Chapter 3: The Voice note

Scarlet’s Point of View:

I looked over at Max with a shallow expression. He was busy using his phone as he sat by the window on the airplane.

Drew was asleep and I was looking ahead for his message. I couldn’t wait—but I was scared too. I had no idea what he had said, and I couldn’t have expected anything good out of it. Maybe it was another ugly truth about someone in my life— maybe Jazelle was a serial killer or something. I don’t know, I had no idea.

But I was losing hope and this was my last cue.

“Are you okay?” I heard Max and I looked at him with a smile.

“Yeah. I am just—I hope this trip goes well.”

“It will,” He extended his hand toward me and said. I joined my hand with him and he caressed the back of it with his thumb. “Maybe it will change things for the better.”

I smiled at him. I really did need Xavier’s help—before I gave in to this little trap of Max.

…

“Wake up, baby,” I heard a slow voice near me and I opened my eyes. I saw Max looking at me and I got up immediately.

“What happened?” I asked him as I tried to recollect my memories.

“We’re here,” He extended his hand, “In Mexico. Get up. We should go to a hotel.”

I yawned and nodded. “Yeah…”

I stepped out of the plane. A few men helped with the luggage and carried it to our car and I simply sat down. I was really tired.

“I wanna sleep…” I whispered as I snuggled near him. I couldn’t think straight, I just needed to sleep in a cozy position.

He pulled me closer in the backseat and caressed my hair. “Sleep, baby.”

I closed my eyes as I felt his warm embrace around me. His soft touch on my face and his efforts to keep himself steady during the drive were hard to ignore—almost making me rethink everything.

What if Xavier was lying?

_____________________________

I yawned and stretched my arms as I woke up. I looked around and found myself in a hotel room— in the bedsheets, snuggled up in an excellently air-conditioned room. It was so comfortable that I felt like sleeping back immediately.

“Max?” I said slowly as I was about to get up but he came from another attached room, almost running: “Don’t sit up.”

I fell back and looked at him confused. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re burning up, Scar!” He sighed. “You have a fever of 101. 5 Fahrenheit, last I checked. You should really rest.”

“I’m sure it is just because I was tired.” I shook my head. “You don’t need to be so worried.”

“I can accept the fact that you don’t trust me enough, Scar, but if you think that I am going to back off when you are ill, then I am sorry but that is not going to happen,” He came closer to me and sat beside me. “I love you, Scarlet Walker. You need to rest. We are in no hurry to go back so you can take your time to be well before we start to explore Mexico. Do you understand?”

I nodded slowly. “Thanks, Max.”

He smiled and looked away. “Drew woke up some time ago, he is in the attached room playing games. If you want to talk to him, let me know.”

I nodded again before he left me alone.

Ugh. Now I needed to get well before hearing the message—sucks being a human.

…

Xavier’s Point of View:

“You’re terrible at defense, Martin. You’re going to lose, no matter how many moves you perfect!” I shouted at one of my trainees. “Learn what you lack, not what you’re already perfect at!”

“Why can’t others defend me?” He stopped training and came to me. He exhaled as he continued: “I have been trying, man, I can’t. It is impossible for me to know my enemy’s moves and save myself from them. I can attack, but you’re telling me that it is useless?”

I took a deep breath. “You can not depend on someone else. It is shameful if you’re not fulfilled on your own.”

He shook his head and went back to training. I exhaled too before I turned around and went back to my room.

Six months. It had been six months—and this time had changed a lot in me, more than I could have imagined.

I entered my room and looked over at my wall. It had three pictures: Scarlet, Andrew, and Max.

One to remind me of the reason to fight, one to remind me that I had to stay human… and one to remind me that this was the only way.

I wasn’t done, I wasn’t ready, even after all this time. All I had realized by now was the person I was—the selfish, arrogant bastard who only thought about himself. The monster, the… psychopath, and the hateable moron.

I hated myself more than Scarlet could ever hate me. The self-revelation had made me come face to face with my reality and I hated the man I saw in the mirror— but at least I knew that now I was doing something good.

I sighed. I had a way to access Zora from here— her AI system enabled me to access her from all my devices too.

I turned her on my phone. “Zora, has Scarlet listened to the voice note yet?”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Xavier. If you’d like me to inform her of the voice note on her device, please order me to do so.” She replied in her robotic voice.

“No. I—I don’t need that. Thanks.”

“Always here to help.”

She went off and I sighed.

Was her faith in me still alive, or did she fall in love and in the trap, Max made?