Saving Max

Chapter 9

I wake with a start, sitting straight up as I gasp for breath. I look around the room frantically, noticing the familiar plain walls and sigh.

I'm at Caden's.

"Bella, are you okay?" I hear a deep, groggy voice ask. Looking to the other side of the couch I see Caden slowly coming to, his body still looking heavy from sleep.

"Yeah." I sigh, offering a small smile. "Hey Caden?"

"Hm?" he opens one eye sleepily, a lazy grin lighting up his face.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper, ducking my head down, grief from yesterday filling me. "I'm not sure where we stand after last night and-" I start, but he quickly cuts me off.

"It's okay. I get that sometimes you just have to deal with some things on your own. I just wish you would have told me something so I didn't spend three days thinking that you were done helping Max and I." his voice is gentle, surprising me greatly. A good nights sleep must have really put him in a better, more reasonable state.

I think it helped both of us.

"I could never leave Max." I tell him immediately, a serious expression finding its way on to my face.

I could never leave you is what I don't say.

"Oh- yeah. I know how much you care about him." he says, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"And I guess I would miss you, too. But only just a little." I add with a smirk, getting one in return from the boy in front of me.

"I know." he flaunts. "I'm delightful."

"Don't press your luck there, buddy." I warn, wagging a finger in his face. "I can always take it back."

He immediately snaps his mouth shut, wiping the grin off of his face in the process.

I let out a light laugh and hop off of the couch, Caden following suit.

"I'm sure Derek is going to feed Max, so you and I can just go out to breakfast before picking him up. If I remember right, I think a certain someone promised to take me out to eat. Her treat." he teases, a bright sparkle in his eyes.

I've missed that sparkle more than you could ever imagine.

"I suppose that certain someone was me, unfortunately." I mock sigh, shaking my head slowly.

His left hand flies to his chest as he pretends to be hurt. "You wound me."

"You'll get over it. Can I borrow a shirt?" I ask, already making my way towards his room.

"Sure. Just grab whatever." he dismisses, grabbing his phone off of the small bedside table.

I quickly find a shirt that has The Beatles written across it in semi fancy letters and grab that, slipping it on quickly.

As I'm about to leave, I look over at the bedside table Caden just grabbed his phone off of and stop in my tracks.

On it is a small, square picture frame, four happy faces in it. There are two parents, the husband's arm around his wife's shoulders as she cradles a tiny baby in her arms. In front of them is a small boy, a wide smile on his face as he stands in front of his mom.

The only thing that is wrong about the photo is the large red mark across the kid's face, a bruised eye accompanying it.

A frown appears on my face as I inspect the picture more, not caring if it's an invasion of privacy.

"Bella, what's taking you-" he asks, but stops short when I whip around, the picture still clutched in my hands.

"Um, I didn't notice it the last time I was in here and I just wanted to see what it was." I explain quickly, a nervous expression on my face.