So that had ruined dad’s chances. He hadn’t been able to go to college and get a loan or scholarship because he had a record, and no one in River Valley would hire him because of all the rumors saying he was a bad seed. Then one day Marty had showed up and presented him an offer: steal cars and sell them to him. And my dad took the offer. That was why he had never really spoken up to Marty. In some weird way, he thought Marty had given him an opportunity to make a living. I didn’t see it that way; I felt that Marty had made Dad’s life worse because after my dad turned to that life, nothing was ever the same again. He married my mom, and he had us kids, but he was never able to turn his life around. And he blamed it all on James Wright. And when James became mayor, my dad became obsessed. He took us to his house every week, and we would sit in the car and listen to the story of how the mayor had ruined his life, and our lives as well. And that it was us who should have been living on Manor Road. We just sat and listened and grew to hate the mayor, not only for what he had done to Dad in the past but what he had done to him now as well. We hated the mayor for making us grow up with a father who was a violent drunk, and for making us lose our mother, and for making our family the social outcasts of River Valley.
As I stared at the ceiling, I knew what Jared had said was correct: this was possibly the best way to get revenge on James Wright. Everyone in town knew how much he doted on his daughter Maddison; there was nothing that was too much for her. I’d always wondered who Maddison was, and I’d always imagined she would be a big bitch. I hadn’t ever pictured someone like Maddie. I’d never thought that someone like Maddie could come from someone like the mayor. She was too honest, too vivacious, and too sweet. I groaned as I thought about her. I couldn’t allow myself to be swept away by her charm. She was no one to me. She was just some stupid girl, with a stupid crush and a James Dean, bad-boy fantasy. I was just someone for her to live out her schoolgirl fantasies with. I didn’t owe her anything. Why shouldn’t I get my revenge on her? I closed my eyes again and thought about her sparkling eyes. Did I really hate the mayor that much that I would want to hurt Maddie as well?
Chapter 6
Logan
It had been a week since I had stolen the Toyota, and I had finally gotten a call from someone in a town about an hour away. The offer had been low but they had been willing to take the car without the title, and so there wasn’t much else I could say. The only problem was that he wasn’t willing to come to River Valley to pick up the car; he wanted me to drive it to him. I was loath to drive a stolen car an hour away, but I needed the money from the sale. I had literally used all of my money up paying the rent and had about fifteen dollars to my name until I sold the car. I also knew that Vincent needed to get a textbook for a class, so I had to take the risk.
I ran down the stairs and grabbed a book to take with me for the bus ride back. My dad was in the living room watching Judge Judy, and I walked by the room quickly, hoping he didn’t call out to me. I didn’t have time to get into it with him.
“Hey.” I nodded at Vincent and Jared as I walked into the kitchen. They were sitting together, whispering, and I frowned. “What’s the big secret?”
“Nothing.” Jared shrugged and looked away.
“Vincent?” I looked at my other brother and his face flushed.
“Nothing,” he sighed. “We were just wondering if we needed to go get a car.”
“What?”
“There’s no food.” He nodded towards the fridge.
“I’ll get some today.”
“With what?” Jared turned around and looked at me hard. “I know you can’t have much money left, you haven’t sold the Toyota yet.”
“I’m taking it now.”
“We can’t continue like this.” Jared looked at me and Vincent. “We need to make a change.”
“It’s not like we can get any other job.” Vincent shrugged. “No one will hire us, the Martelli name is like death round here.”
“We can all move.”
“Where we going to move to?” Jared hissed. “We have no money.”
“We’ll get out of River Valley, and then we can have a fresh start.”
“You’ve been saying that for years, Logan. And guess what? We’ll still here.” Jared slammed his fist on the table.
“We’ll figure something out once you and Vince get through college.”
“Stop calling it college.” Jared’s eyes narrowed. “He’s a f**king freshman in a two-year school. He’s not a senior at Harvard.”
“It’s better than nothing.” I glared at Jared. “We got to break the cycle.”
“It’s not our fault that it’s a cycle in the first place.” Jared glared back at me. “The f**king mayor set Dad up, and he’s had us stealing with him since we were old enough to walk.”
“We don’t want to steal forever, do we?”
“I don’t know, do you?”
“Guys.” Vincent stood up and put his hands on our shoulders. “Don’t fight.”
“Why don’t you grow a backbone, Vinny?” Jared pushed him. “I’m fed up with this shit. Logan, you’re not doing anything. Have you even thought about what we talked about?”
“I’m not going down that road.” I shook my head. “Our issue is with the mayor, not his daughter.”
“What?” Vincent looked at us, confused. “What are you guys talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that the mayor’s daughter is in love with Logan, and he’s not taking advantage of that fact, so we can get some motherfucking revenge on her dad.”
“Huh?” Vincent looked at me, confused. “You met the Mayor’s daughter? How? When?”
“Why don’t you ask your smartass brother? The one who set it up?” My voice rose. “Don’t try and play a punk with me, Jared.”
“You wanna do something about it?” Jared stepped towards me, his nostrils flaring.
“You don’t want me to do anything about it.” I stepped towards him and stared into his eyes.
“Oh, yeah?” He pushed me, and I made to push him back when the doorbell rang. We all froze and stared at each other.
“Who the f**k is that?” Jared’s eyes looked worried. “You paid the rent, right?”
“Yeah.” I walked to the door slowly, fear in my heart. What if it was the police? What if they came to arrest me for the Toyota? What if this was the time they finally decided to arrest me? Maybe it was because I hadn’t contacted Marty. Marty had some sort of deal with the police station and they never came to our house to look for stolen cars. It was like a safe zone for us. We had to worry whenever we were in the street with the car, but we never had to worry when we had it parked at home.
“Don’t open it.” Jared’s eyes were full of fear, but I gave him a confident smile.
“It’ll be okay.” I nodded, took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hello?” I poked my head out, and my heart skipped a beat as I saw Maddie standing there with a huge smiled on her face.
“Hi,” she beamed and pushed her hands forward. “I brought cookies.”
“What?” I frowned and stepped outside the door quickly. “What the f**k are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you again, too.” She smiled again, though less confidently this time.”
“What are you doing here, Maddie?”
“I brought you a peace offering.” She pushed the plate towards me again. “Chocolate chip, I hope you like them.” I stared at the plate in her hands and blinked. I then looked back into her face and she gave me an awkward smile. I noticed that her eyes looked bluer than usual today. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she looked like a younger and more innocent version of herself.
“I’m on my way out.” I shook my head. “Sorry.”
“Okay.” She bit her lower lip. “I guess I’ll be going then.” She turned around and I watched her walk away from me quickly.
“Wait,” I called after her. “Why did you come over?”
“Does it matter?” She turned to look at me.
“I guess not,” I walked up. “But seeing as you’re here, you may as well tell me.”
“I wanted to see if you changed your mind.”
“Changed my mind?”
“About being friends.”
“Ha, friends.” I laughed at her words but felt the disappointment in the pit of my stomach.
“I guess that’s a no then.” She turned away from me again.
“I guess it depends on the cookies.” I reached out and grabbed her arm. “If the cookies are good, then we can be friends.”
“So the cookies will make the decision for you then?”
“Yeah, problem with that?”
“I put Betty Crocker to shame, so no.” She smirked at me as she handed me a big, gooey cookie and I took it from her slowly, allowing my fingers to graze hers softly. She stared into my eyes as I ate the cookie, and she laughed when I finished it off quickly.
“You’re a messy eater.” She laughed.
“Oh?”
“You have crumbs everywhere.”
“I do?”
“Yes.” She leaned towards me and her tongue darted out and licked the corners of my mouth. “There we go, all clean.”
“Thank you.” My breath caught as I felt her breath on my mouth, the corners of my mouth still tingling from her touch.
“No problem.”
“It’s nice to have friends who look out for you.”
“I agree.”
“I guess you just had a cookie as well, huh?” I smiled at her and raised my eyebrows.
She shook her head. “No, why?”
“’’Cause you have crumbs all over your mouth as well.”
“I do?” She ran her fingers across her lips and then looked at them. “I don’t see any crumbs.”
“I think you’re lying.”
“Oh?”
“I think you just had a cookie.”
“I’m sorry to tell you, but I didn’t.”
“I need proof.” I said.
“I’m not sure how to prove that.”
“There’s only one way.” I stepped towards her and grabbed ahold of her waist and pulled her towards me before leaning down to kiss her. My tongue pried her lips open and I explored her mouth, allowing my tongue to taste every inch of her. She kissed me back passionately, running her hands up and down my back. I ran my hands down the back of her hair and back and to her butt, pulling her even closer to me.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Jared called out to me from the front door and I jumped away from Maddie quickly.
“Nothing.” I shook my head.
“Hi, Jared.” Maddie waved to him. “I brought some cookies over.”
“Hi, Maddie.” Jared grinned and walked towards us. He stared into my eyes as if asking a question, and I looked away from him.
“Maddie was just leaving,” I said pointedly.
“Aww, I don’t want to leave.” She grinned up at me.
“Why does she have to leave, Logan? I’d love for her to stay.”
“I’m afraid I have to go out of town today.”
“Oh.” Maddie gave me a disappointed look. “For a long amount of time?”
“Not really.”
“Why are you going?”
“None of your business.” I frowned at her and turned. “You should go home.” My voice was unnecessarily harsh, but I didn’t want Jared to get any ideas into his head that I had changed my mind.
“But I don’t want to go home.”
“No one invited you over. Didn’t you know it was rude to just show up at someone’s home?”
“I came with a peace offering.” She glared at me.
“Why don’t you take her with you, Logan?” Jared interrupted us. “I’m sure Maddie would love to join you, for a ride.”
“Where are you going?”
“He’s going to sell the car.”
“Oh, you got another car?” Maddie looked at me in surprise. “What did you get this time?”
“I didn’t get another car.” I shook my head. “I’m selling the Toyota.”
“Oh? I thought you would have sold it already.”
“Well, obviously not.”
“We had to switch guys.” Jared smiled widely at Maddie. He was a good actor. Anyone would think he really liked her, to see the way he was treating her, but I knew differently. I know he was trying to ensure that I continued to see her, so that I could break her heart and exact some revenge.
“Guys?” She looked confused.
“Marty, the guy we used to sell to, well, let’s just say we don’t sell to him anymore.”
“Marty?” Maddie looked at us considering. “My dad knows a Marty, I wonder if it’s the same guy.”
“Doubtful.” Jared smiled at her again. “A stand-up guy like your dad wouldn’t know the Marty we deal with.”
“Yeah, true.” She nodded.
“It must be nice being the mayor’s daughter,” he continued. “Living the life of luxury.”
“If you’re asking if I’m daddy’s little girl, then I guess I have to say yes.” She laughed and groaned. “Though he can be a little out of control sometimes. It’s like he thinks everyone is out to get me. He doesn’t like to let me out of his sight.” She shook her head. “He’s terribly overprotective.”