Maika.
We all drop our pizza slices and gather around the door to welcome her home. Kendrick opens up. My dad’s parents immediately bombard Harry with questions about his well-being. As for Maika, she starts running toward his wheelchair, then she freezes, reminded of his fragile state. She gives him a light, delicate hug, as though she’s convinced that squeezing will lead to his shattering. She won’t let go, tiny arms wrapped around him.
“It’s all right, sweetie. I’m okay.”
“I love you, Daddy,” she murmurs.
Dirty mind, go away.
When she backs away from him, I expect her to run to Jay or me. But she doesn’t.
“Hazie!”
Are you fucking kidding me?
One more girl lost to Haze Adams’s charms.
He seems just as surprised as we are, but he lifts her up into his arms and gives her a quick twirl, which amplifies her laughter. When he puts her down, it sinks into me that Maika’s the exact same age as Haze’s little sister was when she died.
Images of Maika in Desiree’s place horrify me.
“What about me? Playing favorite much?” I pretend to be offended. Let’s be real, I’m offended a little. She runs to me with a giggle. I bend down for my hug. I can tell she missed home just as much as it missed her. Maika runs back to her bedroom to find the toys she missed in the past few weeks. Nothing unusual… except that she brings someone along with her.
And by brings, I mean drags.
And by someone, I mean Haze.
“We’re playing dolls, Hazie.” She doesn’t ask, just states the facts. Haze’s eyes call for help, which only makes us laugh.
I stick my hands up. “Price to pay for being the favorite, babe.”
HAZE
I shoot Winter a “help me” glance over my shoulder, and she bursts out laughing. I can barely tear my eyes away. I missed this. I missed seeing her happy, hearing that laugh.
“Price to pay for being the favorite, babe,” Winter says from behind me. As Maika drags me toward the staircase, I catch a glimpse of the TV in the living room. More precisely of the news. On the screen are headlines that confirm the fears that have been haunting me since I got out of the truck full of cocaine last night.
Drug deal gone wrong. Young man found dead.
“A tragedy occurred yesterday at around midnight on the site of an abandoned factory. What the authorities assume to be a drug deal gone wrong stole a seventeen-year-old young man’s life away. He was found massacred and shot fifteen times next to an empty truck at 8:15 this morning. We don’t have any more information at this time.”
Then she names the address where the gruesome murder took place. Shivers scamper down my spine, my bones, my whole body. But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is the picture that comes up on next. The truck I was driving. Completely wrecked by gunshots.
That’s where I should’ve been last night.
It could’ve been me.
It would’ve been me.
If Tanner hadn’t called and told me to get the hell out of there. He saved my life.
They must’ve found some other kid to do the job. Had plenty of poor fellas terrified to lose their loved ones on hand. I’m a hundred percent confident now that they would’ve never let me out of the deal. This was probably a targeted delivery, a way to get a nasty job done and get rid of me all at once. I’m guessing they thought my chances of getting out of there alive were pretty slim. I don’t know who the fuck was waiting for that cocaine, but it sure wasn’t Mary Poppins.
“Come on,” Maika urges, pulling on my hand to get me to walk faster. She noticed me slightly slowing down to listen to the reporter. I try to push the unwelcomed thoughts aside and follow her up to her room. The first thing she does when she walks in is empty a large box of her toys on the carpeted floor and hand me a soldier action figure.
I’m quick to text Tanner’s number.
Haze: Thank you.