ALEC
“I can’t believe we just left the girls at João’s,” I mumbled, turning down a road.
We had been driving for the past thirty minutes to Spencer’s house, which wasn’t in Redwood anymore. And the longer I drove, the tighter my stomach twisted into knots. Maybe I should’ve let Poison do this shit. Maybe we had gotten a little ahead of ourselves.
Blaise was tough and could kick anyone’s ass, but he wasn’t Poison. He was one guy who had mostly kept to himself, and for some reason, he wanted to hurt Spencer. He didn’t have the experience that Poison did.
“They’ll be fine,” Blaise said. “As much as I don’t like that asshole, he’ll protect Vera and Maddie if something happens. Besides, we have more important shit to do than listen to them talk about giving Poison millions of dollars.”
After turning onto Franklin Street, I ran a hand through my hair. I had to go see the Glaciers this weekend, and I didn’t want us to miss it. Maddie wouldn’t even think about going if Spencer still had her brother hostage. We needed to find him.
And while Blaise might’ve been right, I had acted on pure emotion. I should’ve waited a bit—or at least told Maddie that we were going out on a drive. Instead, I had gotten too psyched up to kick Spencer’s ass and find Oliver for her that I just left.
“You gonna chicken out on me?” Blaise asked from the passenger seat.
My palms were sweating against the leather steering wheel. “No.”
“Good,” Blaise said, staring out his window and nodding. “It’s right up here.”
Bile rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down and parked on the street a couple of houses down from Spencer’s new place, which was more luxurious than his old home in Redwood. But his parents were broke as shit after they had to move, so I wasn’t sure why he lived here.
“What’d Spencer do to you?” I asked, mouth dry.
“Pulled Vera’s hair in freshman year.”
Nearly choking on my own spit, I peered over at him. “You want to kick his ass for pulling her hair, even when you weren’t dating, when you used to make fun of her? That’s why you wanted to come out with me?!”
While I really didn’t know Vera, I had seen her many times with Maddie, growing up. And I had heard more than one story about Blaise being a dick to both of them. I had been a dick too, but …
“Maddie wasn’t your girl the last time you kicked Spencer’s ass, but you did it for her.”
He had a point.
I stared out the window at the house and tried to remember the plan again. Blaise had explained it twice on the drive over, but I hadn’t been able to think clearly. Either I was worrying about Maddie, my parents, Oliver, or kicking Spencer’s ass.
Not how we’d actually do it.
“You good?” Blaise asked, standing outside of the car and looking in through the open door.
“Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat and stepping out of the car, my stomach in knots.
We walked right up the sidewalk to his front steps and knocked on the front door. My mind was so cloudy with regret and … with the thought of how stupid this was, but there wasn’t any turning back now.
Not after I had just knocked.
Especially not when Spencer was opening the front door.
“I didn’t think you’d actually show up,” Spencer said, smirking at me.
I balled my hands into fists. “Where’s—”
“Knock, knock, motherfucker,” Blaise said, slamming open the door.
When Spencer stumbled back, Blaise stepped into the house and grabbed a diamond lamp sitting on a side table. Blaise swung the lamp right at his head, sending him flying backward and into his parents’ bookcase. Books flew across the wooden floorboards. Spencer scrambled to his feet, hurling his fist back toward Blaise.
But Blaise sidestepped him, grabbed him by the jacket, and slammed his head into a glass window so hard that the thick glass cracked. “That’s for bullying Vera Rodriguez freshman year, you piece of shit.”
“I didn’t bully her, prick,” Spencer spit, grasping his head.
While I fought during games, I didn’t like it outside of the rink. And besides, before Blaise killed the guy, we needed to at least find out where Maddie’s brother and my—ex?—best friend was being held. I wanted to be logical. Then, I wouldn’t feel so bad about kicking the shit out of Spencer.
“Where’s Oliver?” I asked.
“Probably fucking your mom,” Spencer growled as Blaise hurled the lamp at him.
Spencer ducked out of the way, letting the lamp hit the wall behind him and shatter to pieces. I glared at him, not letting him get the best of my emotions. He knew how to play the manipulative game.
But how had he known about my mother and Oliver? Had Oliver told him?
“Where is he?” I repeated through gritted teeth.
“Doesn’t matter.” Spencer smirked, the scent of wildflowers drifting through my nose from behind. “You’re here, which means Maddie’s now mine.”
My stomach twisted, heart racing. Something didn’t seem right.
So, I twirled around just in time to catch sight of locks of blonde hair before the person swung a bat at my head. My vision blurred for a moment, and then suddenly, everything went dark. Blaise shouted in the distance, but then his body hit the ground beside me.