Page 9 of The Royal Flame
Noah, who’s been quiet this entire time, starts tapping his foot against the floor. Him and I might not be friends right now, but we used to be, which means I know him well enough to assume…
“What do you know? " I ask, slanting forward and resting my arm on my knees.
He glances at Maddy, and I do as well.
“Do you know something?” I ask, struggling not to be hurt.
Her and Noah are sort of friends, but I’d feel a bit betrayed if Maddy knew something about my father and Noah’s mother’s affair and never told me.
“I don’t know any details,” Maddy stresses. “But I already told you that I know Noah has stuff he hasn’t told you.”
The three of us look back at Noah.
“I can’t tell you,” Noah mumbles, grinding his teeth. “I want to, but it’ll put my mother and father in danger.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting.
“How?” Finn inquires with a crease etched between his brows.
Noah shrugs while staring at the wall. “I already said I can’t tell you.”
I feel frustrated. “Noah, I understand that you want to protect your parents, but if you know something that will help us find my mother, you have to tell us.”
Noah shakes his head from side to side with his lips smashed together.
Silence stretches between the four of us.
I feel like I’m going to go mad.
“I can’t tell you everything,” he finally says, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breath intakes. “But if you want answers, you should be talking to your father. He has a lot of secrets. And power. And the ability to make someone disappear.” He pushes to his feet. “I have some stuff to take care of.” He rushes out of the room, taking long strides that are veering toward jogging.
Finn wags his finger toward the doorway Noah bolted out of. “He knows something.”
“That’s obvious.” I frown. “But I don’t think he’s keeping it from us just because he wants to. He’s scared.”
“I know.” Finn and I trade a look.
“You remember that one time when we were like thirteen, and he didn’t tell me about that stupid rumor that I had sex with the mascot?” Finn asks me. “Because he was worried how much it’d hurt me. So, instead, he tried to get the guys that started the rumor to stop it. And he ended up getting his ass kicked.”
“Did you have sex with the mascot?” Maddy wonders curiously.
Finn gives her a hardy-har look. “No. And the rumor wasn’t that I had sex with the person who played the mascot. It was that I had sex with the costume.”
Maddy pulls an apologetic look. “Oh, my bad. Sorry.”
“Yeah, way to judge, Maddison.” Finn throws her a shit-eating smirk, to which Maddy responds with an exaggerated eye roll.
I almost smile, but it feels wrong with all the horribleness currently surrounding us.
Silence skips by for a beat but is abruptly interrupted by the ringing of Maddy’s phone.
She looks confused as hell as she lifts her hips and fishes it out of her pocket. “Who the heck’s calling me this late at night… Crap, maybe it’s my aunt.” She perks up at that, her fingers noticeably trembling as she holds her phone. When she notes the name on the screen, her puzzlement magnifies. “It’s Lily.”
That surprises me. “Didn’t you just text her?” I ask Finn as Maddy answers the phone.
Finn nods while checking his phone. “She never replied.”
I frown. “Yeah, she didn’t to any of my text either.”
