Page 31 of Fought and Freed

Jace turned to Maddy. “How do you feel about everything Lucca said?”

Her smile faded. “I feel bad that I upset him by saying the money was tainted. I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did. But with everything that just happened, I want nothing to do with drugs or the money that comes from them. It bothers me.”

“It’s completely understandable that it would upset you. Here is my opinion on it, if you don’t mind?” Jace asked.

She turned toward him on the couch. “No, please go ahead.”

He swallowed before he started. “As bad as it sounds, there will always be drugs out there. The government and law enforcement have been trying to stop it for years, to no avail. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but at least with Lucca, he tries to keep the truly dangerous drugs out of town.”

He held Maddy’s gaze. “But if someone wants those drugs, they’ll find a way to get them. At least with Lucca, he also tries to put something good back out in the community. I love his idea of Ryan’s Place.”

She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. “I do, too.”

Skylar did a jig while sitting on the couch. “We got a lot to do in the next few days. I still can’t believe we’re flying to California.”

Maddy straightened with a brilliant smile on her face. “How close is it to a beach?”

“I’m not sure. Let me look it up.” Jace jumped up and ran upstairs to the room he shared with Skylar.

He came back down with his tablet.

Cody resumed his seat on the couch. “How many days do you want to stay?”

She shrugged.

Jace pulled up the information for where they’d be staying. “We’ll be about an hour away from the beach, so let’s figure this out. Lucca said we’ll be leaving Friday. It’s a four-hour flight, and we’ll be too tired to do anything much that day, maybe just something locally.”

He pulled up a calendar. “Saturday will be New Year’s Eve. I’m sure there will be a ball drop party we can go to. The next day is the Rose Parade, which I don’t want to miss, then Lucca’s game.” He looked up at everyone. “We can make a weekend out of it or longer.”

Maddy glanced at the books on the table. “I need to give myself enough time to finish my homework before school starts.”

Jace double-checked his calendar. “School starts back up on Monday, January sixteenth.”

“Let’s stay till Wednesday, then. I’ll have to buckle down once I come home. How does that sound?” She glanced at all of them. “Can you do that with your schedules?”

Skylar hesitated for a second. “I got vacation time I can use, but we’re forgetting something very important. Maddy, you just came out of rehab, and you’re still going to NA meetings. Stability is an important step to recovery.”

“Shit, he’s right!” Jace smacked his forehead. “How could we forget about that?”

Skylar frowned. “Well, it was a nice thought while it lasted.”

“No, we’re going,” Maddy said firmly. “I won’t let that asshole take another thing away from me.”

She turned to Jace. “See if you can find any NA meetings around where we’ll be staying.”

Jace quickly typed on his tablet. “Found one. It’s right down the street at a church.”

“See? I can still attend meetings even while we’re in California.” She leaned over and kissed Skylar on the cheek. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

His cheek bunched beneath her lips as he smiled. “I always will.”

“Well, that’s settled.” Jace grinned and set his tablet down before turning to Maddy. “What do you want to do today?”

“Relax. If I have to go shopping tomorrow, I want to cuddle up and watch a movie with you all until it’s time to go to NA—” She blanched. “Shit, Grant! I completely forgot about him. I can’t leave Grant here by himself.”

“Why the Hell not?” Cody scowled. “He’s not a child, he’s an adult. He can take care of himself.”

She tilted her head, giving Cody a frown. “He has no one to help him.”

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