||Pretenders||☄️

(45).

"That Pretense"

Morning came. Max was still sleeping. Alicia didn't remember falling asleep in his bed. He didn't look okay. He looked sick and weak. She looked at herself and even her clothes were off too. Did he wake up last night? He squeezed onto the pillows and she sat there looking at him. It was sad to watch. Something was wrong with him and nobody was telling her about it. All she knew was he lost a memory of his girlfriend who must've betrayed him and his stupid anger issues. He had sweats all over his body. She stood up to get a cold towelette and heard him mumbling.

"Don't go." She turned to face him. "Please," She went back to the bed and lied next to him, putting his head on her arms. He was still squeezing the sheets in his sleep.

"Max, I'm here. I'm not Alia." She whispered to him. "It's time to wake up. She's not coming back." He wrapped her in his arms and a quick tear fell. "Please wake up." She searched for his lips in the cold and kissed on it. It felt like years being on those lips again. She missed him and that had her confused. She ended what they had and there she was kissing him again. "Max,"

"Ali." She opened her eyes and Max was staring at her. He did think it was a dream for a second but he felt her breath on him. She drew back from him and he held her hands. "Don't." he managed to say. She pulled away and sat on the bed. She breathed a sigh and looked away.

"I...should go." She got up and he sat up staring at her. "Call Luna. She was worried about you. Kiera expects your call."

"Are you leaving again?"

"Yes. Luna wanted me to check up on you."

"Are we... still not going to talk?" He bawled at her and these dark eyes from before had turned soft.

"We're talking." He stood up from the bed and walked over to her. "No Max. Stay where you are."

"I can't. You're here now and I really want to talk to you. It feels like years. I want to touch you like I used to. I miss us. Even though we weren't all that perfect, I still miss those times with you. I want to be close to you even if you hate me now."

"I don't hate you. I'm only mad at you and like I said, we can't be together. It won't work."

He gulped for a second and looked at her with the soft eyes and an aching heart. "Why?"

"Who's Alia?" Her eyes searched through him. There was no emotion. No movement. It was hard to read what Max thinks. He confused her so well.

"Who's she?" He asked.

"You don't know or you're just going to pretend not to know?"

"Is she someone I have to know?"

"Never mind." She gave up. He was going to pretend and he was good at that. She thought he pretended to love her when he was really playing games with her just to let his friends know the kind of whore she was. "You're always pretending." She blurted out and searched for her clothes. "Where the fuck did you put my clothes last night?"

"I threw them away." He bit his lip. She was going to fume like he predicted last night when he took off her clothes in her sleep.

"You're such a pscycho!" She pushed him away and rushed to the bin in the kitchen. Alicia opened it up and he had her clothes cut in halves. "What the fuck is wrong with you Maxwell! Why did you have to do this to them? Are you out of your mind?!"

"I... thought you'll leave again. I'm sorry." He bawled and his voice slowed on her.

"Stop pretending! I'm not the one you call for in your sleep! There's someone else in your heart who isn't me! You don't love me Maxwell." She said and realized what was going on. "I am the trigger." She said slowly. She sat down, palming her face. What if he only got into this relationship with her because she reminded him of his girlfriend? What did she do to him? Why does he mention her name in his sleep and who has been sending her those gift boxes?

"Did I do something wrong again?" She shook her head and he held her hand. He sat next to her and fondled with her hand and her concern wasn't on his touches. Max was getting confused with her talks. "Can we please work this out?"

"Max I..."

"Cole did this. You weren't answering my calls and texts that night and they took the phone out of my hands and saw our chats. I'm not really innocent here. I did think things between us would've been better if no one knew about us. I'm stupid right?"

"Yes you are."

"If they knew about us, bad things would've happened."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I just felt that way. I don't want anyone touching you..."

"You keep telling me that." She rolled her eyes.

"Because I mean it." He got serious.

"Why did you do that to Jake?" She asked. "Because you believed he fucked me? You never believed me, right? What makes you think things will work out between us when you're hiding things from me and don't believe a word I say to you? You believed I was with you because of the money too. You can't handle us Max. Let's not get into something that's going to hurt us again. I can't deal with that."

"I'll make it better. I promise."

"You promise?" He nodded. "Apologize to Jake. He never fucked me."

"But he touched you. He saw you naked, touched your pussy and you felt his dick. Hell no. I'm not apologizing to that motherfucker." She got up and sighed.

"That's fine. I'll leave."

"That's all I have to do?" He grinned.

"It's simple right?"

"If I can have you back." She rolled her eyes and left him at the kitchen. "Ali, wait."

"Don't call me that." It freaked her out now. He must've called his Alia, Ali too. This was really stressing her out. "I prefer Bell." He chuckled behind her. Oh, what was she getting herself into? Why was her heart falling for him again? Why can't it be at peace as every normal girl would? Max Ross wasn't meant for her. He belongs to someone else and she said, he'll never tell her about them.

•_•_•

Max and Alicia met with Jake for breakfast at Rosie's Inn. Dawn and everyone available were staring at them. Jake had leaned in his chair waiting for Max to speak out. "Before that, is that his t-shirt?" Jake asked. Max scowled at him and she kicked his foot. "You guys are together for good now? No secrecy?"

"Yeah. Does it bother you?" Max asked angrily.

"It does because I thought I'll have her to myself now. What tricks do you pull on her? Maybe she'll fall for me too."

"Guys, that's not why we're here. Cut it out and let's get over this. We've lectures."

"I'm waiting." Jake smirked at him.

"I am sorry for hitting you. She told me what happened and I should've believed her." He held her hand on the table to piss Jake off. "It's never going to happen that way again with you so I am sorry again. I'm really sorry she chose to be with me instead." Max was pulling his legs. He had a smile on. "Jake, I sincerely apologize." He ended with a smirk and kissed on her hand. "Let's go babe. We've to learn."

"Have you forgiven him?" She asked Jake. He widely smiled at her.

"Why not? I still have my chances with you. I know he's going to fuck up again. It's Maxwell Ross. He always gets played, he plays people and pretends he's the victim, right Ross?" Jake scoffed at him and walked away.

What the fuck was that?