AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When we found out Greg Smith had three more confirmed victims—two women he’d raped and another he’d raped and murdered—I worried the horrifying news would create a set-back for Hannah’s mental health. But that wasn’t the case. On the contrary, finding out about those additional atrocities only helped Hannah heal that much faster. According to Hannah, knowing her trauma had helped even more women rest in peace and/or get some measure of justice or closure made her feel even more so like it had a higher purpose.
Keane’s chuckle draws my attention to him, as the sisters continue hugging and talking excitedly. What’s that I’m seeing on Keane’s face? Is this notorious fuckboy stripper gazing at our sweet Madelyn with . . . adoration? Nah. I must be projecting because I adore the kid so damned much.
I still don’t know Keane, personally, despite our time together in Maui. We mostly traveled in different sub-groups that week, and before that, he wasn’t my contact on the hack I did for him. It was Josh. In fact, I don’t think Keane knows to this day that Josh’s nerdy groomsman at the wedding was the same guy who’d hacked that cougar and saved his horny, stupid ass.
I do know Keane’s fuckboy reputation, however, from all the crazy stories I’ve heard about him, as well as from observing him hitting on cocktail waitresses and Kat’s single friends at the wedding. And that’s why, despite my lack of personal interactions with Keane, I’m nonetheless highly confident our sweet, shy, intelligent, sensitive, goofy, deep-thinking, tap-dancing, filmmaking feminist, Maddy, isn’t his type. Not to mention, Keane’s not Maddy’s type, either. At all.
And yet . . .
There it is again. An expression of unmistakable affection on Keane’s face, as he gazes at Maddy. Could it be this fuckboy stripper genuinely enjoyed his lengthy road trip with little Miss Maddy Milliken, against all odds?
“You’re Keane, right?” Hannah says. “We met at the wedding.”
Keane jerks his gaze from Maddy to Hannah and flashes a mega-watt smile. “Oh, yeah.” He steps forward and extends his hand to Hannah. “Great to see you again.”
Hannah disregards Keane’s hand and pulls him into a warm embrace. “Thank you for taking such good care of my little sister.”
“Oh, believe me, Hannah, it’s been my . . .” Keane pulls out of their hug and looks at Maddy, his cheeks flushed. “I’ve loved every minute of hanging out with Mad Dog here.”
Maddy bats her eyelashes at the compliment while flashing Keane a big, toothy smile, which he returns in kind—only bigger. Well, I’ll be damned.
His cheeks flushed, Keane points at various nearby doors in the hallway. “Which one is my brother’s apartment?”
Hannah indicates the apartment directly across from us, prompting Keane to chuckle and say, “Wow. You weren’t kidding when you said Dax lives right across the hall.” He leaps to his little brother’s front door like his body is a motorized pogo stick and pounds away like he’s administering a search warrant on a drug lord. “Hey, Rockstar! Open up! It’s your favorite brother!”
In short order, the door swings open and Dax Morgan appears in all his handsome, charismatic glory, his long-ish, blonde hair hanging close to his shoulders and his blue eyes looking stoned as fuck. As the two brothers embrace and exchange a rapid-fire flurry of greetings, I hug Maddy and welcome her to LA. I’m thrilled she’s here for Hannah’s sake, of course—I know how much Hannah loves her little sister—but in this moment, I’m even more thrilled Maddy is here, safe and sound, for my own reasons.
First off, I love the kid and I like having her around. It’s as simple as that. But second off, I know Maddy’s arrival is setting off a countdown of sorts. From this day forward, it’s only a matter of time until Maddy makes some friends in the film school and decides she’d rather live with one of them in the fall, rather than with her big sister. Or maybe, worst case, that fine day will come after Maddy’s graduation in a couple years. But either way, Maddy’s arrival today marks the beginning of a new era—the beginning of the unknown countdown until the day Hannah finally moves into the new house I recently bought in the Hollywood Hills.
I mustered the nerve to ask Hannah the timeline she’s envisioning for her move-in date the other day, and she said exactly what I’ve been thinking—that she’s expecting Maddy to want to move out at some point in the summer and room with fellow film students in the fall. But she also said, “We’re in no rush, though, right? We both know we want to get married and be together forever, no matter what. Nothing is ever going to change that. So, if you think about it, it doesn’t really matter when we start our forever, within reason—if it’s in three months or six or a year or two.”
