Chapter 33
Maddox
It should be me raging at Romeo while Pops looks on but strangely, I can’t move. I’m stuck to this fucking chair.
Visions of the look on Delaney’s face the last time I saw her crowd my vision. Her brilliant eyes begged me for something I couldn’t give and instead I tore her walls apart before leaving her achingly alone.
This is what presses at my chest while Pops rages, his normally calm facade long gone.
Why? What does he know that I don’t?
Although I have my suspicions, he’s not talking and anymore, it’s like dealing with a ticking time bomb around him.
She trusted you.
Did she? I don’t know but I can’t focus on her anymore. Delaney is fine. She’s with her mom. Ice has no reason to seek out the wife of a cop to further his agenda against us nor to find that fucker Snake.
Except, if that were the case, Delaney would never have come to us in the first place.
No, that’s not right. There’s beef between her and her mom, that’s all.
Right? Shit. Fuck. Damn.
My head is so screwed up that I can’t think straight anymore. All because of a little spitfire who refused to stay away.
Shaking off the disturbing thought, I focus on what I can control. Except, I no longer have the leverage to avenge my mother.
Still, I won’t give up, not until every Smokin’ Aces fucker is dead.
Either way, I can’t sit here any longer while Romeo stares at the wall, his jaw ticking as though he’s justified in what he did.
Instead, I blow from the room and stalk down the hall only to stop when Draven steps in front of me.
“Is it true?” she asks, and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
I’ve had a fucking headache for days and tussling with my sister is only going to make it worse.
Fuck.
“What?” I finally ask and she raises a brow.
“She gone?”
“Yep,” I mutter, pushing past her only to pause when she chuckles.
Seriously? I’m done with Draven’s shitty attitude. She wants to be a bitch. Fine.
Curling my fingers into my palms, I growl, “You think this is fucking funny?”
When she doesn’t respond, I turn my head and meet her dark eyes. Crossing her arms, she shakes her head and says, “She doesn’t belong here. You said so yourself.”
It’s true. She didn’t but that doesn’t stop the slick slide of unease that rolls through my stomach.
Did I send her into danger with my rage? Does it matter? She chose to go.
“Maddox? You don’t need Delaney to get revenge. You never did.”
“Whatever the fuck that means,” I mumble, spinning around when she claps her hands.
Despite the shit caking her face and the pink in her hair she reminds me so much of Mom that I blink. When did my baby sister grow up?
An ache forms in my heart at that because our mom will never see her like this. She may be a pain in my ass but she’s bold and beautiful and takes shit from no one.
This only hardens my resolve though. How many other memories will those assholes steal?
“You’re so fucking stupid, Maddox,” she says, breaking me from my thoughts.
A trickle of unease slides down my spine and I search her gaze but anymore, I can’t read my sister. She’s built her own walls and they’re shutting me out.
The irony isn’t lost on me as I mutter, “What do you know?”
Her brows flicker before she sneers, “I know she’s damned as an Aces princess.”
Just how much does my little sister know and when did I become the fucking enemy?
“Dray, if you don’t tell me what the fuck you’re not saying, I’m going to beat it out of you,” I growl.
“Delaney deserves to know the truth.”
“Which is what?”
What is she going on about now?
“What happened to our mom that night, Maddox?” she asks, and I shake my head.
There’s no point in her knowing the details. The knowledge will just writhe below her skin like it does mine. She doesn’t get it but I’m sparing her the images that will haunt her for-fucking-ever.
“See,” she says, shaking her head. “You’ll never tell me. They’ll never tell her, unless…”
“Unless…what?”
Averting her gaze, she licks her lips and says, “Unless she talks to someone who understands.”
“Who?” I rasp, grabbing the back of my neck.
It doesn’t do shit to ratchet back the rage but hey, at least I’m not shaking her like a rag doll.
“Kidd,” she says.
Who the fuck…?
“Who’s Kidd?” I bark and she backs away.
“He’s one of them.”
I’m frozen, rage mixing with another emotion I refuse to identify.
When she’s at the stairs, I say, “You betrayed us. You betrayed Pops. You betrayed our fucking mother. Get out of my sight before I do something that I can’t take back.”
With that, I bust through the door. Out in the fresh air, I can breathe, but it still feels like I’m underwater and with a groan, I head toward the creek.
Where is Delaney now? Who the fuck is Kidd? Is she in danger?
My fingers itch to feel her soft skin. My lips tingle in remembrance of touching hers. It’s completely ridiculous but I want to bury myself inside her and forget for just a fucking moment the world around me.
I’ll never see her liquid blue-gray eyes again. My little treacherous princess is gone, and I don’t know why the fuck I care.
Later, I’m sitting at the bar staring at the glass of whiskey in my hand when Romeo steps through the door.
I don’t usually drink the hard stuff, and I’m not drunk but I wish I was as I stand and face him. I vowed after the fiasco between Lilli and Wolf that I would never fight with a brother, especially over a chick.
Yet here I am, ready to face off with the asshole over a pretty little cheerleader with beautiful dark hair.
We stare at each other silently until he grunts, “Get it over with.”
“Get what over with?” I snarl.
“Whatever’s rolling around in your head.”
“Really?” I grit between my teeth. “You let our chance of finding that fucker go and here you stand like an asshole.”
When his lips pull into a smirk, I clench my fingers. I’d like nothing more than to slam his head against the door behind him but I’m not stupid.
Romeo is a beast. I could hold my own, but I’d still be hurting after.
“This ain’t about Ice,” Romeo says, and I roll my eyes.
“Okay, oh wise-fucking-one. What’s it about?”
Romeo tips his head, and I fight off a chill when he says, “You can’t have her. You know you can’t because your pops will never accept an Aces princess, especially not her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I bark. “She ain’t nothing but an easy fuck.”
The words taste ashy on my tongue and when Romeo raises his meaty fist, I lock my knees because I deserve this one.
The blow sends me back a step and I grunt when he shoves my shoulder and says, “Say something like that again and I’ll fuck you up.”
I know this is fucked up, but I still can’t help the words that spew from my mouth when I sneer, “I didn’t take you for a fucking cradle robber.”
We drop into silence after that while I eye the tic in his jaw, until he says, “Get your head out of your ass. That girl ain’t Aces scum. She’s caught in the middle of something we should all be ashamed to be doing. We don’t use little girls to fight men.”
I know he’s right but we’re so fucking close to finally killing the man who dared to touch my mother.
Romeo’s not done though, and he pokes my chest, saying, “You want what you know you can’t have. Either nut up or shut up because your bitch ass behavior is getting on my last fucking nerve.”
With that he walks away, and I stare after him in a daze.
What the actual fuck?
The only thing I want is revenge. If Delaney isn’t here to help us figure it out, I’ll find another fucking way.