Page 11 of Fought and Freed

“I guess. I barely see them.” The words sent alarm bells through Maddy, but he turned the conversation before she asked more questions. “So, you’re almost done, right?”

“Yep, in two days.” Maddy tried to tamp down her concern. “I can’t wait to see you all again. I miss you so much.”

“I miss you, too—”

“Hey, Ryder, get your ass out here now,” said an unfamiliar male voice.

A rustling sound came through the speaker, followed by mumbling.

“I’m sorry, Silk, I have to go,” Ryder said when he came back to her. “We’ll spend the day together when you get back.”

“Sounds good.” She didn’t even get to say goodbye before he hung up.

Something was going on with him. He wasn’t acting like himself. She hoped he wasn’t in any trouble.

She dialed Cody’s phone.

“Merry Christmas, Maddy,” he said by way of greeting, while music and laughter sounded in the background. “Give me a minute to grab Jace and Skylar, and we’ll go somewhere quiet.”

“All right.” Maddy heard him talking to the others, then explaining to his mom.

“Remind her not to worry,” his mom called out. “There will be many more Christmases when you all can celebrate together!”

The words brought a smile to Maddy’s face, and she was glad Grant hadn’t let her wallow in her room alone all day.

“You there, Maddy?” Cody asked. “I have you on speakerphone.”

“I’m here.” She picked at her blanket. “Did you have a good Christmas with your family?”

“It was nice. Missed you, though,” Skylar said. “Ow! Why did you hit me?”

“I hit you because she’s already upset that she’s not here with us, and you had to go and bring it up,” Cody nagged.

“It’s fine, Cody,” she rushed to reassure him. “Yes, I wish I was there, but I’m where I need to be. Plus, like your mom said, there will be many more holidays for us to be together.”

The phone let out a beeping noise, and Maddy pulled it away from her ear to check it.

Shit, it was dying, and she didn’t have a charger.

“My phone is dying,” she rushed to tell them. “I’m not sure how much longer I have.”

“We’ll talk until it dies,” Cody assured her. “What did you do all day?”

Maddy told them how she spent all day in the art room working on a project while Grant made her laugh with his dancing. Then, she described the dry turkey Sunny Days served for the holiday and the apple pie dessert.

She spoke to the guys for nearly half an hour before her phone died.

As she set the phone on her nightstand, Maddy felt guilty. She should have left some battery life to call her brother. Lucca was having dinner at Torr’s house, but she still wanted to text him Merry Christmas.

With no way to fix that, though, she curled up in bed to watch holiday movies until she fell asleep.

* * *

Maddy stood on the heated covered patio and watched the snowfall. She hadn’t been sure it would snow in Georgia, but it started right after Christmas.

Her time was finally up at Sunny Days Rehab Center.

She desperately missed the guys. It had been a month since she touched one of them, or been touched by them, but the wait would soon be over.

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