King of Hearts (House of Cards Series 2) [Student/teacher]

Eight of Diamonds

Mad had gone home, told Siobhan about what had happened and then got to go through another round of emotional beatings. Because Shiv had already known about West because the guy friend Shiv had hooked up with, Romeo, was his best friend! By the end of New Year's, Maddison had cried, eaten a tub of ice cream, gotten so angry she nearly went back to West's sisters and demanded that they help her hunt his a** down so SHE could give some words to HIM, and then passed out after drinking with her sister. It had not been a night she was terribly proud of. The next morning she had decided that he would change his mind and call her back. They had met by accident, met again by accident and then a third time, just to make sure they caught the hint. Maddison wasn't gonig to chase him down. If fate was really determined that she had to have him in her life, then by all that was divine and right in the universe, Maddison swore to make him come to her on her terms. One- that b****** owed her an apology. Two- she got one free smack up the back of his head without him getting mad at her. Three- she hadn't actually gotten there yet though, still too angry to think past requirements one and two.

Of course that hadn't taken into account that fate seemed to have a very wicked sense of humour and definitely NEVER played by anyone's rules. Because now West was staring right at her, as surprised to see her as she was to see him. And Maddison was surprised to realize that it kind of hurt to see him. She'd liked spending time with him, even if it was only via texting. She'd missed his understated sense of humour, and how he took everything she did or said in stride, as if she could never embarass him. He hadn't thought that whatever it was between them was worth figuring out, and that pissed her right off. She knew he'd enjoyed their time together, godd***it, so why had he just walked away?

But she didn't get to satisfy her anger nor her burning curiosity. Instead she had to focus during introduction to the classes she'd be assisting over the next few months. It had been a lucky, mind the pun, break for Maddison. During the early morning she'd work with the troupe from 6 am- noon. Then she'd haul a** to the school for the 1:00-3:00 dance class, staying later to help afterwards for students that need a hand. She had even offered to help tutour Mrs. Moodie's math kids on the weekends. The school was paying her for the work, even the tutouring, and even though it wasn't a lot of money, it was better than nothing so Maddison kept her trap shut on how tired all this was going to leave her.

An even bigger surprise than seeing West was meeting the brilliant mind behind the provocative choreography. Alice Spade was keenly creative and just a little bit heavier than her classmates. Not in a physical way, actually the girl could use a cheeseburger or two, but she seemed burdened with a maturity that was distincly lacking in her peers. West had the same sort of heaviness to him and Maddison was keen enough to realize what it was, a heavy past. Something had marked young Alice, and it was more than just her tattoos.

After Maddison got over the initial shock of meeting Alice, she was quick to take advantage of the young woman's natural talent, unaware of the social dynamic that existed in the class. The class was almost half over before she had her first run in with West. It wasn't like they had avoided each other, more that they had circiled each other until a meeting was tense and unavoidable. None of the other students were within ear shot or cared to listen in. Maddison looked West over and flushed as she felt like and absolute pervert for noticing how good the uniform looked against his dark skin and hair.

West looked down at Maddison and wanted to crash his mouth against hers the moment he saw her blush. She was delicious looking in her barely masked anger. Eyes flashing cold green fire, a pink flush to her cheeks and lips and her jaw clenched, making her face look mean and angry and he wanted to kiss the scrunched up tip of her nose. He sobered up as he saw her heave in an angry breath. Apparently his amusement had been evident.

"You look ready to either tear me to pieces or rip off my clothes and have your way with me. You look wild and untamed and beautiful." West said the words, having opened his mouth merely to say hello. But of course not, his stupid mouth had spat out what he really had wanted to say. It probably sounded horribly corny and made him look like a comple chickie boi.