The Bad Boys of Summer Anthology(119)

“Logan and Maddie broke up.” Vincent made a face. I glared at him.

“What?” Jared looked at me with a shocked expression. “How’d you guys break up?”

“You were right,” my words were light. “I realized she was a bitch and so I got my revenge.”

“Oh my God, Logan.” Jared looked worried.

“I don’t wanna talk about it. It’s done.” I clenched my fist. All I wanted to do was punch the wall. I still couldn’t believe Maddie had done that to me.

“Well, this is for you.” Jared handed me a letter, and I looked at the envelope in irony. It was from Maddie, and it looked like the invitation she had been going on about the other night. I’m not sure why she felt she needed to send me a formal invitation to a party that she had already been begging me to attend for a week.

I was about to throw it in the trash but decided to open it first. I guess I wanted to relive the misery and memories of the night before. I ripped open the envelope and pulled the invitation out. I rolled my eyes at the formality of it all; you would think she was getting married, not just having a summer party. A dart of pain flashed through me at the thought of Maddie getting married. I didn’t want to think about her anymore. She’d find a nice guy now, one that Daddy approved of. That would make them both happy. She’d find a guy who didn’t have issues and had a lot of money. Someone in her class. I was about to rip the envelope up when I saw a small post-it note stuck in the envelope. I pulled it out, and the blood ran from my face as I read it. I dropped the invitation onto the ground and read the post-it note again to make sure that I had understood it correctly. As I read it again, time seemed to stand still, and I looked up at Jared’s and Vincent’s faces in shock.

“I messed up.” I stared at them and then the note. “She attached a note with the invitation. It makes sense now. Oh my God, what did I do? She wrote a note.” I paused and read from the paper. “My darling Logan, I’m so happy that you have agreed to come to my party and meet my friends and parents. It means so much to me. I told my mom that we are dating, and she thinks that we should wait to tell my dad about us the day after the party at lunch. She thinks he will take it better in a more personal setting. I hope you understand and will come to the lunch as well. I’m so excited for the two of you to get to know each other. I know he will come to love you as I do. See you soon. Ever yours, Maddie.” I stopped reading and stared at my brothers unblinkingly. “She thought I knew. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I thought she was ashamed.” I stood there frozen, with my stomach in knots. “I have to call her, I have to explain.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Logan.” Jared looked at me with a frightened expression. “What’s going on?”

“I have to go and call her.” I walked out of the kitchen quickly.

“But we need to talk about tonight,” Vincent called out after me.

“I have to call Maddie!” I shouted down the stairs. “I have to fix this.” I ran into my room and grabbed my phone and called her number with my heart pounding. I cussed as the phone went to voicemail and tried calling back again. It went to voicemail again and I left a message. “Maddie, it’s Logan. Please call me back. I fucked up. I know that now. Please forgive me, please call me back. I love you. I thought you were ashamed. I brought my mom’s necklace. Please call me back,” I rambled on and hung up and called her number back again, but it kept ringing and ringing and going to voicemail. What had I done? Had I just cost myself the love of my life because I was so down on myself? Why had I listened to my heart? I knew who Maddie was. I had been so hurt and quick to jump to conclusions and wanting to shame her for hurting me. And I had been wrong. If I had just listened to my rational mind and thoughts, I would have known that Maddie would never use me, would never be embarrassed by me. She had risked everything for me and for her feelings for me, and once again I had screwed it up. I had fucked it up royally and I wasn’t sure if she would ever forgive me. I knew that no matter how much someone loved you, there was a point of no return. There was a point where the love didn’t matter anymore. That was a point my mother had reached with my father. His behavior had been so destructive that all she wanted to do was leave him. The love she had felt for him had faded, and she hadn’t wanted to be with him anymore. She had wanted to leave, only fate hadn’t been kind to her. I had let my mother down, and now I had done the same thing to Maddie. I had to go to her. I had to explain. She had to understand. I ran back down the stairs with my phone and into the kitchen.

“I need to borrow the Mustang,” I charged up to Vinny. “Where are the keys?”

“You can’t borrow it right now.” Vinny shook his head.

“I have to go to Maddie!” I yelled at him in anger.

“We need to go pick up the rental car and get the tools at Lowe’s,” Jared interrupted me in a hard tone. “You know we have to drive two hours away to get this stuff. We don’t have time for you to go to Maddie.”

“You don’t understand.” I frowned at him. “I need to go to her now. She is all that matters.”

“No.” Vincent grabbed ahold of my shoulders. “She isn’t all that matters. We are what matters right now. We need to do this for us. This is our chance.”

“I need to go to Maddie.” I pushed past him. “Give me the keys.”

“Logan, listen to me. She will still be there.” Vincent raised his face and grabbed me, pushing me against the wall. His blue eyes bore into mine seriously. “This is not the time, you hear me? This is not the time.” I stared at him, unblinking. Jared stared at us both with his mouth agape, his face reflecting the shock in my mind. We had never seen Vincent be the dominant one in our relationship.

“I don’t want to lose her,” I mumbled and pushed him off of me. “I really fucked up.”

“I’m sorry.” His eyes looked sad for me. “But we have a dad in the living room who is a few weeks from the point of no return. I have tuition due in a few weeks, and we have rent. Right now, we have to do this for us. If it’s meant to be, it will work out with Maddie.”

“What if she never talks to me again?” My eyes blazed but my words were soft.

“She’ll talk to you again.” Vincent nodded at me in assurance. “You’ll see.”

I stared at him and at Jared and realized that no matter what I wanted to do, no matter how badly I needed to speak to Maddie, I couldn’t just walk out now. I had a responsibility to my brothers and to my family. I would never put myself before them.

“Let’s go.” I nodded at Jared. “You have the details?”

“We’re going to go to Sawyerville to get the rental car, a white Honda Accord. Then we’ll go to Lowe’s and get the tools. Then tonight we’ll go eat at an Olive Garden and talk about how we’re going to play pool. Instead of going to play pool, we will drive to the address in this envelope. Vincent will get out of the car and pretend to go to ring the doorbell. You will also slip out of the car and go work on the garage door. If anyone is looking, they will see Vincent at the front door and won’t be paying attention to the garage. After five minutes, Vincent will go back to the car and we will pull away. We will stop around the corner and park the car. By that time, you should have gotten into the garage. Vincent and I will run back to the house, and Vincent will stand watch at the garage door. You will break open the car door and work on getting the ignition started. I will use the special paint we get from Lowe’s to spray the car while you are working, and I’ll change the license plate as well. We should be able to leave the garage within thirty minutes max. Once we are out, Vincent will run back to the white Honda and drive it home. We will follow and go home. We’ll call Joey, and he will call the buyer and set up the sale.” Jared grinned. “Easy-peasy.”

“I just hope it will all go according to plan.” I sighed. There were so many different things that could go wrong. I didn’t want to voice any of them out loud. I knew we were all worried about a million things, and now I was a loose cannon who was even more frightened.

“It’ll be fine. This time next week we’ll be millionaires.” Jared laughed and I gave him a weak smile. It all sounded like it was going to be too easy. Nothing in life was ever this easy, nothing. But what could I say? We had come this far, and on paper, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. But I hadn’t foreseen last night happening, either.

“We need to make a contingency plan in case something goes wrong.” I thought for a moment. “If anything happens, like if the cops come, or the family is home, or a neighbor shows up, I want you both to run. I will stay in the garage and take the heat.” I put my hands up and glared at them. “And there will be no debating this, I will call this whole thing off if you don’t agree. You got it?”

“Logan, you can’t go down by yourself.” Vincent shook his head. “That’s not right.”