“Okay.” Grinning, she held up a hand. “I get it. Lots of security. Sounds safe. So, what comes next? What’s the plan?”
“We need to figure out why Javi is after you. That’s what we need to start working on.”
I walked over to the back door and opened it, inviting her to sit on the deck with me. We settled into the chairs and drank our beers in silence for a few minutes before I broached the subject again. “First things first, let’s talk about your connections.”
“To what?” she asked.
“Shifters. Do you have any background with anyone? Ex-boyfriends? Business partners? Roommates? Anything?”
“None. I didn’t, like, actively try to stay away from shifters. I just never had the chance to get to know any.”
She looked a little embarrassed about the information, which I could understand. Lots of people hated shifters and wanted nothing to do with us. Ending the segregation of shifters had taken a long time, and some people still wished the old laws had never been revoked. Maddy didn’t want me to think she was on the side of the racists.
“It’s okay, I get it. I don’t have many humans I deal with, if I’m honest,” I said. “What about your parents? Could they have gotten into trouble??Maybe your father owes money or something like that? Maybe you’re leverage for Javi to get what he wants from one of your parents?”
Maddy’s eyes almost popped out of her face and a hand went to her forehead. “Oh shit. I haven’t even called my mom and dad. Oh God.”
That was probably something she needed to do. “Go ahead and give them a call. I’d keep what happened close to the vest, though.”
“But shouldn’t I tell my parents I was attacked? Nico, I almost died.”
I nodded, raising my hands to keep her calm. “I know what you’re saying. Still, if your parents aren’t involved, the less they know the better. If you give them a bunch of info, they may become collateral damage. I don’t want Javi going after them because they found out something they didn’t need to know. Plus, if I’m honest, they’d probably demand you go stay with them. Can your parents protect you the way I can?”
Maddy chewed at her lower lip and glanced around the house, then gave a sad shake of her head.
“Good. When you do talk to them, try to get some information out of them. Be subtle with the questions. That way, we can try to rule them out early. I sent a guy to your bar. He’s going to get your cell phone and bring it here. Until then, you can use mine,” I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket.
She took it and immediately dialed her parents’ number from memory. It was impressive, actually. I couldn’t remember my own mom and dad’s number. All I ever did was hit the button that said
Mom or
Dad.
I leaned back to listen to the call. My hearing was ten times better than that of a normal human, and this would give me the opportunity to hear if either of her parents sounded like they were hiding anything.
“Mom?” Maddy said, when the phone stopped ringing.
“Sweetie? Hi. I was starting to get worried. We haven’t heard from you in a couple days. What phone are you calling from? It says unknown number.”
“Yeah, sorry. Things got…uh…busy, I guess. I’m, uh…well I dropped my phone in the toilet. I’m using one of my employee’s phones for now until I get a new one.”
“Ew, that’s terrible. But you said busy. Does that mean there’s a boy?” her mother asked hopefully.
Maddy rolled her eyes. “Jeez, Mom, no. Listen, has everything been okay with you and Dad?”
“What do you mean?”
“Any problems or issues? I only wanted to check in. I have to make sure you guys are all right.”
“I don’t know why we wouldn’t be all right. Your father got a new set of golf clubs and had one of the worst scores ever this weekend. He’s been a little down about that, otherwise we’re fine.”
“Okay, so…” Maddy looked at me, then turned away again, “I didn’t tell you guys this, but I did one of those ancestry tracker things. The ones where you send in a swab of spit and they give you a whole list of things about your DNA? Do you remember anything more about my birth parents?”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I hadn’t realized Maddy was adopted. We hadn’t checked on things like that when we looked into her. Could her birth parents be into something? That didn’t make a lot of sense, though. You couldn’t use someone as leverage if you’d never met them. It would be pointless for Javi to try and kill her if he had a feud or something with her birth parents. They didn’t know her. It would be almost the same as killing a stranger.
As if she could hear my thoughts, Maddy looked at me and flashed a bashful smile.
Her mom sighed sadly. “We told you everything when we broke the news when you were fourteen, honey. There isn’t a lot to tell. By the way, sweetie, are you taking your medicine?”
“I’m fine, Mom, seriously. Anyway, like I was saying. It was just weird. Abi did it and she had like three dozen matches. I did it and only got some random guy from, like, three hundred years ago.”
I frowned. That was weird. But I’d never done one of the tests, so maybe it was more typical than she thought.
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