Chapter 54
CHAPTER 54
ALEC
A fter we knocked on his door, Jo?o opened it, peered out at us, then almost immediately slammed it shut. Before he could close it all the way, Vera placed her foot between the door and the frame and shoved her shoulder against it.
“We need your help.”
“No,” Jo?o said.
“Please, Jo?o,” Vera said, pushing the door open.
“Vera, is that you?” a little girl said from the couch, dressed in princess pajamas with her eyes half-opened. She staggered out from the small living room to the door, standing next to Jo?o, and reached her small arms up for Vera. “Why are you here so late?”
“To talk to your brother,” Vera said. “Will you ask him to talk to me, Ana?”
With her head resting on Vera’s shoulder and her eyes closed, Ana pointed at Jo?o. “Talk to Vera. She’s my best friend. If you’re mean to her, then I’m not going to talk to you for an entire week.”
Jo?o rolled his eyes and hiked his thumb back to the hallway. “Put her to bed.”
Vera smiled at Jo?o—which made Blaise growl—and then hurried into the back hallway. When Vera disappeared, Maddie stepped forward.
“I need your help, and I’m willing to pay for it.” She poked a finger into his chest. “But you’re not screwing me over like you did with Jace.”
“We didn’t screw Jace Harbor,” Jo?o said, leaning against the back of his couch. “Jace paid for a service. We delivered. He valued that information at the price we provided him.”
“Well, I’m not paying two million.”
“You’re right. You’re going to pay more,” Jo?o said. “If you want your brother back.”
Maddie stared at him through bewildered eyes. “H-how’d you know he’s gone?”
“Kai saw Spencer take him on the town’s security cameras.”
Maddie balled her hands into fists and screamed, “I hate him!”
“We’ll do it for four,” Jo?o offered.
“Two,” Maddie countered.
Nerves built up inside me, making my chest tight. I didn’t like Poison—hated them actually—and I loathed the way this conversation was going. Working with them could hurt us—badly—in the end.
“Four.”
With flared nostrils, Maddie glared at Jo?o. “Two, and we’ll help you.”
Jo?o snorted. “You’ll help me like you helped with Carter earlier?”
Maddie tensed and glanced over at me.
“What happened tonight?” I asked.
“The girls beat the shit out of Carter. Almost killed him,” Jo?o said.
She had mentioned it briefly earlier, but …
I seized Maddie’s hand and squeezed it, heart breaking. “You did?”
Blaise chuckled next to me and leaned against the door, his lips curled into a smirk, as Vera walked back into the room, tucking some hair behind her ears.
“Asshole deserved it. He’s been a dickhead since elementary school.”
“Vera knocked him out,” Maddie said.
“That’s my girl,” Blaise said.
“Maddie,” I said, pulling her toward me, “you should not be kicking anyone’s ass.”
Maddie pressed her lips together. “He deserved it for what he did to you.”
“What he did to you?” Jo?o asked, rubbing his hands together. “Getting interesting now.”
“He didn’t do anything,” I said between my teeth. I tugged Maddie. “We’re leaving.”
“No,” she said.
“Maddie,” I said, grabbing her elbow, “working with Poison is a bad idea.”
Maddie turned to me with tears in her eyes and shook her head. “This is the only chance that we have of getting him back, Alec. I don’t care what happens to me as long as Spencer doesn’t kill my brother. I-I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
“This isn’t the only chance we have,” I said. “I can do something.”
“No,” she said immediately. “You have hockey. You can’t risk it. This is the only way.”
Jo?o cleared his throat. “We’ll do it for three, but then you work for us.”
“No,” I said.
“Deal,” Maddie said. “But if you don’t bring my brother back alive, then the deal’s off.”
I released Maddie’s hand and rubbed my forehead, wondering when I’d get wrinkles like my father had. Because I couldn’t deal with all this stress. I didn’t want Maddie working with Poison. What would they force her to do?
“You’re not working with them,” I said.
“If they find him alive, then I will,” Maddie said.
“What’re you going to make her do?” I asked Jo?o.
“Whatever she is useful for.”
After blowing out a heavy breath, I shook my head and paced around the room. Maddie, Jo?o, and Vera talked quietly about what had happened and what Poison would do, but I couldn’t stand it. Maddie was putting herself in danger with the worst gang in Redwood.
I wouldn’t let her get in trouble. I refused.
So, I slipped out the front door and shut it behind me.
“I don’t blame you,” Blaise said, leaning against the side of the house.
I jumped back in surprise. “When the hell did you come out here?”
“When you started pacing inside,” he said. “You looked like an idiot.”
“Fuck you,” I spit. “I don’t give a fuck what you think. I’m only here for Maddie.”
Blaise chuckled and kicked himself off the house. “And I’m only here for Vera, and I don’t like her working with Poison either. Jo?o’s messing around with Imani, but he’s too close with Vera for my liking.”
“I have bigger problems than listening to you bitch about Jo?o,” I said, walking to my car.
“You want to stop Spencer without getting Poison involved,” Blaise said. “Let me help.”
“How—and why—would you do that?” I asked, pausing at the curb.
“Because he screwed me over two years ago,” Blaise said. “I’m not going to explain shit to you, but I’ve been wanting to kick his ass ever since. I’ll help you without getting Poison involved.”
“And what do you want out of the deal?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“If Vera found out that I forced you to pay me for some shit like this, she’d have my dick.” Blaise drew his tongue across his teeth. “All I want is to stick my foot so deep up his ass that he can’t shit again.”
I twisted my head and stared over my shoulder at him, pressing my lips together. I didn’t know if I trusted him, but it was better to work with him than associate ourselves with Poison. Though … somehow, I still felt like Poison would insert themselves into our situation.
After clenching my jaw, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled to my Contacts. Blaise arched a brow and gazed down at the phone. I waited and waited and waited as it rang repeatedly, driving me higher and higher into an anxious mess. And then someone answered.
“Alec Wolfe,” Spencer hummed over the phone. “I was hoping you’d call me.”