Abandoned

Chapter 13

Miles POV

I had so many questions.

I could tell that Maddie was confused. She still had a fever. She just found out that she was our sister. I knew it wasn’t time to ask her everything that I wanted to.

But I just couldn’t hold back.

“Why were you living in a tent, Maddie?” I asked, my voice breaking. “What happened to you?”

She looked at me and furrowed her eyebrows.

I lifted my hand and caressed her cheek.

She was still so warm.

“Did you run away from home?” I asked her.

She gave me a small nod and looked back at Max.

“Why am I here?” she asked quietly.

My heart broke. I leaned my head back on her shoulder and tightened my arms around her.

I couldn’t respond. The lump in my throat was too fucking big.

Why did she run away? What kind of a home was it? Did they hurt her?

“You are here because you are our sister, and this is your home.” Max said softly. “You belong here, Maddie.”

I could feel her tense up. I looked up at her.
She lowered her head and took a deep breath.

“I don’t belong here.” she said, making my heart break into a million tiny pieces. “Even if I am your sister, someone didn’t want me. I don’t belong here. I need to go back.”

“Where, Madeline?” I asked, trying to stop my voice from breaking. “Do you really think that we are going to let you go back to that tent?”

“Someone didn’t want you, but we do.” Max continued. “It wasn’t our decision to give you away. Fuck, Maddie, if they had asked us we would have said no. We would have fought for you. It fucking broke us when they took you from us. We were broken. We are finally whole again, and we are not letting you go.”

Maddie relaxed in my arms, and I realized that she wanted to lie back down. I loosened my grip on her, and she laid down. I placed a hand on her forehead and looked at Max.

“Go get the pills.” I told him.

“What pills?” Maddie asked, making me look back at her.

“Just something to lower your temperature.” I said, giving her a small smile.

Max clenched his fists and looked at Maddie worriedly. I could tell that he wasn’t sure about leaving.

“She will still be here when you come back, Max.” I said softly.

Max took a deep breath and bent down to kiss Maddie’s forehead. He gave her a small smile before he stood up and went to get her some medicine.

Maddie looked at me and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why were you mean to me if you knew that I was your sister?” she asked, making my heart race impossibly fast.

“We didn’t know.” I mumbled as a wave of guilt washed over me. “We saw how much you looked like us, but we didn’t know that you were ours. We started thinking that you were our sister after we saw the birthmark on your neck.”

I turned around, pulled my shirt down, and bent my head.

“It’s the same as ours.” I said.

I felt her small fingers touch the back of my neck lightly. It lasted for a few seconds only, and then she pulled her hand away.

“I am so fucking sorry for the way we treated you.” I said as I turned back to look at her. “There is no excuse for what we said and did.”

Maddie looked down and took a deep breath.

“It’s okay.” she mumbled. “You didn’t know.”

My heart clenched painfully. I pulled her up and into my arms. I took a deep breath.

“It’s not okay, Maddie.” I said. “We hurt you. We were two giant fucks, and we need to make it up to you.”

Max walked back into the room with a glass of water in one hand and a pill bottle in the other.

“Is everything okay?” he asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

“I was just apologizing to her for the things we did and said.” I explained.

Max sighed, put the glass and the pill bottle on the nightstand, and sat down on the bed next to us. He pulled Maddie from me and cupped her cheeks.

“I am sorry, Maddie.” he said, his voice laced with guilt. “I am so fucking sorry. I was an idiot. I have no excuse for my behavior. Even if you didn’t turn out to be my sister, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. I will do better.”

Max looked up at me and clenched his jaw.

“We will both do better.” he said, looking back down at Maddie. “We will do it for you, Madeline.”

I ran my fingers through Maddie’s hair.

We were so fucking lucky that she didn’t tell us to fuck off. We were so fucking lucky that we didn’t lose her because we were idiots.

“It’s okay.” Maddie mumbled again.

“No, it’s not.” I repeated. “You deserve so much more than an apology, Maddie. We will give you everything, I promise.”

Max let her go and took the glass and the pill bottle from the nightstand.

“We will start with the pill for your fever.” Max said, giving her a small smile.

Maddie took the glass from him. Max opened the bottle, took out a pill, and gave it to her. She took the pill and gave the glass back to Max.

“Thank you.” she said quietly.

“There is no need to thank us.” I said as I kissed her temple. “You need to get better. You need to be healthy. We have so much to catch up on.”

Maddie looked at me and gave me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

She was still careful around us. I understood it completely. We hurt her. We were strangers to her. She must have had so many questions.

But we would answer them all. We wouldn’t be strangers to each other for long.

I caressed her cheek and smiled at her again.

“Lay back down.” Max told her softly. “You need to rest.”

She listened to Max, and I covered her up.

I wanted to stay with her. I wanted to lay down next to her and just stay. I missed it so much. But I knew that it would be weird for her.

I looked at Max, and I could tell that he wanted to stay as well.

He tightened his jaw and bent down to kiss her forehead.

“We will be downstairs if you need us, okay?” Max told her.

“Okay.” Maddie nodded. “Thank you.”

I kissed her cheek and got off the bed.

“Get some rest.” I told her. “We will come check up on you.”

Maddie nodded.

I didn’t want to leave. I really didn’t.

But I had to. We couldn’t stay with her. Not unless she asked us to.

Max took my hand in his and pulled me out of the room.

As soon as I closed the door behind us, Max pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged him back immediately.

I needed it. He needed it.

The only one missing from our hug was Maddie.

But she would be here soon. She would warm up to us. We would talk and explain everything to her.

She would love us as much as we loved her.