Little Maxie

Chapter 14

"Get some control!" Jos shouted angrily, leaning down in Max's face.

Maxie immediately cowered back, his back against the couch while he put his hand in his mouth and biting down hard to stifle his hysterical sobbing, partially succeeding.

Jos looked at the door worriedly, probably afraid that someone had heard the commotion, but when no one entered immediately, he turned back to Max, angrily slapping the back of his head a second time, making the little wince and bite his hand even harder, still crying.

"Why the fuck are you like this?" Jos asked angrily, and just then the door was slammed open, leaving a dent in the wall while Daniel and Bradley ran in, closely followed by Lewis, and then after a moment a slightly out of breath Christian, making the small room suddenly seem overcrowded.

It only took Bradley a second to spot the crying Maxie, and he didn't waste any time on Jos, knowing that from all the people there, he was the least intimidating for the older man. Instead, he went over to the little, crouching down next to Maxie, and hugging him tightly, hoping to give the little some comfort.

"No, don't bite on that," Bradley says softly, almost crooning while he pulled the hand out of Maxie's mouth, wincing when he saw the red tooth marks in the flesh, some even bleeding slightly from where they had broken skin.

Daniel's reaction was different from Bradley. He saw the man go to Maxie, and he knew that the little was being taken care off, leaving him to deal with the threat. Wasting no time, he pushed Jos hard against the wall, putting his underarm against the older man's throat, who was now looking wide-eyed at the caregiver, but quickly seemed to gather his wits again.

"Let me go," Jos said, his voice surprisingly steady considering the amount of glares aimed at him, "this is assault,"

"Like what you did to Max?" Daniel growls, but Christian stepped forward, putting a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Let him go," the man said, and Daniel reluctantly did what he was told, but made sure he was in between Jos and Max, not wanting to give the man any access. Lewis casually went to stand next to him, managing to look down at Jos as if he was even worse than dog poop.

"I didn't do anything to Max. Why would I hurt him. He's my son. We were just...talking," Jos says, glaring at Maxie who had buried his face in Bradley's shoulder, still crying, "he just started to bawl because I accidently stepped on that thing,"

Daniel's gaze immediately went to the broken paci, and it was clear that it wasn't just stepped on, every one present knowing good enough that it hadn't been an accident.

"You stay away from him," Daniel said when Jos made to take a step closer to Max, and Jos stopped, looking hesitant, but pulled himself up, looking as if he was the one with a reason to be angry.

"You can't stop me from speaking with my son," Jos said, holding his nose high in the air and looking as if he was preparing himself to barge through the wall of caregivers.

"Well, actually," Christian said calmly, glancing at the camera in the corner of the room, "you'll find it that we can easily do that now,"

Jos frowned, but followed Christian's gaze, his eyes widening in understanding when he spotted the camera.

"You can't do this," Jos said, "Max won't let you,"

"Well, you know how it goes. If the court decides that you are a danger to a little..." Christian said, letting the sentence trail away, but Jos knew. He knew that even if the little tried to deny it, the court could overrule it and deny him any access to Max.

"Max got where he is because of me. I made him," Jos growled, towering over Christian, who just calmly smiled, almost looking amused, "he's nothing without me,"