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“I’m done.”
“The hell are you talking about?”
“I’m fucking done!”
Billy Hargrove was pinned against the wall by own father. It had been like this his whole life. He was always being pushed around by his dad who just used him to take his anger out on. Today was no different, until now.
Billy forcefully shoved Neil away from him despite the dangerous look etched on his face. He quickly walked down the hallway ignoring Neil’s shouts, warning him of his punishment to come. Billy stopped abruptly in front of Max’s room. Without knocking, he barged in, finding max with a stunned look on her face. She was sitting on the floor of her room, leaning against her bed. Her eyes were watering, but Billy didn’t have the time to ask why.
He swiftly took her by the arm and pulled her up.
“We’re leaving.”
“What?” Max asked. She was confused as to what was happening.
She tried pulling away from him, but Billy’s grip was tight. He was pulling her out of the room when Neil blocked his exit. Susan was right behind him, obviously frightened of what was occurring in front of her, but not doing anything to stop it.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Neil questioned.
“Away from here,” Billy replied attempting to push past him, only to be stopped by a forceful hand.
“You leave with her, and there will be consequences to pay for later,” he growled.
“Guess I’ll be willing to face them.”
With that final thought, he walked past Neil and Susan, dragging Max along with him. Billy opened the door and stormed out, not bothering to close it behind him. He finally let go of Max once they reached the Camaro. Thankfully, she didn’t say a word.
Once they both got in, Billy hit the gas and sped off without another thought. He had no idea where they were going. He knew that he would have to return eventually since he had his step-sister with him.
Max was silently looking out the window. Every time Billy looked over at her, she avoided his gaze. He could tell she was startled by what happened even though she tried to hide it with an icy gaze. He wondered how much of the argument she had actually heard. The whole dispute was caused by her after all.
A couple of hours before, Max had snuck out of her window…again. This, of course, led to Billy chasing after her. He found her at Mike’s house during some sort of campaign. Once he had dragged her out of there, he practically gave Max a full lecture while screaming at her. Probably scared her good. Looking back on it now, he probably shouldn’t have done that. He didn’t want to be like his father.
Neil and Susan were waiting for him once he had come back. Max was sent to her room, and Billy was suddenly pushed against the wall by his father. This had all happened before, but never when Max was in the house. This was new, and Billy didn’t like it. He had enough. Things were just continuing to escalate. Soon, it would be Max against the wall instead of him, and he didn’t want to see that happening. So instead of being a victim of his father’s wrath, he fought back.
Now he was on the road with his little sister not knowing where the hell they were going. It had only been a little more than an hour, and gas was low. Billy looked over at Max who seemed to be half asleep.
“Max.”
She jerked awake, facing him with wide eyes. Jesus, why’d she have to look so scared of him.
“I’m going to be stopping by at the gas station. Do you want anything?”
“No,” Max impatiently said, glaring at him.
Why was she always so fucking moody? Whatever. He didn’t have time to focus on that. Billy stepped on the pedal and continued to speed down the road until he reached the local gas station.
He stepped out of the car, locking the doors in case Max got any ideas. Once he filled the car up with gas, he walked into the small convenience store. He bought 2 packs of cigs and a bag of chips for Max even though she didn’t want anything. He was too fucking kind.
Once he got into the Camaro, Billy lit up a cigarette and threw the bag of chips at Max, only to have it thrown right back at him.
“The hell is wrong with you?” he asked angrily. He was really getting pissed off with Max and her attitude.
“Why did you drag me here with you?” she asked with uncertainty in her voice.
That was a weird question to ask. Even Billy didn’t really know the answer to that. Why did he bring Max? Why does he bring her anywhere? Does he actually care about her? The sheer thought of caring about that little shit made him cringe.
He usually used her as a punching bag to take out all of his anger on. Similar to the way Neil used Billy. But nevertheless, Billy tried to protect Max from the knowledge and burden of what really goes on in the Hargrove-Mayfield household. Even though he would never admit it, Billy did care about his step sister.
“Would you have rather stayed there?” he asked.
Max didn’t say anything. She merely looked out the window. Moments passed in awkward silence.
“I’m sorry,” Max suddenly whispered.
“What?”
“I’m sorry!” She turned back around to face him, her eyes watering. “I didn’t know he hit you because of me.”
Another silence followed. Billy didn’t know what to say. Max was not someone to apologize, especially to Billy.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault—”
“Yes, it is! I was so stupid not to realize that you got hurt because of me, and—”
“Hey!” Billy gently grabbed Max’s wrist to get her attention. “It is not your fault.” He let that settle before letting go of her wrist. “People like Neil will never stop hurting others to relieve their anger. You wouldn’t have made any difference to him. Do you understand?”
Max nodded quietly.
“I’m sorry too,” Billy stated even though it hurt to say.
“What?”
“I treated you like shit when all you wanted was to live a normal life…I hope you realize that I only told you to stay away from Sinclair so Neil wouldn’t come after you.”
“Yeah, I know now,” Max replied.
Billy looked over at her. Max was looking down at her lap, but he could see her smiling softly.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” she said.