Cannon (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina Book Series 5) by Lane Hart (simple ebook reader txt) 📕

with me, and it will never be a man who is comfortable in suits.

Then, because the weather is already much warmer than it was last week, I get my bike out of the garage and take it to The Library restaurant to wait for her and her guy to show up so that I can tell her how I feel, even if it means getting rejected. Fuck, I hope she doesn’t turn me down.

I wait and wait, but they never show up. When it’s nearly closing time, I ride by Madison’s townhouse, but she’s not there either. And she sure as hell isn’t at my place when I get home.

Which means she’s probably with him in some hotel room and I’m too fucking late.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Madison

“Thanks for coming with me to help tonight,” I tell Daniel as we finally call it quits on campaign texts and phone calls to registered voters.

“It was my pleasure,” he says as he leans back in the chair across from me in his dress shirt and vest, his suit coat laid over the desk. And I have to admit that he’s an attractive man. Very strait-laced, never stepping a toe over the line into bad boy territory. Why would he when he worked so hard for his law license. He’s the type of guy my parents expect me to end up with, and yet, I don’t have even the slightest physical attraction to him.

“Remind you of our law school days?” I ask him.

“You mean when we would do any kind of grunt work we could find volunteering for campaigns? Yes,” he answers.

“All that grunt work on election campaigns and you didn’t end up in politics,” I point out.

“I still could,” he says. “I felt like first I needed to get some real-world experience and connections.”

“That makes sense,” I agree.

“My only regret tonight is that it wasn’t the night I planned on having alone with you.”

“Listen, Daniel, I’m sorry, but I can’t go out with you. Even if you lived around here, I don’t think it would ever work between us.”

“Because you’re hung up on the criminal?”

“Cannon is not a criminal!”

“You know what I meant,” he says and then leans forward. “You can do so much better than him, Maddie.”

“There’s a lot more to Cannon than you think.”

By now, he should be home, a free man. It may be late, but I still have a key to his house. I could go by and see him with the excuse that I need to grab my things.

But I’m too embarrassed. Cannon rejected me. I gave him a chance to change his mind about not wanting to be with me and he didn’t. He’s never going to change his mind. Cannon has made it clear from day one that he isn’t the type to settle down.

And I’m not going to risk my image, my career, on someone who can’t give me everything I want — all of himself.

So, I’ll do the cowardly thing and ask Lily or Harlen to go by Cannon and Conrad’s tomorrow to pick up my things for me. Maybe it’s silly, but I have to try and start getting over him, even if it may take forever.

Cannon

There’s a knock on the door the next afternoon that I answer since Conrad and Hannah have been MIA since he got home from jail, holed up in his room and making up for lost time together. I can’t blame them, even if I am jealous.

The last person I expected to find on the other side of the door was Harlen. He’s a good kid, smart and driven; but after working with him some afternoons at Madison’s office, I know he doesn’t care for me.

“What’s up?” I ask him.

“Hey, Cannon. Madison asked me to come by and pick up her things.”

“Oh, right,” I say. I hold the door open for him to come inside and then lead the way up the stairs to her room. No, our guest room where she stayed for only a few weeks.

“Thanks,” he says, and then he starts gathering things like I did for Hannah and Conrad at the beach house the night Madison and I finally made love. Damn, I wish I could refer to it as anything but that.

“You fucked up,” Harlen says aloud. At least I think he did, but he’s focused on packing and not looking at me.

“What was that?” I ask.

“You fucked up,” he says, glancing at me for a second before he goes back to what I now notice is tossing Madison’s bras and panties into her luggage. He handles each piece a little longer than is necessary, which is pretty creepy. Even as much as I’ve missed her, I haven’t been up here, touching her underwear.

“How about you put her undies down and finish packing faster before I lose my temper on your fucking face?” I tell him.

“Get pissed at me. It won’t help anything. You screwed up with Madison, and she’s not the type of woman to give second chances.”

“I don’t need you to tell me a damn thing about Madison.”

“Either way,” he starts, “leave her alone until after the election. She needs her head in this or she may lose to a murderer. The past few days, all she’s been doing is working on getting you and your brother out of jail, and now there’s Daniel.”

“What about him?”

“She’s distracted by him too. I can’t wait until he goes back to where he’s from.”

“Sounds like you’re the one who is jealous.”

“Madison is an amazing woman, better than either of you.”

“That’s one thing I can agree with you on,” I begrudgingly admit.

“Leave her alone,” he says. “She has to win, or she’ll be devastated.”

“I know that.” Not to mention that the Kings would be fucked if that bastard Bailey wins.

I don’t want to give up on being with Madison, but the kid is right. She’s worked her ass off for this chance, and I can’t let her blow it because she’s distracted. After