me I'm a bad friend!” she repeated, her voice squeaky with hurt and anger.
Maddie was suddenly sobered. She still was too upset to be able analyze clearly, rationally and objectively what had happened in the bar, but one thing was clear: Agnes didn't deserve any of her anger. She put her hand on Agnes' arm and wanted to apologize, but in that moment a car pulled up by the curb, and Bert jumped out, worry on his scruffy face.
“Pumpkin!” he called. “What happened?”
“I'll explain later,” Agnes replied and was relieved to be able to get away. “Just take me home.” Over her shoulder she said quietly to Maddie: “You better never make me do something like that again, Miss Hayes.”
“It's Maddie,” her boss/friend/Maid Of Honor corrected automatically and miserably.
Richie was trying to calm David down as they waited outside the bar for Bert to pick up Agnes. “Calm down, bro. I’d die for a chick who’d do that for me,” he told him matter-of-factly.
David scowled at Richie. “Do what? Embarrass me? Show me – and everybody else – that she doesn’t trust me worth shit?” Richie laughed and David threw him a threatening look. David was in no mood for Richie’s crap. He was furious with Maddie and deeply hurt. How dare she spy on him? Didn’t she trust him at all after everything they’d been through, after the long way they had come? His mind was spinning, and he felt almost nauseous.
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Not funny, Rich.” David’s voice was coated with irritation.
Richie put his hand on David’s shoulder and leaned in closely. “Davey-boy. Look at her.” He nodded to Maddie who was talking to Agnes now bare of her disguise but still dressed in the man’s three piece suit. “That’s Maddie Hayes who crammed her baby bump into a ridiculous suit because she is jealous of you, baby brother. She loves you.”
“Yeah well that’s one helluva way to show it!” David nodded to her. “If there is no trust in a relationship, then there is NO true love or relationship.”
“Don't be stupid, bro,” Richie scolded him. “There's no true love or relationship without jealousy. You know that deep down she does trust you. From what you've told me, she wouldn't be with you if she didn't.”
David just shrugged Richie’s hand off of him. “Here’s Bert now. Gotta go.”
David approached the women again and saw Bert jump out of the car. He just nodded curtly his head towards him, and although Bert had no clue what was going on, this time he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut and remain invisible.
When Agnes saw David, she turned to him with remorse on her face; she looked as miserable as he felt. Maddie however, he registered with a short sideways glance, still had her stubborn face on. He felt his jaw tighten.
“I'm so sorry, Mr. Addison,” Agnes murmured, barely able to look at him.
“Hey, it's still David,” he replied softly with a short encouraging nod. “Now go home, curly head.”
Agnes sighed and climbed into the waiting car. David turned to Maddie who was looking at him with a steely blue stare, her lips pressed closely together. He held up the car keys and inclined his head in a sarcastic nod. “Shall we?”
Maddie snorted and followed him to the Beemer.
***
Maddie had mentally braced herself for a screaming match, but David hadn't said a word so far, and they were already halfway home. She threw him a sideways glance and saw that he was really upset which was even worse than if he was yelling at her; he was staring through the windshield at the dark street that lay before them, his eyes green steel, his jawline tense, and the silence heavy and ominous. Maddie knew this was one of the very rare occasions that he was seriously and deeply upset with her; David's demeanor tickled her defiance, however. Him, mad? After all, he had been the one enjoying himself in a bar, flirting with other women while she was supposed to sit at home waiting for him! And not only that – he had been about to... No, he hadn't! objected the voice of reason in her head, sounding a lot like Agnes. I saw what I saw! hissed the green-eyed snake. Maddie worked herself successfully into a fury.
David had shut his mouth tightly, afraid to say something he would surely regret afterward. He knew that it was never a good idea to try and resolve a conflict while one of them was still so upset, and he was really upset and mad. She had made a complete ass of herself – and of him too, in the end. First the discovery of her and poor Agnes disguised as guys –guys?! She who had protested with fervor once when he had suggested only so much as putting on a black dress and a veil to solve a case? Of course, they had been the joke of the Century. Yes, the hotsy in the red dress had been way too friendly, and he hadn't liked her seductive behavior at all either, but that was part of the job – and he had enough experience to handle that kind of woman.
For one moment, David had been afraid Maddie would claw the woman's eyes out. David was always flattered when he caught a glimpse of Maddie's jealousy, but this temper tantrum hadn't been funny. Richie had been pretty cool though, and David was secretly proud of how his brother had handled that tricky situation – but that didn't make Maddie's behavior one bit better.
He didn't get it anyway – what had been her purpose? Had she really been thinking he would drink and be stupid? Hit on other women? Really, didn't she trust him at all, after all this time? That was what hurt and upset him the most. And what was even worse – she didn't seem to have the slightest realization that she was wrong; he could feel her stab him with her steely knives that were her eyes. Instead of cooling and calming down, his anger welled up again when he sensed her stubborn demeanor.
“I hope you're satisfied,” David finally broke the silence that hung between them like a poisonous cloud, his voice dripping with acid sarcasm. “Congratulations! You made me look like a complete idiot.”
Maddie folded her arms and raised her chin stubbornly. “Should feel familiar,” she replied dryly.
David's hands gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Seriously, Maddie?” he pressed through clenched teeth. “Playing the Dave-is-dumb card again?” He shook his head, then he blurted out in a furious tone: “What the fuck is wrong with you??”
Maddie gasped in disbelief. “With me??!”
“With you!” he barked and took one hand away from the steering wheel, gesticulating wildly. “Yes, I should have discussed the bartending with you before offering my help to Richie, I know. I was wrong. I apologized. We talked. You said you understood and agreed that I should help him. And now...”
“Yes, help him!” she interrupted furiously, “not enjoy yourself and make out with other women!”
David's mouth gaped open. “What?!”
“You heard me!” Maddie snapped. “That tramp with the slutty skirt you were having fun with was hanging all over you! And you didn't mind it one bit! You were about to kiss her!” she yelled.
“I did no such thing!” David yelled back. “I wasn't having fun! And I surely wasn't going to fucking kiss her!”
“From what I saw it looked like...”
“Like what?!” David couldn't believe it. “What kind of detective are you? You're worse than Viola!”
“What?!”
“You heard me!” David barked now. “You see – or think you see – one thing and make up a whole scenario in your head that isn't even half true, rather than check your fucking facts!”
Maddie snorted. “I didn't just hallucinate her pulling your face towards hers and...”
“And what?” David demanded. “You were all over her before I had the chance to push her away! And I guess you conveniently didn't see that I was trying to get rid of her even before she made her move!”
“No, I didn't see that!” Maddie shot back, but she was already feeling unsure about what she had seen. Agnes' words reverberated in her head: All you saw were the women approaching him, and that of course made you mad. I watched him, and all I saw was him trying to get rid of the red dress woman and acting only professionally otherwise! If you had watched him with a fair eye instead of a green one, you would have seen that he was trying to pull away from the girl! Could it be that her jealous, hormone-fevered brain had once again made her see things that actually weren't there?
“Well,” he said slowly and in a dangerously calm voice, “then I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.” She just glared at him, and he added dead seriously: “If that isn't good enough for you, Maddie, we have a problem.”
“So you were not kissing her!” she snapped. “But you were flirting!” she insisted stubbornly, not ready to give in yet.
“I was being friendly!” David defended himself. “Okay, maybe a bit flirty, but that is part of the job!”
Maddie's head flew around to him. “Ha!” she cried out triumphantly. “You were flirting! So you admit it!”
David shook his head. “Honesty doesn't pay with you, does it?” He ruffled his hair. “Maddie, that kind of behavior doesn't mean anything, it's part of the work.”
“That isn't your work!” she immediately shot at him. “We run a detective agency!”
“I know that!” he barked back.
Maddie threw her hands in the air. “Well, do you regret that, or what?” she asked in a menacing, accusing tone.
David couldn't believe that she was turning the words around in his mouth, obviously with the only purpose to attack him, because now, he had noticed, they were drifting away from the original subject. What nerve! “No,” he replied with biting sarcasm, “I'm not the one who said a few times she wished she hadn't kept Blue Moon open!”
“Oh shut up!” she hissed, in lack of a better response. “And don't be ridiculous – work? Pouring drinks, joking and flirting with stupid bimbos who throw themselves at you? You have nerve to call that work!”
David pressed his jaws very tightly together for a moment, and Maddie cringed a little; she knew that had been a tad too much. “Well,” he replied icily, “you'd be surprised – it might not seem as honorable to you as presenting your caboose in magazines for everybody to drool over, but actually, you can make a living of it if you have to.” He snorted. “But, of course, you wouldn't know about that.” For a moment, his mind flew back to his time in New York, when he had worked his ass off tending bar all around the clock so that he could support himself and his then-wife Tess who had wanted to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. He shook the memory off quickly.
“Oh, I know that!” Maddie snapped impatiently. “And yes, I said you could help out your brother even if I'm not happy about it. But the purpose was not you flirting and having fun!” Her voice was becoming shrill. “And you damn sure looked like you were having fun!”
“Am I supposed to look like a creepy undertaker while tending bar?” He ruffled his hair in disbelief. “That's not how you sell drinks, honey!”
“Of course not, but...”
“But what?” David barked in exasperation. “You wreak a shitstorm because I smiled while I was shaking up a couple of Margaritas?!” He didn't get it. What the hell was wrong with her?
“I don't want you to smile at other women!” Maddie yelled. Was that so hard to understand?! She didn't get it. What the hell was wrong with him?
David snorted and turned the car brutally to head into the driveway of their house. “Whoa, this is hysterical!” he snarled. “So, let me get this straight – it is okay for me to help Richie, as long as I'm feeling miserable while doing so?”
Oh great. He was turning the words around in her mouth. “No, I don't want you to be miserable!” she contradicted and added: “But I don't want you to enjoy it either!” Somehow, that sounded whiny in her own ears.
David stopped the car and killed the engine. “You're nuts!”
“And you're disgusting!” Maddie clenched her hands to fists and tried to fight back the tears that were about to well up. She felt like they were turning in circles, in a vicious circle.
David drew a deep breath and told himself to calm down; he knew that yelling insults at each other wouldn't do any good. He turned to her and deliberately toned his voice down. "Okay, I think I get it,” he said slowly. “You're pregnant. You're hormonal. You're tired, you're feeling uncomfortable and you're cranky.” Maddie opened her mouth to object indignantly, but David silenced her by raising his hands. “Look, I wanna help,” he went on. “I'll do what I can. I'll cook for you. Sing for you. Give you a backrub.” he counted the points by holding up his long fingers. ”A foot massage,” he continued, “an orgasm! But you gotta stop taking it out on me. I'm not your goddamn doormat!” Maddie cringed a little, and he ruffled his hair. “Just because I'm the guy and you are Maddie Hayes and you're pregnant, doesn't mean I have to put up with everything.” His voice grew louder again. “I'm sick and tired of this shit! It ain't cute or funny anymore. You're 36 years old, and you're gonna be a mother soon – stop acting like a spoiled brat and grow the fuck up!”
Maddie had sunk deeper and deeper into the passenger's seat as he raged on, but his last words had hit her like a hammer, and she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. “I hate you!” she screeched and jumped out of the car, running into the house.
“Maddie, wait!” David called at her back, but she had already slammed the entrance door right into his face. “Now that was mature indeed,” he murmured and followed her back in. She had already stormed upstairs.
With a sigh, David followed her upstairs, into the bedroom. “Maddie!” he called.
“Go away!” she snapped madly and turned her back on him as she pulled off the ridiculous three piece suit she had donned as a disguise throwing it across the chair with a snarl. She then quickly pulled her short satin robe off the hook on the door and threw it over her body tying the robe with an angry knot.
“Go away?” he repeated, stretching the words like chewing gum. “Is this the mature way we settle arguments now?”
She whirled around like a banshee. “Arguments?” she yelled. “This isn't an argument! You were insulting me! How dare you talk to me like that?!”
David folded his arms and tilted his head a little. “Geez, look who's talking!” he replied dryly. “Well, honey, because that's how I feel. And we promised to always be honest about our feelings, remember?! And you were not!”
Maddie put her hands to her hips. “I told you...”
“You told me,” he interrupted, pointing his long finger at her, “that you accepted that I help Richie out. And then you go and spy on me??”His green eyes were burning holes into her skin, and Maddie had to look away. David was pacing the room back and forth now. “Do you even realize what a huge breach of trust this actually is??” He rubbed his eyes warily. “Do you really think I cheat on you every time you turn your back? Do you really have that little trust in me?”
The unmistakable hurt in his voice was like a punch in the gut to Maddie and she shook her head, too ashamed to speak at first. Really, what had she been thinking? Trust did not mean weakness or stupidity, and she knew that a relationship without trust wasn't really worth much. “No,” she said tonelessly after a while, “of course not!” She fell silent because she didn't know what else to say.
“Good,” he replied firmly and sounded dead serious. “Because if you don't seriously trust me from the bottom of your heart I don't see any point in this relationship.”
“I do trust you,” Maddie said and really meant it this time. He had every right to be angry; she knew that she would be more than livid if he had implied that he didn't trust her not to behave decently with other men. Suddenly, she remembered the evening she had gone out dancing in a very short dress. Had he followed her to the club in a stupid disguise to spy on her? No, he hadn't. And she had not been out working; her sole purpose had been to have fun – and to make him jealous.
David stopped the pacing and stood in the middle of the room facing her. “Then what, Maddie?!” he urged.
She shrugged helplessly. How could she tell him what really bothered her? But then... how could she not tell him? “I... I can't help it,” she finally blurted out. “I just can't stand the thought...” her voice trailed off.
“What thought?” David spurred her on. He still had no clue what her problem was.
“The thought of you, alone in a bar – for whatever reason – that's full of women...” she hesitated; this was hard. Then she drew a deep breath and went on: “Women with fewer wrinkles, less weight and fewer clothes on than me!”
David ruffled his hair for about the hundredth time that evening, and with every time he did that he seemed to look more adorable to Maddie. “Maddie,” he sighed. “You've seen Richie's place. It's a classy place not a dive. Okay, every once in a while things get a little out of control – it's a bar, after all – and Friday is Ladies' Night.”
She threw her hands up in exasperation. “I know!” she exclaimed. “I also know that the way you behaved is part of the job. I've been watching you for a while.” He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and she admitted: “You're a great bartender. And if I went to a bar I'd enjoy being treated like you treated your clients. The rational part of me knows all this.” He raised the other eyebrow too, his face asking her: And so? She clasped her hands together. “But then there's that other part of me... that just wants to throw a glass of vodka in those women's faces and claw their eyes out.” She put her hands over her face. There, she had done it – she had made herself look like a desperate, jealous woman. Delusional.
David was staring at her in disbelief. So that was it? She trusted him but she was jealous? He knew that she had always been the jealous type, but such a silly maneuver he would never have expected from her. He felt a little flattered, of course, but he also felt bad for her – he knew that he in her shoes would climb the walls too. He silently shook his head; a wave of love for his hormonal, complicated blonde washed over him. Don't be stupid, bro, Richie's voice rang in his head. There's no true love or relationship without jealousy. You know that deep down she does trust you. From what you've told me, she wouldn't be with you if she didn't. Look at her. That’s Maddie Hayes who crammed her baby bump into a ridiculous suit because she is jealous of you, baby brother. She loves you.”
After a while, Maddie felt David's grasp at her wrists, and he pulled her hands away from her face. She felt miserable; she didn't want to fight anymore. She just wanted to rewind the last few hours and make them un-happen. But David didn't look mad anymore; he looked at her with tenderness in his breathtaking green eyes. “Oh babe, I know,” he told her in a soothing voice. “God knows I can relate.” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. “I'll tell you what, I'm gonna tell Richie...”
Maddie knew what he was about to say, and although she would have preferred to have him home with her every night, she couldn't let him do this on her behalf. It was already enough to know he was ready to do it. “You tell him I had a bad day and I'm sorry.” she interrupted. “You're gonna help him as long as it takes, as long as it doesn't take too long.” Her voice sounded firm, and she was proud of herself. Yes, that was the mature way to go.
David shook his head. “But you...”
“I'm not thrilled about it,” she admitted, “but it's the right thing to do, at least for a while, and I can deal with it.” She nodded bravely, more to convince herself, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, stupid tears threatened to well up in her eyes again. Really, those hormones were starting to get annoying. “I just wish...” She shrugged and then blurted out: “I want my waist back and my ankles, and I know how vain and whiny that sounds, but I wished the Bean would arrive and this pregnancy would end soon.” And then? What will happen then? that voice in her head asked, finally completely voicing her fears.
“Me too,” David replied soberly, pushing a stray tendril from her face, and for a moment she was thrown off track.
“So you do think I'm fat?!” she sputtered. “You hate my pregnant body!”
David threw his hands in the air. “Hell, no!” he barked. “I love your pregnant body! I worship your pregnant body! Haven't I proved this over and over? And over again? I just hate that it makes you feel bad about yourself You’re gorgeous babe. You have nothing to be jealous about.”
“Oh please,” she snorted angrily, “you love it when I'm jealous.”
David took her face in his hands and looked at her so intensely that her knees went weak. “Of course I do!” he admitted. “But I hate it when you feel miserable.”
Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face at the side of his throat. He had that bar smell on him, but underneath that, it was pure David that filled her nostrils. Somehow, his scent made her feel safe and home and down to earth again. “Oh David... What if everything changes?”
“Of course everything will change,” he replied and stroked her back tenderly. “But then on second thought... screaming fits and sleepless nights? Does sound a little familiar.”
“You're just saying this to make me feel better,” she mumbled against his skin. “But what if we're completely swamped? If we're a failure as parents?” He felt her shudder in his arms and wanted to kick himself that he had never thought of that as a reason for her crankiness: she was just scared of the challenges of parenthood and the inevitable changes in their lives. “That scares the hell out of me,” she admitted in a small voice.
He put his hands on her shoulders again and pushed her back a little so that he could look into her eyes. “It scares the hell outta me too, babe,” he assured her and then shrugged his devil-may-care shrug. “But so did falling in love. Still does! And look how that turned out!”
She smiled for the first time in hours, even if it was through tears. “When you say that, it all sounds so simple,” she told him.
“Because it is,” he confirmed. “Some things will change, some things will stay the same. We'll see. And we'll deal with whatever it is, together.”
“Promise?”
“Of course I promise, knucklehead.”
Maddie sighed, feeling suddenly tired now. “I'm sorry, David.”
He nodded. “You're forgiven.” He winked at her. “Now, what can a bartender do to make his wrinkly, waistless wench feel better?”
She laughed. “I already feel much better.” It was true. One of David's many amazing talents. She loved him so much that it hurt sometimes.
He smirked, challenging her with his eyes. “Then I guess my job here is done and we can go to sleep.”
“I thought I heard somebody mention a backrub earlier,” she remarked casually. “And a foot massage.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, all playful now. “And what was the third thing? An orgasm?”
“Well, you just place your order, lady,” he told her in a husky voice that turned her already weak knees completely to jelly.
“In that case... I'll have one of each, in that order...”
He raised his hands to untie her robe. “I’ll see what I can do for you, babe.” He purred pulling her to the vanity mirror as he quickly pulled the robe off of her curvy body. David nuzzled her neck as he watched them through the mirror. Maddie had her eyes closed and was leaning into him as he kissed her neck. He watched his hands move over her body and chuckled as her legs parted to allow his hand to stroke her hotbox.
“Open your eyes, baby.” David ordered her, his voice bossy and syrupy thick. “I want you to see how I see you, how beautiful you are.” Maddie opened her eyes and saw David’s mesmerizing emerald eyes running over her body through the mirror.
“David...” she murmured as he petted her lazily.
“See how sexy you are, babe.” David’s fingers played over her breasts – stroking them – squeezing them – “you have incredible tits. So round and just perfect.” He purred. “How could you think I’d want anyone else when I have this?” His hands ran over her body. “How can you not see how beautiful you are?”
Maddie just watched his hands move over her and listened to his words. She knew he meant what he said; he did adore her body. She felt a lump in her throat, and her heart was so heavy with happiness that she felt grounded, safe; she was so happy she wanted to cry. Watching him pleasuring her body with his hands through the mirror was an incredible turn on. She loved to watch as he made her lose her mind. She saw him bend his head and lick her breast and couldn’t help moaning his name.
“Ya like that, babe. I love it. You are so perfect to me, honey,” he whispered. “I love your curves.” His hands moved over her sides. “I love your legs. You have the best legs in the world. So sexy.” He almost moaned as his hands moved down to her legs. “I love your hot greedy pussy.” David’s hands moved between her legs. Maddie moaned his name as his fingers played over the throbbing nub.
“Please…” she whimpered.
“Please what, baby?” David asked huskily, his fingers playing over her hotbox. “Make you come?”
“David... Oh God, yes.”
“Soon, honey.” His hands left her hotbox and moved to her belly, gently caressing it in lazy, sensual circles. “And this is the most perfect part of your body now. This holds our Bean.” He kissed the side of her mouth, down over her jaw to her neck to that spot – soft baby kisses she craved.
“I love you, David,” she told him, her voice shaky with emotion, arousal and need.
“I know,” David murmured against her hair, “I know.” He made a mental note to try and pay more attention to hints what was going on inside this complicated woman; just because she really had changed over the last six months and was really trying to overcome her sometimes too pessimistic ways, it didn't mean she didn't need his help with that anymore. “Now I’m going to make you come sooo damn good,” he purred. When her body was shaking with her orgasm, he told her how much he loved her and lifted her up in his arms almost effortlessly and carried her over to the bed where he gave her the backrub and the foot massage he had promised. After another round of slow and tender lovemaking they both finally fell into an exhausted, but happy sleep.
***
The following Monday, David and Maddie walked into the office hand in hand with huge smiles covering their faces. They had and enjoyed a wonderful weekend and were in the best of moods. Their fight and the following making up had brought them closer together, as usual, and their bond was stronger than ever. Later in the day, they were going to pick up their wedding bands at the jeweler, and David especially was looking very forward to it and smiled a secret smile to himself.
Agnes had noticed with relief that it didn't look as bad as she had feared it would; it always amazed her how Maddie and David were able to look like they were going to murder each other one moment, and just when you thought they were surely going to break up, they resolved it all. But then, they wer
David raced up the spiral staircase after Maddie. He knew he was wrong this time, and he hated to upset her, especially now that she was carrying the Bean. Why couldn’t their relationship ever go smoothly? Did every couple fight as much as they did? He highly doubted it, but he knew he’d rather fight and disagree with his complicated blonde than be in total accord with any other woman.
He got to the door before she had a chance to slam it in his face and lock it. He pushed it open carefully, anxious not to hurt Maddie if she was still on the other side. But she wasn’t. She had locked herself in the bathroom. David sighed and ran his hands through his hair before he banged loudly on the bathroom door. “Yo, Maddie!” he yelled. “Come out. We have to talk.”
From inside the bathroom Maddie’s voice shouted. “Go away, David!”
David rattled the doorknob. “No can do, Maddie. If you don’t come out I’ll be forced to knock the door down, cause I ain’t going away til you come out to talk to me!” He banged on the door forcefully then rattled the doorknob again.
“Leave me alone!” Maddie cried but she did unlock the door. She didn’t want David to break down the door which she knew he probably would attempt to do. She walked slowly out of the bathroom, arms crossed, lips pressed together, eyes firing blue bolts of lightning his way. “What do you want?” she asked icily. “You’ve made your position perfectly clear.” She held her chin up. Why couldn’t their relationship ever be easy? She knew she was not wrong this time. After his reaction when she made plans behind his back you would think he wouldn’t have done it himself! She gazed at David who looked remorseful and so very adorable that she felt her anger draining away. Damn that man. Why did she want to cuddle and strangle him all at the same time? She must be crazy. Yeah, nuts about the green eyed devil looking at her with sorrow etched on his face.
David shook his head as he sat on the front of the bed and reached out for her with both hands. “No, I’m sorry, baby,” he said earnestly. “I was wrong.”
Maddie was happy to hear David apologize and to see that he seemed to be serious about it, but she wasn’t ready to completely forgive him. She kept her arms crossed but didn't move away when David put his hands on her hips. He had been wrong for not discussing it with her, and she was still angry at the idea of him working in a bar, even if it was his brother's.
“Yes, you were!” she told him firmly. He nodded in agreement, and her anger melted a little more. She guessed that he was entitled to make the same mistake too. She unfolded her arms, and immediately David took her hands and pulled her into his lap, wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She could feel the beating of his heart against the side of her breast and closed her eyes to regroup. How easy to just fall into his arms, but she had to let him know how she felt about this latest brainstorm of his. “I don’t like your idea one little bit!” she made clear.
“Okay, babe but I can’t pull out now. I made a promise.” She frowned, and he nuzzled her neck. “Don’t you want me to help Richie?”
“Don't be unfair!” she scolded him. “Of course I want you to help Richie, David. But I don’t like the idea of you reverting back to party boy Addison.”
“Maddie, are you nuts?!” he blurted out and declared adamantly: “This is a job! I’m not going to be doing it for fun or to score with women.”
Maddie looked at him with blue lasers. “Don’t even think about that, buster.”
David felt a little pang of irritation deep down inside, because she had shown a clear sign of always thinking the worst. Why would she think he was looking for a chance to party? But since he clearly had made a mistake this time and was relieved she seemed already pacified, he suppressed that emotion and laughed. “Please! I have all I want here,” he assured her and she sighed when his hands began to lazily move over her curves; he felt her resistance ebb as his cock lengthened under her ass. “I love you, baby. I waited for you for almost three years, and now that I have you I don’t need or want anybody else.” He began to kiss that spot.
Maddie felt her legs open involuntarily when David’s mouth moved over that spot. She did believe him; she trusted him. Well she did, didn’t she? She still had some fight left in her and didn’t want to succumb to him so easily. “You have to promise that you won’t make any big decisions without talking to me, David. I promised, and now you need to make the same vow.”
David pulled his head up to look into her eyes. He bit back a remark that helping out Richie for a few weeks was hardly a big decision; instead, he raised his eyebrow, and a smirk ran up his face. “Okay, let’s make a pact.”
Maddie stared at him with blue steel, but underneath he could see the amusement in her eyes. “Funny, Addison.” Maddie couldn't help but move her butt over the boner that was deliciously poking against her. “But you’re so good at breaking pacts.”
“So are you,” David laughed, knowing that she had forgiven him. He hated their fights, but he loved their making up. “I promise, babe. I’ve been a bad boy, but now I’m gonna be a real good man.” He moved his mouth against her ear. “And make you come over and over. Sounds good?” he purred.
“Sounds wonderful.” She nearly swooned as David peeled away her clothes and laid her on the bed beside him. He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her lips until she felt her head spin, and soon her hands were busy unbuttoning, unbuckling and unzipping him. She needed to feel him close to her heart and her body, skin to skin.
At first, Maddie protested when David turned her around so that she came to lie on the side with her back to him, but then he pulled away the soft hair from her neck and brought his lips down on her spine right below her hairline and baby-kissed his way down from there while his hands never ceased to stroke her feverish skin. He ran his hands over her thighs and her hips up her sides and then moved them in lazy circles over her back to her shoulders, then ran them down her bare arms. When he reached the spot between her shoulder blades with his lips, he took her wrists and moved her arms slowly over her head. She held on to the headboard, and David's hands wandered down again and landed on her round swollen breasts.
David continued to leisurely kiss and nibble his way down her spine, and the feeling of his hot lips and tongue brush over the sensitive skin of her back made her squirm and moan. His hands caressed and gently massaged her aching breasts, and Maddie pushed her ass against the length of his massive boner, her hips starting to rotate all by themselves.
“Soon, baby,” he murmured against her skin and moved his hand sneakily between her legs from behind; she eagerly opened them for him. David felt her sticky sweet readiness and let his long skilled fingers play over her swollen nub while he kissed her between the dimples above her butt.
“Oh... David...” she moaned, and when he had reached the point where her butt cheeks were parting, he gave her right cheek a light love bite which made her gasp and then licked all the way back up again along her spine, all the while massaging her throbbing core with his fingers in a steady, but increasing rhythm. Finally, he had arrived at the base of her neck again and moved his lips over that special spot, and when she cried out his name in ecstasy and started to shake uncontrollably with her climax.
It was an incredible turn-on for him when he felt her hotbox quiver underneath his hand, and he cupped it and held on tightly to enjoy the feeling of what he alone had evoked in her. When her orgasm had subsided, he pulled her hips towards him and pushed himself deep into her still throbbing core. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he started to move his hips and rotate inside of her, making her squirm against him, pushing back so that she could take him in even deeper. Maddie let go of the headboard and put her hands on his, delighting in the feeling of his strong hands holding her close while he was fucking her deliciously nice and slow with deep, lazy strokes. She pressed her back against his chest and reveled in the feeling of his skin against hers while she felt the heat inside her building up again. Their bodies moved in sync, and the movements became faster.
“Oh yes, oh please...” she gasped breathlessly, and David knew she was ready for another high C. He increased his pace, and soon they exploded into a million pieces together.
Shortly after that, they were both fast asleep, still snuggled together in that spooning position, David had pulled the sheets over them and let his hands rest on her belly; a smile played around Maddie's lips when she drifted over to dreamland. She was in the safest place in the world.
***
Despite their solid relationship and her trust in David, Maddie could not relax the first night that David was tending bar at Philly on Melrose. When he left the house in his tight black jeans that were much too tight for her liking and a plain white t-shirt that was molded to his body and revealed his muscular chest and arms – she wanted to beg him not to go, but of course she couldn’t do that without looking like an insecure, jealous woman. Maddie had pondered that notion as she thought about all the young, hot women that were probably all over David – was she insecure? Wasn't that ridiculous? After all, she was the Blue Moon Shampoo girl! Maybe a little now that she felt so big and swollen with the Bean. And just the thought of him flirting with another woman – his intoxicating green eyes roaming over another woman’s body – made her choke down a red hot fury and a blinding jealousy. Maybe, probably, she rationalized, it was the pregnancy hormones that were turning her into a crazed woman pacing around the house; checking the clock every 5 minutes, willing the hands to move quickly to midnight when his shift was over. David had compromised and promised to be done by midnight and Richie said he’d take over the last couple of hours of the shift.
Maddie finally sat on the couch and opened the new mystery novel that everyone was raving over but stopped after she realized she had read the first paragraph over and over with no comprehension. All she saw on the page was David’s luscious lips curved into his panty melting grin as he served drinks to a bevy of what looked like in her mind to be half-naked playboy bunnies. She put the book down and resumed her pacing. She felt the Bean kicking and moving probably trying to tell her to calm down – that she knew her daddy was a good man who would never hurt them. Maddie petted her belly as she sat once again and turned on the TV. “I know, Bean,” she murmured ruefully. “I always seem to think the worst. Maybe you can help me see the best.”
But as the night wore on and there was no phone call from David Maddie began to get angry. She knew every bar had a phone. He couldn’t take 5 minutes to call her? She knew David loved being the center of attention – quite the social director. He probably was having too much fun. No, come on – this is work. He's just doing it for his brother. Maddie began to pace again and finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
She was awakened a couple of hours later by the sound of David’s key in the lock. She sat up quickly and pretended to be engrossed in her book. She looked at the clock and saw it was close to one a.m. He was late too! She swallowed her anger as he strode into the living room and bent down to kiss her.
“Hey babe. You didn’t have to wait up for me,” David told her between yawns. “I’m beat. I’m gonna jump in the shower and head to bed. You coming up?”
David smelled of smoke and perfume. She put the book down on the coffee table carefully and took a deep breath. Maddie really didn’t want to fight, and so she tried to curb her irritation but when she noticed what looked like lipstick stain on his shirt she lost her temper. “You’re late!” She accused as she jumped off the couch faster than a pregnant woman should be able to do. She pointed her finger at him like a deadly weapon. “You said you’d be home by 12:30!”
David knew he was later than he had thought he would be but was hoping Maddie was asleep when he got home. The bar had been so busy that he only realized what time it was when some young thing asked him the time. When David saw it was half past 12 he flew out of the place like a bat out of hell. He knew had promised Maddie he would quit at midnight, but did she have to start a fight as soon as he walked through the door? He was tired and cranky and really not up to defending his honor or proving his love for her tonight. He kept his voice neutral trying to avoid a fight. “Sorry sweetheart, the bar was jumping and I didn’t know what time it was. Soon as I realized it was so late I booked it home.”
“So busy you couldn’t even call me to see if I was alive or dead?” She knew she was being overly dramatic but she once again couldn’t stop herself.
David realized he should have called her. But the bar was so busy he didn’t even have time to pee that night. Richie and his partners were overjoyed at the success of the bar. It had turned into a hotspot overnight. David was thrilled for his brother. He didn’t want Maddie to mar his happiness. “I really wanted to call, but honestly, I didn't have the time.” He ruffled his hair. “It was crazy! I hardly had the chance to pee.”
Maddie looked at him furiously. “But you did have time to get lipstick on your shirt?”
What was she saying? Maddie approached him and put her finger on the red stain on his shirt right below his breastbone. “Here.”
David thought – he knew – that he hadn’t been that close to any woman. But then he thought about the drunk chick that he and Leo had had to put into a cab. He explained what happened to Maddie and she seemed mollified. Secretly, David was getting a little miffed but did his best to hide it. Really, he had gone to do a 6 hours bartending shift on a Friday evening after having worked full time in the office, and that was a pretty exhausting thing to do, but he had done it gladly to help his brother – and all she had for him were accusations, reproaches and suspicions? He thought of Terri's words about hormonal women and swallowed his annoyance.
“Maddie, honey, don’t you trust me?” David’s voice was soothingly sweet knocking down her defenses and she so wanted to believe him that she felt herself thawing toward him. “I’d never hurt you, baby.”
“Yes, I trust you David,” Maddie quickly told him, but a pang of guilt hit her as an ugly little voice in her head asked: you do, huh? She wanted to trust him so badly, but her being who she was it was so difficult for her to trust completely. And didn’t only a fool trust 100%? she thought quietly. But she didn’t want to argue and she did believe his story so she forced a smile to her lips.
He pulled her in his arms. “Maddie, Maddie, Maddie... I love you, silly girl. Don’t you think I’d rather be home fucking you over and over than working my butt off serving drinks?”
Maddie shrugged but couldn’t help snuggling into his arms. “I don’t know...”
Unseen by her, David's features hardened a little, and he frowned. Enough now! She was giving him the feeling that he had to prove he deserved her trust, and he really didn't think that was justified. Despite himself, he moved against her and she could feel the length of his boner slowly grinding into her. His hormones took over, and the vague hint of anger at the back of his head was muffled by his horniness. “Do you want to come, honey?” he purred turning her knees to jelly.
“I thought you were tired.” Maddie couldn’t help moving her throbbing core against his massive boner.
David chuckled as he quickly moved her against the wall and pulled up her nightgown with one hand while the other pulled down his zipper. The sound of his zipper always made her gasp with excitement. “Never too tired to fuck my woman,” he assured. He pulled down her panties and thrust into her with one deep push pressing her against the wall. As David made passionate love to her Maddie forget her insecurities – but unfortunately not for long.
The following week passed quickly. Richie and Terri were getting along wonderfully, and both were secretly surprised how good the Lamaze lessons worked; Agnes and Bert were starting to plan their wedding, and Maddie was trying to hide her jealousies and unsettled feelings from David. That Thursday morning David was out in the field with Viola, and Maddie was once again delegated to office work. Sometimes she felt more like a secretary than a detective, but although she was bored and wanted to be out with David she knew the Bean’s safety was more important. She sighed deeply as she opened the mail.
Maddie looked up when she heard Agnes’ voice followed by a knock at the door. “Miss Hayes, I have some more mail.”
“Come in, Agnes.” Eagerly, she waved her hand to beckon her friend and secretary near.
Agnes knew something was bothering her friend and boss and wanted to get to the bottom of it. She hated to see Maddie looking so glum and trying to hide it from David – she wasn't sure if he had noticed it, but there had never been any flies on her. She placed the mail on the desk in front of Maddie then sat in chair the clients used. “How are you?” Agnes prodded. “You okay?”
Maddie began to nod but then found herself shaking her head. “Yes, no. I don’t know.” She put her head in her hands an sighed again.
“What’s going on?” Agnes knew that their friendship now allowed her to poke at her. “The wedding is in a couple of weeks. The baby is doing great. The business is booming. You should be walking on air,” she told her tentatively.
This time Maddie did nod. “Yes, you’re right, Agnes,” she agreed. “And I know that, but – well…” She didn’t know how to tell Agnes her fears without sounding doubtful and anxious. But she was doubtful and anxious even though her brain told her she was being ridiculous she couldn’t stop the jealousy raging through her body.
“Well?” Agnes inquired.
“I hate that David is working at Richie’s bar.” Maddie blurted out and then pushed her hair off her forehead. “I know he is doing it to help his brother but a tiny part of me thinks he may be having fun.”
Agnes gave Maddie a clueless look. “And fun is wrong?”
“When its around other women you’re damn straight it is!” Maddie replied sharply.
“I’m losing you, Maddie...” Agnes slightly shook her head.
Maddie stood up and began to pace around her office. “David is a bartender, and even from my meager experience at bars I know that the bartender is usually surrounded by most of the single women at the bar.”
Agnes frowned. “So?”
“So?!” Maddie echoed incredulously and stood rooted to the spot before Agnes. “Agnes, would you like the idea of your Bert flirting and laughing with other women?”
Agnes laughed as she thought about Bert as the object of another woman’s attention. But then she realized that she would be jealous too. But she would trust him, of course. “Sure I wouldn’t be thrilled with it, but I trust Bert.” She tilted her head a little and threw Maddie a questioning glance that made her shift her feet uncomfortably. “Don’t you trust David?”
“Well, yes, of course I do,” Maddie sputtered and assumed her pacing again. She was trying to and hated that she still felt so insecure. Where did that come from?
“Then no problem,” Agnes declared firmly.
Maddie was thinking of how she could be sure of David. Suddenly, she had an idea. She stopped pacing and stared at Agnes with blue gems. “I want to trust him completely, but I admit trusting isn’t easy for me,” she told her honestly. “But maybe I can be certain that David is not doing anything he isn’t supposed to be doing!”
Agnes narrowed her eyes, not sure what Maddie was getting at, but her gut told her she wasn’t going to like it. She remained silent as Maddie told her the plan. Agnes' jaw dropped. She had seen a lot of crazy things going on at Blue Moon for the last three years, but this had to be the craziest thing ever – and not in a good way.
“Maddie!” she exclaimed indignantly and jumped to her feet. “No! How could you even think of doing that!” Agnes shook her head so hard that her earring jingled.
“I’m a detective. I can pull it off!” Maddie replied with fervor.
“That’s not what I’m afraid of!” Agnes clarified. “What is David finds out what you’re doing?!”
“He won’t!” Maddie grabbed her purse.
Agnes jumped out of the chair. “Where are you going?”
“To get what we need for tomorrow night!”
“I want no part of this!” Agnes shouted.
Maddie turned to her friend with a frown covering her face. “You're my Maid Of Honor. You have to help me!”
“But that's crazy, and completely over the line!!” Agnes clenched her hands to fists.
Agnes and Maddie argued for a few minutes about Maddie’s inane plan but in the end Agnes found herself reluctantly agreeing to help – with the main purpose to prevent her friend from doing something really stupid. She couldn’t let her do it alone. Her hopes were that Maddie’s plan didn’t bring on a disaster.
***
Maddie and Agnes took their places at a small table for two just next to the shining oak bar where David was serving drinks; they were placed strategically so they both could oversee what David was doing. Agnes felt ridiculous in her get up; she looked over at Maddie and despite her annoyance and irritation had to stifle her giggles. Maddie looked even worse than she did. Both women were disguised as middle aged businessmen. Maddie had on a three piece suit with a vest that hid her baby bump, a brown wig, huge glasses and a fake beard and moustache. Although the disguise was ridiculous, it was well done: not overly exaggerated, and the wigs and moustaches of a decent quality. Agnes who was similarly disguised could barely tell that it was Maddie. Agnes felt torn; although she wanted to be there for Maddie she really didn’t feel right about spying on David. He had been her friend for a long time and she knew that he was a good, decent man but she couldn’t let Maddie do this alone, especially because she knew that without her calming influence, she would probably do something very stupid. She was her friend too; although Maddie's not-so-subtle emotional blackmail had irked her a little. She sighed deeply.
Maddie threw Agnes a cross look. “Sshh, Stop sighing,” she shushed her. “We’re supposed to be having fun.” Maddie looked at David who was shaking up a drink for a gorgeous red head. Did he really have to move his hips so seductively as he shook the drink? She watched as he handed the woman her drink and bit her lip when she saw how the redhead held on to David’s hand a bit too long when she paid her bill. Maddie let out the breath she didn’t even realize she was holding when he only laughed as he shook her off and immediately went to take someone else’s order.
“See?” Agnes whispered. “He isn't interested in other women.”
Maddie didn't reply; she was too busy scanning the bar with a sharp eye. There had to be twice as many women as men at the bar tonight. Her eyes fell on a sign proclaiming Friday as ‘Ladies' Night’ when all drinks for women were half price until midnight. That didn't exactly enlighten her mood.
“How long do we have to stay here?” Agnes wanted to know. She felt foolish and uncomfortable and hated lying to Bert. She had told him that she was going shopping with Maddie and Terri. If he found out what they were up to he would be furious. Her honeybun idolized David Addison – well, so did she, if she was honest – and would be upset to know that Maddie needed to spy on him to prove his fidelity. Agnes was a bit peeved at Maddie too although she understood the other woman’s feelings – to a degree. But in her eyes, she was going far over the line. She was just going to sigh again when Maddie pointed toward the bar.
“See that woman over there?” she muttered under her breath.
Agnes peered toward where Maddie was pointing. “Which one?”
Maddie nodded toward a brunette who was dressed in a skin tight red mini dress and stiletto heels. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of David the entire time Maddie had been there. “Her! The hussy in the red dress.”
Agnes nodded. “How can you miss her?” Agnes watched as the woman reached across the bar to touch David’s arm as he made her drink. Uh-oh. Agnes felt Maddie stiffen beside her.
David wished the brunette in the tight red dress who told him her name was Linda would go away. She was making him feel very uncomfortable. She hadn’t left her spot at the bar since she had come in ‘Philly’ almost two hours ago. Other women flirted with him, and as part of his job he flirted back but he sensed this one was different. He really didn’t like the way her eyes roved over his body like she wanted to eat him alive. Laughing to himself he realized that now he truly was a one woman man and that maybe not even a year ago he would have had this hot piece pressed against the wall in the back fucking her senseless. Now he had no desire to even touch her. She was beginning to annoy him with her pouty red lips and her loose hands.
“If she touches him again I may pull her hair out!” Maddie hissed and felt her fingers turn into claws under the table. “And why isn’t he moving away from her?”
Agnes saw the scene objectively. He was trying to move away but the woman wouldn’t release his hand. “Calm down, Maddie,” she whispered. “He is…” Agnes saw the woman pull David’s head close so that she could kiss his lips. Before she knew it Maddie was out of the chair and heading to the bar and that red dressed floozy before Agnes could stop her.
Maddie saw that tramp pull David’s head down to meet her lips and she lost all sense of reason and control as she made a mad dash to claw that bitch’s eyes out!
Before David had the chance to pull away from Linda, he felt her being wrenched away from him by a heavyset man with a crooked moustache. His first thought was that this must be Linda’s boyfriend or husband but then he heard ‘him’ yell at Linda to keep her dirty fingers off of him. For a moment David thought he was stuck in a nightmare. Why was Maddie’s voice coming out of the mouth of this fat man? Then it hit him as he looked closely at the man who wasn’t a man at all but his lunatic girlfriend.
“What the hell...?” the woman in the red dress shrieked.
“Maddie?” David was shocked.
Maddie pulled the woman away from David. “Keep your hands off of him, you slut!” Maddie screamed like a banshee. “I swear I’m going to pull out every last strand of your hair and if you ever just look his way again I’ll claw out your eyes! Get it?” She was just about to make good on her promise and pull hair when she felt two strong arms pulling her away from the woman.
“Whoa! Calm down, guy,” said a firm deep voice beside her ear. It was Richie.
David jumped over the bar and pulled Maddie away from Richie. “This ain’t no guy, this is my nutty fiancée!” In the blink of an eye, he had put together two and two and figured out what was going on here.
Richie’s eyes grew wide as David pulled the fake hair off of Maddie’s head and face. “Whoa Maddie.” He shook his head. “Are you on a case or something?” Richie was confused; his future sister-in-law looked like a vengeful goddess ready to strike.
“Yeah me. I’m the case.” David snarled. He stared at Maddie with green ice. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Get your mitts off me!” she snapped, nearly spitting fire, and tried to wriggle out of his grip, but there was no way – David didn't loosen his grip at all.
“Shut! Up!” he told her in a voice so low and furious that she couldn't do any other thing.
David saw a similarly dressed ‘man’ trying to slink out of the bar unnoticed. He immediately shouted to the bouncer. “Yo Hank! Stop that man and bring him here.”
Agnes was mortified when she was apprehended by the bouncer and dragged to David. She wished the floor would have opened up and swallowed her when David pulled off her disguise. She immediately detected a slight hurt in his eyes when he looked at her with scorn, and it made her cringe inside. “Maybe I could expect this from the nut over there,” he nodded to Maddie who was leaning against the bar staring at David with angry eyes, “but you, Agnes?” He shook his head. “Why?”
Maddie was furious. How dare he call her nuts? How dare he be angry when he had been just about to kiss another woman? She felt like strangling him. She was so hurt, angry and embarrassed that she felt herself holding back her tears. Damn David Addison!
Agnes didn’t know what to say. She had known all along it had been dead wrong, and it was going to turn into a disaster, but she had gone along with Maddie’s scheme anyway, so she knew she was also to blame. “I’m... I'm sorry,” she stuttered and added almost tonelessly: “I just didn’t want her to come alone.”
David nodded. He had already suspected something like that; probably, Maddie had let poor Agnes little to no choice. He turned back to Maddie. “You!” he pointed his finger at her.
“Don’t you dare ‘you’ me! You jackass!” She snapped, out of her mind with rage. Before she knew what she was doing, Maddie kicked him in his shin.
“Ouch!” David bent down to rub his injury. “You are fucking nuts!” he steamed. “You’re the one who deserves a kick. Or a damn good spanking!”
Surprising enough, she didn't reply. Green eyes glared into blue ones – both angry, both embarrassed – both confused and hurt.
David dragged Maddie out of the bar by her arm without another word to her. He couldn’t form a coherent word; he could barely see straight from his white-hot fury, let alone talk without exploding. “Can you take over, Rich?” he threw over his shoulder.
Richie nodded. “Sure thing, bro. Go easy on her.”
David didn't reply. “You too,” he called to Agnes. “Come on.”
Agnes shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I called Bert and he’s on his way.” No way was she getting in the car with David and Maddie who both looked like murder was not far from their minds.
“Fine,” David replied curtly. “We'll wait here with you then until Bert gets here. I won't let you wait alone here in the street.” He grabbed Agnes' arm too and led them outside with Richie on their heels.
“Dave! Wait!” he called.
“What is it?” David turned to Maddie and Agnes. “You wait here,” he ordered, and strange enough, not even Maddie dared to object although she was still fuming inside, filled with self-righteous cold fury.
David went back to talk to Richie for a moment and left the women standing side by side in their ridiculous outfits.
Maddie had her hands clenched to fists. “I don't believe this!” she hissed. Agnes just pressed her lips together and didn't answer. Maddie threw her a sideways glance and was surprised to see something on her face that was rarely ever spotted on the features of La Dolce DiPesto: anger and disapproval. She didn't look like any of it was directed at David.
Finally, the Maid Of Honor spoke. Although David was standing a bit away from them, she lowered her voice. “You better not say or do something you might regret later.”
Maddie narrowed her eyes. “That is really none of your business,” she replied in a warning tone.
Agnes' curly head flew around to her. “Well, you made it my business, remember?” she snapped, and Maddie was so taken aback she looked at her secretary/friend/Maid Of Honor with eyes wide open. “You should realize,” Agnes went on, “that Mr. Addison hasn't done anything wrong!” She was so upset that she even forgot to call David by his first name.
“Are you kidding?!” Maddie gasped. “You're not being objective because you're so fond of him!”
“I am being objective!” Agnes contradicted indignantly. “You are not! All you saw were the women approaching him, and that of course made you mad. I watched him, and all I saw was him trying to get rid of the red dress woman and acting only professionally otherwise!” Agnes shook her head. “If you had watched him with a fair eye instead of a green one, you would have seen that he was trying to pull away from that girl!”
“You're on his side?” Maddie asked incredulously. Suddenly, her irrational fury took over again, and she added acidly: “Of course.”
Agnes drew a deep breath, more anger and hurt showing on her face. “I came here with you although I didn't want to,” she reminded Maddie in a very upset voice, shaky because she was on the verge of tears, “so don't you tell me I'm a bad friend. That's mean and I don't deserve this! I'm on nobody's side.” She was working herself into a fury now. “I've been on the side of getting you two together for three years, so don't tell me I'm a bad friend!” she repeated, her voice squeaky with hurt and anger.
Maddie was suddenly sobered. She still was too upset to be able analyze clearly, rationally and objectively what had happened in the bar, but one thing was clear: Agnes didn't deserve any of her anger. She put her hand on Agnes' arm and wanted to apologize, but in that moment a car pulled up by the curb, and Bert jumped out, worry on his scruffy face.
“Pumpkin!” he called. “What happened?”
“I'll explain later,” Agnes replied and was relieved to be able to get away. “Just take me home.” Over her shoulder she said quietly to Maddie: “You better never make me do something like that again, Miss Hayes.”
“It's Maddie,” her boss/friend/Maid Of Honor corrected automatically and miserably.
Richie was trying to calm David down as they waited outside the bar for Bert to pick up Agnes. “Calm down, bro. I’d die for a chick who’d do that for me,” he told him matter-of-factly.
David scowled at Richie. “Do what? Embarrass me? Show me – and everybody else – that she doesn’t trust me worth shit?” Richie laughed and David threw him a threatening look. David was in no mood for Richie’s crap. He was furious with Maddie and deeply hurt. How dare she spy on him? Didn’t she trust him at all after everything they’d been through, after the long way they had come? His mind was spinning, and he felt almost nauseous.
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Not funny, Rich.” David’s voice was coated with irritation.
Richie put his hand on David’s shoulder and leaned in closely. “Davey-boy. Look at her.” He nodded to Maddie who was talking to Agnes now bare of her disguise but still dressed in the man’s three piece suit. “That’s Maddie Hayes who crammed her baby bump into a ridiculous suit because she is jealous of you, baby brother. She loves you.”
“Yeah well that’s one helluva way to show it!” David nodded to her. “If there is no trust in a relationship, then there is NO true love or relationship.”
“Don't be stupid, bro,” Richie scolded him. “There's no true love or relationship without jealousy. You know that deep down she does trust you. From what you've told me, she wouldn't be with you if she didn't.”
David just shrugged Richie’s hand off of him. “Here’s Bert now. Gotta go.”
David approached the women again and saw Bert jump out of the car. He just nodded curtly his head towards him, and although Bert had no clue what was going on, this time he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut and remain invisible.
When Agnes saw David, she turned to him with remorse on her face; she looked as miserable as he felt. Maddie however, he registered with a short sideways glance, still had her stubborn face on. He felt his jaw tighten.
“I'm so sorry, Mr. Addison,” Agnes murmured, barely able to look at him.
“Hey, it's still David,” he replied softly with a short encouraging nod. “Now go home, curly head.”
Agnes sighed and climbed into the waiting car. David turned to Maddie who was looking at him with a steely blue stare, her lips pressed closely together. He held up the car keys and inclined his head in a sarcastic nod. “Shall we?”
Maddie snorted and followed him to the Beemer.
***
Maddie had mentally braced herself for a screaming match, but David hadn't said a word so far, and they were already halfway home. She threw him a sideways glance and saw that he was really upset which was even worse than if he was yelling at her; he was staring through the windshield at the dark street that lay before them, his eyes green steel, his jawline tense, and the silence heavy and ominous. Maddie knew this was one of the very rare occasions that he was seriously and deeply upset with her; David's demeanor tickled her defiance, however. Him, mad? After all, he had been the one enjoying himself in a bar, flirting with other women while she was supposed to sit at home waiting for him! And not only that – he had been about to... No, he hadn't! objected the voice of reason in her head, sounding a lot like Agnes. I saw what I saw! hissed the green-eyed snake. Maddie worked herself successfully into a fury.
David had shut his mouth tightly, afraid to say something he would surely regret afterward. He knew that it was never a good idea to try and resolve a conflict while one of them was still so upset, and he was really upset and mad. She had made a complete ass of herself – and of him too, in the end. First the discovery of her and poor Agnes disguised as guys –guys?! She who had protested with fervor once when he had suggested only so much as putting on a black dress and a veil to solve a case? Of course, they had been the joke of the Century. Yes, the hotsy in the red dress had been way too friendly, and he hadn't liked her seductive behavior at all either, but that was part of the job – and he had enough experience to handle that kind of woman.
For one moment, David had been afraid Maddie would claw the woman's eyes out. David was always flattered when he caught a glimpse of Maddie's jealousy, but this temper tantrum hadn't been funny. Richie had been pretty cool though, and David was secretly proud of how his brother had handled that tricky situation – but that didn't make Maddie's behavior one bit better.
He didn't get it anyway – what had been her purpose? Had she really been thinking he would drink and be stupid? Hit on other women? Really, didn't she trust him at all, after all this time? That was what hurt and upset him the most. And what was even worse – she didn't seem to have the slightest realization that she was wrong; he could feel her stab him with her steely knives that were her eyes. Instead of cooling and calming down, his anger welled up again when he sensed her stubborn demeanor.
“I hope you're satisfied,” David finally broke the silence that hung between them like a poisonous cloud, his voice dripping with acid sarcasm. “Congratulations! You made me look like a complete idiot.”
Maddie folded her arms and raised her chin stubbornly. “Should feel familiar,” she replied dryly.
David's hands gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Seriously, Maddie?” he pressed through clenched teeth. “Playing the Dave-is-dumb card again?” He shook his head, then he blurted out in a furious tone: “What the fuck is wrong with you??”
Maddie gasped in disbelief. “With me??!”
“With you!” he barked and took one hand away from the steering wheel, gesticulating wildly. “Yes, I should have discussed the bartending with you before offering my help to Richie, I know. I was wrong. I apologized. We talked. You said you understood and agreed that I should help him. And now...”
“Yes, help him!” she interrupted furiously, “not enjoy yourself and make out with other women!”
David's mouth gaped open. “What?!”
“You heard me!” Maddie snapped. “That tramp with the slutty skirt you were having fun with was hanging all over you! And you didn't mind it one bit! You were about to kiss her!” she yelled.
“I did no such thing!” David yelled back. “I wasn't having fun! And I surely wasn't going to fucking kiss her!”
“From what I saw it looked like...”
“Like what?!” David couldn't believe it. “What kind of detective are you? You're worse than Viola!”
“What?!”
“You heard me!” David barked now. “You see – or think you see – one thing and make up a whole scenario in your head that isn't even half true, rather than check your fucking facts!”
Maddie snorted. “I didn't just hallucinate her pulling your face towards hers and...”
“And what?” David demanded. “You were all over her before I had the chance to push her away! And I guess you conveniently didn't see that I was trying to get rid of her even before she made her move!”
“No, I didn't see that!” Maddie shot back, but she was already feeling unsure about what she had seen. Agnes' words reverberated in her head: All you saw were the women approaching him, and that of course made you mad. I watched him, and all I saw was him trying to get rid of the red dress woman and acting only professionally otherwise! If you had watched him with a fair eye instead of a green one, you would have seen that he was trying to pull away from the girl! Could it be that her jealous, hormone-fevered brain had once again made her see things that actually weren't there?
“Well,” he said slowly and in a dangerously calm voice, “then I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.” She just glared at him, and he added dead seriously: “If that isn't good enough for you, Maddie, we have a problem.”
“So you were not kissing her!” she snapped. “But you were flirting!” she insisted stubbornly, not ready to give in yet.
“I was being friendly!” David defended himself. “Okay, maybe a bit flirty, but that is part of the job!”
Maddie's head flew around to him. “Ha!” she cried out triumphantly. “You were flirting! So you admit it!”
David shook his head. “Honesty doesn't pay with you, does it?” He ruffled his hair. “Maddie, that kind of behavior doesn't mean anything, it's part of the work.”
“That isn't your work!” she immediately shot at him. “We run a detective agency!”
“I know that!” he barked back.
Maddie threw her hands in the air. “Well, do you regret that, or what?” she asked in a menacing, accusing tone.
David couldn't believe that she was turning the words around in his mouth, obviously with the only purpose to attack him, because now, he had noticed, they were drifting away from the original subject. What nerve! “No,” he replied with biting sarcasm, “I'm not the one who said a few times she wished she hadn't kept Blue Moon open!”
“Oh shut up!” she hissed, in lack of a better response. “And don't be ridiculous – work? Pouring drinks, joking and flirting with stupid bimbos who throw themselves at you? You have nerve to call that work!”
David pressed his jaws very tightly together for a moment, and Maddie cringed a little; she knew that had been a tad too much. “Well,” he replied icily, “you'd be surprised – it might not seem as honorable to you as presenting your caboose in magazines for everybody to drool over, but actually, you can make a living of it if you have to.” He snorted. “But, of course, you wouldn't know about that.” For a moment, his mind flew back to his time in New York, when he had worked his ass off tending bar all around the clock so that he could support himself and his then-wife Tess who had wanted to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. He shook the memory off quickly.
“Oh, I know that!” Maddie snapped impatiently. “And yes, I said you could help out your brother even if I'm not happy about it. But the purpose was not you flirting and having fun!” Her voice was becoming shrill. “And you damn sure looked like you were having fun!”
“Am I supposed to look like a creepy undertaker while tending bar?” He ruffled his hair in disbelief. “That's not how you sell drinks, honey!”
“Of course not, but...”
“But what?” David barked in exasperation. “You wreak a shitstorm because I smiled while I was shaking up a couple of Margaritas?!” He didn't get it. What the hell was wrong with her?
“I don't want you to smile at other women!” Maddie yelled. Was that so hard to understand?! She didn't get it. What the hell was wrong with him?
David snorted and turned the car brutally to head into the driveway of their house. “Whoa, this is hysterical!” he snarled. “So, let me get this straight – it is okay for me to help Richie, as long as I'm feeling miserable while doing so?”
Oh great. He was turning the words around in her mouth. “No, I don't want you to be miserable!” she contradicted and added: “But I don't want you to enjoy it either!” Somehow, that sounded whiny in her own ears.
David stopped the car and killed the engine. “You're nuts!”
“And you're disgusting!” Maddie clenched her hands to fists and tried to fight back the tears that were about to well up. She felt like they were turning in circles, in a vicious circle.
David drew a deep breath and told himself to calm down; he knew that yelling insults at each other wouldn't do any good. He turned to her and deliberately toned his voice down. "Okay, I think I get it,” he said slowly. “You're pregnant. You're hormonal. You're tired, you're feeling uncomfortable and you're cranky.” Maddie opened her mouth to object indignantly, but David silenced her by raising his hands. “Look, I wanna help,” he went on. “I'll do what I can. I'll cook for you. Sing for you. Give you a backrub.” he counted the points by holding up his long fingers. ”A foot massage,” he continued, “an orgasm! But you gotta stop taking it out on me. I'm not your goddamn doormat!” Maddie cringed a little, and he ruffled his hair. “Just because I'm the guy and you are Maddie Hayes and you're pregnant, doesn't mean I have to put up with everything.” His voice grew louder again. “I'm sick and tired of this shit! It ain't cute or funny anymore. You're 36 years old, and you're gonna be a mother soon – stop acting like a spoiled brat and grow the fuck up!”
Maddie had sunk deeper and deeper into the passenger's seat as he raged on, but his last words had hit her like a hammer, and she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. “I hate you!” she screeched and jumped out of the car, running into the house.
“Maddie, wait!” David called at her back, but she had already slammed the entrance door right into his face. “Now that was mature indeed,” he murmured and followed her back in. She had already stormed upstairs.
With a sigh, David followed her upstairs, into the bedroom. “Maddie!” he called.
“Go away!” she snapped madly and turned her back on him as she pulled off the ridiculous three piece suit she had donned as a disguise throwing it across the chair with a snarl. She then quickly pulled her short satin robe off the hook on the door and threw it over her body tying the robe with an angry knot.
“Go away?” he repeated, stretching the words like chewing gum. “Is this the mature way we settle arguments now?”
She whirled around like a banshee. “Arguments?” she yelled. “This isn't an argument! You were insulting me! How dare you talk to me like that?!”
David folded his arms and tilted his head a little. “Geez, look who's talking!” he replied dryly. “Well, honey, because that's how I feel. And we promised to always be honest about our feelings, remember?! And you were not!”
Maddie put her hands to her hips. “I told you...”
“You told me,” he interrupted, pointing his long finger at her, “that you accepted that I help Richie out. And then you go and spy on me??”His green eyes were burning holes into her skin, and Maddie had to look away. David was pacing the room back and forth now. “Do you even realize what a huge breach of trust this actually is??” He rubbed his eyes warily. “Do you really think I cheat on you every time you turn your back? Do you really have that little trust in me?”
The unmistakable hurt in his voice was like a punch in the gut to Maddie and she shook her head, too ashamed to speak at first. Really, what had she been thinking? Trust did not mean weakness or stupidity, and she knew that a relationship without trust wasn't really worth much. “No,” she said tonelessly after a while, “of course not!” She fell silent because she didn't know what else to say.
“Good,” he replied firmly and sounded dead serious. “Because if you don't seriously trust me from the bottom of your heart I don't see any point in this relationship.”
“I do trust you,” Maddie said and really meant it this time. He had every right to be angry; she knew that she would be more than livid if he had implied that he didn't trust her not to behave decently with other men. Suddenly, she remembered the evening she had gone out dancing in a very short dress. Had he followed her to the club in a stupid disguise to spy on her? No, he hadn't. And she had not been out working; her sole purpose had been to have fun – and to make him jealous.
David stopped the pacing and stood in the middle of the room facing her. “Then what, Maddie?!” he urged.
She shrugged helplessly. How could she tell him what really bothered her? But then... how could she not tell him? “I... I can't help it,” she finally blurted out. “I just can't stand the thought...” her voice trailed off.
“What thought?” David spurred her on. He still had no clue what her problem was.
“The thought of you, alone in a bar – for whatever reason – that's full of women...” she hesitated; this was hard. Then she drew a deep breath and went on: “Women with fewer wrinkles, less weight and fewer clothes on than me!”
David ruffled his hair for about the hundredth time that evening, and with every time he did that he seemed to look more adorable to Maddie. “Maddie,” he sighed. “You've seen Richie's place. It's a classy place not a dive. Okay, every once in a while things get a little out of control – it's a bar, after all – and Friday is Ladies' Night.”
She threw her hands up in exasperation. “I know!” she exclaimed. “I also know that the way you behaved is part of the job. I've been watching you for a while.” He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and she admitted: “You're a great bartender. And if I went to a bar I'd enjoy being treated like you treated your clients. The rational part of me knows all this.” He raised the other eyebrow too, his face asking her: And so? She clasped her hands together. “But then there's that other part of me... that just wants to throw a glass of vodka in those women's faces and claw their eyes out.” She put her hands over her face. There, she had done it – she had made herself look like a desperate, jealous woman. Delusional.
David was staring at her in disbelief. So that was it? She trusted him but she was jealous? He knew that she had always been the jealous type, but such a silly maneuver he would never have expected from her. He felt a little flattered, of course, but he also felt bad for her – he knew that he in her shoes would climb the walls too. He silently shook his head; a wave of love for his hormonal, complicated blonde washed over him. Don't be stupid, bro, Richie's voice rang in his head. There's no true love or relationship without jealousy. You know that deep down she does trust you. From what you've told me, she wouldn't be with you if she didn't. Look at her. That’s Maddie Hayes who crammed her baby bump into a ridiculous suit because she is jealous of you, baby brother. She loves you.”
After a while, Maddie felt David's grasp at her wrists, and he pulled her hands away from her face. She felt miserable; she didn't want to fight anymore. She just wanted to rewind the last few hours and make them un-happen. But David didn't look mad anymore; he looked at her with tenderness in his breathtaking green eyes. “Oh babe, I know,” he told her in a soothing voice. “God knows I can relate.” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. “I'll tell you what, I'm gonna tell Richie...”
Maddie knew what he was about to say, and although she would have preferred to have him home with her every night, she couldn't let him do this on her behalf. It was already enough to know he was ready to do it. “You tell him I had a bad day and I'm sorry.” she interrupted. “You're gonna help him as long as it takes, as long as it doesn't take too long.” Her voice sounded firm, and she was proud of herself. Yes, that was the mature way to go.
David shook his head. “But you...”
“I'm not thrilled about it,” she admitted, “but it's the right thing to do, at least for a while, and I can deal with it.” She nodded bravely, more to convince herself, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, stupid tears threatened to well up in her eyes again. Really, those hormones were starting to get annoying. “I just wish...” She shrugged and then blurted out: “I want my waist back and my ankles, and I know how vain and whiny that sounds, but I wished the Bean would arrive and this pregnancy would end soon.” And then? What will happen then? that voice in her head asked, finally completely voicing her fears.
“Me too,” David replied soberly, pushing a stray tendril from her face, and for a moment she was thrown off track.
“So you do think I'm fat?!” she sputtered. “You hate my pregnant body!”
David threw his hands in the air. “Hell, no!” he barked. “I love your pregnant body! I worship your pregnant body! Haven't I proved this over and over? And over again? I just hate that it makes you feel bad about yourself You’re gorgeous babe. You have nothing to be jealous about.”
“Oh please,” she snorted angrily, “you love it when I'm jealous.”
David took her face in his hands and looked at her so intensely that her knees went weak. “Of course I do!” he admitted. “But I hate it when you feel miserable.”
Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face at the side of his throat. He had that bar smell on him, but underneath that, it was pure David that filled her nostrils. Somehow, his scent made her feel safe and home and down to earth again. “Oh David... What if everything changes?”
“Of course everything will change,” he replied and stroked her back tenderly. “But then on second thought... screaming fits and sleepless nights? Does sound a little familiar.”
“You're just saying this to make me feel better,” she mumbled against his skin. “But what if we're completely swamped? If we're a failure as parents?” He felt her shudder in his arms and wanted to kick himself that he had never thought of that as a reason for her crankiness: she was just scared of the challenges of parenthood and the inevitable changes in their lives. “That scares the hell out of me,” she admitted in a small voice.
He put his hands on her shoulders again and pushed her back a little so that he could look into her eyes. “It scares the hell outta me too, babe,” he assured her and then shrugged his devil-may-care shrug. “But so did falling in love. Still does! And look how that turned out!”
She smiled for the first time in hours, even if it was through tears. “When you say that, it all sounds so simple,” she told him.
“Because it is,” he confirmed. “Some things will change, some things will stay the same. We'll see. And we'll deal with whatever it is, together.”
“Promise?”
“Of course I promise, knucklehead.”
Maddie sighed, feeling suddenly tired now. “I'm sorry, David.”
He nodded. “You're forgiven.” He winked at her. “Now, what can a bartender do to make his wrinkly, waistless wench feel better?”
She laughed. “I already feel much better.” It was true. One of David's many amazing talents. She loved him so much that it hurt sometimes.
He smirked, challenging her with his eyes. “Then I guess my job here is done and we can go to sleep.”
“I thought I heard somebody mention a backrub earlier,” she remarked casually. “And a foot massage.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, all playful now. “And what was the third thing? An orgasm?”
“Well, you just place your order, lady,” he told her in a husky voice that turned her already weak knees completely to jelly.
“In that case... I'll have one of each, in that order...”
He raised his hands to untie her robe. “I’ll see what I can do for you, babe.” He purred pulling her to the vanity mirror as he quickly pulled the robe off of her curvy body. David nuzzled her neck as he watched them through the mirror. Maddie had her eyes closed and was leaning into him as he kissed her neck. He watched his hands move over her body and chuckled as her legs parted to allow his hand to stroke her hotbox.
“Open your eyes, baby.” David ordered her, his voice bossy and syrupy thick. “I want you to see how I see you, how beautiful you are.” Maddie opened her eyes and saw David’s mesmerizing emerald eyes running over her body through the mirror.
“David...” she murmured as he petted her lazily.
“See how sexy you are, babe.” David’s fingers played over her breasts – stroking them – squeezing them – “you have incredible tits. So round and just perfect.” He purred. “How could you think I’d want anyone else when I have this?” His hands ran over her body. “How can you not see how beautiful you are?”
Maddie just watched his hands move over her and listened to his words. She knew he meant what he said; he did adore her body. She felt a lump in her throat, and her heart was so heavy with happiness that she felt grounded, safe; she was so happy she wanted to cry. Watching him pleasuring her body with his hands through the mirror was an incredible turn on. She loved to watch as he made her lose her mind. She saw him bend his head and lick her breast and couldn’t help moaning his name.
“Ya like that, babe. I love it. You are so perfect to me, honey,” he whispered. “I love your curves.” His hands moved over her sides. “I love your legs. You have the best legs in the world. So sexy.” He almost moaned as his hands moved down to her legs. “I love your hot greedy pussy.” David’s hands moved between her legs. Maddie moaned his name as his fingers played over the throbbing nub.
“Please…” she whimpered.
“Please what, baby?” David asked huskily, his fingers playing over her hotbox. “Make you come?”
“David... Oh God, yes.”
“Soon, honey.” His hands left her hotbox and moved to her belly, gently caressing it in lazy, sensual circles. “And this is the most perfect part of your body now. This holds our Bean.” He kissed the side of her mouth, down over her jaw to her neck to that spot – soft baby kisses she craved.
“I love you, David,” she told him, her voice shaky with emotion, arousal and need.
“I know,” David murmured against her hair, “I know.” He made a mental note to try and pay more attention to hints what was going on inside this complicated woman; just because she really had changed over the last six months and was really trying to overcome her sometimes too pessimistic ways, it didn't mean she didn't need his help with that anymore. “Now I’m going to make you come sooo damn good,” he purred. When her body was shaking with her orgasm, he told her how much he loved her and lifted her up in his arms almost effortlessly and carried her over to the bed where he gave her the backrub and the foot massage he had promised. After another round of slow and tender lovemaking they both finally fell into an exhausted, but happy sleep.
***
The following Monday, David and Maddie walked into the office hand in hand with huge smiles covering their faces. They had and enjoyed a wonderful weekend and were in the best of moods. Their fight and the following making up had brought them closer together, as usual, and their bond was stronger than ever. Later in the day, they were going to pick up their wedding bands at the jeweler, and David especially was looking very forward to it and smiled a secret smile to himself.
Agnes had noticed with relief that it didn't look as bad as she had feared it would; it always amazed her how Maddie and David were able to look like they were going to murder each other one moment, and just when you thought they were surely going to break up, they resolved it all. But then, they wer