ALEC
“That girl is no good,” Mom said.
“That girl’s name is Maddie,” I snarled, stomping up the stairs. “And I love her.”
“All she does is make up lies to make us look bad,” Mom said.
Dad stood next to her, rubbing the lines in his forehead. “Just stop.”
“No!” Mom exclaimed. “She’s turning our son against us.”
“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses,” I growled, slamming my bedroom door and locking it so that my parents—who had been trying to calm me down for the past half hour—wouldn’t barge into the room.
After slumping down on the bed, I pulled out my phone and opened an email from the Glaciers.
Dear Alec,
It was great meeting you at practice. We spoke about bringing you out to watch practice this spring, but we chatted about it on our way to the airport and would love to invite you and your family out to watch practice and a game next weekend. All expenses paid.
What do you think?
Jeremy
I grinned and stared at the email, typing a response that I would love to bring Maddie this weekend. It would be great for us to get away from Redwood Academy a bit. Between everything going on, we both needed it.
As soon as I sent the message, Maddie’s name popped up on my phone.
“Alec!” Maddie sobbed on the other end, screaming and crying.
“Maddie, what’s going on?” I asked, hopping off my bed and grabbing my keys.
“S-S-Spencer …”
My stomach dropped, and I sprinted out of my bedroom, down the stairs, and to my car without informing those stupid idiots about where I was headed. They didn’t deserve it. I slammed my door shut and started the car.
“What happened?” I asked, squealing out the driveway. “Where are you?”
“He took Oliver!” she sobbed. “He took him.”
“Where are you?” I repeated, heading in the direction of her house.
She had been on her way home to find Oliver, right?
“B-by the school.”
After speeding through nearly every Stop sign, I hit the brakes and parked the car when I saw flashing police lights. I grabbed my keys and sprinted to the scene, where Maddie paced on the phone with someone, bursting out into tears.
“Maddie!” I called.
She snapped her gaze to mine and ran over, throwing her arms around my shoulders and sobbing into the crook of my neck. “Alec”—she sniffled, snot everywhere—“h-h-he’s g-g-gone. He’s gone!”
“What happened?” I asked, glancing past her at the police checking out Oliver’s car.
It had been parked diagonally in the middle of the street with the car door wide open. Officers walked back and forth from their cars to the Oliver’s, chatting quietly with one another and shaking their heads.
“Oliver wasn’t home, so I drove around Redwood to find him. I s-saw his car p-parked here, and I got out to move it off the road. A-and he was nowhere to be found.” Tears streamed down her face, and she gripped my jacket in her fists. “Alec …”
“How do you know it was Spencer?”
“B-because he left a note,” she said. “I gave it to the police chief.”
A couple officers walked over to us. “Ma’am …”
“Yes,” Maddie said, picking her head up from my shoulder. “What’s wrong? How can—”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like your brother has been kidnapped,” he started.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “He wouldn’t just park his car in the middle of the road.”
The other officer shook his head. “That’s what it seems like to us. We’re going to move it off the road and give you the keys, but there is nothing else we can do at the moment for you. We apologize—”
“What the fuck do you mean?!” Maddie exclaimed. “You have the note that Spencer left!”
“Ma’am, you didn’t provide us with any note.”
“I gave it to your boss,” she said.
“He doesn’t have one,” the officer said, walking back to Oliver’s car.
“You can’t do this!” she screamed at the officers. “My brother has been taken by a psychotic piece of shit, and you’re just leaving?! Do your fucking job and help him! Find him! Stop being the dickhead Redwood officers you are and be useful for once!”
“Maddie,” I whispered, holding her back.
“How much did he pay you?” Maddie screamed.
“Maddie,” I scolded quietly, “stop it.”
“We all know you fuckers don’t do anything without getting pai—”
I slapped my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Everyone knew that the Redwood Police were corrupt. We had seen instances of it about a million times in the past four months of school, but nobody dared say it out loud.
“Do you want to be next?” I whisper-yelled, dragging her back to her car and smiling at the officers so they wouldn’t hurt her. “Don’t worry, Officers. She knows you’re just doing your job to the best of your abilities.”
Maddie slithered out of my hold and sprinted at them. “You are fucking li—”
Before she could get halfway there, I seized her waist and threw her over my shoulder, holding on to her body as tightly as I could so she wouldn’t escape again. And then I walked all the way to the football field at Redwood Academy, a few blocks away, with her in my arms.
“Let me down!” she shouted, banging on my back. “They took my brother!”
“I know,” I whispered.
“They took my brother,” she cried, her voice beginning to tremble. “They took him.”
“I know,” I repeated. “I know they did.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she sobbed, her body shaking violently now.
“Because I don’t want them to take you too,” I said, holding on to her tighter because I fucking loved her and I never wanted to see her cry.
She had held me this tightly when I needed it the most, and I had promised myself that I would be there when she needed me.
“Alec”—she sniffled—“what if … what if Spencer kills him?”
“Spencer isn’t going to kill him.”
Though, as the words left my mouth, they sounded like one big, fat lie. Spencer was unhinged and would do whatever it took to take Maddie back. If he had to kill Oliver to get Maddie in a vulnerable state, then he would.
He knew that Maddie would do anything to find Oliver.
Anything.
Even drive to his house in a rage, all by herself, to rescue him.
“We’ll find him,” I murmured. “I promise.”