𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 || baxter radic

66.

◈ 𝒃𝒂𝒙'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗 ◈

I'm not going home. I can't go home. I have no way to get home. I'm trapped here in this town. Trapped here with her and nowhere else to go. I would try my old friends, but after how I left things, I don't think any of them would let me in with open arms. So instead I sneak into Summer and May's house and spend a few hours sleeping in Summer's bed.

I wake before anyone else and I am out before anyone can even know I've been there. I steal one of Summer's boards and head down the beach. I needed to get out on the water and clear my head. Sleep was brutal and all I spent the few hours doing was fighting off nightmares of real life situations. The water helps though. It washes away everything. I have no thoughts. My mind goes numb until I hit shore to be faced with May and my son.

"I didn't know you'd be here." She comments immediately, balancing our son on her hip. Something about the way she looks doing it is making my heart do funny things inside me. But I push whatever it is away. I have to. For myself.

"You know that's a lie." I focus on our son. I don't even address her as I speak. It's easier to stand my ground if I don't have to look at her.

"You said you were leaving. I take Max down here every morning until everyone wakes because he's a loud mouth like his father." She raises his brows at me. I only know from the tone of her words. She's trying to push my buttons, loosen me up. It's working, but I won't admit it.

"Like his mother." I retort. Between the two of us, it was hard to tell who was the loud mouth. Depending on who you asked, you'd get a different result. We could share the title, but then it would be more things that would point to why we should have ended up together. And that's not what I'm looking for.

"He's unusually quiet today though. So I guess we didn't really need to come." She looks toward the sand, finally realizing I'm not taking her bait.

"He was last night as well. Summer and her mom seem to think it's me." I step toward the two of them, running my finger along Max's cheek. He looks at me with smile as I do it. He seems happy when I'm around. I can't picture a screaming child. He's so calm and collected.

"They let you see him?" Her eyes jump to mine. There's a fiery anger, but she steps down when I narrow my eyes at her anger.

I fight the urge to spew out another argument, but what's the point. No one will win anything from it. I've made it quite clear where I stand. "Yeah."

"Maybe it is you then." May looks at our son. I see it out of the corner of my eye. I feel the gravitational pull trying to force me to look at her. It's a struggle that somehow I win.

I don't know how to respond to her so I start to head back toward her house. I can return back Summer's board and attempt to contact my sister so I can get out this town. That was the plan at least, but when I check my phone it's dead, and without it there's no knowing where my sister's run off to.

"I'm going to take a walk down to the cafe in town if you want to join." May walks out to the front porch, Max balancing on her hip. She's plugged my phone in and brought me an old pair of clothes I know she's worn by her scent that lingers in them. I'm sure she's worn them a lot. At least from what Summer's shared. "I know you want to be alone but you've got to be hungry."

I agree against all the warning signs telling me not to. The hungry pit in my stomach was begging for food and without a place to go, I didn't really have an option to stay put. No matter the world's signs pointing to being around May, I was trying to avoid her as much as possible. But she was making that impossible.

As we sit down to eat, we are very rudely interrupted. "So you can make time for your ex, but you can't return my calls or messages?" My eyes glance up to the man hovering over our table. I swiftly pull Max from his high chair and go to walk away, but a hand to my chest stops me from continuing. I do not appreciate this man I do not know placing his hands on me. And I really didn't appreciate it while holding a mere baby in my arms. "Sit down." He demands.

"Don't touch me." I glare at him, following his orders but only because I was not risking Max's life for this idiot. Is it obvious I hate this guy? Not because he got my girl, but because he's a controlling dickhead. Which I'm clearly seeing now.

"I can do what I want." He spits at me, directing his attention back toward May.

I don't let Max go, because at least if things get out of control I can step away. I can try and get him away from whatever this psycho might do. And at this point I'm very thankful that May never let him into Max's life.

"Answer the question Maybelle." He glares at her, finally taking his focus off of me. My eyes shift to May. Her once strong ability to defend herself is lacking. I can see she's scared, and as much as I want to save her, I don't.

"I went for a walk hoping fresh air would help soothe my stomach. Then I went home and went to bed. I didn't look at my phone. Then I woke up and took Max to the beach and now I'm here. You know I'm not on my phone in the morning. I don't understand why you're overreacting." Despite the strength of her words, the tone of them is lackluster. She's not the spitfire she once was. Maybe she had changed.

"You found him." He motions toward me, but doesn't give me his time of day. He just makes a random motion toward me almost like he's disgusted by me. I guess at this point it's more jealousy than anything—but still, it's disgust in my eyes. His tone says it all.

"He was at the beach. We ran into each other. I haven't seen him in two years. Max is his son. I think it's quite fair to invite him for breakfast. And his sister took his car to go on the date. There wasn't much he could do." She tries to defend herself but he's having none of it. "I don't understand why you're acting jealous. You've never been like this."

"I'm not jealous." He instantly boasts. "Why would I ever be jealous of him? He broke your heart. I picked up the pieces for you. I fixed you. Made you better. He did nothing for you." That was wrong. That was very wrong. And Maybelle couldn't stand it.

She shoves him out of the cafe without even a second of hesitation. There's the fire I've always known her to have. I don't know what's said outside, but she returns huffing and blowing hair out of her face. She's too stubborn to actually move it away with her cute scowl and her crossed arms. So I slip into old habits and reach across the table, tucking the hair behind her ears.

"Sorry." She mumbles under her breath just as food is brought to the table.

I don't return Max back to his seat. He instead makes a mess out of my plate of food but I don't mind. The last few hours have made the thought of eating actually unbearable. Even if you could hear my stomach growling from a mile away. I only pick at what is left on my plate after the cute monster in my lap decided it was playtime with food.

"I really appreciate you joining me Bax." May says softly as she pays for our food. I offered but she refused to let me. Even when I beat her to it—giving the waitress my card first—she still won the battle.

"Sorry your boyfriend's a dick." I carry Max out giving May's body the rest it probably deserves. She looks exhausted and I'm sure she probably is. Raising a baby on your own couldn't be easy. I give her props for doing it partnerless.

"Eh, he's never liked the thought you coming back. It's why I never brought it up. When you stop thinking about something happening, you kind of picture your life finally without it. It's what I've done for a long time now. But now that you're here it's like, the last two years haven't happened. Like I feel new but... I don't know." Her voice trails.

"The past is resurfacing and the feelings are coming alive and you don't know how you're supposed to feel." I fill in the blanks for her because since we have always been one, I know exactly what's running through her mind. Even after an entire meal in silence, I know.