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"You don’t say?" Beck responds dryly

"Completely drink free?" I don’t knoho said it; I’ desperately to understand what he’s telling me

"Completely" His eyes never waver froood, man I’ve been worried about him," Axel, I think, says to Maddox

There’s rief over Coop’s death Out of instinct, when I hear theht to my stomach I realize my mistake a second too late when Maddox breaks contact and his eyes travel down to where htly rounded stomach

Maddox isn’t a stupid man He’s probably one of the most intuitive people I’ve ever met His eyes stay on my stomach--even after I move my hand away as if I’ve burned ives h to show the shock within the black depths of his norh clenched teeth and points atto follow hihly pushes from the table and walks away

"What the hell?" Izzy questions

I spare Dee a quick slightly panicked look beforefor me

He pulls me around the wall that separates the roo us a bit of privacy for what I know is going to be a hard conversation

"What’s going on, Mad?" I hedge

"Don’t play games with me, Chelcie I know you don’t trust et this out and then we can get back to dinner Anything you need, anything you want, or anything you feel needs to be done, you letto pretend to be a chick and understand what you’re feeling, but you’re not alone Yeah?"

For the first tile trace of the hardin front of me is a version of him that I’m not sure how to deal with His face holds so much compassion and pain that I don’t know if he’s upset that I have kept this secret to myself or what He almost looks vulnerable

"Yeah, Maddox… Uh, thanks," I whisper

"Does he know?"

"No," I can hear the sha that one heavy word I’ that another person knows my secret and he still doesn’t drives home that pain