“It appears you and I have much to talk about.”
Chapter Nine
Hazel
Despite not wanting to talk about the past with Maddie, it needed to be done. I wanted him gone, but that desire wouldn’t be manifesting anytime soon. For the time being, he would remain as my bodyguard no matter what I did. It might be a good thing to clear the air between us. He didn’t need to know all my deep secrets, but we both deserved some sort of closure. We also needed to talk about my powers and his silence on them.
“OK.” I sipped the water to soothe my scratchy throat. He rose to sit on the opposite side of the couch, taking up way more space than I wanted.
“I don’t even know where to start.” The admission thickened the tension in the air, and someone needed to break it down.
“I’m sorry I left you.”
I nodded, unsure what to say. Did I forgive him for it? Not really. His apology held no explanation as to why he left me like he did.
“Why?” We were adults now and avoiding the tough questions seemed childish. I wanted to know the answer, I’d wanted to hear him tell me why for years. Back in our youth, Maddie didn’t talk much. He had kept to himself besides hanging out with me. His stubbornness rivaled mine in every way, and he always told the truth. Even when it got him in trouble or beaten, the Maddie I knew never lied. Had those traits of the white knight I knew changed?
“To protect you.” His unrelenting stare glued me to the couch, daring me to understand unspoken words.
“You left me to protect me?” What a load of crap. Anger burned my cheeks with the threat of my emotions boiling over. I scoffed and turned away from his face.
“I turned sixteen two days before you did and came into my powers. Without control over them, you might have died.”
I probed his expression for any hint of a lie.
“What power?”
The air inside the house swirled. Notebook pages sitting by the window rattled, and my hair whipped around my face. He controlled air. “You took the air from my lungs; it wasn’t panic from my memories. You did it.” My accusation came out harsher than I wanted.
“I did. What memories caused your panic attack?”
He moved on to the next question like he hadn’t just flipped my whole world upside down. He left me to protect me from his own uncontrollable powers, the type of powers that teetered on a dangerous line. On one hand a little breeze never hurt anyone, but no air killed people. Tornados and heavy wind storms each had the possibility of horrid destruction, which Maddox held the power to control.
“You can’t just drop that on me and want to know my secrets. You control air. That’s a big deal.”
“Almost as cool as controlling plants. Makes sense you’d have that gift. You always loved nature.”
Again, we danced around the deep waters of our issues. Neither of us wanted to drop our armor and dive deeper. I’d been to therapy. I’d worked on myself, and I knew what we were doing wasn’t positive behavior. It wouldn’t get us anywhere, and we needed some momentum.
“Fine.” I metaphorically shed part of my armor and divulged some of my pain for both of our sakes. He didn’t deserve the information, but I chose to use my voice for my own inner peace. Hopefully, after the tales were told we’d move forward, and I’d let my issues go with him.
“On my sixteenth birthday, Mrs. Brady, the music teacher, gave me a guitar as a gift. I ran home to tell you and couldn’t find you. Deep down I think I knew you left, but I didn’t believe it. I went to our fort and thought I saw you, but it was Jarrod instead.”
Maddox’s still body somehow managed to become more statue-like. Wind picked up in the room, and I reached over to place my hand over his. Our powers responded to our emotions. He knew Jarrod and probably knew the story’s direction. His gaze shifted to my hand touching his, then back up to my face.
“He told me you left, gave me the necklace you made for my birthday, then he and two other boys attempted to have their way with me. I came into my powers then. I grew thorns all over my body, then turned the vines on them.” I smiled, thinking about the threats I spoke to them on the day I became a little badass Hazel.
“In the kitchen just now, it didn’t go too far, but my emotions got the best of me. Fear about you discovering my powers. telling the world, and ruining my life brought up emotions I’d only felt that other time with Jarrod.”
The wind in the room died, like a fan turned off. Realizing my hand still rested on his, I quickly removed it.
“You don’t need to fear me.”
Somewhere inside my head, I knew he’d keep my secret, especially since he held secrets of his own.
“Your turn. Lay it out there, big boy.” Instant regret flooded my cheeks from the attempt to lighten the mood. He scoffed it off and leaned back against the cushions.
“I almost killed a boy down the street from that house on my birthday. I took the air right out of him and didn’t know how to give it back. I ended up creating a tornado that swept me away from the scene. He lived after I got far enough away.”
