“We need to get more information about what’s going on,” I say. “She needs to give us answers.
Right as I say it, my mom’s voice drifts across the room at the bottom of the stairway.
River and I exchange a look.
“Let’s go get some answers.” He starts for the stairs.
I trail after him, hoping that answers await for us downstairs, but I have this horrible feeling we’ve barely gotten into all the secrets that surround our broken, screwed up family.
CHAPTER 31
MADDISON
I’m sittingon the bed in my aunt Ellie’s guestroom. She told me to wait here while she cleans up. I’m not sure what she’s cleaning, but after seeing her with blood all over her shirt and face, I’m guessing she’s taking a shower and changing her clothes. I don’t know where the blood came from. I heard gunshots earlier, but I’m pretty sure my aunt doesn’t have a gun.
Then again, she lives on the outskirts of northside, so she might, since most citizens that live here do. It’s dangerous. I know because I grew up in danger. I’ve seen dark things, dead bodies, people at their worst. But seeing my aunt with blood on her clothes… It kind of scared me.
I should stay put because of that, but it’s been at least an hour since she told me to stay here. I’m getting restless.
Finally, after another ten minutes go by, I hop off the bed, pad across the room, and open the door.
“Are you sure you got it all off of you?” my aunt asks. “It’s important.”
“I know that. You don’t think I understand that all traces have to be cleaned up?” The voice belongs to a guy who sounds young, but I can’t quite place his age.
Confused, I step out of the room and into the hallway that leads to the living room, where the conversation is happening.
“What are you even going to tell him?” my aunt says with a sigh.
“He only sent me here to scope out a possible lead. He doesn’t know anything about it other than that,” the guy says. “So I’ll tell him it was a dead end. That we got jumped. That his men set it up. He trusts me because he thinks I can’t think for myself.”
I walk down the hallway and step into the living room. My aunt and a guy a couple of years older than me are sitting at the dining room table to my left. I’ve never seen the guy before, but he looks rough, even compared to northsiders. He has short brown hair, a symbol-like tattoo on his neck, and his knuckles are scraped raw. He has a mug in front of him and is frowning as he stares at the floor. My aunt is sitting across from him, and she’s changed her clothes, and her face is no longer bloody.
“I’m sorry that’s how it is for you,” she tells the guy. “I don’t think…” She trails off as she spots me. “Maddy, I thought I told you to stay in the room.”
The guy’s gaze welds with mine, and I’ve never seen someone with such sadness flowing off them, which is saying a lot considering how many broken people I see on a daily basis.
“It’s been like an hour,” I reply to my aunt Ellie. “What’s going on?”
My aunt nervously glances at the guy and then at me. “Maddy, I really need you to go into the room.”
“Hard pass,” I tell her, knowing I’m being a brat, but at the same time, she’s acting as sketchy as my parents. “Who are you?” I ask the guy.
“Aiden,” the guy replies, his gaze dissecting me.
I walk over to the table and point at his knuckles. “Who did you beat up?”
“Some bad people,” he responds, never looking away from me.
“Oh, that’s cool then, I guess.” I note blood spots on the floor. “Is that where the blood came from?”
“Yeah.” He’s still staring at me like I’m a complex puzzle he can’t quite figure out.
I do have that effect on people. “I’m Maddy. Or well, Maddison.” I stick out my hand to shake his.
He stares at my hand like he’s never seen one before.
I’m about to lower it when he shakes it.
