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I don’t know why, but what he says warms my entire body. Sometimes when I see him and his brothers looking at me, I feel the same way, and I have no idea what it means.
CHAPTER21
MATEO
Waitingfor my brothers is always boring, so I ask Kade if he wants to run with me, on purpose this time. I run the whole time until I get a notification that they’re done. I text them back that I just need to hit the showers real quick and change clothes.
Hopping into the car, I see Paisley walking on the side of the road like normal, but since they stayed late to work on the project, it’s starting to get dark.
“Do you think we should offer her a ride home tonight?” I ask the crew.
“I think even if we ask, she’ll say no. She told us what happened, and you aren’t going to like it, Mateo. Not one bit,” Atlas says.
No,I think to myself.Please don’t let it be what I think it is.
“What happened? Do I want to know?” I ask, afraid of the answer.
“Her mom, man. It was her mom. Apparently, she has been abusing her since she was five years old. Blaming her for her dad leaving,” Atlas replies.
I clench the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. I swear I hear it start to crack.
“We need to do what we can to protect her. I can’t handle another person I care about going down that path and not being able to do anything about it,” I rasp out.
Needing to know what happens at her mom’s house, I come to the decision that I’m going to follow her home. They can tag along if they want.
“I’m following her home. Y’all are welcome to join. I don’t care,” I say as I get out of the car and follow behind her at a safe distance.
I hear soft scrunching behind me from the gravel and know it’s my brothers following me as well.
It’s been super quiet for the past couple of miles when all of a sudden, we hear singing. We all look around to see where it’s coming from, and it sounds like it’s echoing down to us. Like we are walking into the song.
Could it be her? Could she actually be singing? Is this her voice?
I look at the twins, and they have curious and intrigued looks on their faces. I quickly let Luca know that Paisley is singing before we keep going. We all get a little closer just so we can hear the voice just a little more, and it’s a sad song being sung. A song about loss and sadness. I’ve never heard it before, but that’s not saying much. Maybe this is a song she wrote herself.
Listening to her voice is like listening to a river flow. It’s peaceful, tranquil. I could get lost following this melodic voice.
After a few different songs, a house appears in the distance, slowly coming into view. I tense up, thinking about what she is about to walk into. Every fiber in my body is telling me to grab her and take her home. To prevent her from walking into the trap that is her home life.
As Paisley gets to the front of the house, her mom opens the front door and slaps her—slaps her—across the face.
“You’re fucking late! You should have been home hours ago! Have you been whoring yourself out? I know you have some guys hanging around you. You fucking all of them?!” she screams at Paisley before she slaps her again.
I see red and get ready to head to the driveaway to give her mother a piece of my mind, but Atlas grabs my hand.
“We can’t do anything here, man. We have to get the authorities involved. If you walk up there and punch her, you’ll go to juvie—or worse, you could be tried as an adult for assault and battery. I know it’s stupid and it hurts and it’s upsetting, but we just have to tell someone. We can talk to the principal tomorrow. Maybe he will know what to do.”
Sometime while Atlas was talking me down, Paisley went inside. Frustrated that there is nothing that I can do, I start heading back.
“Did anyone text Betty to let her know we were going to be late?” I ask.
“Shit!” comes from the twins.
I’m sure one of them is texting Betty now. It’s dark, and it’ll be a bit before we get back to the car.
* * *
ATLAS
