Max grinned wider. “It’s all good. I promise I’m the only one who has access to the camera footage, and I’ll delete all the film from the indoor cameras from the last few days.”
So, he did install cameras in every room. Wait. Even my bedroom?
Jake gritted his teeth. “Why, you…”
“Or should I delete the footage from the outdoor cameras, too, like the footage in the garden?”
Jake drew a deep breath and exhaled. I could tell he was feeling embarrassed, but he was trying to act cool. It was quite cute, actually.
“Just the indoor stuff,” he said.
Max nodded. “Gotcha.”
“And don’t you dare watch it,” Jake warned.
Max put a hand up. “I won’t. I swear.”
He glanced at me as if making the same promise to me. I didn’t really care if he watched, though, as long as he was the only one. The thought of it even excited me a little.
But it wasn’t enough to take my mind off the issue at hand.
I was letting Max go because he was injured, but I was still determined to find out what had really happened to him.
I let the two of them go up the stairs ahead, pretending to go somewhere else while, in fact, I was hiding beneath the staircase. Then I quietly followed them upstairs. I stalked down the hall, and after they entered Max’s room, I quickly but silently sprinted forward to slip my foot in so that the door would be left slightly open and I could hear whatever they talked about.
Surely, now that it was just the two of them, there was no need to hold back any information.
“You can drop the act now,” Jake said, echoing my thoughts. “I know you can walk.”
“Yeah, my leg’s fine,” Max said. “But I really did get stitches on the back of my head and my knuckles still hurt.”
“Yeah, yeah. So, what really happened?”
Max drew a deep breath. “The Devils know who I am, probably because Clyde Roarke told them.”
I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp. Clyde was working with the Devils? Jake had suspected it, but I still couldn’t believe it was true.
My jaw clenched as anger rose in my chest. That Clyde. He just had to pull everyone into the muck with him, didn’t he?
“The Devils challenged me to a dirt race,” Max explained. “They said if I won, they’d leave Black Storm and Lauren alone, but if I lost, then they’d set the time and place for an all-out war. I thought I could protect Lauren and Black Storm so I accepted the challenge, but looking back, I should have known it was a trap.”
I heard him groan in frustration.
“Fuck. I should have known better.”
“What happened at the race?” Jake asked.
“I won,” Max answered. “But the Devils never had any intention of keeping up their end of the bargain. After the race, they picked a fight. It was an all-out brawl between the Devils and Black Storm.”
Oh no. Did that mean the members of Black Storm got hurt?
“Both sides suffered damage,” Max went on. “Harry is in the hospital. So are Gus and Tom. Many more were hurt.”
Including Max. They all got hurt because of me.
The thought made me want to bang my head against the wall in frustration, but I tried to calm myself down. I still wanted to hear the rest of the story, after all.
“And you didn’t think to call me right after it happened?” Jake asked, frustration also in his voice. “You didn’t think to tell me about the race? Wait. You sent me away on purpose, didn’t you?”