Temptation

34 - Hero

"Madden, truth or dare?" She's quick to say truth. "Tell us your deepest secret." My heart stops and I immediately shut Robbin down. Everyone in the room gives me a look and Madden, sits on me fiddling her hands. "I'll take it for her. Ask me anything." The evil look in her eyes grows bigger, as if to say I'm going to regret this, but I could never regret protecting my girl. "It is true that you slept with me and you told me you fell in love with me?" Fuck. That feeling I had now comes to light and I'm fucking screwed. Even in her drunken state, Madden removes herself from me, stumbling to her feet, I reach for her hand, but she swats me away. I don't chase after her; I hear her crawling up the stairs and slamming the bedroom door. I turn to face Leo who is standing right in front of me and his eyes are burning with furry. Before I know it, he's punched me in the face and my lip cracked and bleeding. Jakub grabs a hold of Leo and I yell at them to get the fuck out. Wiping my fingers over my mouth, I can feel the gash on my lip swelling and the blood streaming out.

* * *

Déjà vu has me going back to the day Madden locked herself in the bathroom, only this time she's locked herself in the bedroom. Hours pass as I lean against the door, eventually sliding down to sit and she has yet to let me in. By 3AM, I've fallen asleep in the hallway, dry blood on my lip and stain on my white shirt; the events of today have exhausted me.

I'm woken up by a stiff neck from sleeping on the floor and the door is still locked. I check my phone and it's already 10AM, so I get my ass up, throw my dirty shirt in front of the door and head down to make coffee. I'm hoping the aroma of coffee will get her out of our room.

While the coffee brews, I lay my head on the counter, resting my eyes. Exhaustion fills my body and all I can hope for today is for Madden to leave our bedroom. I lied to her and I shouldn't have but I didn't know any better. Minutes later, I hear steps coming down the stairs. The coffee trick worked! "Hero?" She stands behind me. I stand up, looking at her with tired eyes. "I'm sorry," she says for locking me out. "No, no. Babe, I'm sorry. I need to explain everything to you. If you will let me." She looks to me and nods, "But later because my head is pounding, and I've barely slept because I was throwing up all night." I knew that her body wouldn't have been able to handle all the alcohol. I send her back upstairs to bed and follow her with two cups of coffee in hand. Once she's tucked into bed, I hand her the coffee mug and turn on an episode of Friends. By the time the episode is done, the coffee in her mug is gone and she's ready to take a nap. I've changed from my overnight rags and into a new pair of boxers, as if we were going to bed at our regular hour and I shut the curtains so the sunlight cannot make its way in. She asks me to tell her what happened between Robbin and I before we doze off.

Robbin was a groupie. I had lots of girls waiting around for me outside of the set of the Ever movie and there was one day when she actually made it on set. She explained to me that her father was some billionaire at the time but now he was he's in jail for fraud; at the time her father bought her way in. I wasn't a good person a year ago, and I wouldn't even consider myself a good person now but since she was willing to do anything for me, I took advantage of it; and at the time I didn't find her unattractive but I also didn't care about who I slept with. I knew what she wanted to hear so I told her in order for me to get something in return; sex. We fucked and it was less than memorable; her face mixed with all the shit in my body had no effect on me and I still felt nothing at all. Telling her what she wanted was easy because I knew I didn't care and never would care. Somehow, she met Leo and when Leo brought her around for the first time, we both decided to keep it a secret. My intention was to keep it from Leo to spare him, but I guess she just wanted to use it against me one day.

Madden doesn't say just a word, just a few mhm's and nods on my chest as I tell her. She doesn't seem mad; she actually seems pretty calm probably from the lack of sleep. I apologize to her for lying to her and kiss her on the top of her head. We both drift off into a deep sleep. Being in bed with her is so much better than lying on the hallway floor.

* * *

Madden is still sleeping while Mara and I sit in my office discussing my schedule. "Tomorrow is back on set day one and you will be filming pretty much from 6AM until 12AM every day for the next month." Looks like all of November will be spent on set with no days off in order to get it done; including my own birthday. "Then you will be leaving January 2nd for a press tour for the US, Canada and Europe." "Can we make sure London is last stop on that tour so I can stay home after?" "I'll see what I can do," she says which I know is a lot more than she implies. "Make sure you have tickets for Madden for press tour and premiere." Mara waves her phone at me telling me that she was already on it and further explains that the premiere will be on December 30th, invites have already been made up.

From the hallway, I can hear Madden calling my name as I finish the final details. I shout back, "In the office with Mara, give us a few more minutes." Seconds later she storms through the door and forces her phone in my face. "Hero Tomlin has been sneaking around for weeks with a mysterious woman days after interviewing saying he is not in a relationship. The woman does not appear to be known by the public eye. Hold on we have a caller." The caller's voice is familiar to Madden, "That girl is Madden Fitz, she's from Providence." The show hosts continues to ask how he knows this, "She's my ex-girlfriend." Forgetting that Mara is in the room, my heart stops and I stand to Madden. "Noah," she speaks his name. I have no words for my girl; I wrap my arms around her. Holding her, Mara interrupts; "I'll contact the P.I. right now." I tell Mara I want all the bodyguard staff at the house 24/7 and no new faces.

Mara leaves the room and I keep hold of Madden. She's shaking in my arms.