by Quell T Fox
“Just give him the phone back. Who cares?” Alec says, walking into the living room and flipping the lights on. He settles into the couch and flicks on the TV.
“Trust me, man, you don’t want to do that.” Maddox raises his eyebrow and does something on Lenny’s phone. Lenny stands back with his hands tucked into his pockets, his head bowed. Callan and I stand to the side watching. Anticipating. The tension is ridiculous. All over a damn phone. I look back at Alec, who looks like he may stand and make his way back over here to stop whatever is about to happen.
It doesn’t take long for Maddox’s face to change. It goes from heartbroken, to shock and then to anger. He looks up at Lenny who refuses to meet his eyes, his jaw clenched. The muscles in his arms tighten and his shoulders straighten.
“You want to explain this?” Maddox asks calmly. Too calmly. Lenny doesn’t move. He cowers like a child and my heart aches.
“Maddox, it can’t–“ Maddox gives me a look and I shut up immediately. His look so fierce that it sobers me right up. Callan’s hand grabs mine as we watch the scene unfold in front of us. At that moment I feel Alec come up behind me. His chest brushing slightly against my back. I want to reach for him, but I don’t.
“After everything that I have fucking done for you, this is how you repay me?” Maddox is still calm. It’s scaring me more than if he were screaming and throwing fists.
“This isn’t about you, Maddox. This is about me.” Lenny says sincerely.
“Oh, it isn’t? I’m pretty sure that at this point, everything to do with you has to do with me. And if you don’t realize that, then fuck you.” His words are heated. He shakes his head and his tone lowers a bit. “This is just… I don’t know Lenny, this is not what I expected from you.” Disappointment. That’s what I hear in Maddox’s voice. It’s pure disappointment.
“She’s my fucking mother Maddox! What am I supposed to do?” Lenny shouts. My hand goes to my mouth in shock. Mother? His mother? I have a feeling this isn’t good. Like if there was a level of not so bad, to really bad, this would be all the way at the top, at really fucking bad.
“Your mother? Your MOTHER?! That’s what you call her? What kind of mother leaves their seven-year old child alone in a house while they take off with their new boyfriend? Huh, Lenny? What kind of mother does that? You realize she’s just using you for your money. That’s all she’s ever been Lenny! A money hungry whore!” His face is red and straining from his angry words. “Don’t think time has changed that. People don’t fucking change.” He’s closer to Lenny now, furiously pointing his finger at him.
“It’s my fucking money, Maddox. I’ll do with it what I want.” Lenny shouts back, his voice shaking.
“Is it though? What did you do for it? ‘Cause last time I checked, it’s all been handed to you. Everything your entire life has been fucking handed to you. I have done everything for you to make your life easy. To make you not have a fucked up life the same way I did, or Callan or Alec. You, out of all of us, had it the easiest. And this?” Maddox grips Lenny’s phone. I fear that his grip is going to crush it. That’d be impressive as fuck, scary, but impressive. His arm twitches and I think he may throw it. Please don’t throw it. When he looks up his eyes are black, causing another gasp to leave my throat.
“Why? Because I didn’t grow up around it? You think that makes it better? Any easier? How do you think I feel, knowing that I wasn’t good enough for my mother to want me? She fucking left me, Maddox! She left and she never looked back. At least your mother stayed around.” The emotion in Lenny’s voice tears through me like a hot knife. Hurt, anger, passion.
“Not by fucking choice! I did your mother a favor by not ratting her out. By keeping it a secret. I did her a favor by raising her child into the man he is today. A man that I thought was better than this.” He runs his hand through his hair. “By making sure he went to school, got good grades, graduated high school. I even pushed you to go to college and when you didn’t want to do that, I let you in on my business. My fucking business, Leonard! The bar? It’s fucking called Deveraux’s for a reason! For her, Lenny. I took care of her child. What the fuck else does she need? She’s taken enough. From me and from you.” Maddox is pacing now, he’s frantic. Suddenly he stops. He places Lenny’s phone on the dining table, flattening both hands down on either side. His head is bent and he’s leaning on the table. His chest rises and falls heavily, pulling in air and I know he’s not in a good place right now. When he looks up, his eyes are back to normal and his face is empty. There’s nothing there. Void of all emotion.
“You know what? I’m out of here. I’m going home. We have the room til’ Sunday. You all enjoy your time together. I’ll be at my own house. Alone. The way it fucking should be. I’m sure you all can figure out a way to get home. Oh, and Lenny, you give her all the money you want, from your account. But be careful, because what you have is what you have. There is no more from me. Touch mine, and we’re through. And remember, when you have nothing left, don’t come crying to me for help. Because I’m done!” He growls before storming off down the hallway. Lenny takes a few steps after him but stops at the hallway entrance.
“Maddox, don’t do this! Please! Fuck, please don’t do this to me.” I can’t see it, but I can hear it. The tears that fall from Lenny’s eyes are full force. He leans against the wall, slides down and covers his face with his hands. The sobs shaking his body violently.
All I can do is stare. None of us have moved. We’ve just watched. What else can we do?
Maddox comes walking down the hallway, bag in hand. When he reaches Lenny, he shoots his arm out trying to grab onto Maddox’s leg. Whimpering and crying out. “Please, Maddox. Please don’t leave! Don’t leave me!” He screams so loudly that his voice breaks. Tears well in my own eyes at the emotion coming out of him.
Maddox doesn’t stop. He doesn’t say a word and he doesn’t look back. He just leaves.
CHAPTER 9
Friday
Lenny stayed in the hallway for only a few moments after Maddox walked out. Callan, Alec and I still frozen in place. None of us knowing what to do or how to react or what to say. I don’t think any of us expected something like this to happen. We all must have had our ideas of what was keeping Lenny occupied, but none of us expected this. Lenny stands robotically, wipes his face with one arm and heads into the room that Maddox had called his own. He shuts the door softly behind him.
“Well, that wasn’t good.” I finally croak out.
“No, Princess. That was not good at all.” Callan says. His arm slides across my shoulder and he pulls me in for a hug. I need it. I look to Alec for a sign, for something to let me know that this will be okay. That this isn’t real. That it’s all a dream, no, a nightmare. That we will wake up tomorrow and everything will be okay. That Maddox will be back here in his room, being as grumpy as ever. Alec’s golden eyes meet my own and all he does his shake his head. And I know, I know for sure that this is really, really bad.
“Callan,” Alec says.
“Yeah, Alec?”
“Make sure you sleep with Friday tonight.” He stares blankly ahead for a moment, at nothing in particular before disappearing down the hallway and into his own room, shutting the door just as softly as Lenny did.
I don’t know how to feel, or what to think. I feel too many emotions. But mostly I’m sad. Sad for Lenny and sad for Maddox. And I’m scared for all of us. Everything was going so well, and moving in the right direction, but now? I don’t know if we can get past this... If they can get past this. This is too much. Maddox is not a forgiving man, that much I know. Even though Lenny thinks what he did was okay, he hurt Maddox. But unfortunately, the only emotion Maddox knows is anger.
Callan’s hand presses against the small of my back, urging me forward. He broke the hug and I hadn’t realized. I feel like a zombie and my face feels… weird. I reach up and wipe at it. Tears. I’m crying and have bee
n for who knows how long. My face is tight with dried tears and mascara. I wipe at my face again, trying to clear it of the mess. I don’t care enough to make sure it’s all gone. I just want to get into bed, wrap myself in Callan’s arms and go to sleep.
“Come on, let’s get to bed.” I twirl to face him, burying my face into his chest. His hand stays on my back and the other reaches my hair. I breathe him in, that fresh, woodsy scent.
“Everything is going to be okay, right Callan?”
“I hope so. I really hope so.”
***
A firm arm reaching around my waist is what wakes me in the morning. Callan’s warm breath against my shoulder reminds me that I’m not alone. The feel of his bare skin on mine makes me want to stay in bed with him forever. In this warm, safe place. He presses a soft kiss to my shoulder. “Morning.”
“Morning,” I repeat back. Waking up to him is wonderful. Waking up with any of my guys is amazing. The simple, calm hours of the morning when nothing of the day has had a chance to ruin the perfection of it. That is until the events of last night flood back into my brain.
Lenny.
Maddox.
He left.
How is Lenny, is he okay? Did Maddox make it home?
“What’re we going to do?” I whisper.
Callan let’s out a sigh and rolls over onto his back. I roll to face him, staying close enough to touch, but not too close to make him uncomfortable. He gives me a knowing smile. He appreciates when I give him space, but he says it silently. Callan is a man of few words. He isn’t one to speak for the sake of speaking. If he is going to talk, there is a purpose. He speaks to be heard.
“Staying here is pointless. I think we should leave. I think we should all head back to my place. Maddox has had some time to cool down and think about what happened. This is Maddox we’re talking about, so I’m not sure if that even matters, but…”
“Should I try talking to him?” I ask. Callan runs his fingers through my hair gently. My eyes flutter closed, and I let out a soft sigh.
“Honestly? I think the only person that will be able to get through to him is Alec.”
“Alec? They barely talk and seem to hate each other the most.”
“That’s because they used to be the closest. It’s easier to hate someone that you used to love, than someone you don’t know at all. Those that love the hardest, hate the hardest. It wasn’t too long ago that Maddox and Alec were inseparable. Before Lenny came along, they were two peas in a pod. I was their third wheel. Not that I minded because I enjoyed the separation. The alone time. We knew we weren’t complete, but also knew that we belonged together. And then when Lenny came along, things changed. Alec never blamed Lenny, but something happened that even I don’t know about. Something that made them not so close anymore. It was after Maddox took on Lenny.”
“Took him on?” He gives me a look. “I know, not your story…” He’s silent for a few breathes, twirling his fingers through my hair. I watch his chest as it rises and falls to his steady breathing. He’s no Maddox, or Alec when it comes to muscles, but he is perfectly toned in his own way.
“Maddox found Lenny wandering the neighborhood. We’d seen him around from time to time, but never paid him much attention because he was so much younger than us. The age difference isn’t bad now, but when we were twelve and he was seven, well, that’s a big difference.” He lets out another sigh. “We didn’t know he was part of us at first, but it didn’t take long for us to realize either. Anyway, Lenny was malnourished and filthy. His mom had left at some point and left him in the house alone. He only ventured outside to find food. It’s a good thing Maddox was there. We aren’t sure how long he’d been alone, but by the looks of him, it had been about a week. Lenny couldn’t tell us how long, he didn’t know. He was only a child. We all were.
“I don’t know why Maddox saved him. Maybe because all along he had a feeling that Lenny was one of us? But what’s to say about a twelve-year old that takes on a seven-year old? It wasn’t easy, but Maddox did it. He made sure Lenny was taken care of, that he had food, that he went to school every day. He took care of him, and he never got caught. Maddox started finding all kinds of jobs, doing anything he could for extra money. We all gave him as much as we could, but Maddox didn’t want our help. He wanted to do it himself. Anyway, whatever happened between Alec and Maddox happened about a year after Lenny, and then that’s just how things were. They were always down each other’s throats, always arguing, fighting. And it’s been that way ever since.”
“Why did he do it?”
“I don’t know for sure, but my thoughts?” He combs his fingers through his hair. His face is so different without glasses, he’s got the Clark Kent/Superman thing going on. His sharp chin and pointed nose are the dominant features on his face. His face is perfection, with only a light stubble covering it. His bright green eyes stick out over his light skin and brown hair. “Maddox is broken, and he needed to fix something. It made him feel useful and needed. We all have our own demons, those are the ones that Maddox battles. He still does.”
That is just… heartbreaking.
I think about his words before asking my next question. “And you have no idea what happened with him and Alec?”
“Not a clue. Neither of them talks about it. I’m not sure if Lenny knows, either.”
“When did you all start getting your powers?” Callan continues to play with my hair, my head resting on his chest now. The thumping of his heart beats in my ear, making me very aware of how alive he is beneath me. How okay he is.
“Maddox was the first, he started around 13 with his abilities, but his need for blood started younger than that. There were a few incidents involving him and animals. It was quite scary at the time. We all started noticing small things after Maddox found his. Not knowing exactly what we were, just knowing that we were something else. Lucky for us, my ability helped figure everything out. Our parents were human, and we had no idea about the Supernatural community. It was never taught to us.”
“What’s wrong with me?” I lift my head and meet his bright green eyes.
Callan’s eyes go dark, and his hand moves to my cheek.
“Nothing is wrong with you, Friday. It’s just a puzzle that we need to solve, and trust me, there is only one puzzle on this earth that I have yet to solve. And he goes by the name of Alec Mason.”
***
We get out of bed a while later, after a much needed, quiet cuddle session. We walk out of the bedroom, not bothering to get dressed and I’m not complaining. I am okay with seeing Callan walk around in his pajama pants. And I know for sure that I look good in mine.
We enter the living room to backpacks piled on the couch. I give Callan a questioning look and he shrugs in response. He disappears into the bathroom and a moment later Alec walks down the hall carrying one more bag. He’s fully dressed and looks like he’s on a mission.
He throws the bag into the pile before saying, “Get dressed and pack. We’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?” I open the fridge and pull out the orange juice. I pull a cup from the cabinet and fill it halfway.
“Home.” He says in his normal, gruff tone.
“Whatever you say, Hikikomori.” I shuffle down the hallway and into my bedroom. I grab some clothes and dress quickly. A soft knock at the door sounds, I lift my head in that direction to find Alec holding a roll of back trash bags. He hands them to me. I grip the roll, but he doesn’t let go right away. I look up and our eyes lock. His hand reaches up, tucking hair behind my ear. His thumb lingers on my cheek for a moment before brushing down the side of my face and sliding along my jaw, causing my lips to part.
“Everything is going to be okay. Because of you.” This is it. The thought of his lips on mine, sends warmth pooling to my core, his rich citrus scent overtakes me, bringing me to a place full of happiness and longing. He lingers
for just another moment before letting go of the roll of plastic and turning on his heel, exiting the room. Leaving me breathless.
I don’t bother pulling things out neatly, I just throw everything into the bags. My chest tightens at the thought of Lenny and how I haven’t seen him at all this morning. I wonder how he is, if he’s okay. Who am I kidding? Of course, he isn’t okay. His mother left him, and now… Maddox. Maddox left him. After he begged Maddox not to leave, he left anyway.
Please don’t leave me!
The hurt in Lenny’s voice… thinking of it makes my stomach hurt. But then I think of Maddox, and the betrayal that he felt. Now my stomach hurts twice as much. I fight the tears that threaten to fall.
My poor guys.
I carry my bags to the living room and throw them by the large pile of bags. Callan is now fully dressed, sitting on the couch looking at something on his phone. Alec is standing by the bags, seemingly waiting for me.
“Would you mind doing the honors?” Alec sweeps his hands towards the hallway. I take a deep breath before heading down there. I stop at the closed door. This damn door. This dreaded room. To be honest, I can’t wait to be out of this place. I hate that it’s under these circumstances but I’m excited to move on… I hope we can move on.
I want to see the guys’ houses. I want to see how they live, learn their routines. I want to see Callan’s library and the cars that they drive. How have they decorated their houses? Are they messy or clean? A million things go through my head that both terrifies and excites me. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, before knocking and opening the door. Lenny is sprawled out on the bed wearing the same clothes he was in yesterday. I’m not sure if he’s moved at all. His shoes are still on. He looks as if he plopped there after Maddox left and hasn’t moved.
I walk around to the far side of the bed, where Lenny’s head is. I get down on my knees and rest my forearms on the bed, bringing my face to his. His eyes are open, but empty. They are red and irritated. I brush his hair away from his face and tuck it safely behind his ear.
