Authors Note: I enjoyed the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter. A lot. So I decided to update a day earlier than I was originally planning. Tomorrow is officially my last day of summer vacation. I could cry! That means no more days spent wasted reading/writing FF. *Sigh*

Remember, updates may start coming slower. Just a warning. I still haven't worked out the details on that yet. I doubt it'll come to it. If everything works out, I might just publish the chapters as normal. Fuuun (:

Chapter Twenty:

Feather

Dylan turned his head in surprise, his focus leaving me momentarily. I took that as my chance to wrestle free from him, as his grip loosened slightly at the disturbance. I wrestled my leg free from his, kneeing him in the groin. He sucked in a breath, stumbling back. I brought my fist around in a wide arc. His nose made a sickening crack as I punched him.

After that he buckled to the ground, and thankfully stayed there, moaning. He must have still been a little weak from before. Even so, I sent another well aimed kick to his side, smirking at the sound of his ribs splintering. Now he could feel my pain.

I turned my head to see Fang glowering, just off the sidewalk. His hands were balled into fists at his side, and he looked murderous. At that moment he was only glaring at Dylan, but when he sensed my gaze his eyes flickered up to mine.

I whirled around without a word, shuffling off into the night. My dilemma with Dylan was over, and I had no interest in speaking with him, regardless of whether or not he had distracted Dylan long enough for me to break free. I was still mad that he had blown me off so coldly.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and I sensed, more than heard, him following me. Fang was just like that. Everything about him was silent. Even the way he moved, gliding through the air without so much as a single sound.

I continued to ignore him all the same, stalking along, my expression furious. I could feel my anger building, like a volcano preparing to explode. My day had turned crappy pretty quickly.

"Max."

His low, controlled voice broke the growing breach of silence between us. His tone was blank, giving away nothing. He didn't even seem angry anymore. He was back to his 'I shall show no emotion' rule.

I kept walking, pretending I hadn't heard. I guess Iggy hadn't given him my message. I thought I had been pretty clear on the 'ever' part.

"Max, stop!" he insisted, fury marring his tone. At least something was breaking through his cold exterior, slipping through the few cracks in his mask.

Once he realized I still wasn't going to respond he groaned in frustration. I smirked slightly to myself, glad I was making him anxious. Let's see how he felt when he was ignored.

"Max, quit being stubborn," he growled, his hand closing around my forearm. He yanked me to a halt, pulling me close to him.

"Let me go," I said through gritted teeth, resisting against his hold. I hated to admit it, but he was way stronger than me, though. My attempts were futile.

"Not until you tell me why you're avoiding me," he insisted, gripping both of my shoulders in his hands now. I refused to meet his gaze, turning my cheek to the side so I couldn't look at him.

"I don't owe you an explanation," I snarled, my eyes narrowing.

"Yes you do. I saved your life, remember?" he pointed out haughtily, but there was a deadly edge to his tone that blossomed a small prick of fear in the pit of my stomach. "And I'm pretty sure if I hadn't come along now, you'd have been in even bigger trouble."

"I could have handled Dylan just fine without you," I lied. "He wasn't going to hurt me."

"No, he was just forcing himself on you," Fang retaliated, his voice strained.

"Why do you even care?" I spat bitterly.

"I care," he said, his voice softening. "A lot."

"Then let me go!" I exclaimed, tugging my body away from his again. He held me firmly in place though, and I barely moved an inch. God, why wouldn't he just go away? It wasn't like I was that important to him anyway.

"Not until you talk to me." There was an almost indiscernible vulnerability in the way he spoke that had me pausing in my attempts to escape.

"I did try to talk to you," I whispered, finally looking at him. His face was that same expressionless mask that I had become accustomed to, but ever so slowly the hard, blank look in his eyes began to disappear, letting some emotions leak through. "You didn't seem too keen on listening to what I had to say, though. You didn't care at all."

He gave me another one of his searching gazes, like he was staring straight into my soul. It was unnerving the way he could read me, as if I didn't have any secrets he didn't know. I was perfectly aware though, that there was a lot about me he had yet to discover. Most of it being things I was unwilling to share.

Without any warning his hand left my shoulder, moving up to rest on the side of my face. The other he placed at the back of my neck, tangling in my hair. I only had a second to catch my breath before he was gently pulling me towards him. I stepped closer without thinking it through properly. His close proximity was making my brain fuzzy, starting and stopping in spurts. I wasn't to be held responsible for my actions.

Before I could do anything else his mouth was on mine, making my stomach do weird somersaults. His lips were soft, like the barest whisper of a feather, and they made the rest of my body tingle at their touch.

My last coherent thought was; 'he's got to quit catching me by surprise like that!' before the dazed, cloudy bliss of pure Fang took over my entire mind, making anything else but kissing him back with as much force as I could muster impossible.

"Don't say I don't care ever again," Fang whispered against my lips, breathing deeply. I think I might have nodded mutely, sucking in as much air as I could in the time allotted, before he was kissing me again. It was like he was taking all his unsaid feelings, and showing me in the only way he could. I couldn't say is method wasn't accurate. It got the job done, that's for sure.

There was only one person I could think of that could ruin a moment like this, so it only seemed plausible that they would come staggering around the corner at that exact time.

"What the hell?" Dylan shouted, unmasked fury in his voice.

I glanced over sharply, taking in his appearance. He looked no better than when I had left him, curled up on the ground, only a few minutes ago . . . though it seemed like forever since that had occurred. He was holding his side as he painfully approached us, every step most likely sending a pang through his ribs. His nose was bruised and swollen, dried blood painting a trail down his chin.

"Haven't I beaten you up enough for one day?" I demanded in exasperation, still wrapped up in Fang's arms. His hold tightened around me automatically as he shuffled to the side, pulling me to him protectively.

"You have about ten seconds to get your hands off my girl, King," Dylan growled, completely ignoring my biting remark.

"I think she's made it perfectly clear that she's not your girl," Fang sneered, smirking darkly. There was a look in his eye that I had never seen, and I found my lips tugging down at the corners at the sight of it.

"Why would she want you?" Dylan roared, his hands balling into fists. "All you have to offer is money, and I know Max. She doesn't take charity."

"Because she'd so much rather be with the guy who threatened to kill her," Fang scoffed, hugging me to his chest. "I know Max. She's not stupid."

"Quit talking about me like I'm not standing right here!" I exploded, my voice ringing above theirs. Fang's gaze snapped down to mine, and even Dylan turned his eyes to me, as if seeing me there for the first time. In fact, it was like both of them had just all of a sudden noticed I was witnessing their feud.

Fang stayed silent, but Dylan muttered, "Sorry babe," which only intensified my anger.

"I'm going to say this next part very clearly, and you better get the picture," I said scathingly. "Both of you."

Fang raised an eyebrow, which in his own way meant he was kind of surprised. Dylan was still busy trying to control his fury, but he nodded for me to continue when he felt me glaring at him.

"Dylan; we broke up over two years ago, because I came to realize you're a psychotic monster. I don't want anything to do with you, you got that? Do us all a favor and stay out of my life."

I saw him grit his teeth, his eyes bulging. The vein in his neck was pulsing uncontrollably, and I knew he was close to a meltdown . . . which was dangerous for anybody in close proximity.

"And Fang," I continued, as if I hadn't noticed Dylan, "I don't need protected, alright? I'm tough enough to take care of myself, and if we're going to try this 'relationship' thing, then you need to understand that."

"Of course," he said, smirking. I think me saying we were in a relationship, if that was what you could call it, secretly pleased him more than he was letting on.

"Now where's your car? I need to be getting home."

"Around that corner," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "I was planning on ambushing you, since I figured you'd walk by sooner or later, but when I heard you yell I came to see what was going on."

"I'm going to choose to overlook that," I muttered, smiling up at him. The corner of his mouth lifted a bit, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, though I hate to admit it.

He slung an arm over my shoulder as we walked away, leaving Dylan standing awestruck and more than slightly confused in our dust. He peered down at me to gouge my reaction, seeing if I would object to his affection. I swallowed down my initial response, which was to flip him clean over my shoulder, instead settling on a small smile.

"You're timing is actually kind of perfect," Fang commented as I climbed into the passenger seat of his car.

"How so?" I asked, settling in comfortably.

"I was going to take Iggy, just so I wouldn't be too bored, but bringing you would be so much better," he continued, only furthering my bewilderment. "At least we can get that out of the way."

"What are you talking about?" I gave him a puzzled look, and he smirked as his eyes briefly met mine.

"My mom likes to host dinner parties every once and awhile. She invites all our family and friends, who talk about each other behind one anothers backs' like its an Olympic sport," he explained.

"And this has something to do with me how?" I wondered aloud.

"You can come and meet everyone," he said offhandedly.

Oh God.

Authors Note: So, Fang didn't really come to her rescue. He just distracted Dylan long enough for Max to kick his butt. It was pretty Max-like, right? And then the Fax-ness!

Tell me what you thought about the chapter in a review. If I get anywhere near the amount of reviews I got for last chapter, I will be so excited (: