Page 81 of My Brother's Best Friend

“That’s what I’m going to do, sir.” I squeezed him one last time and headed out the doors, jogging to my car. I could barely hold in my excitement, so as soon as I slipped into the car, I called her.

No answer.

I called again as I drove to my house to dump my belongings and shower before seeing her.

Nothing.

When I pulled up my driveway, both Maddie and Oliver stood there, yelling at each other, while my parents stared at them from the open garage. They all stopped and glanced over at me as I parked.

I grabbed my hockey gear and hopped out of the car. “What’s going on here?”

Nobody said a word.

“Maddie?” I said, dragging a hand around her waist.

She pulled me in for a long, hard kiss in front of my parents and her brother. She had been so against kissing in front of anyone, especially her brother, so why was she doing this? Right here and right now?

After kissing her, I pulled away and looked between them. “What happened?”

“I think that—” Maddie started.

“Nothing happened,” Oliver growled.

“Shut the fuck up, Oliver,” she said, snapping her gaze toward him.

My eyes widened slightly. Maddie had sworn in front of me many times before, but she usually stayed quiet in front of parents and teachers. Something terrible must’ve happened tonight. Maybe I could tell if I looked at the security cameras.

“I need to talk to Oliver alone,” Maddie said. “I have had a long night.”

I grabbed her hands and forced her to stare at me. “What happened?”

“Carter happened, and then …” She looked over at my parents and brother. “Them.”

“Carter happened?” I repeated, balling my hands into fists. “What the fuck did he do?”

If he had laid a damn hand on Maddie tonight, I would show up at his house and kick the living shit out of him. He had threatened me during school, and I couldn’t fight back. But he couldn’t threaten my girl. No fucking way would I let that slide.

“Oh”—she laughed emptily—“more like what happened to him.”

My gaze drifted to my dad.Did he do something to Carter? Did someone find out?

“What happened?” I asked again.

“Redwood’s Girl Gang happened,” she said, ushering me into the garage. “Go rest.”

Redwood’s Girl Gang? Who the hell is?—

I dropped my gaze to Maddie’s knuckles to see the bruises. “Maddie, are you serious?”

“Alec,” she said, snapping her hands around Oliver’s wrist, “I don’t have time to explain.”

Oliver yanked himself away from her, sending her to the ground.

I dropped all my hockey gear and ran over to her, standing in front of her and slamming my hands into his chest. “Don’t touch her, you fucking prick.”

“She was the one touching me,” he said.

Maddie scrambled to her feet. “Because you’re fucking Alec’s mom!”

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