Cole: The Demons: Book 2 (A Phoenix Club Serial Thriller)

CH 2: Strangers in the Night

"Maddy?" Savannah took hold of Maddy's hand as they emerged from the theater. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Maddy frowned. "Yeah. Why?" He rubbed the back of his neck and avoided direct eye contact.

"It just seemed like you were somewhere else during the movie," Savannah said.

"What do you mean, somewhere else?" Maddy gave a short laugh and fidgeted. He was hardly holding Savannah's hand. If she let loose, his hand would drop away.

"I don't know," she murmured. "But you weren't watching the movie. You were like spacing off or something."

Maddy gave her a peck on the cheek. "Sorry about that. But I'm fine."

He wasn't fine. Savannah knew what "fine" Maddy looked like—and this wasn't it. He hadn't even wrapped his arm around her while the movie was playing, he just sat there, eyes distant and a tense expression on his face. This wasn't the first time, either. But whenever she inquired of him, he simply said he was fine.

The truth was—he seemed to be getting worse.

It's because of whatever happened on that damn island.

Maddy insisted nothing truly "bad" had happened there, not to him, anyway. Savannah knew a lie when she heard it. She was conditioned to the "I'm okay/Everything's gonna be okay" lie; she'd heard it plenty from Abel back in the orphanage while he was being raped by Craig Grant to protect her. And later, on the streets, after they fled the orphanage, when Abel kept assuring her they would be okay while they dug through garbage cans for scraps of old food. He'd given her the same assurance the very day she'd been stuck with a dirty needle in one of those garbage cans and contracted HIV.

Detecting those types of lies was second nature to her now.

Something had happened to Maddy on the island. Something that was still with him. He hadn't been the same since he'd returned home. She didn't know if Angel saw it, too, but suspected he did. Angel would be the first to notice something off about his little brother, after all the years of hypervigilance while living with their stepbrother, Wade.

"So, um..." Savannah chewed her lower lip. "... do you want to get something to eat?"

"Not really. I think I filled up on popcorn."

Savannah sighed. "You didn't eat any popcorn. Or anything."

"Oh," Maddy mumbled with a short laugh. "Right." He exhaled and shrugged. "I'm actually kind of beat. Do you mind if we cut this short and head home?"

Savannah didn't care about the date—she cared about Maddy. "Yeah, I-I guess so."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"There's nothing to make up," Savannah said. "It's okay if you want to go home early. It's not like this is our first date or even a special occasion."

"Still..."

"It's fine, Maddy."

Maddy released her hand and pulled his jacket tighter around him. "It's kind of chilly. Do you still want to walk back? Or should we grab a cab?"

"I'd still like to walk." Savannah took his hand again. "It's a bit cold, but still a nice night."

For an instant, Maddy seemed disappointed by her decision to walk. But he forced a smile and nodded. "Okay."

It took about twenty minutes to arrive at Savannah's door. Maddy paused on the porch.

"Do you want to come inside?" Savannah smiled. "Have some hot chocolate and warm up a bit. I'm sure Abel or Devlin would give you a ride home."