Even Heroes Fall

20. Violet

Max was lying on my bed, bleeding and half dead. It was bad. Very, very bad. Thank God no one was home when we got back after that terrifying journey on his motorbike from Chiswick to Kensington. 

I took a shower because I needed to wash the dirt off me and the hot water soothed my aching body. My ankle had swollen up a little bit but I had been putting a lot of pressure on it in the sewer. My Justice outfit was ruined beyond repair. Even if I managed to salvage some of the police-vest it was torn and dirty. There was no way I could explain to my housemates why it was in the washing machine if one of them happened to find it. In the end I bundled the whole lot into a plastic bag to toss into the waste later. Right now I had more important things to worry about than what I was going to wear to beat Castlemain up.

So, according to Max, Castlemain was responsible for killing Theodore. He was a super powered person, and he had some kind of grudge against Max. It did not explain why he wanted Theodore dead. Something was not adding up and I suspected Marshall might have the answers, after all, he and dad were supposed to be meeting each other for dinner the night he was murdered. There was something suspicious about the whole thing. I couldn't quite believe Marshall was involved in all this, but then again, Celia's boyfriend had turned out to be Ghoul all along.

Max slept for most of the afternoon so I occupied myself cleaning and tidying the house. I knew it was just a distraction from the reality of what happened. I hadn't even heard from Miranda yet but a call from their lawyer told me she was aware of the murder. It was just like my mother to distance herself from any form of emotion. Even if it involved losing the love of her life. 

The house was remarkably quiet for a Saturday but then I remembered Jo was going to see Sara in St Albans today, and Laura and Celia had planned a shopping trip which I initially was going to join them for. Thinking about Celia reminded me she asked me to text her and let her know what happened. I quickly grabbed my phone and fired off a message, explaining that there had been an incident involving my father and I was going to be out dealing with that. Not exactly the whole truth but I didn't want her to worry. I was concerned she and Laura could come back soon and I didn't think they would reach positively to finding Max in my bed.

I woke him up about three when I got a response from Celia saying she and Laura were heading home in about an hour. Max blinked at me groggily from the bed.

'I need more than a few hours to fully recover, Violet,' he said sounding pissed off.

'You stink and you're making my bed dirty. You need to shower before Celia gets home.' I half-dragged him out of bed, as the smell of sewer assaulted me. 'U-g-h.'

'I think I left some clothes in Celia's room,' he said after a moment's hesitation.

'You did. I'll grab them.' I hurried out of my room and down the hall to her room. Luckily she never used the lock on her bedroom door so I pushed it open and went inside. Max's clothes were still neatly folded on floor by the desk from the last time I had been in there. I retrieved the clothes and then, when I heard the sounds of the shower running, back in my room I stripped my ruined bedsheets and remade the bed with fresh sheets, shoving the dirty ones into yet another bag alongside my Justice outfit. 

Realising the shower had stopped I stepped out of my room with Max's clothes, thinking I would take them to the bathroom. But instead I collided with him on the landing as he reached my bedroom door. I almost fell over and Max grabbed my arm at the last minute to steady me.

'Oh, I was just bringing your clothes for you-' I started to say at the same time as Max spoke.

'I need my clothes.'

We both stopped and laughed awkwardly.

He was naked from the waist up, a towel wrapped around his lower half. This was the first I'd seen him naked and although I was aware he had muscles I now got to see them in all their glory. And boy, was he buff. His hair was wet, dark blonde curls against his neck, sticking up comically on top of his head. Water trickled down his shoulders, chest, abs, down towards the light smattering of golden hair that led to -

I managed to drag my eyes away before they went too far but my imagination was running riot. I pulled my gaze upwards only to see he was watching me, amused as my fact grew hot. His hand was still on my arm, warm and familiar.

'Enjoying the view?' he asked, his voice was a level deeper than usual, soft and suggestive.

'Violet?' 

I looked around Max towards the stairs to catch sight of Celia standing mid-way up, half way to the top. Max followed my gaze and turned around to see Celia too. 

Celia's eyes widened as she looked between me and Max. And then her mouth dropped open. 'Max?' she said incredulously.

I yanked my arm out of Max's hand, too late realising how bad it must look. Max standing in my bedroom doorway, holding my arm, half naked and fresh from the shower. And I had not even bothered putting proper clothes on after my shower, just a pair of soft shorts and crop top that I basically wore as pajamas in the summer. I wasn't even wearing a bra. 

Disbelief, anger, betrayal crossed Celia's face as she immediately assessed the situation and jumped to the most obvious conclusion.

I opened my mouth, unsure how I was going to explain the situation but knowing I had to try.

'You bitch!' Celia exploded with rage before I could speak. 'It was you! You were sleeping with him this whole time!' Her gorgeous face twisted in fury. 

'Celia-' Max started to say but she cut him off.

'Don't talk to me!' she shouted, calling him a string of bad name. 'You are my best friend, how could you?' she screamed at me.

'Celia, it's not what you think!' I shouted desperately but she was already running back down the stairs, not before I saw the tears on her face, shoving past Laura who had appeared at the bottom of the stairs looking confused.

The front door slammed shut behind Celia and a silence fell. Laura was eyeing me accusingly. 

'What have you done, Violet?' she asked sounding shocked and disgusted.

'Nothing!' I shouted furiously, feeling the tears in my eyes. 

'Are you two sleeping together?'

'No!' we both said at the same time.

'I had an accident,' Max said, stepping forward, hands raised like he was admitting defeat. 'I don't know many people in London yet, Violet was helping me out. That's all.'

Laura narrowed her eyes. 

'Please, Laura,' I pleaded with her, 'you know I would never try to steal Celia's boyfriends, they are not even my type.' I let out a hysterical laugh. This was completely true. Celia went for the handsome, self-centered, successful types, and I went for the broke-artist type. 

'Alright, OK.' Laura seemed to be accepting my story. 'I'll go after her.' She opened the front door and went out. 

'I should go too-' I started to say but Max grabbed me again. 

'Let her go,' he said gravely. 'Laura can deal with it.'

I twisted out of his grip and glared at him. 'Are you joking? She's my best friend!' 

He looked irritated. 'I know that. But we have more important things to deal with than Celia's tantrums. Your father is dead. Castlemain is now directly targeting me and we need to stop him before... before innocents get involved, like you said earlier.'

My eyebrows raised and for a second I forgot about Celia.

'So you agree? We need to work together to take him down?'

'Yes. And I'm sorry about Celia, really, but she will get over it eventually. But our duty to the city comes first.'