46 A Well Deserved Breather
1630 Words
“Wait, wait, wait… Say that again?” Charlie asked Jules for confirmation for what she had just said.
The rest of the group looked at each other with mouths agape at the news that Jules had for the rest of them.
They gathered around Jules’ table in the art room trying to get a grasp as to what was going on.
“Alright, I’ll say it again. My father owns property on an island in the Caramoan Islands. And he wants to make it up to Lina after what had happened. He knows that he can’t really take back anything that they did to her...” she said as she looked regretfully at Lina. “But he thinks that she should at least be able to relax with the rest of us.”
“So… What you’re saying is we’re getting an all-expenses-paid trip… to the Caramoan Islands… With full access to one of the most beautiful beaches and coves in the world?” Max said, still in shock.
“Yep!” Jules replied.
“Seriously?” Trae added.
“Uhuh.”
“All this for my sake… Is this real?” Lina asked, looking for further confirmation.
“For the last time, yes! You guys! Be serious!”
“You be serious! We’ve never been given this kind of opportunity before!” Max replied.
They sat there for a moment, taking in what was currently happening right at that moment. Finally, it sank. They all shot up in excitement. They all looked at each other before colliding in a frantic and exciting group hug.
“We are going on vacation!” Charlie screamed, excitedly clinging and shaking Lina in excitement.
“Y-yeah! We are!” she said, as she hugged him tightly.
Trae immediately joined in and lifted the two of them off the floor in a more brutal bear hug.
“Y’all better get ready! Cos it’s gonna be real fun!” he said, as he swung them around in his arms like ragdolls.
Max and Jules looked at the celebration as if they were looking at their own kids celebrating over a new toy.
“Honestly, I thought they would be a little bit more subtle than this,” Max said, as he shook his head while smiling.
“Let ‘em be Max. After all… she deserves a break.”
Max looked at Lina sadly, even in the midst of her celebration with her friends.
“Yeah… she does.”
Jules looked at Max ruefully.
“I guess I still wasn’t really able to do anything for her… huh?” she said as she tried to let it off with a chuckle.
Max put his arm around Jules’ shoulder and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“No… I think at the moment, there wasn’t any more that we could do,” he said, as she pressed herself closer to him. “Besides… If you were the one that saved her, then I don’t think he’d have been able to forgive himself for not doing anything. I mean… Look at ‘em,” he said as he pointed discreetly at Lina clinging to him.
Jules smiled at the sight and clung to Max’s arm tightly.
“Mmm, then it worked out then?” she asked.
“Yeah… I think it did. She is safe. And we are all together again. That’s what matters.”
“That’s true,” Jules said as she pulled away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna join them.”
With a devilish smile, she jumped into the dogpile that was taking place, with Trae at the bottom of everyone else. At that moment, Max remembered what was so enchanting about Jules. Her wicked smile. With a sigh, he decided that he was feeling a little left out.
“Alright, get ready for a cannonball then!” Max shouted as he jumped onto the dogpile.
The group just laughed and laughed until they had lost all their energy.
“So you guys, we got a couple of days. We’d better get packing!” Jules said as she got up from the pile of tired friends that littered the floor.
Lina got up as well.
“Jules! Can we go shopping together soon? I need a swimsuit!” she said excitedly.
Immediately, Jules brightened up significantly more than she already was.
“Yes! Oh my god! We are going to get the cutest swimsuit for you,” she replied, as she went to hug Lina as tight as she could.
For the first time, Lina didn’t need to feel afraid to hug Jules, because now her eyes were no longer on Max. She leaned in and gave Jules the tightest hug that she could muster with the energy that she had. When they finally pulled away, they giggled as if they were going on a secret adventure. With that, those two were the first to take off.
“Well, I think I should join them,” Charlie said nonchalantly.
“What? Swimsuit shopping?” Trae asked jokingly.
Charlie laughed a little but continued his statement.
“Nah man, I think that Lina forgot that we have to go to the doctor today. It’s her psychiatrist meeting.”
“Ah, aight. You take care of her, man,” Trae said, immediately taking more serious note.
“Don’t need to tell me twice. I will,” Charlie said as he walked out the door as well.
Now it was only Trae and Max in the room. They must have been thinking the exact same thing as they chuckled lightly.
“We came pretty far in this little venture that we have going, but I never expected us to get this kind of trip out of it,” Trae said in astonishment.
“Same here man. It’s totally crazy,” Max replied.
“Is anything the matter, Max?”
Trae looked Max dead in the face, trying to read his face to guess a thought. But he leaned back on the table and smiled.
“Nah… Ain’t nothing wrong right now… Is there?” Trae said with a knowing look on his face.
“I’m just really happy… I mean, everyone is back,” Max replied.
Max started to tear up at the thought of everything that had happened. First, the attempted kidnapping with Lina. Accepting Ivan. Being betrayed. Having one of his own be kidnapped and tortured. Everything in his mind was so traumatic, especially as a leader who carries the weight of responsibility in taking care of his own. In his eyes, this was all his fault. And it was clearly evident that he had a lot of work to do in order to make sure that everyone in their group can protect themselves, especially when they have to go up against one of the biggest bodies of violence in America. At that moment, however, he was just thankful that he had a second chance. And when the thoughts ran through his mind, even more, the tears started to flow even more aggressively. They glistened as they fell down his cheek. Trae said nothing. He simply walked over to Max’s side and put his arm around his shoulder. Neither of them talked after that exchange, as they went back to their room. But Max knew that Trae would always be there as his brother and his partner in crime. After all, it was not so long ago that they were “literal” partners in crime. For the first time since the kidnapping, Max was finally able to feel some peace.
Later that night, Max felt his phone vibrate by the side of his pillow. He reached for it in the dark and walked outside to pick it up. With a click on the button of his phone, he pressed the screen to his ear.
“H-hello?”
“Max! It’s you! Ok, listen how soon can you get started on that research for the Wolfpack?” said the husky voice of 3D on the other end of the line.
“Hmmm...”
Max looked up into the night sky and just relished in the beauty of it. He took in the cold air and appreciated everything that had happened to him. The friends that he made. The love that he found. The adventures. Even the hardships. He stayed quiet for a moment, and just felt everything around him.
“Max?”
“Oh uh… sorry. I was just thinking,” he said as he looked back to check if Trae was still asleep. “You know what? I’ll start in a week.”
“A week? Why that long? We need to get started on this as soon as we can!”
“Yeah I know, it’s just. It’s been a long couple of days. I and the guys are going on a vacation. For Lina’s sake. I promised you I’d work… So I will. But let us have this, ok?”
He clicked the end call button as soon as he said those words. With a chuckle, he went back to bed and readied himself for an intense day of preparations and packing. There was no way he was going to miss out on this much-needed breather, with everyone that he cared about.
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“Max? Max? Hello?” 3D said as he realized that the call had been cut short. “Why that little,” he said as he chuckled to himself.
He sat alone in a dimly lit room back at the police agency. None of them were caught in the act of saving Lina, as most of them were the ones in charge of investigating it in the first place. So he could understand the relief and exhaustion that Max was going through at the moment.
“Hmph, fine. You kids go ahead and have your fun,” he said as if Max could hear him. “But I’m going to put you through some work, kid. Better be ready for it.”
He sat up from his desk and cleaned the files and piled them into a neat stack before leaving the desk.
“After all… We have quite the situation, and we need you for it,” he said, as he shut the door and locked it.
With a final sigh, he headed to his car, looking forward to a long night’s rest.
- Writer
