34. Maddy
34
MADDY
I was leaving school when I heard the loud bass blaring from Beltraine’s car in the lot. As was typical, a group of people had congregated around his vehicle—or now vehicles because he and Axel and Steele all parked together. They were in the back of the lot, and no one else parked there or ventured over unless they were invited.
“Hey, Maddy.” A girl approached me, sounding out of breath as she adjusted her backpack, smiling widely.
She was a little shorter than me, curvy with fitted high-waisted jeans. They were the trendy kind that faded at the hem and were ripped over the knees. She had glossy black hair, in tight curls. Dark eyes. Eyelashes even I could admire, so either she knew what she was doing with makeup or they were fake. She wore white sneakers and a white V-neck tee that showed off her black bra underneath, and she’d layered a black and white flannel over the top.
I knew her. We had a couple classes together. She’d been trying to befriend me. Her efforts hadn’t been very fruitful.
“Lucia.”
She preened. “You can just call me Luce. That’s cool. I mean, we’re already on nicknames.”
“Everyone calls me Maddy.”
She stopped laughing. “Oh. I assumed it was short for Madison.”
“It’s not.” I moved forward, a bout of impatience swirling through me.
I used to have friends. In Boston. In San Diego. I didn’t know what was wrong with me now. I used to want to have friends. They were fun to laugh with, gossip with, do girl things like sleepovers or manicures. I’d gotten my ears pierced with my best friend from Boston. I frowned, thinking of her now, as we hadn’t done very well keeping in touch when I moved to San Diego. Eventually, my Boston friends stopped making an effort.
I hadn’t even tried keeping up with my San Diego friends.
I suppose a part of me assumed they’d be the same as my Boston friends. Why make an effort when they’d stop talking to me too? Since coming to Fallen Crest, I’d focused on Max, but he chose not to go to this school. He went to Public.
Stevie Broudou swept past us, her head down, hugging her bag to her chest. I watched to see which vehicle she’d get into.
Lucia stopped with me. “She’s new, too. Do you know her?”
“No.” But that wasn’t totally true. Stevie was connected to people who were connected to my parents. I knew my mom had a mission to befriend Stevie’s uncle and his wife. My mom had asked a few times what I thought of Stevie, and she’d brought up inviting her to the house. She wanted us to be friends. That was obvious.
I rolled my eyes. The person in charge of forming that friendship wasn’t me. Stevie seemed to be even more antisocial than I did. She talked to no one, hung out with no one.
“She only hangs out with the moody group,” Lucia said, whining.
I frowned at her. Guess I was wrong about Stevie. “Who?”
“You know.” She gestured to the car Stevie approached.
The door opened and a guy stepped out. Stevie ducked into the backseat. That must be the moody group—the guy was lean, tattooed, and pierced.
“Caleb Cieran and his friends.”
I heard the wistfulness in Lucia’s voice. Beltraine, Axel, and Steele were popular, but Caleb Cieran and his group were maybe just as much. Caleb was seriously hot. So was his best friend, Josh—I didn’t know his last name. There were a few others in the group too, and I’d heard they “weren’t privileged” like most other students here. I had no clue what that meant. They had less money than the rest? Or they didn’t make a big deal of how much money their families had?
“Who is that ?” Lucia drew in a sharp breath.
I pulled my gaze away from Cieran’s car, and immediately, everything in my world was covered in a nice warm blanket. The cloudy, overcast sky moved apart to let the sun shine through as Max pulled up to park in front of me in his truck.
Those guys had nothing on Max. No one was even in his stratosphere.
Max with his golden tan skin, dark blond and messily rumpled hair, dark blue eyes that turned gray when he was either mad or something else, and that deliciously square jaw. He was shorter than me until last summer. That’s when he shot past me, now standing at six four. He’d also spent the summer honing his physique in the gym. Max never cared about his looks. He always had them. But his pretty-boy face had also transformed into something more ruggedly handsome. Delicious fucking lips. His round cheeks were now chiseled, and his dad let him start getting tattoos. He told me he was keeping those to a minimum. He didn’t want to go overboard like his dad, whose body was almost covered in tattoos.
He leaned over and pushed open his passenger door. He jerked his chin to me. “Get in.”
I moved forward, reaching for the door and paused to look at him. His jeans were the real kind of faded, not like Lucia’s, and all the rips in them were from being worn. They looked good on him. He was also wearing a Fallen Crest Public shirt. It fit nicely over his chest and stomach, and I could see him draw in a breath, waiting for me.
“Are you getting in or not?”
My smile only widened. He was annoyed, but I caught the flash of affection too. He’d so totally missed me.
And he was checking me out. I moved slowly, drawing this out as I climbed up and settled in, letting him get a view of my bra and stomach.
He drew in some air. “Fuck’s sakes, Mads.”
I chuckled, handing him my bag.
He tossed it in the backseat as I closed the door.
Lucia still stood on the sidewalk, her jaw on the floor.
I flashed her a grin.
“Hey, man.”
What? I turned at the sound of a voice.
I had missed it, but as I was taking my time getting in Max’s truck, Caleb Cieran had gotten out of his and walked over to stand on the other side of Max’s door.
I frowned, not sure how I felt about this. Max was mine. He didn’t need to know people. Then again, everyone loved Max. If you knew him, you loved him. The universe deemed it a rule when Max was born. I hadn’t met someone who didn’t think Max hung the moon.
“What’s up?” Max asked.
Cieran looked over to me.
I glared at him.
He started laughing. “Your girl’s not happy.”
Max frowned at me, but he didn’t respond. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a party out on Bombshell this Friday.”
“That abandoned building?”
“Yeah. Wanted to see if you’re in.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down. “I know you’re a killer in that arena. You want in?”
Max’s eyebrows pinched together. “Are you setting it up?”
I had no idea what they were talking about. As if Max could sense my frustration, he cut me a look. We’d discuss this once we had some privacy.
“Nah. It’s sanctioned by the same people who organize the other fighting ring.”
“Why the different location?”
Cieran shrugged, propping his arm on Max’s door. “Who knows? But it works out for you, doesn’t it? Word’s out that you got banned from the last place.”
A fighting ring.
The Red Demons.
This kid was asking Max if he wanted to fight, and I was officially pissed off. Max had shit out a Hulk-sized dump because he went to the fighting ring last Friday and lost his marbles. Now Cieran was asking if he wanted to fight?
As if sensing my anger, Max reached over. His hand went to my leg.
My hand covered his, and I began digging my nails in. I wanted to break skin, motherfucker.
He hissed, glaring at me before extracting his hand. Or he tried because I wouldn’t let him. I kept digging in.
“Ouch! Fuck, Maddy.” He pulled his hand away.
Cieran frowned.
“You know what?” Max flashed Cieran a hard smile. “When’s the party again?”
“This Friday.” Cieran’s smile was wide and filled with sinister promise.
I didn’t like him. I looked over at his car where Stevie was pressed in the backseat between another guy and a girl. I also decided she was too good for this guy. Too good to be his friend. Too good for anything else.
I wasn’t going to allow it.
Max let out a soft sigh and shook his head. “Sounds good. Let me know the details and rules. I’ll be there.”
“Yeah?” Cieran’s eyebrows shot up. He stepped back from the truck and held up a fist. “Right on. This will be awesome.”
Max’s mouth pressed in a firm line, but he hit Cieran’s fist with one of his own. As the guy strolled back over to his car and got in, I seethed.
Max turned to me. “Do—” Knock ! Knock !
Max stopped talking as someone pounded on my window.
This time it was Beltraine. I rolled it down. Axel and Steele had also come over. They were looking in the direction Cieran had driven.
Traine lifted his chin up. “What was that about?”
“Nothing.” Max’s tone was cool.
He didn’t like these guys. Well, I didn’t like Cieran and his group. So there.
I smiled. “Max just got invited to fight again, except this time it’s at a different location. And guess what? He’s going to do it. This will be so much fun.” I kept my face blank, looking back at Max.
He rolled his eyes, reaching forward and starting his engine. “Can you be more dramatic?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
Steele stepped closer to the truck. “You’re fighting?” His words were for Max.
“I said I would.” Max’s eyebrows drew together. He didn’t know Steele.
Steele stepped back, sharing a look with Traine and Axel.
Max looked at me, and I shrugged. “I’m not on their telepathic mind wave. You, yes. Them, no.”
He closed his eyes, his jaw going rigid. “Do you have to say everything you think?”
“No, and I don’t. There’s a lot you have no idea I think about.”
Example number one, I was back to being certain I was a sociopath. Or I had sociopathic tendencies. I didn’t plan enough to be a psychopath. And I functioned a little more normally than a psychopath. I wasn’t acting. I just didn’t have fear or emotions about a lot of people.
I turned back to Traine. “We done here? Monroe and I need to go fight, and afterward, I’m going to climb on his lap. The longer you take, the less likely I’ll get the happy ending I’m hoping for.”
The guys started laughing.
“ Fuck , Maddy,” came Max’s voice behind me.
Exactly .
I gave Traine a meaningful look, and still laughing, he held his hands up, taking a dramatic step away. “Not holding you back. Let’s catch up later, Kade. Yeah?”
I rolled my window back up, and Max drove away.
My phone buzzed.
Traine: Your car is still here.
Me: I’ll get it later.
Traine: Steele’s sister is coming to hang out this weekend. He wants to know if you want to meet her. She’s cool.
Unknown Number: I can ask her myself. You don’t have to be our spokesperson for everything.
Oh . This was a group chat. Scrolling up, I confirmed it. Traine was there. Me. I changed the unknown number to Steele. There were two other numbers.
Me: Who else is in here?
Unknown: Me! Axel.
Me: Got you. Who’s the other one?
Traine: It’s Aurelia.
I scrolled back up and removed her from the group chat.
Axel: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Traine: Uh…
Me: It’s me or her. I’m not going to deal with her in a text chat too. School and the few times I hang out with you guys is more than enough.
Traine: We’ll make a new chat with her.
Axel: Got a feeling this one will be way more interesting.
Me: I don’t sext.
Axel: Maybe not.
Steele: Gross, dude.
Traine: Uh…
Axel: Haha, Traine. Steele, wtf?
I was done with this conversation and wanted to get back to Max.
Me: More than likely I’ll be grounded again because I’m going to sneak out for that fight. So…probably no (on the hangout with Steele’s sister).
Traine: Haha. Okay. Hope you didn’t get into too much trouble? We didn’t catch up.
Me: The sentencing hasn’t happened. My parents were busy this morning.
Traine: Busy… busy busy? ** suggestive wink emoji **
Steele: Seriously? Those are her parents .
Axel: Her mom’s extra hot. You don’t got eyes, dude? We might be enjoying Maddy’s personality, but I mean, come on. She looks like her mom. I see no problem here.
Steele: STOP TALKING ABOUT HER PARENTS
Traine: Yeah, dude. Respect. Say it to her face.
I snorted, grinning.
Axel: Um. Okay. I’m confused about what’s going on here.
Traine: Steele, put your phone away.
Traine: No clue what’s up his ass, but let’s hang out. If you’re too grounded to sneak out, find us for lunch. You’re cool people, Kade.
Axel: And easy to look at too. Hot. **meant in a respectful but truthful way, because well… you are. Hot. And I’m a dude. And a teenager.** Hottie.
I snorted again. Max kept looking my way, but I ignored him. Once we got to wherever he was taking us for our talk, he’d get my attention.
Me: Meant to ask today, did you guys get in trouble?
Axel: You mean when your dad and uncle crashed our party and called all of our parents? Because that awesome ride was not one I want to find myself on again.
Axel: Kidding. I’m fine. My dad was annoyed more than anything. None of us got in trouble. Some of the others did. Some of the girls. And a few of the other guys, but the three of us were fine.
Traine: One of the benefits of having parentals who don’t give a shit.
Me: What about Steele?
They didn’t answer so I put my phone away, sliding it into my pocket as Max parked. I guess we were here, wherever here was.
My phone buzzed, but I ignored it. “Where are we?”
It was a clearing off the road. He opened his door and got out. “Come on. The river’s not far. We can have our fight and then go swimming.”
I scrambled out the door. I didn’t know what I was more excited about.
Fighting or skinny-dipping.