Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
ALEC
G ripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white, I slammed my foot on the gas and drove through Redwood’s brightly lit streets in the heart of the rich neighborhoods. Every so often, I peered into the rearview mirror to make sure Spencer—or anyone else from Redwood—wasn’t following us.
My thoughts were scattered, my mind racing. I should’ve done something to Spencer back at the house, but all I could think about was getting Maddie out of there. After she had told me what he did to her and that look on her face when I walked into the house …
She was terrified.
And if I hadn’t shown up, what would’ve happened? The same thing that had happened to me at Oliver’s bash a couple of weeks ago? Fuck that. I wouldn’t ever let Maddie be in that situation. Never fucking ever.
Once we had driven down every last street, I gritted my teeth and turned onto the main road that led toward the beach. One of these fucking days, I would kill Spencer Katz myself for ever messing with Maddie the way he had.
“Are you okay?” Maddie asked softly.
“I want to kill them,” I growled.
Her eyes widened. “Who?”
“Spencer, for what he did to you, and whoever the fuck posted those pictures,” I said.
For all I knew, Spencer had posted those pictures. But that dickhead wasn’t that smart. He could’ve taken the pictures, but he couldn’t hack into someone else’s accounts without help. And I planned to figure out who had done it.
I pulled up to the Overlook and parked the car in an empty space that overlooked the ocean. Waves crashed hard against the rocks, the tide high tonight. Moonlight glimmered against the water and glinted into Maddie’s eyes.
“Don’t kill him,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because if you do and someone finds out, all your chances at hockey are done for.”
“Then, what do you want me to do, Maddie?” I snapped, my voice louder than it should be, but I was so fucking frustrated.
I wanted a life for us, but Spencer deserved to be dead after what he had done to her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she whispered. “I’ll take care of it.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know?—”
“You want to get Poison involved,” I said.
She swallowed hard and pressed her lips together, staying quiet, which meant that I was right. She wanted Poison involved, but those three assholes would make things incredibly worse, and they would charge her for it.
After sighing, I pushed back my seat, took off her seat belt, and pulled her into my lap. I held her close to my chest and buried my face into her messy red hair. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The only time I fought was on the ice.
But I wanted to protect my girl.
I pressed my chest against hers and hummed softly. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I feel like this shit is my fault. I should’ve noticed that someone had hacked into my accounts. I should’ve changed my passwords. I should’ve done something.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It fucking feels like it.”
Maddie interlaced her fingers into my hair and tugged lightly until I stared at her. “Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know. You can’t do anything about it, except try to get back into your accounts. Have you?”
I grunted lowly and ran a hand through my hair, stressed the fuck out. “I’ve tried to contact customer support on social media, and nobody is helpful. They won’t do shit about it. Whoever hacked my phone even has double authentication activated on their device now. Customer service wouldn’t even give me their full number.”
“It’s probably a cheap knockoff phone anyway,” Maddie murmured with a frown.
She grabbed her phone from the passenger seat and swiped to Piper’s contact.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Piper is learning how to code,” she said. “She might be able to help.”
I gazed over her shoulder as she typed out her message.
Maddie: Can you help us get Alec’s accounts back?
Piper: I can try, but I’m not that good yet. ??
Piper: I’ve been working with our new coding teacher and my dad, but it’s kinda hard, doing it myself right now. You will probably have better luck with Kai Koh, if you can convince him to help you.
Maddie: Do you know his number?
Piper: No, but Vera might have Jo?o’s because she babysits for his family. Or if you feel comfortable texting Imani, she’ll probably have it. I know you and Vera hang out with her sometimes.
Maddie: Thanks!
Maddie glanced up at me and chewed on the inside of her lip. “It’s the only way, Alec.”
I didn’t want Poison involved at all, but we had no other choice. Still, she needed to understand what she was getting into and how much they charged. Poison didn’t do shit for free unless there was something in it for them.
“I don’t want them fucking with us more.”
She placed her hands on my chest. “It’s our only option. And, come on, it’s not like our parents will notice a couple thousand dollars missing.”
“I heard they forced Jace Harbor to pay two million dollars for a job,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Two million?!”
“Yep.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “I know Imani, their … girlfriend. She’s in my Biology class, and we hung out a few times after Vera’s incident at school a while ago. I can try to talk to her about it. The least we can do is try to ask Kai. If he asks for too much, then we’ll find someone else. Deal?”
“Deal.”