Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
I could jump for joy. Maddox wants me to jump someone with him! This is the best day of my life! Freaking heck, I don’t think I could be happier. Mads wants me to go with him, even though I thought he was completely done with me. But he’s not.
Because he’s back, and he invited me to go with him.
Maddox answers, “The guy who beat that puppy.”
I hear Princess scrambling behind us. I snatch him up and step outside with Maddox.
Maddox glances at me and then at Princess. “Why are you bringing him?”
I blink. “The door is broken, and his cage is occupied.”
“We can’t–” Maddox runs his hands through his hair. “Fuck!” he shouts into the night.
I glance around the neighborhood. I’m all for shishkabobbing the person who hurt that poor dog, but the sun is starting to come up, and maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t be drawing attention after last night.
“Maybe, can we step back inside so you can brief me?”
Maddox’s entire body is tense. He looks around like he’s expecting the guy to pop out of the bushes right now, and I hate it. We’re a team; I’d protect him. He doesn’t need to feel afraid like that anymore.
Gently, I say, “You know, a brief like in the movies. Like, who’re we looking for, where they live, blah, blah, blah?”
“I don’t know.” Maddox’s voice is angry, and it makes my chest squeeze. At first, I’m afraid he’s mad at me, but then I suck in a deep breath. Maddox is hurting so much. I hate that hurt. I want to make it better, but not out here.
I step back inside, hoping he’ll follow, back into the house where we killed someone.
Fudge. I’m going to have to get a new house.
Oh well! Mads and I can pick out a new one together. How dreamy. I already know he’s going to have the best taste. Maybe somewhere out in the country where we can have a bunch of animals—
“Fuck.” Maddox runs a hand through his hair, reminding me that we’re, in fact, on my doorsteps and not house shopping.
He’s freaking out, and I know he likes his privacy when he’s freaking out.
“Inside?” I ask, taking a step inside.
Miracle of miracles, Maddox follows me. Satan must be real.
Once inside, Maddox clenches and unclenches his hands. He looks like he’s about to explode and implode at the same time, the energy around him crackling.
“So,” I say, that energy crackling to me. “Who are we nabbing?”
“I don’t fucking know.” Maddox lets his head fall back against the hallway wall, and then he says, his tone defeated, “I don’t know what’s happening.”
I stand next to him, Princess still in my arms. Some of that jittery energy transfers to me, and I want to jump up and fight the thing that has him so freaked out.
But I can’t freak out! It’s not my turn to freak out. I have to be strong for both of us.
Ice water. I need ice water. Instead, I raise Princess up to take a deep sniff of his fur. It works; his familiar warm scent comforts me. I get a leg to the chest. He must have hit a bruise, ‘cause it’s painful.
I let out a strained breath, and Maddox gives me a glance that I can’t interpret. He goes back to this lost, freaked-out look.
I pull in another helpless breath. I don’t know what to do. All I know is that I’d follow him into battle; he just has to tell me where to go.
There’s a whimper from the living room, and I straighten. My answer just fell into my lap. “Let’s start with the vet. Then we can…” I trail off. Because I’m not exactly sure, but we get to do it together, so I know it’ll be okay.