Hands Where I Can See Them

Chapter Twenty-One

Max's P.O.V

About twenty minutes after Fang and his mom finished talking, I left Fang's room.

"Max!" Fang cheered.

"Hey, Max." Abby smiled.

"Hi, Max." Fang's mom chirped.

"Hi." I said.

Fang looked like he could tell something was on my mind, but didn't want to say anything in front of his mom and Abby.

The only thing that was on my mind was finding out who Tess was.

And believe me, I was going to find out.

"Hey, Abby, can you toss me a water bottle?" I asked her.

She took one out of the fridge and threw one at me.

I caught it with ease before twisting off the cap and gulping down some.

Does anyone else ever wake up with this burning feeling in the back of their throat? Well, that's exactly how I felt.

But that was probably because I felt like there was a huge lump in my throat. I felt like something was trying to stop me from breathing… Yay… Not.

Once I had gulped down at least half of the water bottle, Fang came over and kissed my cheek.

"Um, Fang, I'm gonna go get dressed and head down to the station."

"But it's your day off."

"I-I know. I'll give you back your clothes whenever I see you again."

And with that, I left.

I wasn't mad at Fang, I was just confused. And I didn't want to ask who Tess was in front of Fang's mom and Abby.

FANG'S P.O.V

Well, that was odd.

I went over to kiss Max, but she walked out.

Did I do something?

"Well, that was-" I began.

"Weird. Very weird," Abby finished. "Max usually doesn't act like that."

"No, she doesn't. I don't recall doing anything to piss her off. She was fine last night."

I thought hard about what could be bothering her, but I came up with nothing.

"She said, 'Whenever I see you again'. That's what's scaring me." I said.

I kind of felt like someone was punching me in the stomach.

Max's P.O.V

Getting dressed for work made me want to just forget how scared I was that I could lose Fang. But I didn't think I could just sit in Fang's apartment, as if I didn't hear what they were talking about.

Maybe I was overreacting, but that's just who I am.

As I was tucking my button up into my jeans, I couldn't help but think I may have heard something wrong.

Just one word could have changed that entire sentence from; Get back together with Tess. To; Don't get back together with Tess.

I could have missed the 'don't' and then I'd be the one who's wrong.

Either way, I wished I could just go back to his apartment and kiss him.

But I couldn't. Fang would probably look at me like I'm nuts.

Once I got to the station, Jeb gave me a "wtf?" look.

He came over to my desk and said, "Get out."

I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him.

"I'm not letting you work on your day off."

"But-"

"But nothing, Maximum. You need to get help for your workaholicness… That wasn't a word, but whatever."

"Can I just-"

"No! Out!"

"Jeb!"

"What?"

I didn't get to answer because the phone on my desk started to ring.

I picked it up without looking at the Caller ID.

"New York City Police Department, Detective Maximum Ride speaking."

"Hey, Max."

When I heard that voice, I almost dropped the fucking phone.

"Dylan?" I asked, even though I knew who it was.

Jeb's jaw about hit the floor. Once he got over his shock, he went over to his desk and picked up his cell phone, dialing someone's number.

"Yeah. It's me. Sorry if you're busy, I just-"

"No, I'm not busy. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I was just looking through an old phone number book I had and I had written down the station's number with your extension and figured, 'What the hell? The worst she could do was not answer.'."

"Well, it's good to hear from you, Dyl. Are you still with Jami?"

"We were, up until about two weeks ago."

"What happened? You really liked her."

"Her husband showed up and almost killed me…"

"She's twenty years old and she's married?"

"Apparently. She's been married since she was eighteen. And she's been with me since she was nineteen. How much sense does that make?"

"None whatsoever."

"Exactly my point. I'm sorry but if you've been married for an entire year, what the fuck is the point of going out with another guy for a year?"

"I honestly don't know." I laughed a little.

"And the even worse thing is, is Mike, her husband, decided to stay with her! She cheated on him for a year and he's staying with her!"

"Wow. What exactly makes him think that she wont cheat on him again?"

"I don't know. I think that my trust in her would have been shot to hell."

"Exactly. I'm gonna laugh when Jami cheats on him again."

"Right? So am I."

I laughed and looked up at Jeb, who had come back.

He gave me one of those, "What's going on?" looks.

I held up one finger, telling him to wait.

"Well, Dylan, it's good to hear from you. I have to get back to work, but if you still have my cell number, you're welcome to call me whenever you want."

"Thanks, Maxi. You're the best."

"I know I am."

We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

"What was that about?" Jeb asked

"Dylan was flipping through his phone number book and found the station's number with my extension, so he decided to call me."

"Wow. And no, that wont distract me from telling you to go home."

I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Fine. I'll go home. But I will be back tomorrow."

"Good, because you're not off tomorrow."

I laughed and left the station.

Once I stepped out the station's front doors, my jaw dropped.

Fang was outside.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"You explain first. I work here."

"But you're not working today. And Jeb called me. He didn't say what for though."

I stepped down the steps a little.

"Why'd you leave earlier?" he asked.

I shoved my hands into my back pockets and looked down at the concrete.

Fang slid his hand under my chin and practically forced me to look at him.

"Why'd you leave? I wanted to see you."

"I… um… overheard something…"

"What was it?"

"Um… your mom. She said, 'Get back together with Tess'. Who's Tess?"

"That's what you were worried about? Tess is Ella's mom."

"Then why was your mom telling you to get back with her?"

"She wasn't. She likes you better than Tess. But she thinks Tess wants to get back with me. And when she saw you sleeping in my room, she got pissed."

Fang leaned down and kissed me lightly.

"Max, you've got nothing to worry about."

I backed up from him and sat down on the steps in front of the station.

"But I'm always going to feel like I have to compete with all of your past girlfriends or whatever you've had in your past. I mean, Tess is the mother of your only daughter. It would make sense if you wanted to be with her."

"But I don't , Max. If I wanted to be with Tess, I could have. Five years have gone by since her and I broke up, and if I honestly wanted to be with her, I would have told her. Do I sometimes wish I hadn't had that broken condom issue when I was twenty years old? Sure. Do I regret having Ella? No. But do I sometimes wish that if the rubber hadn't broke, and I could have had the chance to be with the mother of my child? Absolutely. But does that mean I want to be with Tess? No."

"Not necessarily only Tess. What about Lissa? She was pretty. And she was one of those tall and leggy girls. Y'know, the kinds of girls that every guy chases after."

"Max, you're everything to me. Sure, Lissa may have been hot, but you're beautiful. Lissa was the easiest girl I'd ever met in my entire life. Which, before I met you, was the only reason I kept her around. I'd been sleeping with her for about three weeks, and she didn't know I had a daughter. You met Ella the day after I met you."

"That doesn't make it any different. Fang, how could you ever know if you're going to be thinking one day and feel like you miss Tess, or you get tired of having the same girlfriend. You wont. You'll never know when you want someone else."

"Max, I can tell you with full sincerity, that I will never want someone else. I have everything I can ever want with you."

"Why? Because you've got the girl and the sex?"

He looked genuinely hurt when I said that.

"Wow. So I've fucked up in my life. Who hasn't? You're not perfect either, Detective. This is exactly why I didn't want to get seriously involved with someone. The constant fighting and constant control-freak paranoia."

"Control-freak paranoia? Well, I've never met someone so arrogant and small-minded in all my life!"

"Really? I'm small-minded? You're the one who doesn't believe someone when he says he loves you!"

"I never said I didn't believe you!"

By this point, tons of people had crowded around us and were gasping at the couple fighting in the middle of the street.

"You might not have said it, but you don't believe me! And I can tell you don't! You don't believe me, and if you did we wouldn't be fighting right now!"

"Oh, I don't believe you? Who believed you when you got locked up? Who got your ass out of jail?"

"Detective Maximum Ride. Who else? The one and only. The one girl who feels inclined to help everybody that needs it. But who, Max, are you?"

"The same person. You're just creating this second person to make yourself sound like a womanizer."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Like Ari said, we're complete opposites. I'm a womanizer and you're the girl who drowns herself in work because she couldn't get anyone in bed with her if she tried!"

"Whatever, Fang. Fuck you. Go call Lissa or one of your other little ho's. I'm sure they'll be happy to give you a little TLC," I turned away from him and pushed my way through the crowd that had formed. But before I was completely out, I turned back and said, "Oh, and you can go ahead and tell whichever girl you choose that I say; L-O-V-E doesn't stand for Legs Open Very Easily."

That's when I left, flipping him off as I did.

Yes, Max Ans Fang Broke Up...

R&R

xoxoxo,

K.J