6
ADDIE
Istartled when my phone rang. After jumping out of my skin, I pulled my phone out with a shaky hand to find Maddox’s face on the screen. It was a candid picture, stolen when he wasn’t paying attention. My heart flipped at the sight of him.
Putting the phone to my ear, I tensed in anticipation of the worst. Instead, I caught Maddox’s sigh of relief. My brows crashed together with concern.
“Is everything all right?” I asked, immediately.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” His voice was distant, like he had me on speaker phone.
I laughed. “I mean, given the fact that we’re always in the middle of some sort of danger, I think it’s a valid question to ask.”
Maddox grumbled. In the mumbling, I heard something along the lines ofyou aren’t wrong.
“Everything is fine right now. I went to visit the house the ghost was staring at yesterday. She’s still there, being creepy as ever,” Maddox said.
I ran my fingers down the pages of the book open on my lap. I wanted to tell him all that I’d found today. The information bubbled inside me, but he was in the middle of an investigation. What he had to say right now would be far more pertinent.
So, I waited for him to continue even though I wanted to talk so badly.
Maddox didn’t have anything to say, though. He sighed again, as if the meeting with the home’s residents had drained him. We were dealing with a ghost that couldn’t tell us anything, so chances were that the meeting really had taken a toll on him.
“Where are you? I’ll pick you up,” Maddox said. “It’s my turn to make dinner.”
That was not where I expected the conversation to go. It threw me for a moment, and I didn’t know how to answer. The obvious response would be to tell him that I was at Luca’s. I could have even told him that I already had a ride for the day and that I could make my own dinner.
Yet, the prospect of another night with Maddox conjured butterflies in my gut. Biting my lip, I smiled even though he couldn’t see it. Well, maybebecausehe couldn’t see it.
“She’s free!” Vi said beside me. “You can come pick her up at Luca’s estate. I believe you’ve been here before. It’s where Addie kind of died a few weeks back.”
I startled. Covering the microphone on my phone, I glared up at Vi and asked, “How did you sneak up on me like that?”
She smiled like it was some sort of inside secret. I think we both knew I hadn’t been paying attention to anything other than Maddox. I wasn’t exactly a battle-hardened warrior aware of my surroundings at all times, especially when Maddox made me feel so light and tingly.
“You have a crush,” VI said, drawing out the last word to tease me.
I wished, not for the first time, that I had the kind of arcana that I could lash out with. There was no life source around for me to use to raise the dead, or else I would have had a skeleton smack her upside the head. Vi laughed, as if she could tell that I was powerless to do anything right now.
Revenge didn’t always have to take supernatural forms. So, I stood and kicked her in the shin with my steel-toed hiking boots. Vi hissed in pain.
“That’s going to bruise.” She rubbed the spot on her shin.
“That’s what you get for being a brat,” I warned her with a sly grin on my face.
“Oh, you’re getting feisty.” Vi smiled wide. “I’m here for this new arc in your life. Watch out, Maddox! She’s turning into a little monster like the rest of us.”
My face warmed. In my anger at Vi, I’d completely forgotten that Maddox was still on the line. I clamped my hand over my mouth and shot a wide-eyed look at Vi. Of course, she laughed at my embarrassment.
“I’ll wait for your wolf in shining white fur to arrive before I take off.” Vi turned to the phone. “Hurry up. I’m bored and ready to start setting fires. I’m going to have Luca bill you for all the damages.”
I lunged to grab Vi before she could run off and follow through with her threat. She was slippery and managed to duck my grasp. I cursed under my breath, which made Maddox laugh.
“Your friends are interesting,” he said.
“No. She’s theantichrist.” I glared in the direction that Vi had gone.
“She loves you. I can hear it in her voice. I have to be on my best behavior because theantichristwill bonk me if I hurt you in anyway.”