“Yeah, he did,” I reply after spinning around to face him. “I just really hope you don’t feel the same way.”
“I don’t.” His tone isn’t close to being confident. “But she’s my sister, Demi. My baby sister. I can’t let her…”
“End up with a Petretti like you?” I fill in when words elude him.
I silently beg for him to shake his head, so you can picture the devastation on my face when he bobs his chin instead. I understand his objective and comprehend he’s programmed to protect his sister, but not even recalling the world’s best day can harness my disappointment.
“Demi—”
“It’s fine.” I grit my teeth, silently warning nothing will be off-limits if a single tear falls from my eyes. “I’m fine. Call your sister.”
I dart out of the bathroom as quickly as Landon stormed out of Petretti’s Restaurant earlier tonight, and for the first time in ages, I don’t shame my tears when they soak my pillow.
“Shh, stay asleep. I’m just grabbing a glass of water.” I balk more from the dishonesty in Maddox’s tone than recollection he finally came to bed. I’ve watched the clock for the past three nights. Not once has he come to bed before the little hand reaches one.
Things have been awkward between us. It isn’t uncomfortable enough to have me worried we won’t come out the other end shaken but okay, but it has ensured I haven’t shared news about a possible stowaway with him.
Not all the awkwardness is Maddox’s fault. We’ve barely had a moment to talk. Saint and Caidyn have been blowing up his phone since news of his exchange with Landon hit their ears, and Sloane’s issues with Saint have kept the battery on Maddox’s laptop at a constant low. We have so many other people’s problems coming at us from all angles, there’s no time for us to mull over our own issues.
My heart breaks when Maddox runs his fingers through my hair as he has a minimum of once a week for the past six weeks. It usually lulls me to sleep within a couple of seconds. It doesn’t have the same effect this morning. There’s too much tension in the air for any amount of nurturing to work.
Once I settle my breathing to indicate I’m asleep, Maddox sighs heavily before he clambers out of bed. The disappointments keep coming when he fails to tug on a pair of pants. He usually sleeps naked. He hasn’t done that since Friday night. We haven’t been sexually active since our sweaty romp in Petretti’s kitchen. I guess confirmation from your big bro you’re sleeping with the enemy is enough to turn any man off.
I wait for the hinges on the front door of the cabin to creak open before I slip out from beneath the sheets. My tiptoe across the floorboards is done in silence. Not even my tug on the old wooden shutters Maddox has kept closed the past six weeks makes a peep. It’s as quiet as a graveyard at midnight, meaning I have no troubles overhearing Maddox’s conversation with Rocco.
“You knew he was going out with her, didn’t you? That’s why you said Dimitri was occupied.”
Rocco doesn’t balk at his accusation. That’s a clear sign Maddox is on the money.
“Your sister is an adult, Ox. Who she dates is none of your business.” He opens the hatch at the back of an SUV before pulling out a gym bag. If my blurry head isn’t leading me astray, I’m reasonably sure it’s Maddox’s gym bag. “Furthermore, he has no interest in your sister.”
“Ha!” Even with Justine being his sister, Maddox’s rejection of Rocco’s claim isn’t odd. Justine is beautiful. She has exotic eyes, pure, untouched skin, and hair the color of lava. Saying Dimitri is disinterested is the equivalent of saying he’s going on a sabbatical from sex. Never going to happen. “If he isn’t interested, why fucking bother? Guys only bring out the charm for one reason, to get into a chick’s pants.”
Ouch.
One little sentence and all the good memories from the past six weeks are pushed to the back of my mind.
When Rocco remains quiet, having no plausible excuse to deny his claims, Maddox hits him with a stern finger point. “Tell Dimitri to stay away from my sister or our deal is off.”
Rocco shakes his head like Maddox’s comment didn’t have half the steam it did. “No can do. This is bigger than you and a half-assed threat, Ox.”
“It won’t be half-assed if he doesn’t step the fuck back.”
With furled lips, Rocco forcefully shoves the gym bag into Maddox’s chest. “How about you remember who the fuck you work for?” I step back when his eyes stray to the window I’m camped behind.
I can’t hear anything Maddox or Rocco says next. The large wooden pillar holding up the cabin’s roof is too thick. I can assume it isn’t pleasant since they get into a bit of a tussle. It isn’t violent enough for me to intervene, but it’s clear neither of them is willing to back down from their beliefs. They’re as hotheaded as each other.
I hear my pulse in my ears when Maddox’s final shove is chased by him sliding into the driver’s seat of a midnight black Buick. He floors the gas. Even if he still believed I was asleep, he couldn’t anymore. That’s how brutal the tires on his ride flick up the rocks in the driveway.
Once the taillights of the Buick disappear, Rocco drags his fingers through his hair before shifting on his feet to face me. He stares straight at the slat I was peering through earlier, announcing my watch has been busted before he digs a white paper bag out of his jacket and places it on the top step of the porch.
He farewells me with a bob of his chin before he signals for the brute who watched the exchange between Maddox and him with a smile on his face to join him in the SUV.
I wait for the taillights of their car to disappear before collecting the package on the porch. I know what’s inside. It’s confirmation I can’t hide from the truth a second longer. I’m moments away from either ruining the Walshs’ reputation or saving it.
Maddox’s behavior the past couple of days has me unsure which result I should root for. Both have the potential to end one way—disastrously.
27
Maddox
My back molars smash together when I take the corner Dimitri’s compound is located on too quickly. The back tires of the Buick slip out, dragging me and $100K worth of coke toward the slippery rock-edge. This is my last run. I’m fucking done with Dimitri and his family’s shit. It’s time for me to take Demi away from it all.
The ten thousand I earned tonight on top of the fifty thousand I’ve put away the past couple of months doesn’t seem like much, but Demi’s birthday celebration proves she doesn’t need expensive things to be happy. She simply needs to be anywhere but here. My brothers constant interference the past three days assures me of this, much less Rocco’s threat that if I don’t jump on cue, he’ll advise Dimitri to leave me defenseless to Col’s wrath.
I was so fucking ropeable, I told Rocco to bring it on, confident Col couldn’t make matters any worse. Demi has been unusually quiet, my sister is acting like a brat, and even the seclusion of a cabin in the middle of nowhere hasn’t given me a single minute to sit down and take a breather. It’s been one thing after another, and I’m about ready to snap.