Personally, I think it was because my dad drove him nuts, but no one will either confirm or deny it.
And now, slowly, we’re all moving away. It’s kind of depressing, even if we aren’t far from one another.
Hearing a car door slam, I drop my hand from the front door handle and turn to see who it is. Maddox glares at his sister, Madison, who is giggling away. I take a step down the stairs, waiting for them to acknowledge my presence.
“Holy fuck! What happened to your eye?” I call out, taking a few more steps down when I see how nasty Maddox’s eye looks.
He glares down at Madison, who laughs harder. “Nothing.”
Knowing Madison will tell me, I look to her. “He snuck into Lily’s house last night. Or tried to. Jaxon punched him, thinking he was someone breaking in.”
“He knew it was fucking me. It was payback,” Maddox grouches.
Her lips press together as she looks away, trying her hardest not to laugh. It’s useless though, because moments later, she bursts into laughter once again.
I grin at Maddox, who seems so unhappy, he looks like a lost puppy. He’s probably more bothered that he doesn’t look as good with a black eye and swollen jaw than he is that Jaxon hit him. “What on earth drove you to do that?”
He throws his hands up before dropping them to his sides with a slap. “They took my fucking key. How else was I meant to get in?”
My lips twitch in amusement. “Not what I meant,” I tell him. “She’s married. You can’t go sneaking in anymore. They want privacy.”
He tilts his head, his brows furrowed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“God, I worry how you made it this far in life. They have sex.”
“Hayden!” he yells, covering his ears.
The front door behind me flies open and I glance over my shoulder to see Dad looking flustered. “What’s—Woah, what happened to your eye?” Dad asks, grinning as he comes to stand by my side.
Maddox looks away, pretending to be interested in the old lady unloading her car, so I answer for him. “He snuck into Lily’s and Jaxon hit him.”
Dad snorts, crossing his arms over his chest. “I would have punched you too, but I’m an arsehole.” He pauses, seeming to think about something for a second. “Then again, if it were me, he wouldn’t have known I was there. I wouldn’t have been punched,” he brags.
Maddox glares. “Are you serious? They’d hear you from outside, old man. And he didn’t sneak up on me. I was drunk, tired and hungry. You know what I’m like when I’m hungry.”
Dad’s stomach grumbles at the mention of food. “Yeah, but you’re still an idiot for sneaking in their house. Didn’t she take all our keys except Teagan’s?”
Maddox pouts, throwing his arms out in a tantrum. “He’s changing everything! She didn’t care if I was there before or if I ate her food. Now he’s there, he’s all, ‘Don’t eat that, we need to go shopping’; ‘You can’t sleep here, we want the night to ourselves’; ‘Maddox, you have your own house to play the Xbox in’. I just want some peace, ya know?”
I shake my head, then roll my eyes when my dad nods in agreement. “I hear ya. Maverick was the same. He would always be, ‘This is my dinner’; ‘Did you take the last pack of Jammie Dodgers?’. I mean, who can eat just one, am I right? And whenever we used to go and see the girls, he’d go on like he was the favourite,” he rambles, then snorts. “I’m the favourite. Everyone fucking loves me.”
I glance at Dad, seeing he’s serious. “Dad, you do realise most of the population want to murder you.”
He glares down at me. “No, they don’t, and if this is about that old lady across the street, I don’t want to hear it. I paid for that pizza. It was mine. And she needs to get over it.”
“It was meant to be for her. She ordered it,” I tell him, rolling my eyes.
“Like you can talk. Didn’t you steal Aiden and Bailey’s food not long ago?”
Fuming, I place my hands on my hips and turn to him. “Hey! That’s not fair. I was doing them a favour. Sunday was poorly and the food was going cold. You know how Aiden is about wasting food.” I take in a breath before continuing. “And wasn’t it you who stole the cake Aunt Kayla made for Uncle Myles last year?”
“It was my birthday too,” he snaps back.
“She made you your own,” I yell.
“What on earth is going on?” Mum calls out, rubbing her arms up and down against the cold.
Dad presses his lips together, his eyes scrunching as he narrows them on me, warning me not to talk.
“Nothing, Mum, we were just talking about how Maddox shouldn’t be sneaking into Lily’s.”
Mum looks over at Maddox in disappointment. “Maddox, sweetie, they’re married. You can’t keep doing that.”
Pushing past us, he huffs, heading into the house as he mumbles how unfair everyone is being.
Mum looks at the closed door in concern. “Maybe we should get his dad to sort his neighbours out. They must still be making a lot of noise.”
“He doesn’t want to move,” Madison replies. “He’s been waiting on the council to do something. The last time he spoke to them, they said they would be installing something to prove they’re making noise.”
Dad, suddenly straightening, glances at Mum. “Did you leave the cupcakes out?”
She sighs, looking up to the sky. “Yes, Max, I did. I bought them for everyone, not just you.”
“God dammit, woman, you know these kids eat us out of house and home.”
Please give me strength to get through tonight.
*** *** ***
Lily and Jaxon are yet to arrive. It’s taking a toll on my uncle Maverick. He’s finding it hard letting go of his girls, and with Faith’s wedding coming up, it’s showing. From as young as I can remember, my granddad told us how Maverick was the caregiver, the one who went above and beyond to help raise his brothers, even after Granddad was given custody and he no longer needed to put that pressure on himself. I wish there was something I could do to make it better for him.
His expression morphs into one he only gives us girls when Bailey hands over Sunday to him so she can clean up the mess she’s made behind the sofa. He laughs at the mess the beautiful little girl has made of herself. It seems the mini Carter will take after her dad and love her food. She has icing, chocolate and ice cream smothered around her mouth and down her dress. I should feel an ounce of guilt—I saw what the little girl was up to—but I don’t. Those cupcakes were the best.
My ringtone blares from my jacket pocket. Pulling it out, I groan, loudly, seeing ‘Hot Jerk Boss’ flashing across my screen.
“You okay?” Mum asks, her glittering blue eyes pinning me in place. “You’ve been acting weird all week. Is it that boy?”
Silencing the call, I place my hand on Mum’s arm. “It’s not about him, Mum. He was forgotten the minute I walked out of the flat. It’s just work.”
“Difficult customer?”
I laugh quietly as I bump my shoulder into hers. “No. I don’t deal with customers as such.”