Page 105 of Fought and Freed

“Five pm.” Jace handed Maddy her phone. “You slept for about two hours.”

“I’m going to go call Torr back in my room.” Maddy walked into her room as she dialed.

“Maddy,” Torr answered, her voice thick like she’d been crying.

Alarm shot through Maddy. “What’s going on?”

“He dumped me.” She started bawling.

Did she hear that right? What the hell was her brother doing?

“What?” Maddy demanded. “Why?”

“He said it wasn’t working out for him. Something about the draft and him moving. What did I do wrong? I love him, Maddy,” she cried.

“You did nothing wrong.” Maddy steamed, furious with her brother. “Something crawled up his butt.”

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Torr sobbed. “He’s so out of my league.”

Every word she said against herself made Maddy madder. She had a gut feeling about what was behind this, too. “Torr, do you want me to come over?”

“No.” She tried to muffle her crying. “I want to be alone.”

“You’re too good for him.” Maddy’s fists clenched. “If he doesn’t see that, then he’s not the man for you.”

“Thanks, Maddy.” Torr’s voice broke. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Maddy was going to kick her brother’s ass.

She stormed down the stairs.

As Maddy grabbed her coat, Cody jumped up from the couch. “What’s wrong?”

She slammed her arms into the coat sleeves. “I need one of you to drive me to the football house.”

“Oh, somebody’s going to kick their brother’s ass,” Jace sang.

“Yes.” Maddy yanked the zipper up. “And I’d rather you come with me, Jace.”

“Aww,” Cody pouted.

Maddy put up her hand. “This is between my brother and me. I know you won’t let me go in there alone, Cody.”

Jace smiled. “This should be fun.”

“Cody, can you check on Ryder in a half hour? It should be time for him to get more cough medicine then.” Maddy headed for the side door. “And see if you can get him to eat some soup.”

She walked outside, and Jace had to run to keep up with her.

She climbed into the Jeep as Jace hopped behind the wheel.

He backed out of the driveway. “Baby girl, shouldn’t you calm down before you talk to your brother?”

“Nope.” Fury simmered through Maddy. “He hurt my best friend.”

Jace didn’t say anything else the rest of the way.

A few minutes later, he put the Jeep into park in front of the football house and looked at her. “I’ll be here if you need me, baby.”

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