Page 136 of Dark Endures

I hold out the basket to him. Teenage boys are always hungry.

“The problem?”

“Oh, yeah.” He takes a bite. “These are really good. Ace should make garlic rolls more often.”

“Garlic rolls?” Maddox looks down angrily at the basket.

“Yeah. Try one.” Everett lifts the basket over to him.

Maddox just sits and glares.

Everett holds it out to me.

They sound delicious. I take one, slather some butter on it, and take a bite. “Hmmm.”

“Amazing, right?”

“Everett.” Maddox almost growls.

“Oh. Okay. So, I got really bored. And I tend to do stupid things when I’m bored.”

That’s the same for every teenage boy.

“What did you do?”

I can practically see Maddox trying to decide if he’s going to need an aspirin or a lawyer.

“I went to school,” Everett says it like that explains everything.

“Everett?”

“What? I told you what I did. Now the teacher won’t leave me alone. She’s talking about colleges fighting over me, signing me up for Mensa, and all these terrible ideas.”

The kid’s a genius. That doesn’t surprise me. “Congratulations.”

“No. It’s not good at all. I can’t go to college.”

“You don’t have to worry about paying for it. Willow Street provides a full scholarship for all its kids.”

“Good to know, but not the issue. Any school I applied to would gladly give me a full-ride scholarship and just about anything I wanted. I can’t go to school. And the teacher won’t stop. She’s talking about sending my tests to admission officers. You need to stop her before I’ve got to leave. I like it here. I don’t want to leave.”

What does he mean he’d have to leave?

“No one…and I mean no one, will ever make you leave if you don’t want to. Do you hear me?” Maddox's whole face changed as he said those words. A fiercely protective beast reared its head.

That’s sexy as all get out.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then enlighten me.”

Everett stares at me. “I can’t. It’s not safe.”

“Everett, you need to understand me when I say this. You are safe. There’s no government or entity that’s strong enough to take you away from here if you don’t want to go. We protect our own. And if that means calling in friends for help, I won’t hesitate to do that.”

Everett’s eyes get big. “You mean—”

“Every single one of my friends, if need be.”

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