Not In The Same Way

Chapter 10 ~ Max

Henry slightly steps in front of me "Max, don't."

What is everyone problem with this guy. I move slightly past Henry "Hello I'm Cher. I'm Henry's cousin."

While the smile doesn't leave his face his eyebrow shoot up. Luke scoffs "Cher this is my older brother, Max. Max like cher said shes is his cousin and MY friend Cher. So don't even think of doing anything."

Do anything? What's he going to do? Max rolls his eyes and waves his hand in the air "yeah yeah yeah whatever. I don't care about your friend Luke. I'm going to check on some friends." He moves past us but winks at me as he passes by me to leave.

Once he finally gone Luke lets out a large breath "ughhh I hate him. I doubt he has any friends. I don't know why he comes here for break it's not like he cares about our parents. Sometimes it feels like he comes here to bug me!" Luke opens one of the cupboards and pulls out a bottle of vodka and pours some into his cup. He spins around holding the bottle taking a sip "oh and did you see the way he looked at Cher. So fucken gross! Even after I told him she was my friend." He looks at me and sticks a finger out at me "don't even think of going near him. He's the worst."

I quickly grab the bottle from Luke's hand and take a sip from the bottle "don't worry, I wasn't a huge fan of how he was looking at me. No offence but he kind of creeped me out."

"Honestly I think every girl feels that." Henry clearly doesn't look pleased with the whole encounter. All these people fussing over me Is starting to feel very suffocating.

I grab a cooler from the counter "well I'm going to find Katie, I'll see you guys in a minute." I move past the guys through the same way we came into the living room. I look around the room but I can't find Katie among the crowd, she must be somewhere. She texted me before we got here that she was already here and to come find her.

An arm wraps around me and pulls me close "you know that dress is a little short for a high school party. But don't get me wrong I'm loving every minute of it." Max. He must have been waiting for me to leave the kitchen.

I shrug his arm off of me "Sorry I didn't know you were one of my guardians. Oh you're not? So you don't get an opinion about how I dress."

Even though the living room was dark he was close enough that I can see a smirk "oh but I can be your daddy."

He pushes me up against the wall in the space between the living room and the hallway. With the music so loud and for the fact that I couldn't see anyone, I doubt anyone could see or hear me if I started screaming. He moves his head to my neck starting at my collar trying to leave a mark on me. I try to push him off of me but he won't budge "seriously Max! Stop!" I keep trying to push him harder and harder. He continues to kiss my neck and his hand slowly moves off my skirt. Realizing the position I'm in I squeeze my eyes shut knowing that I can't fight him off. But the moment I give in his body is ripped off of me. My eyes snap open and instead of seeing Max in front of me, he's on the floor with someone on top of him beating the living shit out of him. I pull my skirt down as much as I can but I can't help the tears streaming from my eyes. Trying to wipe away the tears I fall to the floor, I can't stop the sniffling. A gentle hand presses itself on my cheek, I look and to my surprise it's Jessie. With blood on his face? Omg I look back over to where Max was and the person who was just on top of him was gone. It was Jessie. He found me.

His eyes are roaming all over my face, his eyes are panicked. He looks scared "Charlotte baby, I need you to respond." Has he been trying to talk to me? I feel so far away from my body. I try to open my mouth to tell him I'm fine but nothing comes out. The look of worry on Jessie's face only gets worse. He moves his other hand to the other side of my face and brings his face close to mine so our foreheads are touching. "Okay baby, I need you to match my breathing. Okay, Just breathe." I focus on my breathing, In and out, in and out.