Victory at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #5) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,168

an argument he’s had with his mother on the phone numerous times, begging her to stay somewhere else, at Aaron’s at the very least. It wouldn’t be entirely unheard of for the GMP to come for Hael’s mom. At this point, I think our tentative stalemate is the only thing that’s prevented them from moving on us. “We can find you somewhere better to stay, somewhere nicer than this shitbox.” There’s a long pause there where Hael holds his breath and his mother finally lifts her eyes up to look at his face. “Maman, please.”

Marie looks over at Martin and then back at her son.

“Je n'ai nulle part où aller,” she murmurs, and Hael makes a sound of frustration.

“She says there’s nowhere else for her to go,” he explains, cursing in French for a moment before sliding his hand over his face. He squeezes me even more tightly against him, and I put my palm over his heart, feeling it thunder inside his broad chest. “But Maman, there is. We have places for you to go. You don’t have to stay here; you don’t have to suffer like this.”

Tension stretches between Hael and his mother, and I look over to see Vic’s normally stoic face soften slightly as he turns away. We understand what it’s like to be betrayed by a mother. Shit, we all do. Every single one of us has been betrayed by close family.

Every single one.

The ties binding our hearts seem to tighten and knot, drawing our souls closer together even as we stand in that janky ass yard in the middle of the second worst neighborhood in Springfield. There used to be a high school here, too, almost twenty years past, but it’s long since been shut down, so … Prescott High it is for Four Corners residents.

“Okay,” Marie says after a moment, and Hael nearly startles in surprise.

“What?” he asks, blinking furiously for a moment. “Quoi?”

“I’ll go with you,” Marie reconfirms, lifting her chin. Her bruised and battered face speaks volumes; the tremble in her pale hands says even more. She’s afraid. But she’s more afraid of losing the last shred of her son’s respect than she is of Martin. “I will go.” She mumbles something else in French that I don’t quite hear.

Hael tugs me forward and then releases me so that he can take his mother in his arms, tucking her tiny body under his chin as I stand close and Martin starts to scream obscenities from behind us.

Shock of all shocks, we hear a knock on the door a moment later.

Our police detail has heard the commotion.

With a sigh, Hael exchanges a look with me and we lead Marie into the house. I’m the one to answer the door and explain the situation—but only after righting the coffee table and one of the chairs.

The officers decide to wait on the porch for us as Victor guards the back door, keeping Martin out while we pack up some things for Marie. While Hael helps his mom, I peek into his room and see that he managed to pack up most of his things before the move to Oak Valley, including all those superhero comics and graphic novels. There are boxes here and there at the apartment, stacked in the third spare bedroom, but I never quite put together what might be in them.

“Blackbird,” Hael says, drawing my attention around. I bite my lip in embarrassment at having been caught scouting out his room, but Hael just takes my head between his hands and kisses my mouth. “Thank you,” he breathes, but for what, I’m not sure. I hardly did a damn thing.

I decide to ask what he means by that and Hael pauses, pressing his forehead to mine.

“Marie,” he says, closing his eyes for a moment. “What she said to me in French … Je vais le quitter car je vois à quel point tu l'aimes. Quand je vous regarde tous les deux, je n'arrive plus à faire semblant. It means … she’s leaving because she sees how much I love you, that when she looks at us, she can’t bear to pretend anymore.”

He stands up and releases me, but my cheeks are blazing and I’m not quite sure what to say.

In the end, I say nothing, and we lead Marie out to the Camaro. For now, we take her to Aaron’s place. Since it’s a well-known fact that we aren’t living there and haven’t been for months, it’s fairly safe. Especially located