Hey readers! I'm back for the next chapter of Broken. I'm excited about your reaction to this chapter. There was certainly buzz concerning Max and Fang; I think you'll be happy!

So I have been on vacation, so writing has not been on my first priority. But, nonetheless this is the next chapter and I'm so happy to be sharing it with you. And this one is somewhat short, but I'm happy about the quality of it.

I can't believe that there is only 7 chapters left. I remember when I started this almost two years ago. That is certainly insane to think about.

Broken: Chapter 29

Broken Thoughts

Fang


She marched up to me, so close to my face. So close. "Yes, I fucking hate you Fang. I can not stand you." She whispered in a harsh tone. I couldn't help but wince. She continued on, "I fucking hate that you had to come to this school. This was my school, where I didn't have to hide from you just to get away from you." She was so close to my face, so fucking close; I could feel her breath with every word she said. "I fucking hate that Mrs. Jones made me fucking tutor you. I hate that you got all into my business and found out everything you did about Jeb. I hate that I let you find out that I'm being fucking abused." I just wanted to reach my hand down into her hair. "I hate that you ever came into this fucking town. I hate that you drive me completely bat-shit crazy. I hate that I can't think straight whenever you are around me. I hate that-" Thankfully, she relieved me of my desires. Her hand grasped the back of my neck harshly. It took everything for me not to smile.

She pulled me down with great force. The explosion had begun; we began to kiss roughly.

I could not help myself; I had wanted this for so long. Passively, I had wanted this, but I wanted this none less. Our mouths moved rhythmically with the other. We kissed, we battled. Battle with who would be dominant. I was determined. Harder. Deeper. More. I wrapped my hands all around her; in her hair, up and down her back. I pushed us together harder, and she moaned slightly. I broke away for only a moment, "God you're so sexy when you moan." I said breathlessly. She chuckled lightly, embarrassed. I couldn't stand being apart from her. I wanted- no I needed more.

Just as soon as we broke apart, we were back together. The previous heat our bodies gave off left us demanding more. I needed a source of traction; I pushed us against her front door without a thought. At that moment, I did not think of anything: not Anne, or Juliet, or Jeb, or Nudge, or Iggy, or Kayla, or Dylan, or anyone. Just Max. She had that kind of way about her. She rushed her hands in my hair, moving it around and clutching it tightly. More.

I thought of what was going on. I was kissing Max. And it wasn't because of some ill-driven mind that left me half-remembering anything, it was because I wanted to. It was because I needed to. I couldn't help myself anymore. I remembered only six months ago when she hated me; downright couldn't stand me. But,he was curious, mysterious. It intrigued me to the point of actually becoming friends with her. The way she had put up this cryptic facade lead me yearning for more. But, I almost wish I hadn't found out why she was so curious. She was secretive, and for a good reason.

Yes, she was secretive, but not exactly because she wanted to be. She kept secrets because she was forced to. She had no sense of security, except for those secrets. Unless she clung onto her story, she would feel pain. But every day she felt pain; Jeb had insured of that. She was clinging onto those secrets, thinking that she would somehow free herself from the chains of hurt, but more would come no matter how good of a facade it was.

She was shattered; crushed to all pieces. And everyday, she would grab tape, and try and mend herself, but she couldn't. After all, you can't fix something that's already broken.

But, I was going to try.

She removed one of her hands from behind my head, and reached behind her. The door behind us opened. We broke suddenly. She eyed me seductively, and smile a smile that could melt the polar icecaps. She grasped my hand and pulled me inside, leading me into the large maze of her house. I followed her down the hallway, toward the last door. Her door.

She opened the door, and slammed it close. She smiled at me. My thoughts fell away once again. With a quick move, she pushed me onto the bed. I chuckled at her forwardness. But, she was winning this fight for dominance. I needed to fight back. She was beginning to kiss me again, and I flipped her over, so that she was on the bottom of me, and I was topping over her. "You do this a lot?" I asked jokingly.

She laughed full-heartedly, a laugh that could restore the hope in humanity. A laugh that made you want to laugh, "Oh yeah, a new guy every day." She joked back. I began kissing her again, but it had changed. It was not as lust filled this time. No this time, it was more to keep everything going. The erratic explosion that preformed outside had now changed. Now instead of needing more, I just needed Max.

I had needed Max for a while now. I needed everything about her: her laugh, her sarcasm, her smile, her nerdiness, her seductiveness, her anger, her love. Her.

I kissed down her neck as she moaned slightly, and then winced. I broke away from her neck and looked at her incredibly, sitting up from our laid down position. "Is everything okay?" I cautioned.

Her shy eyes met mine, then quickly fled away, "I- um- I have a bruise there," She whispered. Unaware of what I was doing, my fist clenched. With every moment that past by, I hated Jeb more and more. And I hadn't even had a real conversation with him. "I know, it's ugly," She murmured timidly, trying to stretch the top of her shirt, trying to cover it up.

My hand stopped hers, and she blushed again. "Don't worry about it," I assured her, "Your bruises are beautiful. They are a part of who you are, and everything about you is beautiful." Her face reddened furiously. Automatically, I regretted my outburst. She must've thought I was an idiot. Maybe she didn't mean anything by this. Maybe I was just reading too much into it.

What had made me so powerless against Max? To the common eye, Max was nothing special. She lived a normal life. She was happy, funny, and utterly common. Again, to the common eye. What had made me see anything different? What had made me see past mask, to who she really was? I didn't know, but thank the Lord it did.

She smiled and kissed me again: lightly, lovingly. Her hands wrapped around my neck, as my hands found their way down to the small of her back, tightening the bond between us. She kissed slightly harder, keeping the loving quality, but deepening the kiss. She laid back down on the bed, slightly pulling me down with her. I laughed in the middle of our kiss. We continued like this for a while, wistfully and forcefully. Her hands gradually traveled down from my neck to my lower back. She laughed suddenly, "This needs to go." She tugged at my shirt. I chuckled along with her, even though I was secretly hesitant of her seeing my stomach.

After about a minute and a half of Max struggling with my shirt, I eventually took it off myself. Max looked startled of the purplish hues within my abdomen. "Fang..." I looked down. Had it not been cascaded with bruises and scars, my stomach would probably looked somewhat attractive. After the hell that Coach Ter Borcht had put the varsity soccer team through, my muscles had defined slightly. There was the hints of a six-pack growing, but the outline had not fully been established yet. Her fingers lightly traced down my ribcage, that had been sticking out slightly. "Fang..." She said again.

"The bruises. They're a part of me," I responded quietly, "Not the most ideal factor, but a part of me all the same." She looked back up at me; she must've known how hard it must've been, because soon enough, she was reluctantly taking off her own shirt.

"I figured," she began, "that since I made you show me your scars, I may as well show you mine." I could tell that she had put up an unwritten contract with me: I would not be able to do anything sexual with her simply because she had taken off her shirt. She had not taken her shirt off to show that she wanted to go further. No, she had done it simply to make us even.

And so, with that, I peered down at her stomach. It was flat, as I suspected; Max was a very skinny girl, almost too skinny to be healthy. At her side, there was a dark purple tinge that was about the side of an orange. The bruise seemed to still be slightly swollen, indicating that it was fairly new. Her body was scattered with different bruises, scabs, and scars. As my eyes continued up her frame, my eyes couldn't help but linger on her chest. She had been wearing a simple, black bra; nothing too fancy, but my eyes were still stuck on her breasts. They were not giant, but at the same time, they were not small. My eyes hadn't yet past her chest when I saw it. A large, narrow bruise that started on her collarbone and worked its way done to the beginning of her right breast.

"No... Max..." I said terrified, "Does Jeb- does he- um- take advantage of you?" I had no idea how to say sexually abuse gently.

She shook her head, "No, that's just from when he was pushing me around. No, he doesn't do that." I felt relieved. I had heard of stories of girls who were sexually harassed by their abusers. I did not want Max to be one of those girls.

I could tell that tears were springing in Max's eyes. I quickly moved closer to her, to wrap her in a hug. Her head fell onto my shoulder as she silently blinked away tears. "Shh- it's okay, Max. Everything's going to be okay."

I kissed the top of her head. She turned to look up at me, "You're a real hero, you know that?" She whispered.

"I know. I wonder what they would call me. SuperFang? No, that sounds conceded. BatFang? Hmmm, I like the sound of that. It could catch on." She started laughing, before pulling me into a small kiss. We continued it, simple and innocent, and we decided to keep it that way.

Then a lot slam filled throughout the house. Max broke away and starred blankly at me. She shivered in pure anxiousness. There was no one else that it could be. Jeb. Suddenly, Max's dumbfoundedness faded away. "You need to get out of here! Quickly, before he finds you."

I growled, "No, I'm not letting you stay here and get hurt. I won't allow it."

"Fang, if you stay here, he'll kill you, then go back to me for easy pickings. You can't save me; you'll just end up getting hurt."

I stared at her bewilderingly, "Nothing is impossible." She sighed and picked up my shirt and threw it to me, pushing me back toward the door that outlooked her backyard. "Max, I can't just leave you here." I said stonily.

She kissed me tenderly, before shoving me outside, "I'll see you tomorrow." She slammed the doors and as I began to make my way out of Max's backyard, my thoughts suddenly filled my head once again. What just happened?


So that just happened. Okay, so a lot of you thought that Max and Fang were going to have sex. Honestly, I thought about it. I wondered whether I wanted to put Max and Fang in such a intense situation when they had just started to build a relationship. Or have they really? They never really talked about what happened. I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter.

By the way, I understand that you guys are stoked for the next chapter, but I try to write well, not fast. So yes, maybe sometimes I'll take a day, or a week, or a month, or even two months to finish a chapter, but that is because I am working my best to have the best quality writing I can have. To me, it's all about quality over quantity.

I'll see you guys soon. This chapter was extremely hard for me to write, and hopefully this next one will feel more natural to me. Only 7 more chapters!

~Maximum Reading