So Zack and Maddie met at a diner just off Michigan Avenue. She ordered a salad and he went for a big burger.

"Still craving burgers?" she teased him.

"I'll always crave burgers. And hot dogs."

They talked and flirted a little while they ate. They talked about Aidan, who was probably a favorite topic of conversation for both of them.

"He still tries to look after his brother and sisters." Maddie stabbed an olive in her salad and set it aside. He smiled at her dislike of olives. "Even though Liam just graduated from college."

As the oldest of four, Aidan had taken responsibility for his younger siblings from the time he was very young. In college, he'd always been stressed out about what was happening with them since he'd left home and he was always on the phone or texting them about their school work and activities and safe sex, for god's sake.

"I could never understand why two such self-absorbed, career-oriented people had four children," Maddie said about Aidan's parents, shaking her head. "Then they paid no attention to them."

"Could be worse. Could've had my family."

She looked at him with her head tilted and eyes soft. "Tell me about your family. Your mom."

"Eh." He poked a French fry into a puddle of ketchup on his plate. "Not much to tell. Never knew my dad. Mom was a drug addict and ended up basically a prostitute to get her fix."

"Oh my god." She blinked.

Zack wasn't sure why he was telling her this now. He'd told Aidan back in college, but had never wanted Maddie to know. For some reason, he'd had this worry that if she knew what had happened to him, it would poison her feelings for him. And he'd needed all the friends he could get. But now...well, maybe she should know the truth about the guy she was screwing around with. Because that look on her face the other night that had looked like she cared about him...she needed to get over that.

"Yeah. It sucked. I was a teenager and I had to listen to my own mother banging guys in the bedroom next door. Then she got the brilliant idea that she was going to pimp me out."

"What!" Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes going wide.

He gave her a grim smile. "I had a friend. Rory. I didn't bring him home much, because...well, Mom. I didn't bring anyone home. One time she saw us together though and she somehow figured out that I was attracted to him. She started bugging me about being gay. Then one night she was drunk and high and this new dealer was gay so she couldn't trade sex for drugs with him. So she offered up me." He kept his voice as light and nonchalant as he could and it wasn't that hard since that had all happened thirteen years ago. It did still make his stomach heave though, remembering her saying, "Hey, Zack likes boys. C'mere, Zack."

He'd tried to back away, tried to ignore the assessing look the dealer gave him while his own mother tried to sell him, his heart working in painful beats, adrenaline and fear making his limbs shake.

"Oh my god." To his shock her eyes went liquid. "How could she do that? To her own son."

"Hey, don't cry. It was a long time ago. I survived. After that I ran away." He kept his tone matter-of-fact. "I was almost eighteen, about to graduate from high school. I left with nothing. Had to leave my cameras behind." Even then, his cameras had been precious, hard-earned through a bunch of crap part-time jobs. It had shattered his already damaged heart to leave his cameras behind. "I lived on the streets for the next few weeks."

"What about your friend? Rory?"

Zack's lips twisted. "He wasn't my friend for long after I tried to kiss him one day."

"Oh. Oh no."

He shrugged, pushing away that painful memory. "I had a little money, was able to buy some food, but I sure couldn't afford somewhere to live. But I was determined to finish high school. I knew education was the only thing that was going to save me."

"I know you worked for a couple of years before you started college."

"Yeah."

"You never saw your mother again, after that, did you?"

"Nope." His chest constricted with guilt. "Left her to that life and eventually it killed her." He bent his head. "Always wondered if I could have done something different. If I'd stayed. If I could have helped her, once I'd finished school and gotten a job."

"Zack." She reached out and gripped his hand on the table. "If she was addicted to drugs, you getting a job would only have helped pay for those drugs. Unless she was willing to go into rehab or something."

"Yeah. That's what I'd had the crazy idea of doing. Getting a job and paying for her to go to rehab. Even after I left, I thought I might still be able to do that, if I saved up enough money. At one point I had three jobs, lived in a crappy rooming house." He couldn't make himself go home after what had happened, fear and crushing disappointment and betrayal keeping him away. But even so, he'd felt guilty for just leaving her there. "She died before that could happen. Overdose. No idea if it was accidental or maybe she wanted to die." He wasn't sure he could bear knowing, because if she'd wanted to die he'd feel even shittier about leaving her, selfishly running away to save himself, but in the process abandoning her.

"Oh, Zack." Tears dripped down her face.

"But in the end, the money I'd saved helped pay for college." He smiled, though his lips felt tight. "So that was good."

"Do not feel guilty." Her voice came out choked. "Do. Not. You were a kid. You were not responsible for her. She was your mother, an adult. She should have been looking after you. And rehab would only have worked if she'd been willing to do it."

"True. Christ, Maddie, don't cry. I'm fine. I didn't tell you that to make you cry."

"I can't help it." She sniffled. "I'm sorry. Oh Zack." She squeezed his hand.

Shit. This was backfiring. He'd told her that sad story expecting her to withdraw. Instead she was crying her eyes out. Over him. Fuck.

"Hey, I have some news. Good news." He told her about his book idea and the email he'd gotten from one of the agents he'd queried. "He thinks he can definitely sell it to a publisher. He had a few editors in mind already."

"Oh wow." She tipped her head, and swiped some last tears away. "That's awesome. What a great idea."

"Thanks. So now I have some work to do to put together a formal proposal."

"You've been doing a lot of work with the Facebook group."

"Yeah." He bent his head. "I enjoy it. Actually, I had an idea of something I want to do. Just not sure how to do it."

"What?"

"Glenn Peters. A reporter who's still missing. His wife was pregnant when he disappeared. She's had the baby now, and they also have a two year old. She's having a tough time supporting them, since she just had a baby and can't work. I thought about trying to do some kind of fundraiser to help her out."

"Oh." She stared at him with soft eyes. "That's an awesome idea. Where does she live?"

"Boston."

Maddie's forehead wrinkled. "Hmm. How about something online? I know! An auction! We could get people and businesses to donate things to auction off. I have lots of contacts."

Emotion filled Zack's chest. "Would you do that?"

"Of course! It's what I do. I think it's an amazing idea." She smiled at him, and he was glad he'd distracted her from her earlier tears. "We'll get to work on that."

When they were done lunch, he walked her back to her office building. They paused on the sidewalk. Her hair was all shiny in the sun and he couldn't resist touching, stroking some strands away from her face. Her eyes were still a little pink, her smile still half-hearted. Fuck, he didn't like seeing her sad. "Maddie, baby." He let his fingers linger on her soft cheek, and they smiled at each other, eyes locked together.

"Hey, Maddie."

They both turned to see Maddie's friend Chelsea.

"Chels! Hi!" Maddie moved away to hug her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a dentist appointment. In the building next door."

Zack caught Chelsea's searching looks, the way her gaze flicked back and forth between them, her forehead furrowed. He could only imagine how intimate their posture had been at that moment, standing close together staring into each other's eyes, his hand on Maddie's face. Yeah, he'd wanted to hold her and kiss her, and that had no doubt been blatantly obvious.

"Zack and I just had lunch." Zack picked up the tightness at the corners of Maddie's mouth. She'd also seen Chelsea's curious looks. "He was downtown this morning doing some errands."

As if she had to explain anything. Zack sighed inwardly. "Yeah. I'll let you get back to work." He smiled at Chelsea. "Nice to see you again, Chelsea. Bye, Maddie."

He left the two women there, insides churning as he imagined Chelsea interrogating Maddie. What would Maddie say? She probably didn't want to tell their friends what was going on between them. Christ. Zack rubbed his eyes.

He shouldn't have put her in that kind of position. Guilt ate at him for the rest of the day until she got home that evening. She walked into the condo, dressed in the bright turquoise sleeveless dress that hugged her body and tan strappy heels he'd admired earlier. She dropped her purse, shoved her hands into her hair and met his eyes. Her eyebrows lifted.

Shit.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I know how that must have looked to Chelsea. Did she ask you what was going on?"

"Yeah." She blew out a breath and crossed the living room. "She actually seemed annoyed at me."

"She thinks you're cheating on Aidan."

"Yup." She lowered herself into an arm chair. "That pisses me off. How could she think that of me?"

He didn't want to remind her of how incriminating they probably had appeared. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that we're friends. And that's it." She grimaced. "I don't know if she believed me or not."

Things only got worse. When Aidan arrived home he shared more of the soap opera with them. "So." He strode into the kitchen where Maddie was slicing chicken breasts and Zack was chopping vegetables for a stir fry. "Chelsea saw you two having lunch together."

Zack's shoulder and neck muscles tensed and he glanced at Maddie. Her hands went still and she looked up at Aidan. "Oh no."

"Not exactly." Zack corrected him. "It was after lunch. I walked Maddie back to her office and we were saying goodbye on the sidewalk out front."

Aidan lifted a brow. Zack studied him. Was Aidan pissed? Didn't really seem like it, unless he was keeping it well controlled.

"It probably looked bad," Zack admitted. "Already apologized to Maddie. I'll apologize to you too. It's not fair to you to be put in that position."

"How'd you know?" Maddie demanded.

"Ethan called me this afternoon. Chelsea called him, told him what she'd seen, said you denied there was anything going on. But she said you seemed guilty. And she was worried about me."

"Fuck," Maddie muttered, and Zack lifted his eyebrows. "She's worried about you, and doesn't trust me. I thought she was my friend." Her bottom lip pushed out.

Zack's heart sank to his toes.

"And I wasn't guilty." Maddie lifted her little chin. "I'm not guilty. I was...nervous, though."

"Because you were lying," Aidan said softly. "There is something going on."

"Was I supposed to tell her the truth?" Maddie flared. "Jesus, can you imagine?"

"No, sweetheart." Aidan shook his head. "I wouldn't expect that."

"Fuck, I'm sorry," Zack repeated, his gut clenching.

"It's okay," Aidan said. "I told Ethan I knew you two were having lunch and I trust you both. That's all he needs to know."

Zack stared at Aidan. Just another fucking reason he cared about this guy. Rock solid. Christ.

"It's the truth," Aidan added.

Zack looked at Maddie, whose eyes were reddened and her bottom lip trembling. She met his eyes and gave him a shaky smile, then looked back at Aidan. "I love you so much," she whispered.

Yeah. Fuck yeah. Zack looked down at the broccoli florets on the cutting board in front of him. Shit. He should never have put them in that position. What the fuck were they doing?

"Zack." Maddie edged closer. "This is not your fault."

"It's not our friends' business what we're doing," Aidan added.

"Fuck them!" Maddie said fiercely. "I'll tell them! They think I'm cheating on Aidan!"

Zack's head snapped up and he gaped at Aidan. Aidan laughed. He fucking laughed. "Not every last detail, maybe." His eyes gleamed with humor.

And yeah, there it was...another reason to love them both. That Aidan was laughing about this, and that Maddie would tell her friends the truth about them, to set them straight. That she'd rather they know she was fucking two men than cheating-what the fuck could he even say about that.

She gave Aidan a narrow-eyed look. "Okay. Maybe not every last detail. But they need to know this is all consensual. It's not cheating when it's a...a threesome."

"You're not telling them anything," Zack snapped. Jesus. For once he had to be the one who saved them. "I'll be gone in a few days and there won't be an issue."

Thick silence descended over the room. Maddie blinked rapidly, and the light in Aidan's eyes dimmed.

"Right." Maddie bent her head and attacked a chicken breast with her sharp knife. "Right. No issue."

After a short pause, Aidan said, "I'm going to change. Back in a few."

Zack and Maddie continued preparing dinner. He hacked sightlessly at the broccoli, nearly taking off a finger. Yeah. The sooner he got out of here, the better for everyone.

The next day, Zack bullshitted the doctor when he asked about lingering symptoms of PTSD, ignoring those knots of anxiety in his gut, and got his medical clearance. And he called his boss in New York to talk about getting back to work. He'd talked to Dave a few times while he'd been in Chicago, when he'd checked in on how Zack was doing. To his shock, his boss offered him assignments in Chicago. In September, the G7 Summit was being held in Chicago and they wanted him to cover it. That was huge. And...interesting. Yeah, it was different than documenting war and humanitarian crises. But it was still a professional challenge.

"That wasn't what I had in mind," he said carefully.

"How about Great Britain? There's another royal baby due soon."

Jesus fuck! They wanted him to go hang around outside a palace in London waiting for a baby to arrive? "I was thinking more like the Ukraine or Sudan-"

"You know, you've done your time in the trenches," Dave said. "You got your Pulitzer. You can take your pick of whatever assignments you want. You sure you want to go back to that?"

Hell no. The words popped into his head. But he didn't say them out loud. Because how could he stay here? He couldn't get any more involved with Aidan and Maddie. He had to get out before things got way too messy. He wanted to help their relationship, not destroy it, and he sure as hell didn't want to hurt their relationships with their friends.

He told his boss he'd give it some thought. He'd been ready to hang up and go online to start booking flights. Now he ended the call and sat in the chair in his bedroom, staring into space.