Bathroom (Max x Bradley) - Maxley

CHAPTER 27

Oh. I see. He's having some friends over, maybe even hooking up with someone right now. It deeply hurt me knowing he wasn't wounded by our breakup as much as I was. I turned around, walking back to my dorm, not wanting to ruin their moment.

I had only gone a few steps before I heard the screams and yelling coming out of Bradley's house. I turned back around, listening closely. In between the arguing and yelling, I could hear Bradley's voice. He may not want me to help him with his father, but he didn't say anything about helping him with whoever he was arguing with right now. I quickly ran up the stairs to his house, opening the door and going inside. I quickly ran towards the noise which was coming out of the living room.

I froze in my tracks, a little conflict appearing inside me. There stood Bradley's parents, screaming at him. He said I shouldn't interfere with his family problems. But all that was forgotten when I spotted Bradley with several bruises on his face, his nose bloody. His father was raising his hand to strike again. Bradley closed his eyes, preparing for the hit. I quickly ran towards my not-boyfriend-anymore and stood in front of him, receiving the hit instead of him.

A loud slap could be heard in the room. Then silence. I felt Bradley shuffling behind me, trying to understand what had happened. His parents were only looking at me mortified, not knowing what to do in such a situation.

"Max! Oh my God, are you okay? I told you. I do not want your help. I can settle it. Now you got hurt because of me. Please, leave... I don't want you to get hurt because of me," Bradley said, coming next to me, whispering the last part. I wasn't having it. I would not allow somebody to hurt him.

"No. I will stay. Just because you are too scared to ask for help doesn't mean you don't need it. And you clearly need my help. So, I'm staying," I said to him, not letting anybody or anything change my mind. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Bradley wanted to protest, but he stayed quiet when his dad decided to jump in. "Max. I honor you. You have a girlfriend and you know how to skateboard. And I am deeply sorry I accidentally hit you. But I think you should listen to... HIM, and not meddle in." He said, addressing his son with disgust on his face, hurting Bradley not only with his fists but his words as well.

"Well. Thank you. But I do not honor you, at all. It seems that not only your leg got fucked up all those years ago, but your brain as well. Bradley is my boyfriend, you dumb fuck," I said, not wanting to change the verb to past tense, just so I couldn't mess with him more.

His face changed from relaxed to angry, to discussed, and back to angry really quickly, looking me up and down like some kind of garbage. "Don't you dare speak to me like this!" Like father like son. "Do you know who I am?! You will regret this." "And how, Jack? Enlighten me, please. Because I could call the cops on you for assault. And seeing in what bad shape Bradley is, the charges would not be nice." Suddenly, the mother chirped in. "I am a witness! I will tell them that didn't happen!"

"Lady. When the cops see in what shape we two are, and how big your husband is, I don't think they will believe you. So, rethink it. And while you think, because it might take a while, leave and don't come back." I was mad, just insulting them in any way I could, not caring anymore. The parents were left there standing, fuming, speechless. But they left eventually, giving us dirty looks.

I turned to Bradley, grabbing his hand and taking him to the kitchen to patch him up. He sat himself on the corner top, our positions now reversed. I clean his nose in silence. After a while, Bradley spoke up. "So... you still think of me as your boyfriend?" "No," I said, thinking my next words through.

"You hurt me. A lot. You have been avoiding me for so long, and you didn't even explain it to me once in those two weeks. And not once did you try to regain contact with me for the past week. It seems as if you didn't care about me at all." My voice got quieter with each word, tears filling my eyes again, like so many times throughout the past week.