Single goal

MAX'S POV

"A message?" My mom's voice scaled higher in disbelief. "So that gives you the right to barge in? You have no place here, do you understand? No place with us!"

I stood there, I was frozen in shock, I was like a silent witness to the disturbing scene. I felt the urge to step forward, to defend Bentley and to explain that I was the one that had invited her but I was held back with a paralysis of shock and disbelief.

My mom's words turned even sharper, each one was like a dagger. "I've seen the way you look at each other. You think I'm blind? You're a distraction, a bad influence. Stay away from my child. Stay away from us!"

Bentley's face crumpled in pain, the hurt in her eyes was mirroring the ache in my heart. She didn't retaliate, didn't try to defend herself. Instead because she was already used to this kind of treatment from even her own family, with one last look in my direction, even though she couldn't see me because I was hidden by the doorway. She then turned and fle