Page 116 of Fought and Freed

“No! Please, don’t wake any of them up,” he begged.

She stopped tugging on her jeans. “But I don’t have my license yet.”

“Please, Maddy,” he begged. “You said you’ll always be there for me. I need you.”

She bit her bottom lip. Cody did say she was ready to take her driving test. “Tell me where you are.”

She wrote down the address. “I’ll be there shortly.”

Jace kept the extra keys for his Jeep on a hook by the side door, but it didn’t feel right to leave without telling the guys. If one of them woke up and found her gone, all Hell would break loose.

Why would it matter if she told Jace? Maybe she should just ignore what Grant said and go wake him up.

No, she could do this.

Grant was in trouble, and he was asking for her help.

She put on her shoes, grabbed the extra keys, and walked out to the Jeep while saying a silent prayer that nothing bad would happen.

Once she was behind the wheel, she typed in the address Grant gave her into her phone.

Slowly, she backed down the driveway and pulled out onto the road.

So far, so good.

Headlights flashed through the windshield before a tan sedan passed her. There were two people in the car, and she thought one looked like Ryder.

Had he been home when she left? She had no idea, but if that was him, he’d wake the whole house up. Half of her wanted to turn around and go back home, but she was already out. If she got caught, it might as well happen after she picked Grant up.

Maddy followed the directions her phone gave her, driving away from the town.

What the Hell was Grant up to out here?

As she passed a sign that said Homewood One Mile ahead, the GPS told her to get off at the next exit and turn left.

The houses Maddy passed remind her of the ones around Martinsville, all run down and falling apart. There were a few people out on the street, and they stopped to stare as she drove past.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she gripped the steering wheel tighter. She didn’t like this. Now, she wished she’d woken Jace or Cody.

When the GPS announced that she’d arrived, the road was a dead end.

Instinct told her to turn around and leave.

It was utterly dark, with no streetlights, and none of the houses had their lights on.

Maddy turned the Jeep around and quickly texted Grant that she was there.

In the rearview mirror, a black mass moved, and she caught more movement from the corner of her eye to her left.

Heart pounding, she reached into her pocket for her knife and found it empty.

Shit, she left it at home. She was in deep shit.

She reached out and grabbed her phone, pulling up Cody’s number. Her finger hovered over his name. He was going to be so pissed.

The dark blur on the left raced toward her, and she swore up and down that she’d never do something this stupid again.

“Maddy!” the dark shape yelled. “Open the door!”

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