Page 3 of Psycho

“I’m okay.” Smiling at her, but it felt more like grimacing. “I’m just tired.”

“What happened?” Dane asked, standing next to the bear and crossing his arms as he stared at me. It didn’t feel like he was asking me, so I just looked away as the big guy stepped in.

“Made my way in through the kitchen entrance. Didn’t take long to find her.” He paused, and I looked back over at him, catching some sort of silent communication between the two men before he went on. “Slipped back out with no one spotting us.”

“So, he doesn’t know she’s gone.” Dane clenched his teeth. “Perfect.”

“What does that mean?” I interrupted, brushing Peyton off as she kept fussing over me. “Damon must know I’m gone by now; I stole his phone to call for help.”

“Either way, he’ll never find you again.” Dane stated plainly, and I tried to let his dominance reassure me. I liked the man, even if he was obviously a few crayons short of a full box. Compared to the bear standing next to him, still staring back at me in that unnerving dark way he had since he stepped out of the shadows, I was sure Dane was the more level-headed one out of the duo.

“So now what?” I asked, letting my body slide off the mattress, hoping like hell Peyton would catch me if my knees buckled. Sure enough, as soon as my weight hit my ankles, they gave out, and I fell into her waiting arms. My big sister was always there to clean up my messes.

“You can’t go home.” Dane stated plainly. “So, you’ll come to Hartington and when you’re ready, you can tell us what the hell you were doing with the Hell Eaters.”

“Dane.” Peyton sighed, deflecting his tone and glaring at him before tilting her head to the side with a sad smile. “I’ve been begging you to visit for months now, anyway. Looks like now you’re stuck indulging me.”

I grimaced again as she wrapped her arm around my back and helped me take a few steps. “Guess so.” Slowly making our way towards the front door, I leaned my head on her shoulder, breathing in her familiar scent. I tried to take in as much of the room as possible, like there’d be some clues to who the bear was. I could tell it was his place, but I didn’t think many people saw the personal space of the man very often.

Dane and the man chatted in hushed tones until we got to the door, and I turned to look back at them before Peyton could usher me out.

“Thank you. Again.” I said, and the burly man’s dark eyes left Dane and looked at me. I couldn’t read the expression behind them at all.

He didn’t speak, but nodded his head once and then just stared as I turned away and let Peyton get me out into the hall.

Why was his silence so loud?

And why was I so freaking intrigued by it?

Chapter 3 – Maddox

“What really happened?” Dane asked me in hushed tones as Peyton led her sister from my apartment.

Why the fuck did watching her leave make me anxious?

“It was a shit show in that place. Looks like Kirst is running a brothel, of sorts.” I sighed, rubbing my hand over my beard as I fought the urge to look back at the door. “I almost wish I had met more resistance on my way in or out, it doesn’t seem right to leave so many hearts still beating after looking at her.”

He took a deep breath and looked at the door, giving me all the freedom I needed to look again myself. “She’s a hacker. I’ve tried keeping tabs on her but—” He faded off.

“But you’re busy with your perfect wife and too busy to take care of her sister.” I finished for him. It wasn’t like he was in the wrong for not watching over Olivia, but it also burned something inside of me to know she essentially fell through the cracks.

Too many innocent people fall through the cracks.

“That makes me feel—” He tightened his lips, and his shoulders deflated, “guilty.”

“Not used to that, are you?” I rolled my eyes and walked over to the kitchen, taking a bottle of water out of the fridge and drinking it all down.

“No, to be honest. I’ve never fucking cared about anyone but P, ever before. And for the most part, Olivia makes it easy on us by only dealing in small time shit, even if she is really fucking good at it.”

“Until now, though. We both know the Hell Eaters are bad news.”

“Which makes me wonder what the hell she was doing for them that they suddenly believed she was disposable.”

I flashed back to finding Olivia curled up in a ball on the floor of that dark storeroom, huddled around herself and how she curled around herself again in my bed when she came to. “I don’t think they did. If Kirst wanted her dead, he would have just done it.”

“You think he was keeping her alive for some reason?” Dane’s eyes squinted in speculation.

“I think there’s more to it than what we know so far.”

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