Chapter 296

Why would Conrad call me this late at night? I was still questioning the odd timing when Brandon said, "Oh, he sent you a text, too." I blinked as he handed me the phone. I was still drained and admittedly out of it. Noticing this, he pointed out helpfully, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to." I was in the middle of deciding when the phone went silent after the call was automatically declined. I took the phone and scrolled through the messages, the ones I had left unread since morning. "Maddie, can we meet?" "There's something I need to tell you, but I don't know if I should." "Text me back when you get this." Conrad followed up with two texts in the afternoon. "I'm still waiting for your text, Maddie." "Are you busy, Maddie?" I could feel his anxiousness through these messages and that he had been waiting for me to reply. If there was something he needed to tell me and he wasn't sure if he should, chances were he didn't know what to make of it, either. In the ye