38. Maddy
38
MADDY
M addy: Max! You need to come over here.
Max: What? Why? R u okay?
Maddy: Shit is going dooooooooooowwwwwwwnnnnn. sorrybutnowayImsorry because something is happening.
Max: Fuck, Mads. I’m with the guys. It’ll take me a bit to get out of here. I thought we were meeting up later?
Maddy: Can’t. This is happening now. I have no idea what went down at the game, but something went down. My mom told me to stay by a different gate and wait for them.
Max: Let me guess. You didn’t.
Maddy: No way. I could see something was happening by the players’s entrance. By the time I got over there, Traine’s dad was glaring at my dad. My dad was glaring at Traine’s dad.
Max: Something happened between your dad and Moreaux’s dad?
Maddy: See? Right there. Why don’t you use his nickname? He told you to use it. Traine. It’s not hard to say.
Max: Haha. Tell me what else happened. I’m almost out of here.
Maddy: You’re at the fighting shed?
Max: No. House party in Roussou. Fighting shed got axed tonight. Don’t know why.
Maddy: I forget you know people there.
Max: Maddy! Keep telling me what’s going on.
Maddy: I will if you promise to start using Traine’s nickname. I thought you were okay with them.
Max: I’m never going to be okay with three guys you hang out with at school when I’m not there. And don’t think they wouldn’t fuck you if you gave them a nod. But yeah, for guys, they’re not that bad.
Maddy: That’s so confusing.
Max: Don’t worry about it, my little sociopath.
Maddy: You certainly know how to talk to me.
Max: FFS. Finish the other stuff. Also, where am I going to get you?
Maddy: I’m at the house. We got back after the game and it was weird. Really weird. My dad—I’ve heard stories about him. I know he and Mom did things back in the day, with Uncle Logan. Like, crazy things, but they’ve all just been stories. They weren’t real because my dad is my dad. He’s a softie. NOT TONIGHT!
Max: what happened???? You’re driving me nuts. Your dad didn’t hurt you, did he?
Maddy: OH MY GOD, NO! GROSS. DISGUSTING. WHO ARE YOU? DO YOU NOT EVEN KNOW ME?
Max: Maddy. You’re scaring me. I have seen that side of your dad. I see that side of my own dad all the time. They did crazy and illegal shit back in the day. I fully believe it. I don’t know why you don’t.
Maddy: Well, excuuuuuuuse me, Mr. my dad is a bounty hunter and guns down criminals every day. He wears a gun. Yeah. You’ve seen more, but my dad wears tights and a helmet for a living. Or used to.
Max: Thinking a football uniform is not exactly the same thing as tights. And my dad doesn’t gun down criminals. They use tasers.
Maddy: He still wears a gun. Every day. And close enough. Like any daughter wants to see that? Whoever’s thinking up the football uniform doesn’t consider the daughters’s POV.
Max: Thinking they are, just not the daughters of the players. Get back to the story. What happened when you got home? I’m in the truck. Heading to Fallen Crest.
Maddy: Thank God. They’re almost out of here.
Max: Who is?
Maddy: Anyway, so we got back and my dad started asking me all these questions about Traine, Axe, and Steele. And he was not looking happy.
Max: What was he asking about?
Maddy: What do I know about them? Have I been hanging out with them since my dad crashed their party? Has Traine mentioned anything about his dad? If I was at the house, was I ever there when his dad was around? But it’s not really what he was saying, it was how he was saying it.
Max: How was he saying it?
I stared at the last text, but I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t explain. It was a feeling and a look in his eyes. The way my dad was my normal doting dad, but there was an undercurrent. Like an aftertaste. Remembering it, I shivered, my stomach clenching.
My phone rang.
Future Husband Calling.
I snickered. It went back to Max’s normal name in the missed calls and when I texted him, so if he ever looked at my phone, he wouldn’t get mad. The first time I’d changed his name in my phone, he’d gotten all huffy and lectured me for an hour about how we were too young for such a serious relationship.
I’d just planned our honeymoon as he kept babbling.
“Hey,” I said when I answered the phone.
“Why didn’t you answer me? How was he saying it?” Max asked.
I shrugged, lying down on my bed. “I don’t know how to explain it. Just a feeling. Like, I believed it. All the stories I’ve heard. My dad’s capable of hurting someone, like for real. I never thought he could. He rescues and releases flies in the house, even when Nolan isn’t here. Mom, though. She’s another thing. My mom could stare someone down until they start slapping the shit out of themselves. She’s got powers. She’s tough.”
Max sighed, but I heard amusement in his voice. “Your mom is badass. It’s why she’s friends with my mom.”
I groaned. “I forgot you used to have a crush on my mom. That’s so weird.”
“I did not! That’s disgusting. You thought I had a crush on your mom?”
I sat up, frowning. “You don’t?”
“I’ve never. That’s your mom, Mads. You and me—I’ve always thought we might—you know. No fucking way would I ever have perved on your mom. I mean, she’s beautiful. I have eyes, but you know.”
I smirked, lying back down. “I know. Your dad’s a total hottie.”
He made a choking sound. “I don’t want to re-touch this conversation. Ever.”
I snickered. “You said re-touch.”
“Maddy.”
Okay, okay. I got serious, and I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see. “I—it’s just a feeling. Something happened after the game. My dad was asking me all these questions. It was weird. I don’t have a good feeling about it.”
“They didn’t ask anything about Brinna?”
Brinna was Steele’s sister, and she was cool. I didn’t think a lot of people knew about her. She only visited on the weekends and went to school somewhere else. Steele said she was embarrassed and it was a whole thing with their family. Traine and Axel hinted that I shouldn’t ask a lot of questions about her so whatever. I didn’t.
“No.”
My parents didn’t know how much I hung out with those guys. My mom liked to know my friends. I got the reason, but they wouldn’t understand these guys. Lucia was my friend beard. Though, she wasn’t that bad. My mom believed Lucia was my friend and that Lucia’s friends were the rest of my friends so I’d look more normal.
The guys were graduating this year. I’d need to figure something out for next year. Maybe I could transfer to Fallen Crest Public and make Max my official boyfriend.
Hmmm… That had promise.
“Okay. I’m not far from the edge of town. How am I approaching?”
I got up and checked outside. They hadn’t left yet, but I knew they would. They’d said goodnight. They’d said they loved me. They’d done all the normal routine signifying that they were going to bed for the rest of the night, but I knew they were lying.
Maybe Nolan wasn’t the only one with some intuition? Wait a minute. Could I have that and also be a sociopath? Another question for Google. Maybe I could meet some sociopaths in real life, interview them to see if they lacked intuition or maybe it was heightened… That was also an idea.
Just then a set of headlights pulled up to the gate. “That’s not you, is it?” I asked.
“What?”
“At our gate?”
“No. Who is it?”
I stopped answering, watching as the lights turned off. The gate opened, and the truck rolled forward into our courtyard. It pulled up to our front door, and I watched as my dad went out and got inside. He was dressed all in black. When he opened the door, no inside light turned on. It’d already been dismantled. That was creepy.
“Maddy!” Max demanded.
“Just pull up outside the gate. I’ll come out to you.”
“Got it. I’ll be there in five. I forgot they’re doing construction on Eighth.”
“Just hurry, and cut your headlights when you get close.” I ended the call.
I shifted my attention to getting ready. If my dad was going somewhere all in black, I’d be remiss if I didn’t follow the dress code as well. I didn’t want to go out the front door and risk setting off the motion detector, which sent alerts to my mom’s phone, so I slipped out through the garage and keyed in the code to lock everything back up. I was coming around the side when another vehicle pulled up to the gate, its headlights shining.
I growled, cursing. I’d told Max I’d come to him, but the gate opened and the SUV pulled forward.
It wasn’t Max.
What the…
It was Heather. Or Aunt Heather, but after I crawled into Max’s lap one time, I changed her name back to Heather. Felt weird the other way. She swung her car into the same place Max’s dad’s just been. My mom darted out, also wearing all black.
What is going on?
Gah. No. I knew what they were going to do. They were doing what I was doing. My mom and Heather were going to follow the dads. They were going to spy, just like me.
I was annoyed. They got there first. That meant we’d have to be extra cautious because now we were the third vehicle in this trailing line-up. I mean, they could’ve been going out for drinks or doing a girl’s night, but no. No way. My mom would’ve told me she was going out. She didn’t hide that stuff, and I mean, they had their fair share of girl’s nights when the whole group was here for the funeral. They were kinda over it now.
They were going to follow my dad and Max’s dad. I would bet money that’s what they were doing.
As soon as my mom was in the vehicle, Heather cut the lights, like the guys had done.
I was so right.
I was almost sweating from the stress. When was Max going to pull up? If he got here before they left, there’d be questions. Then no one would be following anyone.
My knees almost buckled from relief when they pulled away from the house.
I darted through the gate, and seriously, thirty seconds later, Max pulled up. Headlights off.
I got all swirly and light-headed at that. He’d listened to me.
Hurrying to the passenger side, I jumped in and hissed, “Go! Follow them.”
He looked ahead, frowning, until taillights turned on down the hill. He eased forward. “Who are we following?”
My head was spinning. And I was horny, like really horny. I wanted to jump Max and fit his gearstick between my legs.
“ Everyone .”