My Forever (OLD)

Six: Passion Ignited

Lee

I never intended it to go this far. I could tell she was falling for me, and hard, with every bat of her lashes, wink from her eyes. I wasn’t the relationship type, and honestly, I had never given it much thought. I was always much more of a thrill seeker; never putting roots down in any one place for too long.

That’s how we met, I was arriving home after months abroad back packing across South America. I was headed home for a little r&r before choosing my next destination. My career as a personal trainer made it virtually no feat to travel anywhere I wanted. Health was important to people from all walks of life.

I saw her sneaking glances at me, trying to be stealth. I knew she was checking me out. And given that I had spent the past ten days in silent meditation I was ready for some female attention.

It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the time we spent together, I actually found myself surprised by how much fun Madalynne was; and how great of company she was. But I knew without the commitment she would never be mine. She was pure. I could tell she was inexperienced. I never wanted to take advantage of her, hurt her, or disappoint her.

I tried to keep her at a distance. But now that she was in my life, I didn’t want to lose her. I had gotten myself in a predicament I thought I could avoid. I knew with the growing time we were sure to spend together it was inevitable feelings would develop.

Since the night of our kiss I was filling my time up with replacements that could never even compare to Madalynne. But I knew I wasn’t ready for commitment; and I knew she wasn’t ready to give up her unfinished business back home, Parker. It was obvious Madalynne was not a hookup type of girl, and I was not a relationship type of guy.

I was avoiding her because I hated the awkwardness of confrontation. But her countless phone calls and messages were wearing on me. Making me feel guilty each and every time I pressed ignore to her calls.

The longer the week dragged on the more tired I became; spreading my time thin between clients, nightcaps, and drinking. The one thing I had been terrified of happening…was already in play; I liked Madalynne Johnson more than a friend, and it was either going to be the best thing in the world for me, or the worst.

Parker

“Parker?” Kendall greeted me timidly, at the front door of her boyfriend’s house.

“Where is she?” I pushed past her without a second glance. Searching the group of faces in the entry way.

“Parker…” Kendall began again softly.

“Where is she?” I growled, inching my face closer to hers.

She didn’t bother trying a third time, just began walking down the hallway and out to the porch. I followed her through the crowd of onlookers who had previously been partying the night away. “What are you looking at?” I shouted, which seemed to do the trick because noise began to fill the hallways and walls again.

Kendall led me out to the back porch, which snaked around the entire house. Dylan’s parents were both high ranking attorneys in our hometown, this was nothing more than a drop in the bucket to them. We came upon a porch swing and sure enough there was Madalynne and a guy I had never met before.

“Beat it,” I growled at him before ripping him off of the porch swing.

“Hey man, cool it!” He threw his arms in the air to signal that he wasn’t a threat.

“Get the hell out of here before I snap your neck.” I shot back. It was an empty threat, but I knew he was unaware of that.

Madalynne could barely hold her head up. I rushed to her aide, giving her my shoulder to lean on. “How much have you had to drink tonight Maddy?”