18. Max

Max

18

Violet went to her room over an hour ago, but James is still standing outside her building like a creep.

What's his obsession with her? Has he not taken enough from me already?

First my body, my career and now her.

"I'm ending this tonight," I say to Mad, as we wait in the dark.

"We're finally getting rid of him?" He sounds surprised.

"If that's what it takes to protect her, then yes."

I'm not sure what exactly getting rid of him means yet, but we're either going to have to scare him so badly he'll never fuck with us again or find a way to make him disappear for good.

We'll have to bring the plan forward. Take Violet once James is dealt with.

I'm not prepared to let her spend another second away from us.

She needs one of us with her at all times to make sure she's safe and we can't do that from afar any longer.

The plan was to spend the summer break haunting her on an empty campus, but I'm sure some constant two-on-one attention will do her a world of good and get her on our agenda quicker.

"Keep an eye on him, I'll get what we need from the car."

"You sure you don't want me to go?"

"'I'll be fine," I grit out. It'll hurt because it always fucking hurts. I don't need him reminding me of that.

When I make it to the car, it's no surprise that my leg feels like it's being stabbed all over. Sometimes I can ignore it, but I've been pushing myself a lot lately, not resting half as much as I should.

I keep telling myself that it'll be worth it in the end.

Giving myself a minute, I lean against the trunk. More pain radiates out of my hip and shoots down my leg. I grab hold of it and squeeze my fingers in hard enough to bruise. Focusing on that new bite of pain beneath my fingertip's is what helps to center myself, to forget about the rest of the pain while I give it time to pass. After a few deep breaths, I'm able to stand straight again with only a small amount of discomfort.

I pop open the trunk and unzip the duffel bag inside, checking it's got everything we need in it, then pull it over my shoulder and head back to Mad.

I'm surprised to see him still standing there watching James. I fully expected him to take matters into his own hands as soon as I left. If he did, I wouldn't have blamed him. We're both acting irrationally thanks to a certain someone that seems to be oblivious to her effect on us.

"Ready?" I ask Mad, stepping up to him and handing him his mask. Taking it from me, he nods and we pull the masks over our heads before pulling out the bats from the bag and making our way over to James.

"Waiting for someone?" Mad asks and James jumps back.

"Jesus Christ! You assholes scared the shit out of me!"

We remain silent as we stand in front of him just watching him.

He gets visibly uneasy, the longer we stare at him. I'm sure he'd be scowling if his face wasn't so swollen from the beating Mad gave him before. "You're too early for hazing. Go try and scare someone else," he scoffs, then he leans back against the building and goes back to watching Violet's window like he has every right to do so.

"Why do you want her so much?" Mad speaks first.

"Want who?" His phone buzzes in his pocket, but he ignores it.

"Don't play stupid."

James pushes off the wall and uncrosses his arms. "It's you two isn't it? Max and Maddox? Thought I recognised that limp. You know if you had just let me take her home that night, you'd still be on track to stardom. What are your sorry asses doing here anyway?"

Mad steps forward, ready to grab him and probably kill him right here, but I press my bat to his chest, holding him off for now.

"We told you to keep away from her," I say calmly. James' phone buzzes again and again. I can see the way Mad's shoulders bunch each time it goes off. It's pissing me off just as much.

"She's lonely and desperate, why would I keep away from that? Anyway, why do you care? I know you've not seen your sister since she came here. Good job she's had my shoulder to cry on. Don't worry, I know exactly how to soothe her. All it takes is a few nice words and she's on her knees for me."

"You motherfucker!" Mad snarls and I loosen my hold on the bat as he charges forwards, shoving James back into the wall making his head bounce off the brickwork. "She's ours! You deserve to have your dick chopped off for even talking about her like that, let alone touching her!"

"Not here. Let's get him out of here first, then you can chop off whatever you like."

"No you fucking won't!" James swings at Mad, but he dodges to the side and punches him square in the face, knocking him back. As James clutches his already bruised and swollen face, Mad grabs his arms, bringing them around his back to pin him against the wall.

"Say one more word about Violet and I'll make sure this entire campus knows how much of a sick little pervert you are creeping outside the girls dorms like this. That's if I don't just kill you first."

As Mad threatens him, I pull a syringe and some rope from the bag.

"I thought she'd be easy. The big girls are usually so desperate, but she likes playing hard to get. She's such a fucking tease and I can't wait to be the one to break her in," James sneers and I come up behind him plunging the needle into his neck before Mad kills him right here. "What the hell—" he shouts, panicked, but Mad bashes his face into the wall again and I'm not sure what knocks him out first, the impact or the sedative.

Whilst Mad holds him up for me, I tie his wrists behind his back.

"He had to be lying right?" Mad pulls his mask off and looks at me with what I swear is guilt in his eyes.

"Hmm?" I pull my own mask off so I can have a lungful of fresh air.

"She couldn't have been going to him for comfort, right? I thought he…" Mad trails off as he runs a hand through his hair. It's another thing that's different between us now. He's shaved the sides so only the top is long.

When I was young I would have been glad to look so different to him, but now it just shows how much has changed between us.

I'm not sure what to say as we head back to the car. There's a tense silence between us. The only sound is that of James being dragged along behind Mad as he holds him by the ankles.

"Max?" He breaks the silence, expecting answers I don't have.

"I don't know! We've kept an eye on her as much as we can, but there could have been times she was with him or someone else. We'll know for sure later."

"Even if she was, I don't think we should punish her for that. James was using her."

I'm about to argue with him when we both hear Violet shouting out into the night. "I'm here! Stop playing games and just get it over with!"

She's just up ahead standing in the middle of the courtyard out the front of the college.

"I thought she was in her room?" Mad says as we come to a stop. "What's she doing?"

"I think she's trying to get our attention," I say with a smirk.

Mad snorts, "She never lost it."

I watch as she frantically scans her surroundings for us. Like she's desperate for us to find her.

She really does know it's us.

I didn't expect her to figure it out in the library, but our clever girl got it straightaway.

I'm not surprised.

She knows us so well that she always knows who is who out of the pair of us. Even our father gets it wrong sometimes.

This girl has only known us for a few years, but she knows every part of us inside and out.

That's exactly why we're not letting her get away again.

"We should get moving before someone comes to see what the fuck she's doing," Mad says.

"Come and get me already!" She shouts and Mad laughs to himself.

"Oh, we're coming, baby."

Pulling our masks back on, we stalk forwards, Mad still dragging James behind him. She looks down at her phone as she taps frantically on the screen and James' phone goes off in his pocket again.

"Stop," I hiss to Mad as I quickly fish the phone out and see there are so many unopened texts from Violet on it.

I'm ready to be yours

The fuck?

She really does want to be with him and not us.

"Did you miss us, little whore?" Mad taunts loudly and she spins around to face us. I thought he was using that word to belittle her, but I'm starting to think it's a term of endearment for her.

"You don't need to wear the dumb masks. I know it's you. Maddox," she looks straight at him, then at me, "Max."

"Don't know who you're talking about," Mad says as he plays with the bat, tossing it up into the air and catching it again.

I clutch mine tighter with my weaker hand and try to forget about what I can no longer do. All that matters now is her and making her finally pay for all of this.

"What are you doing out here, sweetheart? It's not safe," I say with mock sincerity.

She crosses her arms over her chest and I realize she's wearing one of Mad's hoodies. Or it's at least similar to his. It's huge on her and she's got the sleeves rolled up so it doesn't swamp her.

She's also wearing a backpack. That's not unusual for her, but I know she would have come straight here from her dorm.

Was she planning on running away with James tonight?

Then why call out for us like that?

"Violet!" I snap when she doesn't say anything and she flinches. I never used to raise my voice at her, but there are a lot of things that are different now.

"I…I just wanted us to talk. No more games, just please take the masks off and talk to me," she says quietly. Then her eyes widen as she finally sees what Mad has behind him.

"Is that James? What have you done to him?" She gasps.

Mad sighs before stalking towards her, with the bat dragging along the ground behind him. The sound echoes around the empty grounds.

"You don't get to talk," he says. "You listen and you obey."

"But Maddox—"

He points the bat straight at her face, leaving barely an inch between her and it.

"No, the only begging you'll do is at our feet. You know that's where you want to be, where you're meant to be."

"Max, please, make him listen. I'm sorry, okay! I never meant—"

"Don't make things worse for yourself, Violet." Her apology is a punch to the gut and I don't want to hear it.

"Max?" She sighs in defeat, her brows knitting together as she looks between us.

"Are you going to be good now and do what we say?" Mad asks, softer this time and we wait in tense silence for her answer.

"Tell me what you plan on doing with him first." She nods towards James' unconscious body on the ground.

"How about you tell us what you were doing with him?" Mad lifts her chin with the bat so her eyes don't leave us.

"Nothing! He's the one that won't leave me alone."

I tilt my head as I try to figure out if she's telling the truth.

It was a slap in the face the first time I saw her talk to him and it's hurt every time I've seen them together since.

I walk up to her and bend down until my masked face is barely an inch from hers, but she doesn't flinch away.

Liar, my mind screams at me. She's lying.

"Grab him," I order Mad as I grab hold of her, twisting her arms behind her back and marching her towards the flagpole out the front of the campus. "There's more rope in the bag, strip him and tie him to it."

After I toss him the bag, Mad doesn't hesitate in following my instructions.

Violet fights against me and her soft ass keeps rubbing against my cock, making me eager to get her out of here so we can finally fuck her. "What are you planning on doing? You're both scaring me!"

Mad steps back once he's got James down to his underwear, but I snap, "Those as well. If she wants to spend her time with him, she can show us just what she likes to do."

"What? No! I don't do anything with him! Maddox, please, make him listen!"

He stands statue still for a few seconds before moving back to James and pulling his underwear off.

I drag Violet forwards then push her so she lands by James' feet. She scrambles back away from him, but I stand in her way, keeping her caged there.

"Max, please don't make me do anything. I'm sorry, okay? I'm so fucking sorry!" She sobs up at me.

I open up James' phone and show her the texts. Her brows knit in the way I always thought was cute before, but now I don't know what I'm supposed to think.

"I did what you said. I didn't tell anyone about the pictures or what you did."

"Do you love him?"

My hand flexes around the bat, a twinge of pain shooting up my arm makes me grunt and my whole arm twitches.

She gasps and flinches away, raising her arms up like she thinks I'm about to hit her.

Mad quickly grabs her and pulls her to her feet. "We're not doing this," he says, keeping a tight grip on her and shielding her from me.

"She needs to be punished! She was trying to leave us again. With him!"

"I wasn't!"

"We need to rethink this," Mad says.

What the hell has gotten into him?

"Max!" Violet begs again and I can't take anymore. My head's already buzzing, making every little sound grate on me as I try to put my thoughts in some sort of order, but I can't focus.

Sweat covers my face and I want to rip this stupid mask off so I can finally breathe again, but I can't do anything but lash out.

"Shut up!" I snarl and Violet's mouth clamps shut. "Look at this."

Ignoring me as I hold the phone out, Mad tilts her chin so she's looking at him, then he pulls the mask up over his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yell. "Look at the goddamn phone, Mad."

This wasn't part of the plan.

I take a step towards them and my leg nearly gives out, but I manage to catch myself, using the bat to prop myself up.

I hear her gasp, but when I look up I see she's not looking at me, she's not caring how much pain I'm in for her. All she sees is Mad.

"Why were you out here?" He asks her softly, as he cups her cheek.

They both continue to ignore me. It's like I don't even exist as they stare into each other's eyes.

Our perfect plan is falling apart. She's gotten into his head and is manipulating him to take her side over mine.

"I had to know if you'd follow me," her voice is quiet and sincere, but that beast inside me is telling me she's lying again.

Her fingers reach out to touch him and my body shakes with anger, or is it envy?

"Fuck this," I snap and pull her away from Mad, spinning her around so I can check her bag. "Look!"

Mad peers over her shoulder and sees its contents. Everything she'd need to run from us.

I zip it up with so much force that I nearly break the zipper. Then I shove the phone in his face again. He goes pale as he reads the messages and sees the picture of Violet on a bed, in her underwear.

"You were with him all along? I thought he was trying to hurt you." She frantically shakes her head as she looks up at him with tears in her eyes. It's just more theatrics.

"No. I thought that was from you!"

My breathing gets heavy as rage overwhelms me. I've always been the calm one out of the two of us, but right now I'm acting more like Mad, unhinged and dangerous.

"Time to go," I say as I reach into my pocket to grab the other sedative.

Violet catches sight of it and starts to panic even more. "What is that, Max? Maddox? What the hell is that?"

"Hold her still, will you? Wouldn't want to do this wrong."

Before Mad can restrain her properly, Violet jabs her elbow into Mad's side just enough for his grip to loosen and she slips out of his hold.

She takes off across the grass, not looking back as she runs. Mad sprints after her, his long legs easily eating up the distance and he's on her before she can make it onto the sidewalk. He reaches out, grabbing her backpack and yanking her back into his chest.

He wraps one arm around her shoulders and flattens his palm against the side of her head as he pins her to his chest. I come up beside them and hear him soothing her. "You'll be okay," he murmurs softly into the top of her head. "We need to do this."

I'm not sure why, but it makes me angry that he's suddenly being so nice to her. If he thinks we'll go easy on her after this then he's dead wrong.

She grabs at him as I stab the needle into her neck and wails out a long cry. I should have done it gently, but my hands are shaking too much to have any precision.

"Please, Max! What is that?"

"You'll be fine, just calm down," I tell her, without an ounce of care in my tone.

Mad holds her still as the drug quickly gets to work and her cries grow weak. "Give her to me," I bark, the need to take control too strong to ignore.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Mad looks down at my shaking fist around the bat. I toss it aside and reach for her, lifting her to my chest.

I bite down hard on my tongue so I don't make a sound as the pain becomes too much.

I can do this.

I have to be able to do this.

Violet's head is floppy, but she's just about awake. It should only be a few more seconds before she's passed out completely.

"Max?" She whimpers and my heart slows as I look into her eyes. Her soft cheeks. Her plump lips. It's all distorted somewhat from the mask and the sweat in my eyes, or maybe it's tears? But, fuck, she's so beautiful up close and she's ours.

All ours.

I close my eyes letting myself feel the weight of her in my arms, testing my muscles and forcing them to hold.

I am not weak.

For her, I can be anything.

I can be me again.

"Max?" She whispers my name so softly, like it's a prayer carried on the wind, blowing delicately over my skin.

The night air suddenly touching my cheeks makes my eyes snap back open. My mask is in her hand and she looks up at me with what I think is relief.

She's…happy?

I want her to be happy, but after everything she put me through, I don't know if I can be content with that.

She cut herself off from me when I needed her the most.

I need her to know she can't ever do that again.

The beast inside me tells me the only way to get that through to her is with fear and submission.

"Let's go," I say as I watch Violet's chest ease into a steady, peaceful rhythm of sleep.

"What do you want to do about him?" Mad nods towards the flagpole.

I thought I wanted him dead, but all I want is to get Violet out of here. Leaving him to be found with his dick out will have to be enough to show him not to fuck with us again.

"Forget about him. If he tries anything else then we'll finish him."

"If you're sure. Just let me do one thing first."

As I hold on to Violet, Mad jogs over to James and crouches down. He pulls something from the bag, but from here I can't see what he's up to.

Once he's finished, he grabs the bag and the bats before sauntering back to me with a huge grin on his face.

"What did you do?" I try to get a read on him, but can't and it's too dark to see anything out of place on James' body.

"Tied some rope around his dick and balls. Nice and tight, of course."

"Huh."

"What? It's a pretty fitting punishment for what he tried to do with them. I know you heard him the other day when he threatened Violet. I just don't understand why you don't want to talk about it. He's been a snake, trying to get into her life, or probably just her pussy. Once he had her, I can guarantee you he would have hurt her after. So he doesn't deserve to keep his dick."

"But the texts."

"We'll figure that out later."

Mad pops open the trunk and I place Violet inside. It doesn't look comfortable, but the drive to the cabin's not too far.

She'll have to survive a few sore muscles. After all, she's going to be experiencing a lot more once she's awake.