Bradford Bastard (Bradford Bastard 1)

I step away, trying to find some self-control. I know what she’s saying, and I get it, but the need to get out there and make this fucker pay for what he did controls my every instinct, my every thought, my every need. The only thing keeping me grounded is the fact that the bastard is probably being held in police custody for questioning.

Mom crosses the kitchen and takes my dinner out of the microwave, but I’ve completely lost my appetite. That doesn’t stop her from almost shoveling it down my throat though. “Now, tell me how school was? Did anybody ask about her?”

I shake my head as I grab a fork and start spinning the spaghetti. “It’s fine,” I tell her, hating that I have to keep this secret about where Addie has been all this time. The boys only know because they were with me when she called. They were right there by my side as we tore through Hope Falls to find her, but apart from that, the rest of the school believes she’s at some performing arts school. I get it though. It’s Addison’s choice if she wants the world to know her story, and until she gets the chance to make that decision, my mouth will stay shut. “No one questioned it, but her friends were wondering why she hasn’t been texting back.”

“Oh?” Mom questions, panic flaring in her dark eyes. “What did you say?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Just told them she’s not allowed her phone on campus. It’s no big deal, Mom. It’s a simple fib. When you make it complicated is when people start to ask too many questions. Besides, Addie has applied to that school every year and has cried to her friends every time she didn’t make it in. It’s no leap for them to believe she received a late acceptance. Addie can clear it up when she gets better if that’s what she wants to do.”

Mom nods and takes a shaky breath. “And football training? How did that go?”

“Mom,” I say, reaching across the counter and taking her hand in mine before giving it a gentle squeeze, somehow finding the ability to calm myself despite the rage burning a hole through my chest. “You don’t need to do that. School was fine. Why don’t you go call Dad, let him know what’s going on and then spend the night with Addie? I’ll be fine by myself.”

“I … no, I couldn’t.”

“Mom, it’s okay. You need to be with her tonight. I’ll keep my phone on and you can call me if you need me.”

Relief surges through her stare and I watch as her shoulders sag. “Are you sure?”

“Sure. It’s late anyway. I was just going to eat and then crash. Go.”

Mom moves around the counter and steps straight into my arms, holding onto me tightly. “You’re a good boy, Tanner Morgan. We’re going to catch this guy and then everything can go back to normal.”

I rest my chin on her head and let out a sigh. “Nothing will ever go back to normal,” I tell her, hating to break her heart like that. “You need to be prepared for that. From the moment Addie wakes up, her whole life is going to change. She’s not going to be the same girl we knew before that night, and it’s going to take a while before we see that sparkle in her eye, but she’ll get there because she has you and Dad at her side. She’s going to be alright.”

Mom pulls out of my arms and hastily looks away to wipe the tears in her eyes. She hates crying in front of me or Addie. She likes to be strong for us, especially because Dad is gone so often, but over the past few weeks, the tables have turned, and it’s been me trying to keep her together.

“Okay,” she finally says. “I’ll call your father in the car and check in with you in the morning.”

“No problem, Mom.”

And with that, she’s all but racing out the door in her desperation to get to Addie—a feeling I know all too well, a feeling that haunts me every night in my sleep.

The house is quiet, and I force myself to eat the rest of my dinner while trying to keep calm but having a face to put to the monster who hurt my sister doesn’t help. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I bring up anything and everything I can find on the guy online but get nothing but his football stats. The fucker isn’t even that good, definitely not deserving of being team captain. He has no social media pages and is all but a ghost online, and it does nothing but piss me off more.

Knowing all I’m going to do is work myself into a blind fury, I put my phone away and ditch my plate in the dishwasher before heading upstairs. I push into my bedroom and just like every time I walk in here over the past two days, my gaze sweeps across to my bedroom window, and knowing she’s in there settles me. Her blinds are drawn and the lights are out, but there’s the smallest opening I can see straight through, and despite what she might think of me, I’m not about to spend my night creeping on her.