Page 146 of Maddox
I don’t usually drink the hard stuff, and I’m not drunk but I wish I was as I stand and face him. I vowed after the fiasco between Lilli and Wolf that I would never fight with a brother, especially over a chick.
Yet here I am, ready to face off with the asshole over a pretty little cheerleader with beautiful dark hair.
We stare at each other silently until he grunts, “Get it over with.”
“Get what over with?” I snarl.
“Whatever’s rolling around in your head.”
“Really?” I grit between my teeth. “You let our chance of finding that fucker go and here you stand like an asshole.”
When his lips pull into a smirk, I clench my fingers. I’d like nothing more than to slam his head against the door behind him but I’m not stupid.
Romeo is a beast. I could hold my own, but I’d still be hurting after.
“This ain’t about Ice,” Romeo says, and I roll my eyes.
“Okay, oh wise-fucking-one. What’s it about?”
Romeo tips his head, and I fight off a chill when he says, “You can’t have her. You know you can’t because your pops will never accept an Aces princess, especially nother.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I bark. “She ain’t nothing but an easy fuck.”
The words taste ashy on my tongue and when Romeo raises his meaty fist, I lock my knees because I deserve this one.
The blow sends me back a step and I grunt when he shoves my shoulder and says, “Say something like that again and I’ll fuck you up.”
I know this is fucked up, but I still can’t help the words that spew from my mouth when I sneer, “I didn’t take you for a fucking cradle robber.”
We drop into silence after that while I eye the tic in his jaw, until he says, “Get your head out of your ass. That girl ain’t Aces scum. She’s caught in the middle of something we should all be ashamed to be doing. We don’t use little girls to fight men.”
I know he’s right but we’re so fucking close to finally killing the man who dared to touch my mother.
Romeo’s not done though, and he pokes my chest, saying, “You want what you know you can’t have. Either nut up or shut up because your bitch ass behavior is getting on my last fucking nerve.”
With that he walks away, and I stare after him in a daze.
What the actual fuck?
The only thing I want is revenge. If Delaney isn’t here to help us figure it out, I’ll find another fucking way.
Chapter 34
Delaney
In the morning, I take a long hot shower and slide into a pair of jeans before searching for a shirt that doesn’t make me think of my old life.
The vintage band shirt is too big for my small frame but that’s fine because it fits the new me in a way the others never could.
At the threshold to the kitchen, I pause to find Peter standing there, sipping a cup of water.
All my life, he’s symbolized everything that was good and just in this world, which is why I don’t know what to say when our eyes meet.
The truth is that I don’t know him anymore. What if the Peter I grew up with doesn’t exist?
How do I look him in the eye knowing he thinks I’m a reckless whore who was fucking my boyfriend when my brother died?
“Sweetheart,” he says before opening his arms. “I’m sorry.”
