Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
He shook his head, his eyes going bleak. “I don’t want him to know. Please.” Fear flashed in his eyes. “I—you don’t get it. My parents don’t care. You’ve got no idea what that’s like—”
All he had were his friends. A crack tore through my middle.
I said, quietly, “I do, actually.”
His eyebrows pinched together, and whatever he read in me, some of the bitterness faded. He blinked a few times before looking away. “Yeah. Okay. Whatever. Just… I’m eighteen. I’m asking you not to contact them. Trust me. I’ve been living at Bell’s for a reason. Phillip’s an abusive fuckface, but it’s still better than dealing with my parents.”
Okay. Noted. We’d be looking into his parents.
I turned to the last one, Steele Manning.
He’d been skittish around me, but Maddy had snorted, calling him out. “Dude, stop gawking at my mom. You’re totally fanboying.”
He’d gotten red in the face and jerked his eyes away. He paled now as he saw me heading his way. He shoved out of his chair, indicating behind me. “They’re done.”
He was right.
Brett had returned with Beltraine. A nurse had come with him and she looked around the room.
“I need to talk to Samantha Kade?” she said.
I started her way. Beltraine stood with her, an arm wrapped tight around his middle. He held a bag in his other hand.
“He requested for your name to be put on his medical file,” the nurse told me. “He also removed his parents’s names.”
He raised his chin. “I’m eighteen. I can do that shit.”
Her eyes flared. “Either way, he’s insistent this was all just an extra physical training session after their football game. For the most part, he’s severely dehydrated. He needs rest. A lot of rest. We hooked him up to an IV to start replenishing some of his nutrients, but going forward I’d recommend a service where they bring an IV to your home.” She paused, studying the other boys. Her eyes narrowed on Maddy, who beamed at her, then returned to me. She gestured to Axel. “That one looks like he could see a doctor.”
Axel shook his head, faking a yawn while somehow smirking at the same time. “I’m all good. Nothing a few bags of frozen peas can’t fix.”
His eyes moved to me. He had a mask in place. How many times had he shown that to an adult? How many times had no one looked past it?
I saw through it, and his eyes narrowed, staying on me.
The nurse sighed. “He has a right to refuse medical care, but it would be a good idea to get him checked out.” As she spoke, the hospital’s doors slid open and Channing walked in. The nurse’s eyes widened, and comprehension clicked.
“It’s like you know who my husband is,” Heather said dryly.
The nurse’s mouth lifted in a slight grin. “Maybe. Or I might know the wife of one of his employees.” The two shared a look before the nurse got back to business. “Beltraine instructed me that if I needed to talk to an adult besides him, you were that person.”
Axel held up a hand. “I’d like to make that change too.”
She let out a soft sigh. “Why am I not surprised?” She eyed Steele. “And you?”
He straightened up but shook his head. “I’m good.”
“Well, okay then,” the nurse said. “Then they’re all yours.”
Beltraine swaggered past us, going over to Axel and Steele. Max and Maddy also sat in that part of the waiting area. Brett was by me. He glanced down at his phone, a heavy frown on his face. “What’s your plan?”
I thought he was speaking to the phone for a minute until his eyes lifted to me.
“I’m taking ’em home,” I said immediately. Without question.
His eyebrows rose. “All of them?”
I nodded. “Except Max, but yes. Those three. I don’t trust the adults in their lives. At this point, they’ll have to go through me to get to their kids.”
“Has Mason checked in with you?”
I shook my head. “He knew we were heading here first. I’ll give him a call when we go to the house.”
His gaze moved to Maddy. “Are you worried about them being there with her?”
“Are you…” I cocked my head to the side, sharpening my focus on him. “Are you offering to take them into your place?”
Surprise flashed over his face before he shook his head. “No. No, I—the media is still crazy about Billie. It wouldn’t be a relaxed environment. Billie would love it, though. Each kid would have his own pet chicken within a week, and if they did anything to harm them…” He trailed off.
I suppressed a smile. “I’m not worried about Maddy,” I assured him. In between smiling around the entire room, Maddy kept checking in on Max. He hadn’t moved from the five seconds before she looked at him, but she was still making sure. “She’s, uh, pretty focused on someone already.”