20. Maddox
MADDOX
Iwaited until she was inside before I pulled away from the curb. I headed back to the church to keep an eye on Mason and make sure he didn’t turn Raven Night into something even uglier than it already was. My head was still buzzing with Hales, and how one kiss turned into something I didn’t want.
God, maybe Mason is right.
Maybe I just needed to hook up with someone else to forget about Kaylor, which I tried in the past and failed, but perhaps the problem had been that they’d been the wrong girls. Maybe I just needed to find the right one, someone who made me feel things other than lust.
As I pulled out of Hales’s driveway, I spotted a car sitting across the street. The lights were off, but a bloom of smoke gathered behind the car, indicating the engine was running.
It was late, but it didn’t make an idling car unusual. I’m sure it was nothing, yet I got this weird feeling in the pit of my gut. I was already fucking on edge.
I slowed as I passed by, my foot easing off the gas.
The window was down just enough for me to see inside, a gap of maybe three inches.
I couldn’t get a good look at the driver, but there was definitely someone inside, a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
He didn’t glance at me as I rolled by but stared across the street at Hales’s house.
What the fuck?
I drove another half block, my mind racing faster than my engine. This wasn’t my problem. She wasn’t mine to worry about. And I couldn’t be sure the car was something to be concerned with, despite my instincts warning me otherwise.
It wouldn’t hurt to check out. Nothing but a few minutes of my time.
Fuck it.
I cranked the wheel hard to the left, whipped the Jeep around in a tight U-turn, and rolled back up the street, pulling directly behind the car with my headlights flooding his back bumper. I waited a moment to see if they would move, but the asshole revved his engine.
Was this guy for fucking real?
Enough of the macho bullshit, I reached for the handle and pushed the door open. I had only one foot on the ground when the car peeled out, tires screaming against asphalt, rubber burning. The vehicle shot forward, fishtailing slightly as the driver overcorrected.
“Shit!” I jumped back inside, slamming the door hard as I shifted into drive and punched the gas. The acceleration pressed me back into my seat, but I stayed on his ass, speeding through the neighborhood to the main road. He ran the first light, blowing through without even slowing.
So did I.
My Jeep surged through the empty intersection, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered how lucky we were that it was so late and there was no cross traffic, but this wasn’t the first time I’d used the streets as a racetrack.
The streetlights blurred past, streaking into lines as my speed climbed. I stayed on his ass, close enough to read his plates but only catching the first three letters before he swerved again, his car moving erratically. He definitely wasn’t used to being chased. Amateur.
“Come on,” I growled, leaning forward over the steering wheel like that would somehow make this idiot slow down.
We hit another intersection. His brake lights flashed for a second as he hesitated, checking to see if he could blow through without crashing. He took the chance, but I didn’t get the same break.
A sedan pulled out of a side street right in front of me, blocking my path, the driver completely oblivious to the chase happening around them.
I slammed on the brakes, throwing my full weight into it.
Tires screaming, the whole Jeep shuddered violently as the antilock brakes kicked in, chattering beneath my feet.
My seat belt locked across my chest, cutting into my shoulder as momentum tried to throw me forward. Horns blared through the intersection.
I narrowly missed turning the sedan’s back seat into my hood ornament. By the time I glanced up again, the car I’d been chasing was gone. I hit the steering wheel with the heel of my hand. Once. Twice. The impact sent sharp pain radiating up my wrist. “Fuck!” Adrenaline burned hot in my veins.
The sedan in front of me honked, finally aware they’d nearly caused an accident, and pulled away. I sat there for another moment, frustration running through my system. Whoever the creep was, he hadn’t been sitting outside her house by accident, and he hadn’t wanted me to see him.
Was he Hales’s stalker?
He knew where she lived. I thought back to the night Mason and I chased someone in the woods. Had that been him? There was only one way to find out. I needed to catch this asshole.
The party was still in full swing when I dragged Mason out. If anything, I swore there were more bodies crowded inside the church than when I’d left to take Hales home.
He wasn’t subtle about being pissed, the booze in his system making him worse.
Unlike me, Mason wasn’t a nice or chill drunk.
It was as if the alcohol took away all the charm he oozed sober.
Twisting out of my grip, which was more for his stability than it was to haul him around, he yanked his arm back and stumbled.
“Are you serious right now? Just because you’re having a crappy night doesn’t mean you get to shit on my parade. ”
“Get in the Jeep,” I ordered flatly. “Now. We’re going to the club.”
“Jesus, Mad, it’s Raven Night. We can’t just leave.” He gestured wildly back at the church and the chaos we were leaving behind.
Hopefully, they didn’t burn the place down, not that it would be much of a loss. “Yes, we can. We can do whatever we want. Now get in before I toss your ass in the back.”
My tone must have cut through whatever buzz he was riding. He got in, but not quietly, slamming the passenger door. “What happened with Freckles? Did she come to her senses and realize I’m the sexier twin?”
I snorted, reversing the Jeep before he could decide to get out and make me start the process of corralling him all over again.
“It really burns your ass that she turned you down, doesn’t it?
That there is actually a girl out there who is immune to your dimples. That someone could choose me over you?”
“Pretty much, but you have to admit my idea had merit. You forgot about her, didn’t you? When you had your tongue down Freckles’s throat, Kaylor was nowhere on your mind. Tell me I’m wrong.”
I couldn’t because, for once, he was right. I tossed a bottle of water from the cupholder at him. “Drink this and sober up.”
“I’m going to need more than water.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “We’ll hit the drive-thru and get you a greasy burger.”
After a quick pitstop, we pulled into the club, the parking lot full as expected for a Friday night. High schoolers weren’t the only ones who liked to party. The most loyal patrons to the club were middle-aged men trying to escape their lives.
With the burger soaking up the liquor in Mason’s body, we headed into the club. I nodded at Alexus, head of security, and weaved through the bar and casino to the back of the club, where the stairs led to the rooftop.
Kreed, Raine, and Kaylor were sitting around the table when we walked in, the city bleeding in through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind them, a sprawl of lights and shadow.
My eyes went to Kaylor first, and guilt twisted in my gut.
What the fuck? I had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. I’d done nothing wrong.
So what if an hour ago, I’d been feeling up Hales in a musky cellar.
I was free to do so. If only my brain felt the same.
Kaylor isn’t yours, I reminded myself, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that first time Kaylor had been in that cellar.
We’d played the same game. I’d been cruel, and Kreed had swept in like a dark knight, becoming her savior.
I never stood a chance.
And with the way I’d treated her, it was no wonder she fell for Kreed. Most girls did without him trying. He had this whole brooding bad-guy aura girls seemed to flock to for reasons that failed to make sense. Then again, I didn’t really understand girls to begin with.
I looked away first, my gaze shifting to Kreed and Raine as I took a seat as far from Kaylor as possible.
Kreed’s eyes darted between Mason and me, taking in our expressions, Mason’s sullen anger, and my stiff shoulders, reading the tension we dragged in with us.
“You look like hell,” he stated, sugarcoating nothing.
He was never one to beat around the bush.
If Kreed had a thought, he’d tell you whether it was something you wanted to hear or not.
“Long night,” Mason muttered, dropping into a chair and combing his fingers through his dark hair. We all had the Corvo raven hair.
Raine leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his broad chest, studying us with eyes that missed nothing. “It’s about to get longer.”
Kreed didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “The kidnappings have started again.”
The words landed heavily. “What? Are you goddamn serious?” Outrage bloomed in my chest, along with a dozen other unpleasant emotions. We’d known this was possible, had been braced for it, but having it slapped in our face…totally different than imagining.
“Unfortunately,” Raine said, his jaw working. “The report hit the news about an hour ago. She fits the profile. Eighteen years old. Last seen leaving a friend’s house Tuesday night.”
“Silvia?” I asked, the probability settling cold in my gut.
Kreed nodded. “That’s our guess. It would make the most sense, considering the same MO, same demographic, and same part of town.
” He paused, his fingers drumming once against the table before stilling.
“Rusty’s gone, but his mess isn’t. It wouldn’t surprise me if she picked up the pieces and got a little promotion in her twisted world. ”
Mason swore under his breath.
It wasn’t lost on any of us why Kaylor was so quiet. I understood the haunting look in her eyes.
“It means we need to find her,” Kreed said, leaning forward, elbows braced on the table, his posture radiating intensity. “Or someone who can tell us where she’s set up shop before this turns into a pattern again.”
“Remember how Mason and I chased that guy through the woods,” I began, glancing at Kreed and Raine. Mason shifted in his seat beside me. “Tonight, there was a car outside Mallory’s house just sitting there with the lights off, staring at her house. When I got out to confront him, he took off.”
Raine’s brows slanted together. “You think someone’s watching her? Perhaps she could be their next target.”
“I don’t want to think it, but I also don’t want to ignore the signs,” I replied.
Kreed frowned. “If you’re right, and this guy is connected, it could be the lead we need to trace back to Silvia.”
“You want to use Mallory as bait?” Mason asked, knowing how Kreed’s brain functioned, but I wasn’t sure I liked the idea. Actually, I was sure I fucking hated it.
“No,” Kaylor said forcefully, speaking for the first time. “We’re not putting anyone else in danger. If anyone needs to be bait, it’s—”
“Don’t even fucking think about suggesting it’s you, little raven,” Kreed cut in, shutting her idea down before it could be voiced.
“I’m with Kreed, menace,” I agreed. “You’re not putting yourself on the line. Never again.”
She glanced around the room, clearly outnumbered by four fiercely protective Corvos. She knew how this went. Sighing, she sank deeper into the plush chair.
“Could it be possible that someone at school is passing on information, helping to pick targets?” I asked, speaking out loud what I’d been marinating in my head.
“Why do you ask?” Raine retorted, unzipping his sweatshirt.
“This new girl, Mallory, has been getting stalker notes at school. Someone is leaving them in her locker, in her textbook. And tonight, at the church, there was a message to her in the bathroom written on the mirror.”
Mason’s eyes whipped toward me. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he hissed.
Kreed cleared his throat. “So you think this might be an intimidation tactic?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but something feels off.” It could be that I so wanted the two events to be connected.
Kaylor toyed with the ends of her long hair. “Well, we know Poppy nor I received any notes, but we were unusual cases. We didn’t fit the profile. It was personal. We need to find out if this is a pattern.”
Mason’s fingers rapped on the table, and I could tell he wished he had a deck of cards to busy his hands with. They helped him focus, direct his energy. “How?” he asked. “The girls taken are still missing.”
“Maybe there was someone who didn’t fall for their tricks. If she exists, we need to find her,” Kaylor offered.
“And I’m assuming that duty falls to us,” Mason muttered.
Raine’s brows shot up, disappearing beneath the dark hair falling across his forehead. “Unless you want to talk about what you were doing at the church tonight?”
Mason grinned. “You know what the fuck we were doing. It’s pretty obvious.”
Kreed snorted humorlessly. “You guys threw a party?”
Mason took the bottle from my hand without an ounce of regret on his face. “Got to uphold Corvo tradition.”
Raine shook his head. “Sober up by Monday. Fill in the guys. Have them start asking the questions. I want to know before the end of the week if any other girls at Public have received anonymous notes.”
“I have just the person to start with.” I looked at Mason, catching his eye. We were both thinking the same name. There was one girl at Public who stuck her nose in everyone else’s business. She was notorious for uncovering dirt.
Paisley Tate.