Maddox (The Italian Cartel Book 5) Read online

  Maddox

  The Italian Cartel # 5

  Shandi Boyes

  Edited by

  Nicky @ Swish Design & Editing

  Illustrated by

  SSB Covers & Design

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2021 by Shandi Boyes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  * * *

  Editing: Nicky @ Swish Design & Editing

  Proofreading: Kaylene @ Swish Design & Editing

  Alpha Reader: Carolyn Wallace

  Cover: SSB Covers & Design

  Photography: Wander Aguir

  Model: Sonny Henty

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Want to stay in touch?

  Also by Shandi Boyes

  Maddox

  1. Maddox

  2. Demi

  3. Maddox

  4. Maddox

  5. Demi

  6. Maddox

  7. Demi

  8. Demi

  9. Demi

  10. Maddox

  11. Maddox

  12. Demi

  13. Maddox

  14. Demi

  15. Maddox

  16. Demi

  17. Demi

  18. Maddox

  19. Maddox

  20. Demi

  21. Demi

  22. Maddox

  23. Maddox

  24. Demi

  25. Maddox

  26. Demi

  27. Maddox

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Shandi Boyes

  Want to stay in touch?

  Facebook: facebook.com/authorshandi

  * * *

  Instagram: instagram.com/authorshandi

  * * *

  Email: [email protected]

  * * *

  Reader’s Group: bit.ly/ShandiBookBabes

  * * *

  Website: authorshandi.com

  * * *

  Newsletter: subscribepage.com/AuthorShandi

  Also by Shandi Boyes

  Perception Series

  * * *

  Saving Noah (Noah & Emily)

  Fighting Jacob (Jacob & Lola)

  Taming Nick (Nick & Jenni)

  Redeeming Slater (Slater and Kylie)

  Saving Emily (Noah & Emily - Novella)

  Wrapped Up with Rise Up (Perception Novella - should be read after the Bound Series)

  * * *

  Enigma

  * * *

  Enigma (Isaac & Isabelle #1)

  Unraveling an Enigma (Isaac & Isabelle #2)

  Enigma The Mystery Unmasked (Isaac & Isabelle #3)

  Enigma: The Final Chapter (Isaac & Isabelle #4)

  Beneath The Secrets (Hugo & Ava #1)

  Beneath The Sheets(Hugo & Ava #2)

  Spy Thy Neighbor (Hunter & Paige)

  The Opposite Effect (Brax & Clara)

  I Married a Mob Boss(Rico & Blaire)

  Second Shot(Hawke & Gemma)

  The Way We Are(Ryan & Savannah #1)

  The Way We Were(Ryan & Savannah #2)

  Sugar and Spice (Cormack & Harlow)

  Lady In Waiting (Regan & Alex #1)

  Man in Queue (Regan & Alex #2)

  Couple on Hold(Regan & Alex #3)

  Enigma: The Wedding (Isaac and Isabelle)

  Silent Vigilante (Brandon and Melody #1)

  Hushed Guardian (Brandon & Melody #2)

  Quiet Protector (Brandon & Melody #3)

  * * *

  Bound Series

  * * *

  Chains (Marcus & Cleo #1)

  Links(Marcus & Cleo #2)

  Bound(Marcus & Cleo #3)

  Restrain(Marcus & Cleo #4)

  Psycho (Dexter & ??)

  * * *

  Russian Mob Chronicles

  * * *

  Nikolai: A Mafia Prince Romance (Nikolai & Justine #1)

  Nikolai: Taking Back What’s Mine (Nikolai & Justine #2)

  Nikolai: What’s Left of Me(Nikolai & Justine #3)

  Nikolai: Mine to Protect(Nikolai & Justine #4)

  Asher: My Russian Revenge (Asher & Zariah)

  Nikolai: Through the Devil's Eyes(Nikolai & Justine #5)

  Trey (Trey & K)

  * * *

  The Italian Cartel

  * * *

  Dimitri

  Roxanne

  Reign

  Mafia Ties (Novella)

  Maddox

  Demi

  Rocco

  Clover

  Smith

  * * *

  RomCom Standalones

  Just Playin’ (Elvis & Willow)

  Ain't Happenin' (Lorenzo & Skylar)

  The Drop Zone (Colby & Jamie)

  * * *

  Short Stories

  * * *

  Christmas Trio (Wesley, Andrew & Mallory -- short story)

  Falling For A Stranger (Short Story)

  K (A Trey Sequel)

  * * *

  Coming Soon

  Skitzo

  Maddox

  Age Seven

  * * *

  My head cranks back when a thud booms into my ears. It sounded the same as the oomph that whizzed out of Landon’s mouth when he beat Caidyn to the front of the line, and Caidyn showed his dislike by punching Landon in the stomach, but it was squeaky like a mouse, and it hurt my chest.

  We’re in line at the carpool at the front of our school. It’s one of those fancy-schmancy places parents pay lots of money for their children to attend. Some students even sleep here. My brothers, sister, and I don’t because we live a short drive from Seacoast Private Academy, but students like the one a bully just pushed over stay here all the time.

  I don’t know if their mommies and daddies can’t take care of them or if they need extra help with their studies, but whatever the reason, they’re here day and night. I like school, but if I had to be here twenty-four-seven, I’d vomit. My teachers are cranky bums. My parents are not.

  “Hold my spot.” My baby sister, Justine, raises her eyes to mine. She only just started at my school this year. She’s a big girl now, but she doesn’t need to be brave. She has four older brothers. That’s all the bravery she needs. “Please make sure Mommy doesn’t leave me here.”

  When Justine nods, promising me she won’t make me sleep at the school, I race toward the little girl holding her grazed knee. She’s sitting on the footpath, and big wet blobs are filling her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  My heart whacks against my chest so fast I’m certain I broke something when she lifts her head to look at me. My mommy says my eyes are the color of the ocean. This little girl’s pretty eyes are blue like mine, but since her hair is as dark as a starless night, they appear as big as the moon.

  “Don’t cry,” I stammer out when a salty droplet rolls down her cheek. “If you cry, he’ll think he won.”

  When she sucks in a shaky breath, a clear sign she’s trying to be brave, I narrow my eyes like an angry bear before glaring at the boy who pushed her over. “You hurt her, you bozo!”

  I’m big for my age, but I’m not as big as the grade six boy I’m yelling at. He’s the size of a giant, and the fist he’s racing toward my nose is bigger than a watermelon. It collides into my face with a crack and sends me tumbling backward.

  I hear my older brothers shout my name as they run to protect me, but I can’t see them since the girl I defended is catching the blood running out of my nose like she can’t catch cooties. “Don’t cry,” she re
minds me when silly tears prick my eyes. “If you cry, he’ll think he won.”

  1

  Maddox

  Present Day

  * * *

  As the bell above Stamina’s door jingles in my ears, my glove-covered fist collides into Saint’s nose with a thud. My older brother is usually more on the ball when it comes to deflecting the jabs I hit him with when we go a couple of rounds in the ring. He isn’t quite as tall as me—Landon secured the title of being both the oldest and tallest in our family, and Caidyn, although both wiser and older than me, is a good inch shorter, but Saint knows how to command the ring.

  We’ve been sparring together since we were kids. My dad, although a little chubby around the midsection when he sailed past fifty, always implemented a strict exercise regime for my brothers and me. At the start, I thought it was about peak physical fitness. I learned otherwise when my baby sister grew into her lanky legs and teenybopper bra.

  My parents will never admit it to Justine’s face, but she wasn’t planned. Dad was a week out from having a vasectomy, and with four boys under the age of five, Mom had closed up shop years earlier—around the time I popped out.

  Justine, as forever stubborn as she is, had other plans.

  My mom was so convinced she was having another boy, she booted me out of the nursery, touched up the paint my older brothers chipped while tackling their newest sibling into submission, then chose the perfect name to go with Landon, Sebastian, Caidyn, and Maddox.

  Oh, did I forget to mention Saint’s real name is Sebastian? We call him Saint because he’s nothing close to saintly. Town Stud is the only title his name will ever wear, and he’s more than happy to keep it that way.

  Justin was a tough name. It belonged to a person who wasn’t to be messed with. That’s why when ‘Justin’ came screaming into the world weighing an impressive nine pounds without any dangly bits between ‘his’ legs, Mom tacked an ‘E’ onto the end of ‘his’ name and went about her day.

  That’s very much how my parents operate. They’re strict and a little unknowledgeable when it comes to electronics, but they love their kids to the core. I don’t think there’s anything we could do that would see us shunted out of their lives for good. Not even Justine getting ‘friendly’ with a boy she just met in the hot tub on her eighteenth birthday saw them giving her the cold shoulder. They said she was an adult, and in turn, they’d treat her like one.

  She didn’t get off quite so easily with her older siblings.

  We watched her like a hawk—we still do.

  Unlike the woman responsible for the brand-new shiner forming under Saint’s right eye, Justine has lived a sheltered life. She has no clue how cruel the world can be, and if I have it my way, she never will. A big brother’s job is to protect his baby sister. Nothing should come before that—although I see things changing when women without our blood are thrown into the mix. We’ve already noticed it with Landon. I don’t see Caidyn being too far behind him.

  In a way, I’m lucky. With Justine having four older brothers and me being the youngest of them all, the weight on my shoulders is nowhere near as heavy as Landon’s and Saint’s. That doesn’t mean I can get slack, though. As my father always says, “Slacking off is the quickest way to an average life.”

  After drifting my eyes from Demi Petretti, voted most attractive, most likely to succeed, and all-around badass by every male in a five-mile radius of Seacoast Private Academy senior year almost four years ago, I punish Saint’s ribs with a left-right-left combination.

  He groans through the pain of a possible cracked rib, but not once does he stray his eyes away from the area Demi is mingling. I can’t say I blame him. That girl doesn’t just have the smarts to be in the top two percent of students at our school, she also was in the top two percent in the state. Add that to the fact she’s as hot as sin, and you’ve got a lethal combination any man would be lucky to stumble upon.

  Unfortunately for me, by the time I worked up the courage to do something about an almost decade-long crush, Saint announced an interest in Demi. That put her off-limits, and the reminder she’s out of reach has me punishing Saint with my fists so rebelliously, he has no choice but to man up and hit me back.

  We go blow for blow for the next several minutes, only stopping when the coach from our high school wrestling team mistakes our fight as literal. “This is why I invoked the sibling code. You two will kill each other one day.”

  The redness lining Coach Merritt’s face triples when Saint has the audacity to laugh. High school feels as if it was decades ago when you’re a senior in college, but you can be assured as fuck I haven’t worked up the courage to laugh in a teacher’s face just yet. I’m not a coward by any means, I just know how to pick my battles. Coach Merritt isn’t the wrestling coach of a state championship team for no reason. His size alone exposes he’d face no issues putting Saint on his ass, much less a cabinet full of trophies in our high school gymnasium.

  “He isn’t laughing at you, Coach,” I push out breathlessly when the heat on Coach’s face looks close to boiling over. “He’s laughing at the fact he’d rather act like a pussy than eat one.”

  Coach chokes on his spit. It’s barely heard over the warning growl rumbling up Saint’s chest. He’s about ready to blow his top, and I’m right there, willing to push him over the edge like all little brothers should be.

  With the swagger of a man not being eyeballed as if his head is on the chopping block, I backhand Saint in the chest. “Come on, Saint, admit it. You’ve been drooling over the same girl for years.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  Don’t let his honesty fool you. He isn’t doing it because he’s a stand-up guy. Lying just isn’t a Walsh forte. If you want us to sugarcoat things, you better offer one of us a scholarship in baking because that’s the only way we’ll sweeten things up for you.

  Loud and proud isn’t our motto either, but you won’t ever doubt when a Walsh is in your vicinity. That’s why I’m shocked about Saint’s constant sitting on the fence when it comes to Demi. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, smart, and witty, has never been seen with a man who isn’t related to her by blood, and she forever glances his way when we’re dancing in the ring like we’re destined to become the next Conor McGregor. Her last name leaves a bad taste in your mouth any time you say it, but come on, doesn’t the abovementioned make up for that?

  When Saint remains quiet, I wordlessly demand he return his Town Stud badge with a two-finger clap. When my voiceless command doesn’t have him coughing up the goods, I throw words into the mix. “You can’t keep a title you’re not willing to uphold.”

  “Fuck off, Maddox. Don’t try and pin your bullshit on me.” He smacks me up the side of the head before he moves to the ropes to scrub the sweat off his face with a towel hanging off the top rung. “From what Landon told me, you haven’t done much… pussy eating yourself.” A gleam I know all too well sparks through his eyes before he says, “When I was a senior in college…”

  The growl that finalizes his statement pisses me off. I’ve been crushing on Demi for years. I’m not talking she’s-real-pretty-and-I’d-like-to-get-to-know-her-some-more crush. I mean, crush crush. She’s ruining all my hookups crush. Stick-me-with-a-fork-I’m-fucking-done crush. And they’re just examples of when I’ve caught the occasional smile she’s tossed my way the past five years.

  I’m a fucking mess, and Demi Petretti is solely responsible for the carnage.

  Fortunately for me, the Walsh men aren’t just masters at brawling, barbecuing, and philandering, we’re also really fucking good at hiding our emotions as well.

  While smirking like the smug fuck I am, I add to Saint’s mortification that he said ‘pussy eating’ in public. “As I’ve told you before, Saint, if your big brother is still chaperoning your dates, you’re doing it wrong.”

  He hits me with an evil sideways glare, doubling my smile. “How about you be fucking honest for once? We both know why you’re pushing me on this.” I almost
reply, ‘cause you’re a pussy, and it’s my job as your little brother to push your buttons, but he continues talking, foiling my endeavor. “Because you’re hoping she’ll reject me, then you can slot into my place.” He tosses the towel back over the ropes, stands tall, then puffs his chest out. “News flash, bozo, that’ll never happen because I’ve never been rejected.”

  Spit flies out of my mouth when I brush off his claims with a pfft. I’m one hundred percent praying like fuck Demi shoots down his signature move, then I might finally get the opportunity to prove dreams can come true, but there’s no chance in hell I’ll ever let Saint know that.

  It’s a pity for me that there are days where he knows me better than I know myself. “Now who’s the fucking pussy?” With the swagger of a man aware he has the eyes of over a dozen women on him, he saunters back my way. Yes, I said saunters. The fucker is strutting like he’s making his way to the octagon. “We don’t travel all the way to Hopeton to work out for no reason, so come on, out with it. What’s the real reason for the change-up?”