The Sunshine Boy and the Weaver King

Chapter Twenty Three

Anthony wasn't the praying type, but he would've liked to believe in something. Neither of his parents were religious. His dad was the spiritual and superstitious type, but never outright declared a specific belief. His mom was more cut and dry. What you saw was what you got with her.

That was why she never worried about much. Just people, and the things they did when they were scared or angry.

Anthony ran his thumb over the pad of the phone Burke had given to him. The briefcase had been on the dresser in the room he'd slept in that morning. When he asked Mia about it, she said she'd woken up to one, too, but that she hadn't seen or heard Burke since the day before.

It seemed wrong to be using a phone that Burke could have easily bugged, but even with Mia in the same house, he felt alone. He ran his thumb over it again, then typed the numbers in that he could still picture and hear Maddox saying. 

He listened to the ring, then suddenly felt stupid. There was no guarantee that Maddox would pick up, and even if he did, why would Maddox want to talk to him? Right.

"I'm thinking maybe you aren't one." Maddox's quirked lips and sharp eyes flashed in his mind like a photograph. Anthony had suddenly become interesting to him.

Was that so bad? Was it so bad not to be seen as someone worthless and weak? For being stomped down every time he tried to speak?

Ryan would try to come help him, bringing bad guys down against him in the process.

Maddox was Maddox.

"Hello?" and his voice cut through the nervous string of chaos in Anthony's mind.

Anthony swallowed hard. "Hi."

"Anthony."

Hearing Maddox say his name made his gut twist.

"Maddox." He replied.

"We need to meet."

"I can't--"

"I know a place." He could hear wind whistling past, but quietly enough that he could still catch Maddox's words. "Upper side of town. There's an old used bookstore called Novel Idea. It's open until 9 PM."

Anthony swallowed hard. "I can't really go out right now."

"Text me when you're on your way."

The call ended.

Not if. When. Maddox fully expected Anthony to go, and why wouldn't he? Maddox rang a bell, and people came running. In that moment, Anthony couldn't really blame them. He felt like he was flailing, sinking, and Maddox was unmovable. Everyone knew that.

Maybe that was why he found himself grabbing his coat and slipping out of Burke's back door while Mia watched TV in the living room, her back to him. 

Novel Idea was tucked in between two other buildings that towered over it. It looked out of place, with the name of it in gold lettering on the door over the OPEN sign that dangled below. When Anthony pushed the door open, a bell above jangled happily, buying a couple glances.

He'd heard about this place before, but had never gone to it. Ryan wasn't the reading type, and Anthony wasn't the going-out-for-fun type.

He grimaced, adjusted the cap on his head, and walked toward the back of the bookstore, where Maddox said he'd be.

When he found him, Maddox was standing with a book in hand, several pages in. He didn't look up, but he did slide the book back into the shelf, his fingers slipping off the spine of it. The Lucifer Effect, it read.