Hands Where I Can See Them

Chapter Twenty-Five

December 17, 2008

Max's P.O.V

It's been a week since I went to Fang's apartment and, well- you know, and I was now in New Jersey for a Christmas party with my family.

Well, my family… and Holden.

My mom told me to bring that boyfriend of mine, but I told her that we'd broken up, but that I had a new boyfriend that I could bring.

She told me, by all means bring him.

After all, Ari was bringing Beth.

And everyone already knew about her pregnancy.

So, Holden, Ari, Beth and I had all driven down to Manchester, where my mom lives, to go to the party.

"Max! Ari!" Mom cheered when we all walked in.

Next, Beth and Holden walked in.

"And Beth, always wonderful to see you," she smiled at Beth. "And you, must be Max's new boyfriend."

"Holden Berry, nice to meet you." Holden smiled, shaking Mom's hand.

Holden put his arm around my waist as the five of us walked into the basement where everybody else was.

Holden and I were the last ones to go down.

I cringed when my high heel hit the first step, remembering my last experience in a basement.

I shrunk into Holden's side and his arm curled around me tighter.

"C'mon, Max. It's your family. Nobody's going to hurt you." Holden whispered to me, trying to get me to keep walking.

After a few minutes, I nodded and kept going down the stairs.

As soon as I got down the stairs, I immediately looked around for Ari.

I found him sitting on a couch on the far right of the basement with Beth.

I quickly went over to him, Holden trailing behind me.

I sat down next to Ari and curled into his chest.

He didn't ask me why, he already knew.

"Max, we're your family. We're not going to hurt you." Ari whispered, stroking my hair.

"I told her that, but I'm sure she's just getting terrible flashbacks." Holden said.

I stayed like that for the next ten or so minutes until my mom and dad came over to see us.

"Is she okay?" Dad asked.

"I'm fine, Daddy. It's just-" I stood up and looked at him. "flashbacks."

My dad hugged me tightly.

"You must be Holden," Dad said once he'd let go of me. "My baby girl's new boyfriend."

"That I am, that I am. Nice to meet you, Mr. Ride."

They shook hands and Dad started talking about some sports game so, the men (including Ari) left to go watch whatever it was, leaving the three women by themselves.

I glanced down at my mom's watch; It was now 3:45 p.m.

"So, Beth, how far along are you again?" Mom asked.

"About two and a half months."

"Wow. Well, you look great. I cant believe my son is finally procreating…"

"He'll be a great dad. I have no doubt that he'll be an amazing father, as he's been the best boyfriend ever to me."

"Which makes sense as why you've been with him for seven years."

Their conversation pretty much stopped right when my cell phone started to ring, which was about fifteen minutes later.

I excused myself to a far side of the basement where nobody was and answered.

"Hello?"

"Max, it's Fang."

"Fang?"

"Yes. Abby never came home from school. I cant find her anywhere. I called the cops and Jeb said he was going to send a few officers out to try and find her. I know you're at that family thing, but I don't know what else to do. She was supposed to be home half an hour ago."

"Did you check the school and make sure she wasn't staying after?"

"Yeah, they said that she walked home today. But she never made it home."

"I'm gonna go tell my mom that I have to get back to NYC for something urgent. I'll be there in about half an hour."

"No, Max, don't leave your family for me. That's not fair to them."

"What if something- God forbid- happened to Abby? Would you like me to just stay here and not do anything about it? No. I've always been the one in charge of Abby's case, and that's not stopping now."

"But the other officers will think it's a conflict of interest and you're just doing this to help me."

"But I'm not. I'm doing this because Abby needs someone who's not a complete moron trying to find her. And you cant stop me."

"Well, I could. But seeing as you're with Holden, my only ideas of distraction could get me into trouble."'

I laughed, "Goodbye, Fang. I'll see you in about thirty minutes."

I hung up the phone and went back over to my mom.

"Listen, Mom, I have to go, something happened with a very important case and I really need to be there."

"Is everyone okay?"

"I don't know. Abby, my ex's sister, didn't come home from school and he doesn't know where she is. That was him on the phone."

"Do you need money for a cab?"

"No, I've got it. I'm really sorry."

"No, Honey, don't be. It's your job to help people. There's worse things you could be going to do."

"True."

I kissed her cheek and went to go get Holden.

Well, it's a damn good thing I actually did have money for a cab…

Dun Dun Dun

xoxoxox,

K.J