Page 57 of Make You Mine

I stretch in my seat.

My heart skips a beat. My eyes center on the phone on the passenger seat, the screen lighting up with Maddy’s number.

“What is it?” I mutter, picking up the call.

“Hi, brother.” She giggles.

I raise an eyebrow. “Are you drunk?”

“Mmmm, maybe.” She pauses. “A little.”

“God, Madelyn.”

“Can you pick me up? I was with Hannah, but oopsie doopsie, I told her she could leave.”

“How much did you drink?”

“I don’t know. A couple of glasses.”

“Can you text me your location?”

“Okay.”

My jaw tenses. She’s painfully drunk. At a bar. By herself. Acting reckless and hoping I clean up her mess.

Sometimes, her getting into these situations, making me care for her, feels like payback, and it annoys me, too.

Karma.

“Last time I checked, the definition of stepbrother didn’t mention anything about babysitting.”

“You don’t have to come if you’re going to be an asshole about it,” she says. “I’ll spend the night here, maybe the bartender will take me home or to his home. Either will do.”

“Madelyn. Don’t get anywhere near that guy, you hear me?”

“Why?” she sing-songs. “Are you jealous, Kayden?”

I groan. She’s so stubborn. “Just don’t do it. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

She giggles. “Yes, sir.”

“In fact…” I hesitate before saying this, and landing on it being the best option. “Stay on the line until I get there.”

I have no idea what could happen in fifteen minutes. And if the psycho didn’t do anything yet, knowing Madelyn is there by herself, he might. I don’t know if he’s listening to my conversations or watching me.

I don’t know anything. There’s so much to cover and so little time juggling a day job.

“Alrighty,” Maddy says. “What should I do to entertain you? Do you want me to sing?”

“No.”

“Rap?”

“I don’t think you have it in you.” The thought of my little demon rapping brings a smile to my lips. “Why don’t you tell me about your day?”

“Ugh, boring. But, fine.”

She tells me about how busy her day at work was, how she couldn’t catch a breath. How Hannah and her decided to go for a drink to blow off some steam.