Page 94 of My Brother's Best Friend

MADDIE

“Maddie, please calm down,” Vera said beside me, clutching my hand.

We sat in the back of Imani’s car, next to Sakura and Nicole, with Imani and Allie up front. My knees bounced uncontrollably, heart racing. I didn’t knowhowVera could tell me to calm down right now. Piper was at Spencer’s!What if he does something to her?!

Now, he had my brother and my best friend.

When we pulled onto his street, my stomach dropped.

“Why is Alec’s car here?!” I exclaimed, staring out the window in horror.

Vera tensed.

Alec and Blaise both hadn’t been answering any of our messages for the past hour that we had been scrambling to get our asses up here, and my stomach was in my throat.

What if … what if Spencer kills them?!

Tears trembled in my eyes. I would never forgive myself.

As soon as Imani pulled up to the curb, I leaped out of the car and sprinted toward the front door. Adrenaline rushed through my system. And suddenly, someone’s arms wrapped around my torso and threw me down.

I screamed and twisted in their hold to see Vera on top of me. “What are you doing?!”

“What areyoudoing?!” she whisper-yelled back at me. “Running into Spencer’s house without a plan and without us? We don’t know what he is up to there or who he is with. I’m scared, too, but if he takes us … nobody will save us.”

“We have to go in there, Vera,” I cried through the tears and snot. “He has them!”

“I know,” Vera said. “But we need a plan.”

“We have a plan,” I said, scrambling to my feet. “Kick his ass.”

“What if he’s in there with other people?” Vera said, clutching my elbow so I would stay rooted to the spot with her and digging her fingers into my flesh. She looked over her shoulder and at the dark house. “If he has all of them, he’s working with someone.”

“Or more than one person,” Allie called.

Nicole, Imani, Allie, and Sakura hurried onto the grass, each armed with some kind of equipment that we had found in Mr. Avery’s garage when picking up Sakura. Nicole held a battery-run pressure washer and tossed me a baseball bat.

“More than likely multiple people,” Imani said.

“Well, we can’t just stand here!” I reasoned, pointing the bat at the door.

“There aren’t any cars in the drive?—”

“I’ll give you fucking anything,” Oliver said, his voice drifting through the cracked window. “Let Alec go. Don’t do this to him, Spencer. You’re sick if you do, especially if you show Maddie. Do you think she’ll ever love you?”

Show me what?

I waited and waited and waited, but there was no response from Spencer.

“Stop!” Alec cried from inside the house. “Please!”

Deciding that I couldn’t wait any longer, I clutched the bat and stormed to the front door. My eyes stung, but I let the tears fall and continued marching up the walkway until I slammed my foot into the door.

“I will kill you, Spencer!” I screamed from outside, kicking the door again. “Fucking murder you if you lay a fucking finger on Alec.”Kick. “I swear to God, I don’t care if they throw me into prison for?—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Imani hurled a rock right through the front window. As glass shattered everywhere, Allie jumped through the now-broken window and opened the front door for us. And then I ran into the room to save my man.

CHAPTER59

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