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.