Page 59 of Maddox
“My little bird...”
I hear the doubt in her tone and close my eyes. This conversation is so fucking awkward that I’m tempted to end the call but if I do, I’m pushing her farther away and that frightens me.
“Peter told me he saw you the other day with some boys.”
Boys? What boys? Oh crap, is she talking about Maddox?
His dark eyes pass over my vision, and I shiver. Comparing him to a boy is laughable but I’m not about to say that.
Some things are sacred, and your parents don't need to know which is why I hope to play it off and say, “Who?”
Silence is my answer though and compelled to speak for God only knows why, I mumble, “Look, I hardly know them. It’s…nothing.”
Is it? Yes, because Maddox will never be anything more than my friend’s hot older brother.
Besides, with the way he reacted to Peter, I can’t imagine bringing him home for a family dinner with my stepdad. Ha!
“Sweetie,” she says. “I was your age once myself. I know boys like that are exciting, but…”
When she chuckles, I smile but then it fades. Is she warning me off? Why?
Once again, I glance at the door. What does that damn Aces patch mean?
“Anyway,” she continues. “I know what it feels like to be your age and to think something is so exciting and different but honey, those guys only want one thing.”
Her words sting even if I’ve had the same thoughts myself. The irony is that Micah was no better but because he’s a football player who lives on the “right” side of the tracks, no one’s thought to warn me off from him.
The hypocrisy burns my soul. Mom doesn’t know Maddox. She didn’t see Micah throw that drink in my face or the fact that Maddox intervened.
She doesn’t know that Maddox turned me down. Nope, to her and Peter, he’s just a thug.
“Mom…I don’t…I’m not…they’re just friends.”
Friends might be a stretch at this point, but I don’t know what else to say.
“The Saints aren’t friends, Delaney.”
Wait…what?
“Do you know them?” I ask, taken aback by her shrill tone.
When she drops into silence, I sit up, gripping my phone and say, “Mom?Doyou know them?”
I hear something crackle on the other end of the line before she says, “It was a long time ago but yes. Before uh, Joey, I was in love. I thought I knew what I was doing but I didn’t. He was into bad stuff. I had to get out.”
“You dated a biker?” I breathe.
I can’t picture it but maybe I should have because there’s always been a wildness writhing beneath her skin.
What else don’t I know about my mom?
“I was young…” When I don’t respond because I don’t know what to say, she continues, “I don’t want that for you, sweetie.”
Jesus I’ve never heard any of this before. Does Peter know? Isthatwhy he hates them?
Rubbing my aching forehead, I mumble, “What about the Aces, Mom? Are they friends?”
A slow whoosh comes through the phone before I hear a loud thwack and she mutters, although it sounds farther away, “Fuck.”
