Tear In My Heart ✔️

XXX. Dandelion Children (edited)

(I linked a song above that I think helps the feel of this chapter so listen to it if you wanna)

"Babe, where's my tie?" Madison frantically asked as he hurried into the room, his eyes desperately scanning the room for his missing neckpiece.

It was the morning of our court case and Madison had insisted on looking absolutely perfect. His hair was neatly gelled back and he had a nice baby pink dress shirt tucked into black slacks with black dress shoes. Now all he needed was the tie that he demanded on wearing.

I finished buttoning the last button on my own dress shirt in the mirror.  "I don't know, hon. Have you checked in the–"

"Yes," he cut me off. "I've checked in the closet and on the bed and in the dresser and on the couch, but it's like it just disappeared." Madison rubbed the back of his neck with stress and anxiety obvious in his eyes. "Non lo posso fare, E tutto rovinato. L'ho rovinato. L'ho rovinato( I can't do it. Everything is ruined. I ruined it. I ruined it)."

I turned toward his and gripped his shoulders. "Madison, respira (breathe)." As I spoke something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and I grinned as I walked to the other side of the bed and picked his tie off the floor. "Is this what you were looking for?" I slightly teased, causing him to sigh. I softly chuckled as I used my hand to dust it off and approached him. "It's fine, Mads." I positioned the tie around his neck and prepared to put it on him.

"I've got it," he said, a slight edge in his voice. He was stressed.

"Babe, please let me–"

"I said I've got it," he snapped as he pushed my hands away, causing me to gasp and step back due to his sudden outburst.

"Madison, what–"

"I can do things myself, Noah, okay? God, I'm sick and tired of you acting like I can't do things on my own! I might be beaten but I'm not as broken and helpless as you think I am. You're suffocating me!" By the end, he was breathing heavy and his eyes dropped to the ground as he put his head in his hands. I blinked back the moisture in my eyes. I knew that I could be over caring sometimes and borderline possessive, but I didn't know he felt this way...

He sighed. "Babe, I didn't mean it," he softly said as he finally looked back up at me. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm stressed and worried and I know I shouldn't have taken it out on you but..." he trailed seeing the hurt in my expression and sighed again before he wrapped his arms around me in a hug so that my cheek was resting on his shoulder. "Mi dispiace amore mio (I'm sorry my love). I shouldn't have done that and I didn't mean any of it, okay?" I didn't respond. People say you're either the most honest or the least honest when you're upset and when you're drunk. I couldn't tell if he actually meant it or not. My heart hurt.

"Noah," Madison said again as he pulled back so he could look me in the eyes. "Mi dispiace. Ti amo (I'm sorry. I love you)." The look in his eyes told me that he was sincere. I believed he was sorry for his outburst, but I still didn't know if what he'd said was true or not.

"Ti amo," I softly said back before he gently kissed my forehead then my lips in a soft way that seemed to say I didn't mean to hurt you, before he swept my hair from my forehead and laced his fingers with mine.

Opting to forget about the tie, he led me out into the kitchen where he grabbed his keys and we headed out the door, my hand securely in his the whole way. "We need to remain strong and united," he explained as he started up the car. "Like you said, it's going to be scary, but we have each other right?"

"Right," I said my voice sounding a bit weak. My chest still felt weird and I didn't like it.

Madison noticed and moved his hand to my knee before giving it a slight squeeze. "Are you okay? You know I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, especially with everything you've done for me. I love having you here and I'm glad you care about me as much as you do."