A couple days later, I wake up to kissing sounds and the feeling of someone's lips on my body, my neck and chest area specifically.
"Billy..." I groan and reach out for the culprit. Before I see him, I can feel him, the shape of his jaw.
I sit up. "Max?" I wonder about the girl who was snuggled up between Billy and I when we fell asleep.
"Max went to the spare room hours ago." He says.
I'm so sleepy, I yawn and he wraps his arms around me and leans back.
"Good." I close my eyes and doze on his chest.
It's been a few days since we brought Max here. I blinked El home the morning following our original venture to the Hargrove house.
It's pretty boring for the most part we can't exactly leave the house, especially since we're busy making sure Max won't escape.
"Can I just go to the Byers'?" She'll ask.
"No." We'll say.
"I can sneak in. Joyce won't see me."
"No. We don't want anyone knowing where you are and let it slip. That puts them in danger to Neil if he goes looking for you." Billy will usually growl.
And then Max will storm off.
And then Billy will say "it's like I've never been gone."
To make up for her lost time with her friends Max spends long hours on the phone secretly talking to El and the boys.
It's quite maddening.
But she still comes into our room every night at some point to check on us, to check on Billy and see if he's there. She still climbs into bed with us, right in the middle. She still falls asleep in Billy's arms, with my hand resting on her back.
And Billy still looks at her with the same concern and dare I say...love...as she does so.
▶️ We Belong by Pat Benatar (Just the chorus and then stop, the song doesn't fit the whole rest of the chapter :P)
I snap out of my reverie to Billy's kisses on my face.
I reach my lips up and he meets me in the middle, we kiss. He keeps kissing me until the kissing turns to touching, the touching to, well...you know.
Halfway through, Billy is on top of me, and we look into each other's eyes with primal lust.
Suddenly, we hear the creak of the door and we turn to face it with primal fear.
Maxine walks in declaring "I'm hungry!"
My face turns red the second I see her innocently strolling in, like she does often.
Billy yells "MAXINE, GET OUT!"
She stands by the door, frozen in shock, her face as red as her hair.
I take a pillow and throw it at her.
"Sorry." She ducks, scurries out, and slams the door.
Billy awkwardly finishes and rolls off me, laying down. We're both sweating and breathing hard.
"I knew we should've locked the door." I say. I feel my face burning up.
"I need her out of this house." Billy growls.
We hop in the shower together for five minutes and then go downstairs. Max is downstairs at the table eating cereal. She eyes me suspiciously and doesn't look at Billy. I look at him, expecting him to say something to her but he doesn't.
We eat in silence, Max scarfs her food down quickly and leaves.
I sigh and look at Billy. "We have to call."
"I know." He watches Max's figure disappear. I flinch when she slams the door of her room closed.
*
Billy leans against the wall, phone up against his ear, anxiously awaiting a pickup from either Neil or Susan.
I lean against the same wall, watching him. Max, who came out of her room to see what was going on after we kicked her off of the phone, is sitting on a backwards chair, pointed directly at the wall mounted phone.
"Hello?" We hear Susan's voice.
Billy and I exchange a pleasantly surprised glance and I mouth 'say something' and wave a hand at him.
He waves his hand back at me dismissively and says "Hi Susan."
Silence.
"Billy?" Susan gasps and we hear a muffled yell for Neil.
"Susan." Billy says again.
There's a long pause.
"Susan?" Billy asks again.
"Did she hang up?" Max asks.
"Shh. I think I hear them talking." Billy says.
We lean in to listen.
We all jump a little bit when Neil starts screaming on the phone.
"BOY, I AM GOING TO HAVE YOUR ASS. THE AMOUNT OF DISRESPECT...YOU'RE LUCKY I HAVEN'T CALLED THE COPS ON YOU YET, YOU FUCKING FAG. I AM GOING TO WHUP YOUR ASS...DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED SUSAN AND I HAVE BEEN ABOUT MAXINE? WE'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER. IF YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO MAXINE WE WILL HUNT YOU AND THAT WHORE OF YOURS DOWN AND...."
Maxine hangs her head and I walk over to her and place a hand on her back. Billy holds the phone well away from his face, and Neil yells expletives at us for about five minutes. Finally, Neil takes a break, we can hear his heavy breathing. Billy is shaking with anger.
"Breathe Billy. You have to remain calm." I tell him in a measured voice.
Billy takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut, exhaling deeply. "Dad."
"Maxine, I want to talk to Maxine." We hear Susan's timid voice over the phone.
We hear muffled arguing sounds, as if Neil is putting his hand over the microphone.
"Billy." Neil says in a calmer, but still strained, voice. "Put Maxine on the phone."
Maxine leans into me and I run my hands through her hair gently.
"Not until you agree to something."
"YOU ARE NOT IN A PLACE TO BE MAKING DEMANDS..." Neil goes off again.
While he's yelling Billy covers the mic and says "this isn't working."
"I know."
"I'll do it. I know the plan. Give me the phone and I'll tell my mom what you want." Max stands up.
"Maxine..." Billy sighs.
"Wait Billy, that might work." I say, gently rubbing Max's back.
Billy shrugs and hands Max the phone.
"Mom?" Max asks.
There's silence from the other side.
"Baby, oh my goodness are you okay?" Susan's shrill voice comes out of the phone.
"I'm okay mom." Max says. She looks like she's trying hard not to cry. "I miss you. But I can't come home until I know it's safe."
We hear a bump from the phone and Neil's voice is back. "MAXINE YOU WILL COME HOME, RIGHT. NOW!"
"NO!" Max yells. "STOP YELLING AND LISTEN!"
There's silence from the other line and Max hands the phone back to Billy.
"Good job." I whisper to Max and wrap my arms around her shoulders and chest, holding her close to me.
"We are going to meet up at the house." Billy says slowly. "You are not going to call the cops, or try to pull anything. It will be me. And I am bringing Seraphina so I am not outnumbered."
"OH DON'T YOU DRAG HER INTO THIS, SHE IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY!"
"DAD!" Billy yells over Neil's voice and he shuts up again. Billy is getting visibly more angry.
He looks at me and I pantomime a breathing motion. He nods slowly at me and says to Neil.
"I am bringing Seraphina. And we are going to talk about how you are going to get Maxine back."
"You are dead." Neil says.
"Try something and you will be. If you love your wife, if you love Maxine, you won't mess this up." Billy says sinisterly. "I know how disappear. We will disappear and we will not come back and you will never find us."
Billy hangs up the phone.
"Billy!" I exclaim.
"Just trust me." He says.
The phone starts ringing off the hook.
"Answer it already." Max groans.
Max and I are both perched on chairs, Billy is standing near the wall.
"Just wait." He sees how agitated I'm getting and kisses the top of my head.
After what seems like ages, Billy picks up the phone.
"BILLY...THE AMOUNT OF WORRY AND STRESS..."
Billy takes the phone away from his ear and gives me a look like 'see this is what I have to deal with' as Neil goes off again.
"Dad, please just let us come talk to you." Billy says.
"Ha."
"Dad, if you really love Susan, really want to fix our family so we don't end up in a situation like with mom, we need to talk."
Neil is quiet. We hold our breaths.
"Fine. When?"
"Ten minutes." Says Billy.
"Ten minutes? Jeez. Alright. Just you?"
"No."
"Billy."
"Dad." Billy starts to tense up.
"Fine. But I'm not going to like it, got it?"
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, sir." Billy says in a measured tone.
I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his middle, peeking out from the side of him, resting my head on his muscular arm.
"See you in ten." Neil says in a voice that sends chills down my spine.
Neil hangs up. Max sighs.
"Okay, we're cool with the plan?" Billy rubs his hands together.
I look at him, worried. He seems so much calmer than he should.
"Billy I don't know...he seems so mad. Maybe we should let him cool off or something..." I frown.
"Ser. It's going to be okay." Billy kisses my forehead. "I beat him last time, remember?"
"I know but..."
"No buts. We planned this out Seraphina, what can go wrong?" Billy asks.
"It's going to be okay." Max looks up at me with her big, innocent eyes and I smile at her. She's so brave. Who knows where she gets that from.
"Come here." I tell her and she runs to give me a hug.
"You remember what we're going to do?" I ask Maxine.
"Yeah." She nods.
"I'm going to blink right in here okay? You can wait for me or not, just don't freak out when I come in." I tell her.
"Be safe okay?" Max runs over to hug Billy and he holds her tight for a little while. He rubs her back and lets her go.
"Always." He smiles.
"You are the least careful person I know, you tease." I tell him.
He shrugs. "Alright." He glances to the clock in my kitchen. "Time to roll."
Billy grabs the keys to the Ferrari in the kitchen.
"Babe." I say.
"What?" He looks into my eyes.
"We don't need the car." I walk over to him and take the keys from his hand, placing them on the counter.
I wrap my hands in his and pull his body close to mine. "Just relax."
*
We blink to the side of the Hargrove house so we're not right in the doorway. Then I focus on a spot on the nearby sidewalk and blink us there so it looks like we're not walking in from their yard.
"Fuck, dammit Ser." Billy pulls away. "Why'd you do it twice?"
"Sorry." I gently touch his back as he buries his head in his hands.
"It's okay." He rides out the waves of nausea and then exhales deeply. He looks over to me and gives me a kiss then he turns his gaze to his house.
We walk up the sidewalk and ring the doorbell, leaving ample room between us and the door.
Neil opens the door. I feel relieved when he does so calmly, without any sign of weapon of alcohol in his hand. But I look at his face and he still has bruises from his encounter with Billy a few days ago. His face is discolored in purples, yellows, and greens, tiny red cuts appear around his cheeks and nose where Billy's metal rings cut into his face.
"Look, the prodigal son has returned!" Says Neil in mock enthusiasm.
"Let's negotiate." Billy says with a steely tone.
Neil smiles maliciously and flicks his eyes to meet mine. "Yes, let's..."