Temptation 2

25- hero

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." I say mostly to myself but on the phone with Tom. "I already scheduled a flight to come earlier. How is she?" I run my hand through my hair and look over to the closed bathroom door. "She's been in the shower for 20 minutes. She's in shock man." "Hero, how are you?" "I'm fine," I snap. "This shit is done but she completely blacked out. We literally watched a man kill himself in front of us." Tom sighs on the other end. "Look, you both need rest and you both need support right now whether you like it or not so don't be a stubborn piece of shit. Get her cleaned up, put her in bed and clean yourself up then some rest. Leave me a key with the front desk. I'll see you in a few hours." I grit my teeth, rub my temples. "Fine." Then I hang up on him.

I go to the bathroom and find Madden still sitting in a ball on the floor. I undress myself and join her. When I step under the water, it's freezing cold. I turn the knob to heat up the water and bend down in front of her. When I touch her arms, her skin is ice cold. I lift her to her feet and wrap her in my arms. "Baby girl you're ice cold." She snuggles her head into my chest as I hold her tightly. "There was so much blood," she whispers. I run my hands along her arms, trying to give her warmth. "I know baby." She looks up at me, "Is it bad that I feel relief?" Well that took me by surprise. I look up to the ceiling, to think about my answer and then I look back down to her. "No baby girl because I am too." She takes a deep breath, "Are you sad at all?" I shake my head no and she buries her head back in my chest.

I think about that a bit. The man did take part in bringing me to this world, but he was never a father to me. I never met him. He called me looking for money, and I gave it to him because I was desperate, but we never built anything. He took so much from me, he tried to hurt me, and he almost took the one and only thing that matters most to me in this world—twice. I don't feel sadness, I will not claim his body. He can rot in hell, alone like he deserves. If that makes me a monster, then I am a monster but now I'm left cleaning up his mess, once again.

Madden gets out of the shower after I help wash her off. She dries herself off, I tell her that the security guards packed us a couple of bags and we have some clothes in there and then I continue to wash myself off. I finish up, throw on a pair of boxers and join Madden in the bed. She's curled up under the covers and her breathing is even. I wrap her in my arms and pull her close.

* * *

When I wake up, I find the bed empty beside me. I throw the covers off to the side and make my way to the bathroom. The shower isn't running, and Madden is not in sight. I quickly brush my teeth and walk out the double doors into the mini living room and kitchen area. I see Madden sitting on the sofa with a Starbucks in hand and Tom sitting beside her. Tom points to the extra Starbucks cup on the coffee table. I swipe the cup off the table, take a sip and sit across from them on the chair. "Madden was just telling me about everything that happened." I raise my eyebrows at Tom to say what the fuck is your problem, but Madden catches me as I do it. "Hero, it's fine. Saying it out loud to someone else takes away a lot of the tension." I nod at her. They continue to chat about random stuff while I just watch them engage.

Sometimes I wonder if she loves him. Not in the friendly way, but when she looks at him, I recognize the love in her eyes. It's playful and real but I also remember the hurt I put on her months ago. She had time without me, time to come to peace with me being gone from her and maybe in that time she grew true feelings for him. I can't blame her for that, I can only blame myself. But I realize that if I carry that blame it'll tear me down and it will bring her down with me. I know that she loves me and even if she does have something for him, I know that it's me and her until the day we die. The jealously I feel when she looks at him that way will stay at bay because of this knowledge.

"Hero, what time do we have to be on set today?" Madden asks, interrupting my thoughts. "I actually was hoping for you and Tom could stick together today while I go on set?" It's weird to think that yesterday happened. We both need to get back to our lives but there is still the sex tape out there, which Mara is working on getting erased but then there is the fact that my sperm donor blew his brains out right in front of us yesterday. Madden looks out the window and then back to me, "Maybe we can go to the beach?" She asks, both Tom and I. Tom looks at me, waiting for a response. "Madds, I don't think that's a good idea today." Tom places a hand on her shoulder, "Madden, maybe we let things cool down a bit. We can stay in. I can send a security guard for some snacks, and we can watch movies?" He suggests to her. Madden lets out a big sigh, "I know yesterday happened, I know you both think I'm fragile, but I feel free. I don't have to walk around in complete fear anymore; waiting for Adam to find me. We know he isn't coming back, and I find freedom in that, and I really want to go to the beach." I stand up, leaving my half empty coffee on the table and bend down on my knees in front of Madden. I place my hands on her thighs and look up into her beautiful eyes. "Baby girl, the sex tape is still out there. I'm just worried people will harass you about it and it worries me." Madden kisses my forehead, then rests her's on top of mine. "Tom will be with me. We will take our security and his."
Fuck, I'm about to tell her that she can go because if I tell her not to, she will still do it and then I won't know where she is and that would be worse. I roll my eyes, look over at Tom whose waiting for a decision, then I peck the tip of her nose. "It's your decision. You know I will never tell you what to do but please, call some other friends. Hailey's in town?" I suggest. I'd feel better if she was in a bigger group of people, not just Tom on his own. People are stronger in numbers, right? Madden jumps off the couch, wrapping her arms around me and repeatedly says thank you. She then runs into the bedroom to go find a swimsuit in the suitcases which I'm lowkey hoping one of the lads didn't pack.

I sit back down on the chair across from Tom and take a big gulp of my coffee. "Couldn't have just said no, could you?" He asks. I raise my eyes at him as he smirks behind his coffee lid. "She's her own person. I have no right in telling her what she can and can't do." He clears his throat, "And if you tell her no, you know she'd find a way." I sit up, pointing a finger at him. "You don't take an eye off her, not even to fucking blink. Got it?" He snorts and just nods at me. I take that as a promise then set my empty coffee down and head into the bedroom to find Madden.

As I'm closing the door behind me, she's trying to tie the back of her bikini top. "Let me," I say as I grab the two strings from her. I tie a tight knot and place my hands on her shoulders. I look at her through the mirror in front of us. "They're going to shout at you. They're going to say mean things—" She stops me, turns around to face me. "Are you trying to scare me?" I shake my head in disagreement, "No, never. I just want you to be prepared for what's to come and if it doesn't happen, I will be thrilled but I just want you to be prepared. I kiss her lips gently and reach into my suitcase and find my sunglasses. I hand them to her, along with a Drew bucket hat. I watch her continue to get ready, throwing on my plain black t-shirt, a pair of jean shorts and flipflops.

She's fully dressed but looking at her, I want to undress her and devour her. As I take her hips in my hands and pull her close, there's a knock on the door and Tom comes in. "Thanks for the warning, mate." "I knocked," he states and shrugs his shoulders. Tom lets us know that the cars are ready to take them to the beach and myself to the studio. With Tom standing there, I make more of a show of saying goodbye to my girl. I stand up, towering over her and press my lips to her's, sliding my tongue into her mouth. She matches my energy, wrestling my tongue and tugging at the hair on the back of my head. When I pull away, she's breathing hard, so I whisper into her ear, "Later," and I nibble her ear lobe. She giggles and playfully shoves my chest then meets Tom at the door. She takes his hand in her's and starts to make her way out the door. Tom turns to look at me and I wink, and his face just shows annoyance. Tom walks Madden out of the room, hand in hand and through the hotel lobby. I follow closely behind. The paparazzi are camped outside the hotel doors and start flashing their cameras as we get closer. Tom steps ahead of Madden, keeping their hands entangled together as they try to go through the crowd. I follow behind Madden, staying close to her back to make sure no one comes close to her. Tom jumps into the SUV first and I help Madden in. I kiss her goodbye and close the SUV door and watch as they pull away. Paparazzi are shouting questions about the sex tape, about Adam and about Madden and Tom which I choose to ignore. My car pulls up seconds after Madden and Tom's pulls away and I jump in quickly. I take a deep breath and remind myself that she's going to be perfectly fine.

* * *

No one really bothers me on set about the whole psycho biological father scenario but the paparazzi and fans surrounding the closed off street, keep shouting out questions about my fiancé, my relationship and all that bullshit that I'm not entitled to keep as a private matter. I try to block it out as much as I can for the day, and I don't think about Madden to get me by each scene.

It lunch now, so I run off to my tailer and instantly facetime Madden. As I park my ass into the chair, Madden's face pops up on the screen. She's got her giant red heart sunglasses and a black Nike bucket hat. "Hello my ray of sunshine." She giggles and blows me a kiss as a greeting. Then she turns the camera to show me the scenery in front of her. The beach doesn't look too crowded, there are a few people around, but no one seems to be interested in them. She turns the camera back on her face, "So who else did you scramble up?" I ask her. "Hailey and Kid Laroi and Tom invited Zendaya," she says as she winks at me. I raise an eyebrow at her, "What are you thinking my cheeky little one?" She waggles her eyebrows at me and then squints, trying to see through the sun rays. "I'll tell you at home. How's everything one set?" I just shrug my shoulders as a non-response and say, "I'd be better if I was laying on the beach with my girl." She sighs and then straightens up, getting up and leaving her little group. I know the security guards are closely behind her. "I think we should sell the house." She takes a deep breath in, looks down at her shoes, then her eyes meet mine again. I can tell she's shifting in place as the camera moves along with her. "I'll call the agent tonight." She bites her bottom lip and shakes her head in agreement. She blows me a kiss; tells me she misses me and loves me and hang up. I collect my thoughts, put a reminder on my phone to call the agent after work and then head back onto set, with my mind clear.