AN: Hey everybody! Just want to let you know that BPOV means Brad's POV.

Flashes From The Past

MMPOV

Flashback

"Yo, Maxine, slow down." The annoying voice said from behind me.

"What could you possibly want Christina?" I questioned. Christina and I weren't friends at all, in fact, we were practically mortal enemies, so the fact that she was talking to me was an oddity to say the least. And not a good one at that. When she finally caught up to me in her pink, two inch heels, she grabbed my arm to spin me around.

"Get your disgusting, manicured hands off me now priss!" I shouted, refusing the temptation to spit in her face.

We have been in World War III with each other since the day we met in kindergarten, when she wouldn't share her funky colored crayons with me. Then, when I got the limited addition pack, she became furious and decided to outdo me with her marker collection. We've been constantly competing with each other ever since. Whether it was style, sports, or grades she always had to be better than me. So the only possible reason she could be talking to me was to "warn" me of her future plans to destroy my life.

"Chill out Maxine." She said, as if talking to a child. I tried not to wince at her full usage of my name.

Plastering on the fakest of smiles possible, I asked, "What do you want Christina?"

"I hear you're going to the dance with Zack." She stated.

Uh oh. I definitely did not want a competition over him. Because she, with her large chest, make-up, and long blonde hair, would probably win. I'm not saying Zack is shallow or anything, but…men have certain needs.

"You heard right." I say with a smug grin. "And he asked me, so there's no way you're going to convince him to change his mind."

"Right." She mutters slowly. "Look, the only reason I'm talking to you is because I think you can get me something I need."

"Ha!" I half-laughed. "Like I would ever do a favor for you!"

"I bet you would for the right price." She says with a smug, knowing she won. She got me. My family has been struggling for a while now. And by family I mean my father and I. My mother left when I was an infant, leaving my dad to work and take care of me. Even with his job and my part-time job, we weren't making enough to support ourselves. I would do practically anything to go to bed with a full stomach for once in years.

"What do you want bitch?" I ask rudely, hating this power she has over me.

"It's fairly simple actually." She says with a grin. "When you and Zack are finished with your cute, little date and are fooling around upstairs, I need to do something for me. Once you get passed third base, I need you to take some photographs of him and then give them to me."

"What?" I screech, totally shocked. I take her tiny shoulders in my hands and shove her towards a nearby brick wall. "You are a sicko, you know that? I first rate pervert! I would never do that! Why the hell would you want that anyways?"

"Oh, now don't you go worrying your pretty, little head with that." She says in a condescending voice. She takes something out of her Louis Vuitton bag and hands it to me. "Here is half. You get the other half when you complete your task."

I look down at the check written for $5,000. Oh, shit. I'm screwed.

MFPOV

I step quietly back into the dark room, being careful not to hit the boxes while walking. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, I see that it is 6:00 a.m. Looking down at my fiancée, laying on the bed with the covers thrown haphazardly over his body, I giggle. Getting down on my knees, I brush his hair from his forehead and kiss him there.

"I'll see you soon Zacky." I whisper.

Exiting the bedroom and entering the kitchen, I grab a breakfast bar and write a note quickly, explaining to Zack I should be home by noon. He probably won't even notice I'm gone, since he doesn't get up until after noon usually.

Once I'm driving down the highway in Zack's car, I begin eating the breakfast bar. He doesn't mind when I borrow his car, but he does get ticked when I eat in it. I'm not too worried about it though, since he breaks that rule whenever he passes a McDonalds. It takes me an hour and a half to maneuver my way through traffic and reach my destination. Taking a deep breath, I exit the car, making sure to take the bar wrapper with me so that all evidence of me eating is gone.

I throw the wrapper in the trashcan nearby and timidly enter the cold, white building. "Um, excuse me?" I say to the women behind the main desk. "I'm here to see Brad…"

"Oh, yes, hello Madeline. Right this way please." She says after standing up and leading me down a long hallway. "Beautiful weather today, huh?"

Her voice barely registers in my mind though, as the beating of my heart almost deafens me. I manage a small nod and focus on trying not to pass out from the lightheadedness that has suddenly washed over me.

"Here we are." She says in a cheerful voice. "We have officers and doctors all over the place if you should ever need them. Just knock on the door when you would like to leave."

I mutter a faint thank you, feeling increasingly nervous with every passing second. She takes a pass key from her pocket and unlocks the door, letting me open it and step inside alone. When I enter the room, I see a single bed, a desk, and some other furniture, but my eyes are immediately drawn to the figure on the couch. I watch as his face lights up at my presence and he walks over to me, which makes me unconsciously take a step back. He puts his hands up in a surrender position and sits back down on the couch. Taking another deep breath and mustering up all my courage, I walk over with knobby knees and sit down next to him.

"Hi Maddie. It's great to see you again." He says with a smile and a genuine voice.

"Brad." I say with a straight face.

"How have you been? Still going to Harvard?" Brad asks with interest.

"Yeah." I don't think I can speak more than one word in his presence.

"The dorm rooms suck right?" he asks with a chuckle.

"Actually, I'm living a nice apartment with my fiancée." I say, finally able to form a sentence.

His jaw clenches and I see his fist clench. I immediately regret mentioning Zack. I don't want Brad to go on the warpath after him again.

"He doesn't happen to be blonde, does he?" Brad asks warily.

"Yes, it's Zack. Cut the small talk Brad. Why did you really call me here?" I ask, feeling my insides heat up.

"I wanted to talk to my former friend again. I miss you Maddie. And…I wanted to apologize for all the pain that I caused you." Brad says, looking me straight in the eye.

"You know, you should probably apologize to the person who you shot." We both wince at my harsh words and the memories within them.

"Well, I wanted to." Brad says when he resumes talking. "It was an open invitation. I bet he wasn't too keen about coming to see me though."

"He doesn't know." I blurt out, not thinking about my words before I say them. I look over at Brad and see faint amusement etched upon his face.

"Keeping secrets from the future hubby, huh?" he asks.

All the anger, the hurt, the fury I've held for him over all of these years for all the pain he caused me and the love of my life comes shooting up me, making me woozy again. Instead of continuing this pointless conversation, I bolt up from the couch and walk quickly towards the door, knocking ferociously.

"Wait, Maddie!" Brad says, coming up to me and grabbing my arm.

"Get off of me!" I scream as the door bursts open and a doctor and two policemen come barging through, taking him off of me. I start exiting the room and running down the hallway, hearing Brad yell. "I'm sorry! Please! Maddie! Come back! Please!"

ZPOV

When I hear the door start to rattle, I rush over to it and swing it open wildly. Standing in front of me is an angel, with radiant sunbeams glittering off her beautiful blonde hair, while violin music plays in the background. Oh, wait. It's just Maddie. Easy mistake.

"Welcome home, sweet thang." I say, giving her a quick peck on the lips that still sends bolts of excitement through me.

As soon as I've broken the kiss, Maddie's presses her lips back into mine, running her hands through my unruly hair. I sigh happily, and grab her waist to bring her closer to me. My limbs start to tremble under her touch and as soon as I'm about to suggest christening the bed for real this time, she pulls away, leaving me unsatisfied. We're both panting like dogs in the summer as Maddie hands me something.

"Wow." I say, with an enormous grin on my face. "An amazing kiss and a doughnut." After thinking for a moment, I joke, "What did you do?"

Maddie's smile disappears, alerting me to the fact that something was indeed going on, and she takes my hand to lead me towards the couch.

"What's up Mads?" I ask once we're settled, taking a bite of the delicious doughnut.

"I visited Brad today." Maddie says quietly, but clearly.

I immediately begin chocking on the doughnut. Maddie pats me on the back worriedly, handing me a nearby glass of water. When I get myself under control, Maddie tells me about her visit with him today in full.

"But I didn't want to keep secrets from you, so I thought I should tell you." She finishes.

To say that I'm shocked is the understatement of the year. I'm madder that Brad manipulated her kindness to make her feel like she had to visit him, then the fact that she went. It hurts though, to know she didn't trust me enough to share this very, very important piece of information with me.

"Say something." She says, fidgeting nervously.

"I'm just…trying to process everything." I reply, forcing the words from me. Once my head starts spinning less, I exhale a large breath and take her hand in mine. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She looks down at our intertwined hands and replies, "I knew you wouldn't let me go."

I scoff and say, "With good reason. The guy is mentally unstable, Maddie. He could snap at any moment, no matter what his track record says."

"It's okay though." She replies quickly. "I'm completely safe. They have officers and doctors with sedatives all over the place."

I give a humorless laugh and say, "Listen to yourself. That's an exact reason why you shouldn't be there. If they need officers around, then you're not safe there."

"It's just a precaution." She says defensively. After a long pause, she asks, "Are you mad?"

"I couldn't be mad. You gave me a doughnut." She giggles and playfully smacks me on the arm. Going back to a more serious tone, I say, "I'm just a little…upset, that you didn't tell me first."

"I know. I'm so sorry, baby." She says in an apologetic tone. "Can you forgive me?"

"Of course. Just…no more secrets, okay?" I say, seeing her nod immediately and stick out her pinky. I suppress a smile and hook my pinky with hers, loving how childish we can be. I kiss her forehead and ask, "You're not going back, right?"

"I don't know…maybe?" She says in the tone of a question.

My face turns hard as stone when I say, "I don't think you should go again, but I want you to make your own choices. There's no way in hell that I'm going though." She nods, and I notice that she appears scared and sad as she looks at the coffee table in front of us. "You okay sweet thang?" I ask, getting a small nod from her. Putting two and two together, I ask, "Was seeing Brad hard?" I get an even smaller nod.

I put my arm around her and swing her legs over mine, wrapping my other arm around her as well. I kiss the top of her head and soothingly rub her, comforting her for the next couple of minutes. When I see that she has calmed down a bit, I release my hold on her and head towards our movie stash. I'll do anything in power to see her smile and laugh again, and that includes watching her favorite romantic comedy. I try not to cringe at the thought of watching this for two hours as I put the disk into the player and turn down the lights. I'm rewarded with a smile from her that makes my heart quicken.

Halfway through the movie, while we're cuddled up on the couch, my phone beeps, signaling that I have a text message. I open my phone and see that it's from Max.

I easily get distracted from the movie with our texted conversation. After a couple of minutes, I see Maddie repeatedly glance over at me and the phone. Feeling guilty, I shoot a quick good-bye to Max and focus all my attention to the movie and the beautiful girl next to me.

BPOV

"You came back!" I say in an excited voice as I rush over to hug her. I stop mid stride though, not wanting to overstep my boundaries and push her away again. I glance at her and smile. She's wearing a short, black dress that looks absolutely stunning on her.

"Yup." Maddie replies, taking a seat on the couch. When I join her, she says, "Zack knows."

"Was he mad?" I ask, feigning worry.

"No, not at all. Just surprised." She says. Dang, I was hoping that he would yell at her and make her realize he was a jerk, which would make her come running back to me and we would jet off into the sunset. That's obviously not going to happen though, since I'm trapped in a psyche ward and she still has that rock on her finger. "He put on my favorite movie afterwards." She says, smiling at the memory.

"Sounds fun." I try to say in a pleasant tone.

"It was. Until she started texting him." She replies bitterly.

"Oh." I say, interested. "Who is this girl?"

"Just his old friend from school. I get weird vibes from her." She says slowly.

"Maddie, you need to loosen up. Forget this girl, and go party it up. You're dressed perfectly for that." I reply, with a smile.

"This is for my date with Zack tonight." She says, not knowing how that stabbed my heart. She looks down at her watch and stands up, saying, "Speaking of which, I need to leave to get there on time."

After we say our goodbyes, I see the love of my life leave to see the man of her dreams.

MFPOV

This isn't like him. I've been sitting here alone for the last 15 minutes. I look around the diner to see some women shoot me sympathetic glances, while many men shake their eyebrows at me. Resisting the urge to gag, I fiddle with my fork. When my phone starts to ring, I practically jump at it. "Hello?" I ask, breathlessly.

"Hey Maddie." He says, immediately making my heart warm.

"Where are you Zack?" I ask curiously.

"I'm in the car. I'm so, so, so sorry. Please don't be mad at me Maddie. I'm so sorry, but I've got to cancel our date tonight. Max called, and she's absolutely hysterical. I need to go over there and calm her down. I wouldn't do this unless I needed to. I'm so sorry Maddie." He says in a rush.

"You're choosing her over me?" I ask stubbornly, like a child.

"No! It's not like that at all sweet thang. I just – I really have to go. I'll talk to you later. I love you." He says quickly, hanging up afterwards.

Well, there's only one thing to do now. Get London and get drunk.

MMPOV

My hyperventilating makes me feel lightheaded and my vision starts to blur. I faintly hear a door open and close, making me curl into a ball in the corner of my bedroom.

"Max?" a voice as sweet and melodic as a song says. I immediately pick up my head and its sound and see the only man in the entire world that I trust standing at my door, looking at me worriedly.

I bolt towards him, grabbing onto his shirt collar for support. I feel him wrap his arms around my back and rock us soothingly back and forth. I have never felt safer in my life than I do right now. No words need be spoken between us. We both know what happened and what I need right now. I had that awful dream about my abusive father again. The dream that reflects the memory I have of him hurting me, making me cry out in pain from his fist. The dream is not a common occurrence. The most I've gotten it is two times in one year.

I feel myself being lifted off the floor bridal style and being laid down gently on the bed.

"Let me get you some water." Zack whispers in my ear, but the thought of him leaving me terrifies me. More than it should. I feel like if he goes through that door, he'll never come back, leaving me to be beaten for the hundredth time by that cruel man. Feeling out of control, I grab his wrist in a death grip when he starts to leave. "Okay, no water." He says quietly, getting onto the bed with me.

I cuddle up to him, crying and panting, while he brushes my hair with his hand. "Shh," he says comfortingly. When I finally start to calm down, an overwhelming urge to close my eyes overtakes me and pretty soon I feel myself enter the most peaceful sleep I've had in years.

ZPOV

How could anyone hurt anything as precious as Max? When she called me earlier, crying crazily into the phone, I knew what happened. She had the dream about her father again. As bad as I feel about canceling my date with Maddie, I knew I would feel even worse if I had left Max in this state. I'm the only one who knew about her father, which makes her trust me more than anyone else I guess.

When I found out, she made me promise not to tell anyone, and I have kept that promise to this day. Of course I wanted to tell though. I wanted to go to the police the minute I found out, but she reasoned with me that she didn't want to be put up for adoption when she had only six months until her eighteenth birthday. I kept that promise on the condition that if she ever felt even remotely afraid that she call me, and I would come get her away from him.

That promise stands till this day, although since Max doesn't live with her father, I'm not needed much, only when these dreams happen. As much as I would love to explain all of this to Maddie, I know I can't betray Max's trust like that. Thinking of Maddie makes my heart ache when I picture her all alone at the diner. I contemplate calling her, but Max is a light sleeper, and I would rather talk to Maddie in person.

Max whimpers in her sleep, clutching my shirt tighter. I resume rubbing circles in the small of her back, making her relax some. I sigh, and close my eyes, letting sleep come over me.

AN: Whew! Finally done with that chapter. That took me hours to write. Two things. One, for some reason my story won't appear when I search for it. I don't know if this just happens to me, but I can only seem to access it when I go to my profile page and then click on it. If anyone has been able to see it using the search bar, PLEASE tell me. Two, in order to update again, I would really like at least six reviews. I accept anonymous reviews, so you don't need an account to do this. As soon as I get six reviews, I'll post the next chapter, whether that is in two hours or two weeks. Thank you guys so much for reading!