I was furious. I almost turned around to yell at him, but two things stopped me. His health. I didn’t want him to have another stroke on me. And I needed to find Maddox.
Something had changed that day in the garage. After our almost-violent screwing, he’d been tender. I felt as if he’d opened up a part of himself he’d been holding back. And he’d been coming to me every night since. He still left before dawn, but sometimes, he would stay and hold me after we had sex.
I feared that, if Maddox found out about his mom from anyone but me, he’d think I was behind it. I needed to talk to him as soon as possible.
I called him once more. Again, there was no answer.
When I got home, Maddox’s SUV was parked in the back, but when I ran upstairs to his apartment and knocked, no one was there.
I tried to calm myself. I would just tell Maddox when he got home and came over that night. It would be okay. But, just in case, I sent him a text as I walked back home.
Before I went to bed, I cracked my window up a bit, so I would hear him when he came home. And, while I waited, I planned on how I could fix this problem that my father had created. If he thought I would just sit back, he was wrong.
An hour or so later, I drifted off to sleep, knowing what I had to do the next day.
When I woke up in the morning, I was ready to take on the day.
Unfortunately, five seconds after I woke, I realized that Maddox had never come home.
Twenty-Four
Maddox
I woke up, feeling the most refreshed I’d felt in a long-ass time. I rolled over and realized I was sleeping in my old bedroom at my mom’s. I looked at my watch. It was after ten in the morning.
I had lain down after dinner last night, planning to just take a nap, but I had slept all night. It was true that I was due for some good sleep. Fucking my ex-girlfriend every night and constantly getting up to leave early had really cut into my sleep schedule. But I was still shocked to see I had slept over twelve hours.
I used the bathroom and went into the kitchen in search of some coffee. On my way, I picked up my phone in the living room. It was dead.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Can I borrow your phone charger?”
“Sure. It’s in here,” my mom said from the kitchen.
“Oh, thank God,” I said when I walked in. “Coffee.” I plugged my cell in and grabbed a cup. “Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked.
My mom grabbed my chin in her hand. “Because you looked so peaceful, sleeping. I didn’t have the heart. You were even snoring.”
I shook her off. “Liar.”
She laughed. “But you were sleeping hard. Are you not getting any sleep at your new place?”
I took a sip of my coffee. “I am.” Just not as much as I should be.
She patted my chest. “I’m worried about you.”
I laughed. If she only knew. “Don’t be, Mom. I’m fine. I just need to go to bed earlier.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yes.” She was the one who was sick. Not me. “You don’t need to worry.”
“It’s what mothers do.”
There was a knock at the door.
I frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
I went to the front door and looked out the window before opening it. I didn’t recognize the guy.
“Open the door, Maddox.”
“I don’t know who it is.”
“For heaven’s sake, this is Brook Creek. You lived in the big city for too long.”
I rolled my eyes, but she did have a point, so I opened the door.
A stranger was wearing a suit and held an envelope in his hand. “Good morning. I’m looking for Betty Wolfe.”
My mother pushed in front of me. “I’m Betty.”
The man handed her the envelope. “This is for you. If you have any questions, you can call the number at the bottom.” The man turned and left without another word.
I closed the door, and my mom opened the envelope and pulled out a letter.
As I watched her read it, all the color drained from her face, and she grabbed the couch behind her.
“Oh, dear. What am I going to do?”
What the fuck?
I steadied my mom, and then I snatched the letter from her hand. As I read it, a slow anger settled over me. I crumbled up the paper and threw it across the room.
I’m going to kill her.
I marched to the kitchen and turned on my phone.
My mom raced after me. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for the person responsible for this. And then I’m going to wring her pretty little neck.”
It looked like I’d missed several phone calls before my phone died. They were all from Addison. She’d also sent me a text message.
I pulled up her number and hit Send.
“Who are you calling?”
“Addison.”
The phone went to voice mail.
“She was here this morning. While you were sleeping.”
I hit End on my phone and looked up at my mom. “What?”
“She was here this morning.”
I pointed to the floor. “Here? As in this house?”
“Yes,” my mother said like I was stupid.
“What did she want?”
“A dollar.”
What?
“A dollar?” That didn’t make any sense. “Did she say why?”
“She said she would explain later and that she didn’t have time because she needed to stop at every trailer in the park.”
What the hell is that woman up to now?
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Maddox. Where will I go? I can’t afford to move my house to another park.”
I grabbed my mom’s upper arms. “Mom, I’m not going to let them kick you out of here.”
“Maddox, I don’t own this land. I just pay the lot fee.”
“I know.” I knew exactly who owned the land. That fucker Brantley Graham.
I kissed my mother on the forehead. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, okay? We’re not going down without a fight.”
I pushed my feet into my boots and headed to Addison’s office.
I had walked over to my mom’s the afternoon before for the exercise, but now, I was regretting it. I didn’t have the patience that it was going to take me to walk to her office. I wanted to get there now, so I could yell at her for being such an insensitive bitch.
I tried calling her again, but this time, I went straight to voice mail.
“Fuck.”
I thought she was ignoring me.
I picked up the pace and ran almost the whole way. When I got there, I was starting to sweat, but I didn’t care. I pulled open the door, and Serena looked up.
“Hey, Uncle Maddox.” She wrinkled her nose. “You look like you could use a shower.”
“Thanks,” I said, ignoring her jab. “Is Addison here?”
“No, she said she was going to be gone all day. Do you want me to take a message?”
“So, you don’t know when she’ll be back?”
Serena shook her head. “No, but she said she would call before she was on her way home. I can let you know when that is.”
I nodded once. “Please do. I need to talk to her.” I turned to leave but paused. “Oh, and, Serena?”