Page 103 of Kade

Max: Something happened between your dad and Moreaux’s dad?

Maddy: See? Right there. Why don’t you use his nickname? He told you to use it. Traine. It’s not hard to say.

Max: Haha. Tell me what else happened. I’m almost out of here.

Maddy: You’re at the fighting shed?

Max: No. House party in Roussou. Fighting shed got axed tonight. Don’t know why.

Maddy: I forget you know people there.

Max: Maddy! Keep telling me what’s going on.

Maddy: I will if you promise to start using Traine’s nickname. I thought you were okay with them.

Max: I’m never going to be okay with three guys you hang out with at school when I’m not there. And don’t think they wouldn’t fuck you if you gave them a nod. But yeah, for guys, they’re not that bad.

Maddy: That’s so confusing.

Max: Don’t worry about it, my little sociopath.

Maddy: You certainly know how to talk to me.

Max: FFS. Finish the other stuff. Also, where am I going to get you?

Maddy: I’m at the house. We got back after the game and it was weird. Really weird. My dad—I’ve heard stories about him. I know he and Mom did things back in the day, with Uncle Logan. Like, crazy things, but they’ve all just been stories. They weren’t real because my dad is my dad. He’s a softie. NOT TONIGHT!

Max: what happened???? You’re driving me nuts. Your dad didn’t hurt you, did he?

Maddy: OH MY GOD, NO! GROSS. DISGUSTING. WHO ARE YOU? DO YOU NOT EVEN KNOW ME?

Max: Maddy. You’re scaring me. Ihaveseen that side of your dad. I see that side of my own dad all thetime. They did crazy and illegal shit back in the day. I fully believe it. I don’t know why you don’t.

Maddy: Well, excuuuuuuuse me, Mr. my dad is a bounty hunter and guns down criminals every day. He wears a gun. Yeah. You’ve seen more, but my dad wears tights and a helmet for a living. Or used to.

Max: Thinking a football uniform is not exactly the same thing as tights. And my dad doesn’t gun down criminals. They use tasers.

Maddy: He still wears a gun. Every day. And close enough. Like any daughter wants to see that? Whoever’s thinking up the football uniform doesn’t consider the daughters’s POV.

Max: Thinking they are, just not the daughters of the players. Get back to the story. What happened when you got home? I’m in the truck. Heading to Fallen Crest.

Maddy: Thank God. They’re almost out of here.

Max: Who is?

Maddy: Anyway, so we got back and my dad started asking me all these questions about Traine, Axe, and Steele. And he was not looking happy.

Max: What was he asking about?

Maddy: What do I know about them? Have I been hanging out with them since my dad crashed their party? Has Traine mentioned anything about his dad? If I was at the house, was I ever there when his dad was around? But it’s not really what he was saying, it was how he was saying it.

Max: How was he saying it?

I stared at the last text, but I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t explain. It was a feeling and a look in his eyes. The way my dad was my normal doting dad, but there was an undercurrent.Like an aftertaste. Remembering it, I shivered, my stomach clenching.

My phone rang.

Future Husband Calling.

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