Falls Boys (Hellbent 1)

“No!” Kade crawls away and disappears down the hall.

“Get him, Dad!” A.J., Kade’s nine-year-old little sister, eggs their father on.

“A.J., you’re supposed to be on my side!” Kade cries.

But I hear him laugh. Fallon shakes her head, veering off to the kitchen and letting her husband and son go at it, and I kiss Aro’s hair, slipping out from underneath her. She sleeps, and I follow Madoc to explain. It’s not exactly all Kade’s fault.

Although, the foam party was his idea.

“Noooo!” Kade bellows as his dad comes down on his back, and they wrestle to the floor. “Get off!”

I stop next to A.J. as she giggles.

Then Madoc stops.

He looks up, into his office on the left.

Light from the window spills across his face, and he holds Kade down as his son continues to wriggle underneath him.

“Where’s my laptop?” Madoc suddenly asks.

My face falls. What?

I walk up to the open door and peer inside, Madoc’s office is pristine, except for a few loose papers on the floor. His laptop, which usually sits on his desk, isn’t there.

He rises and walks in, Kade’s smile fading as he climbs to his feet. He, A.J., and I follow their dad.

“Your laptop?” Kade chokes out.

“Yes.” His dad looks at him. “The office was locked. Did your friends get in here?”

Kade looks at me, and I glance back. “Oh my God,” I murmur.

I was right. The fucking Marauders. It was all a decoy.

“Reeves,” I tell Kade. “They came here to get the laptop for him.”

But Madoc breaks in. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”

“Drew Reeves,” I tell him. I should’ve warned him about what he had asked Aro to do. “He was planning on breaking in here—”

But then A.J. interrupts us. “Daddy, your painting,” she says.

We all stop.

“What?” Madoc glances behind him to the wall behind his desk.

“The painting is open,” she tells him, pointing.

We all move for the framed pastoral scene, seeing it’s indeed apart from the wall on one side, cracked open like a door.

Madoc uses the painting to hide what’s behind.

“Could they have gotten into the safe too?” I ask.

Everyone in the family knows it’s there, but I doubt anyone would give that information away.

Madoc twists the dial, pulls the lever, and cracks open the safe, hesitating just a moment as he looks inside.

Then, he reaches inside…and pulls out his laptop.

He holds it up, looking to Kade.

“I didn’t put that in there,” his son says.

“Are you sure?”

“I wasn’t drunk, Dad.”

Madoc cocks an eyebrow, studying the computer. “Well, your mom and A.J. were with me…”

And the only other person who knows the combination is…

“Hunter,” I say under my breath. I glance at Kade. “He was here.”

But when? It had to be before they came, or…when they came, to hide it from them in time.

Kade’s fear fades, and something else settles in his expression. His eyes harden, and he goes rigid. He grabs the laptop and stares at it, his brow furrowing. “How did he know they were coming for this?” he asks me.

I shake my head. I have no idea.

“Will you come in with me?” Aro asks.

The Maple Room sits beyond, outside her passenger side window, and I gaze over at her.

I wish she knew she never has to ask that.

It’s been two days since we faced Hugo, and I’ve been trying to put myself in her shoes. Her entire life is in limbo now, and I would hate it. Changing towns, changing schools, changing homes… I don’t think I’ll ever know how hard this is for her, but I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m the one constant.

In a week, she’ll feel a little more comfortable in Shelburne Falls.

In a month, she’ll have a routine.

And in six, she’ll be smiling at her life without having to try. I hope.

I squeeze her hand. “Yeah.”

We walk into the bar, the scent of wet wood and cigarettes permeating the air as I look around at the pool tables half-filled with daytime drinkers. Kevin Hayes, the owner, works the bar. The guy’s gray ponytail always seems greasy, and I swear he has an endless amount of Fort Lauderdale Spring Break T-shirts, because he’s always wearing one.

He’s a good guy, though. His life goal is to retire and be a beach bum in Key West, so he works this place seven days a week to pay for it someday.

He eyes us as we walk in. “How are you doing, kid?” he asks Aro.

She nods at him, but he must see she’s not here for fun. He looks into the bar and calls out, “Carmen.”

I follow his gaze, finding Aro’s mother. She stands behind some guy I don’t recognize, her black apron tied around her waist and wearing a tight top and jeans. The silver jewelry in her belly button sparkles in the dim light.

She pulls off the man—not her husband—and stares at Aro, hesitating.