I. Heart Of Gold (Uneditied) ✔️ ORIGINAL

Eighteen - A Bomb From the Parents

Emmi's POV:

I was sitting in my bedroom, doing my homework when I heard someone yelling my name angrily. It wasn't either of my parents, but I knew exactly who it was. I walked downstairs and saw Zachariah with his fists clenched and anger in his eyes. "What Zach?" I asked sharply.

"Why did you lie to me?" He snarled.

I raised my brows, "What are you talking about? I've never lied to you."

"Yes you did! You told me you were at the diner we go to all the time, but you weren't! You know I hate lying, Emmi!" He pulled his fist back and aimed it at my face, but hit the wall behind me instead.

I gulped and tried to run up the stairs, but I tripped and fell. He grabbed my ankle and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my calf. I shouted in pain and felt another one, and another one. "Stop! It hurts!" I cried.

I heard Zach laugh and then I felt a punch, multiple punches to my back. I groaned in more pain and they didn't stop. "You're gonna learn not to lie to me, Emmi." He hissed.

"STOP!" I screamed and my eyes shot open. My breathing was heavy and my chest was tight, I was having a panic attack from my nightmare and a lot of alarms started going off. I looked around and remembered I was in a hospital. My eyes landed on Maddox who was staring at me, worried. It looked like he hadn't slept much if at all.

He searched for a paper bag for me to breathe in and when he finally found something, he handed it to me and sat at the edge of the bed. As I breathed into the bag, to steady myself, I felt Maddox's hand touch mine. He squeezed it and I did the same. I didn't want him to let go.

Nurses came rushing in to figure out what the alarms were and were shocked to see I was awake for some reason. "Glad to see you're awake. We'll let your parents know." The red-headed nurse smiled.

"Thank you," Maddox answered for me.

The brunette nurse turned off the alarms and checked a few other things before she smiled and left me to rest.

Once we were alone, Maddox looked at me and I knew what was going through his head. What was I dreaming about that caused me to have a panic attack and yell. My breathing finally steadied and I took the bag away from my mouth. "You good?" He asked softly.

I nodded and tried to sit up to get more comfortable, but I couldn't move without pain. "Damn it," I winced.

Maddox jumped in, but when he touched my torso to try and help, I yelped. He pulled away and I noticed he had tears in his eyes, "I'm so sorry, Emmi." He choked. "I should have tried harder..."

I had never seen him cry and it seemed like it had been a while since he had, because I could tell he was trying to hold it all in. "Maddox, none of this is your fault. Zach is stronger than he looks when he's angry." I tried to reassure him. I zoned out, staring at the cabinets in front of me. "He...he hasn't done that in a long time...he never wanted to show what he was doing...so he used other things, objects that wouldn't show bruises..." I confessed.

I felt my hand get squeezed tighter and I turned my attention to the boy sitting next to me. He had the same anger in his eyes that Zach had the first night he struck me. I coiled back the best I could, "M--Maddox?" I stuttered.

His face softened and he looked at me, anger still subtly in his eyes, though when he blinked, it was gone. He noticed my fear and let go of my hand, wringing his wrists nervously. "I'm sorry..." he paused, "What you just confessed...it made me angry with him, not you. I will never be angry with you, I don't think I ever could." The corners of his lips turned up to form a smile and he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.

I blushed as I winced. Zach must have done a hell of a job on me if I wince at a simple kiss on the cheek. "It's okay...it just looked like his anger the first time everything started..." I lowered my gaze.

"I'm gonna kill his ass," Maddox growled.

I looked up at him, worried. I knew he hated Zach for breaking me, but the anger in his eyes scared me. Was he actually going to kill Zach? Could I really see myself dating a murderer? "Really?" I whispered.

"He hurt you, Emmi. He deserves some sort of punishment for his actions." I guess he could tell I was worried, because his body relaxed, "I'm not actually going to kill him. But he does need to pay for what he did."

I was going to respond, but my parents came bursting through the door. Maddox jumped up from the bed and went back to the recliner and my parents eyed us. Then my mom sat at my feet, "Oh my gosh, sweetheart. Thank goodness Maddox was there with you. I couldn't fathom the thought of losing another one of my children." My mother cried.

I froze, and looked up to my dad and then over to Maddox, praying he didn't catch what my mom said. Unfortunately, he did hear it and looked at me with wide eyes and raised brows. "Um...mom, I'm okay. Sore, but I'll be fine."

"Emmilia Rose, I could have lost you. You're poor face is swollen and I can see you're in a lot of pain. You are not okay." She told me as tears fell down her cheeks.

My dad sighed, "Sweetheart, we are both just happy you are okay." He turned to Maddox and gave a genuine smile, "Thank you for being there. Her mother and I are grateful."

Maddox gave a sharp nod, "You're welcome. I just wish I was able to stop it sooner." He lowered his gaze and I could feel the guilt dripping from his body.

"You stopped it quicker than you think, son." I saw the pain in my dad's eyes and I wanted to hug him. What had happened was hard on all of us, but it was the hardest on my dad, which is why he started heavily drinking at the beginning.

"I'm gonna to get going. My mom is making dinner all day and is gonna need my help. Happy Thanksgiving." Maddox turned to me, "I will text you when I get home and videochat after dinner. Family is coming over, which is why mom is cooking all day."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Maddox." I said softly with a smile. I could tell he really wanted to give me a kiss goodbye, but didn't want to do it in front of my parents. We weren't dating, so why would he?

He left and I felt my phone vibrate. I looked at it quick and smiled, seeing a cute roleplay text from Maddox. We didn't do that often, but it was sweet. I set my phone down and my parents talked to me about Thanksgiving and what their plans were.

Knowing I wouldn't be leaving for a few days, I would have loved my family to stay, but I also knew they had other plans with family. And I really didn't want Brooks to see me this way. It would hurt me too much. "So, I'm assuming you both are going to Thanksgiving dinner separately?" I asked.

My dad shook his head, "No. We're gonna stay with you. Brooks is with my mom and staying there for the night. We'll have our own little Thanksgiving dinner here from the cafeteria downstairs. Is that okay with you? Or was Maddox going to come back tonight?" He wiggled his brows.

I choked on my spit, "Dad! We aren't a thing, so I doubt he'd come back tonight." Even though, deep down I wanted him to.

My mom chuckled, "Honey, you can't hide it forever. He likes you, he really likes you."

I shook my head, "He doesn't. We're just friends and I know he doesn't have feelings for me. Why would he?"

"Emmilia, he would be lucky to have you as a girlfriend. You are sweet and kind. Sure, he's a bad boy, but he's gotta have some standards." My dad commented.

I sighed and frowned, "Sure, but I doubt his standards are me."

"I bet you they are!" My mom sang.

"Can we just drop it, please?" They both nodded. "Thank you. I'm actually more tired than I thought, so I'm going to get some rest."

"Alright, sweetpea. Would you like us to stay in the room with you? Or go get some food?"

"Doesn't matter to me. I'm just happy you two are staying and actually getting along for once. Usually divorced parents never get along." I commented.

I noticed my parents look at each other as their bodies stiffened. "Um...that's something we've been meaning to speak to you about, Emmi." My dad spoke. "We aren't...actually divorced..."