Thea's Return (Book 2 in the Original SOCIETY Series) ✔

☙3❧

There was a constant knot in my stomach ever since Aunt Penny told me about the Six coming to her wedding. It was just gnawing at my insides the more I thought about having to be in the same vicinity as them. My entire body felt so numb and I almost felt like i was on autopilot.

All throughout breakfast, Aunt Penny was trying to keep everyone's eyes off me as I sat staring at my full plate the whole time. She was engaging in multiple conversations to keep everyone's attention on her. But if there was someone that I could never hide anything from, it was Maddox. Even if i tried.

Seeing that he was seated beside me, it was more obvious to him of my behavior. My leg kept bouncing up and down with my anxiety and the fork in my hand was pushing my food from one side of the plate to the other. While my mind was preoccupied with the information relayed to me, I barely noticed when Maddox placed his hand on top of my thigh while still in conversation with the others.

Blinking, I looked down at his hand then up at him as he was smiling and nodding to something Thatcher said. He gave my thigh a squeeze and I slowly started to relax. 

I turned my eyes to my aunt whose brow went up before catching the way she looked down to Maddox's hand disappearing under the table. 

So much for making her believe that nothing was going on between us. There really wasn't, but with how affectionate Maddox is with me can kind of give people mixed signals. Regardless of the look i was getting from my aunt, however, I didn't push away Maddox. He kept his hand there the rest of the breakfast.

Now we were both sitting on the front porch steps.

It was nice out today, not that cloudy since the sun beamed through them every few minutes. And thankfully no wind which would have irritated me since I had my hair down and wisps of hair would get into my face. Drove me crazy!

"Maybe this is a good thing..." Maddox mumbled, breaking our comfortable silence.

I frowned, not believing my ears and turned to look at him.

"A 'good thing'?" I scoffed, shaking my head. "Maddie. Are you insane!? This is anything but a good thing!"

"How can you be so sure though, Bruiser?"

"Because..." i started, swallowing hard and shifted my feet closer to the back part of the steps and hugged my knees. "It's been five years. I purposely lost all communication with everyone here in Blood Moon Falls, especially the Six. After what happened between Auric and I... sigh... It just seemed better to not talk to any of them. Less awkward."

I glanced at my friend and his violet-blue eyes, that still made me wonder if his altered genetics had something to do with how beautiful they were, stared long and hard at me. He didn't say anything for a while and I wrinkled my nose, blinking at him.

"Stop it, Maddie! Say something! Don't just do that contemplating stare of yours! That drives me up the wall when you do that!"

"Why?"

Sniffing, I grumbled it bothered me so much because I knew that he was trying to read me beyond what I was saying.

"And I don't like it!"

"Because I read what you are actually saying?" he prodded.

I nodded after a moment, then turned my eyes to his. "Yeah. And I hate that."

Maddox hummed, a small grin on his lips as he stared ahead of him. He narrowed his eyes, not in a glaring kind of way, but more like he was squinting in thought. He usually did this when he was going to say something that I didn't want to hear, but needed to.