ACE OF HEARTS CHAPTER ONE: WHO THE HELL IS MADMAX?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
SHOVING A PILE OF COINS into her jacket pockets, Cassie jogged past her brother, who lay lazily in the couch watching a television show. Squinting his eyes and looking up at his little sister, Steve muttered, "Where you off to?"
"Arcade," Cassie spoke, throwing on a pair of black boots. "I won't be back till late—the boys get really into this stuff."
Steve chuckled, "Well, you go have fun. Don't stay out too late though—I don't want you to end up like me."
"What do you mean?" asked Cassie, smirking. "You're awesome."
"Yeah, yeah," said Steve, waving her off. "Whatever."
Smiling, Cassie opened the garage door and grabbed her bike, riding off into the night towards Mike Wheeler's house. As the cool breeze blew back Cassie's hair, she took a deep breath to admire the night sky. In her opinion, she enjoyed the night way better than the day—it being so dark and mysterious, just like her.
As Cassie Harrington pulled up on Mike's driveway, she cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Come on, Wheeler!"
After a moment, Mike burst out the door, chased after by his older sister, Nancy. Flushed, Mike ran towards Cassie with his bike at his side, shouting, "Go! Go! Go!"
Not taking any time to protest, Cassie kicked off the ground and began to peddle—standing up as the bike tilted side to side.
"Asshole!" shouted Nancy, throwing up her arms in defeat as she watched the two kids disappear from view.
Once they weren't in eyesight of his house anymore, Cassie giggled, "What did you do this time, Mike?"
Blushing in embarrassment, Mike chuckled, "Stole my sisters money. No, sorry, borrowed my sisters money."
Proudly smiling over at the boy, Cassie spoke, "I'm proud of you, Michael! Your first heist!"
"My only heist," corrected Mike.
"We'll see about that," said Cassie.
As the two pulled up to the arcade, they were met my Dustin and Lucas—who sat by the bike rack impatiently.
"Took you long enough!" shouted Lucas, chuckling as Mike and Cassie strode up to the bike rack. "Were you guys sucking face or something?"
"No!" said Cassie, shaking her head and laughing. "I've never kissed Mike."
"Of course not!" Dustin spoke, pointing at the two. "She's way too good for him."
Rolling his eyes, Mike was about to protest when a vehicle pulled up beside them—revealing Will and his mother. Smiling, the group waved to him, "Hey, Will!"
