A Kiss To Change It All (Part 33) - Montgomery de la Cruz
Pairing: Montgomery x Reader
Warning: Mention of abuse
Word count: 3K20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH32jhwdNEu
The spreading purple and blue across the jock’s abdomen were deepening as time went by. It hurt him to move or even breathe, whenever he did, it shot him a sharp pain making him groan and stop any movement. You wondered if some of his ribs were cracked but again you didn’t want to ask as he just settled on your couch after you insisted that he should eat if he wanted to get rid of that hangover.
You sat next to him, one hand holding the filed plate, the other feeding the injured boy. When he told you that he could eat on his own, you stepped back and observed him struggle to lift the fork to his mouth but he resigned way before he could even have a bite of the food as his side hurt him even more. “You were saying, Cruz?” He just rolled his eyes at you as a response. The next step was getting him back to your room. Walking was hard but walking up the stairs was even harder as you had to stop every other step, allowing the pain to calm down before you continued until you reached your room. You didn’t have the time to react that he just crashed on your bed and instantly regretted his dumb move. “Suffer in silence while I get you something to wear.” Your back was to him while you were searching through the many pieces of clothing he left when you were still together so you couldn’t see the sudden blush creeping up his cheeks. The number of flannels and hoodies that belonged to him sitting in your closet overthrew your actual clothes but after just a few minutes you managed to find a pair of sweatpants and boxers.
“I can get dressed on my own, don’t worry.” From the look you shot him, he knew he had to get you more than just this. “It’s embarrassing.”
Your lips stretched into a smile. Gripping the edge of the towel, you stepped in front of him. “Nothing I haven’t seen before, Monty.” It made him laugh and he eventually relaxed a little bit as you worked on getting him dressed as quickly as you could, making sure to keep your eyes focused elsewhere. Sure, it was awkward for both of you to suddenly get back to this level of intimacy but you didn’t have many options in front of you. Silence fell between you when you were both seated on your bed, shoulder to shoulder. Taking a deep breath, you dared to ask the burning question on your tongue since you picked him up. “What happened?” You wanted to take it back immediately when Montgomery just shook his head and looked away hiding his silent tears from your sad gaze. It made your heart shatter in your chest. You reached for his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, rubbing the back of it with your thumb. It spread a comforting feeling through his tired body.
“I don’t wanna talk about it please.” Montgomery shifted so his head was resting on your shoulder and his arm was resting around your waist. You kissed the top of his head an answer and brought your hand to stroke his arm. It didn’t take him long to fall back asleep, moving his head so it rested against your chest. You couldn’t’ move anywhere. The truth was you didn’t want to be anywhere else but right next to him, giving him the comfort he needed. Each time he moved, his hold around your waist tightened, his breath brushing your skin through the thin fabric of your T-shirt. Your eyes wandered on his bruised skin, wondering what Montgomery did wrong this time for his father -if you could call him a father- to lose it on him this way. It had never been this worse. The many times he showed up after your parents went to sleep, his face was beaten up, nothing too serious but enough to make you worry about him. When you would be cleaning his cuts, Montgomery would crack a joke or start kissing you to lighten the mood, telling you that it wasn’t as bad as it looked like. This time there was just silence to deal with the situation.
You couldn’t say how long you stayed like that but it was dark outside when he shifted against you, hiding his face in your neck. “Rise and shine, Monty.” You giggled when his breath tickled your skin. “Come on Monty.”
“What?”
“Yeah right, play it dumb, Cruz.”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Montgomery knew you to perfection. Your weaknesses, soft spots… He never took any interest in getting to know any girl before you and the fact that he memorized every single detail about you, almost scared him. He flipped on his back, slowly landing on the mattress. He didn’t want to deal with any pain. “Reminds me of something.” He blurted when you turned the bedside lamp on. It made you smile. Of course, you remembered that first time you properly spent time together, not afraid that anyone might catch you. Again when you were about to speak your phone started ringing. You internally cursed whoever it was before you picked up and quickly handed it to Montgomery whispering a ‘Scott’ before you got out of the room. It made you sick how whenever you wanted to apologize for what you said the other day, someone would always find a way to cut you off as if you weren’t meant to say a word about that.
Montgomery stood by the door, observing you as you paced inside the kitchen, mumbling nonsense and biting your nails as you did. He quickly wrapped up the conversation with his teammate when he felt the sudden discomfort it brought. You didn’t notice him so he walked over to you, grabbing your wrist and making you turn around so you were facing him. “You hungry? I’ll get dinner ready for us.” You tried to free yourself from his hold but it only got tighter. “What?”
“What is it?”
You shook your head. “Nothing.”
“Do you really think you can fool me this way? What is it?” You sighed and told him everything in one go, not even allowing yourself to catch your breath which wasn’t the greatest idea since he barely understood what you said. “Hey, hey, calm down. Breathe… Now slowly tell me what’s going on.” You told him you wanted to apologize for a while but whenever you tried there was someone who interrupted you and it was getting on your nerves. “(Y/N/N) what do you want to apologize about?”
“The crap I said the other day.”
The tone you used and the small pout on your lips made him chuckle. He backed up and leaned against the kitchen counter. You didn’t understand what was so funny in what you just said. “C'mere.” He held you close to him with his good arm, a smile still playing on his lips. “You had every right to get mad at me.”
“I was a bitch to you, Monty. I wasn’t thinking and I said shit I didn’t mean…”
“Then you weren’t a bitch.” He smiled and kissed your cheek. “I should…”
Once more, someone interrupts you by ringing the doorbell. You closed your eyes, inhaling loudly before you started walking towards the door. You stopped midway, right before you exited the kitchen, and turned to look at Montgomery. “Please visit me in jail if I murder whoever it is.” To your surprise, Jeff was standing behind the door with his million-dollar smile and a huge bag of food in one hand. Shit. You completely forgot to let him know that Montgomery was there. “Hey, handsome!”
“Is it normal that Monty answers your phone or did I miss something?” He shot with a wink and made his way inside greeting your ex-boyfriend while setting the food on the table. It took you a solid minute to realize that he somehow knew that Montgomery was in your house and he wasn’t mad you didn’t tell him. But how did he know? You closed the door and followed him into the kitchen. The two were already deep into a conversation or something like 'Go to the doctor’ - 'I am fine’ thing. You stood there until your best friend noticed you were about to speak. “Before you ask, I called like ten minutes ago and he picked up.”
You shot a glare to Montgomery who just smiled awkwardly. Jeff had a look at the situation himself, he couldn’t blame you for having Montgomery around and not telling him. He never told you that his teammate crashed at his place from time to time before you saw him yourself. After dinner, you gave another round of painkillers to Montgomery and cleared up the table. Jeff wasn’t so comfortable with the fact that he didn’t see a doctor and still reminded you that you should convince him to go to the ER. “You have your ways with him, it could be worse than it looks like, sweetheart.”
“It’s Monty we’re talking about. You know how stubborn he is.”
Jeff nodded. “Try. At least.”
“I can’t promise anything.” After you closed the door, you went to sit by his side on the couch, your hand automatically went to play with his short hair. “Jeff is right, we should probably g…” You couldn’t finish that he was kissing you. What? He was kissing you, ignoring the pain and the fact that you took a few seconds before you kissed him back. “What was that for?” You asked once you pulled away from him.
“My way of apologizing to you for being a total jerk in front of everyone. Not just at Bryce’s.” He felt terrible for what he did to you that he couldn’t even look at you while talking.
“You could have used words, Cruz.” You said with a smile.
He shook his head and looked up to meet your eyes. “You know I’m no good with words. But yeah I’m sorry for putting you in such a position and not giving you any chance to talk that night.”
“Do I have a chance to speak now?” He nodded and shifted so he could look at you properly. You took a deep breath before you spoke. “Part of what I wanted to say was an apology for being a bitch but it’s not just that… Actually, I… I don’t remember even thinking of an apology… I…” You paused, as you sought for the right words which you found after a minute. You went on telling him how you found out the texts your mother sent him by accident and how she didn’t even try to deny what she did. You told him that you were lost and you felt guilty for losing it on him the way you did. “Why you didn’t tell me anything, Monty?”
“Cause I still wanted to see you every day.” A punch straight in your feelings. Right about what you needed to make your heartache again and tears quickly fill your eyes but smile at the sweetness of the words. “I’ve never cared about a girl as much as I care about you, that’s why I didn’t want to lose you completely even if you hated me after what I said.”
“I could never hate you.” Even when you tried, you failed. It was nearly impossible for you to feel anything but love towards him, despite everything that he said or did. You tried telling yourself that a girl’s first love was unforgettable and over time you were going to move on, get to know and love someone else but your mind couldn’t picture you with anybody else. Not a soul could give you what Montgomery gave you. No one could ever replace him.
You kept on talking, letting out of your hearts whatever you had to say to the other. He told you how much it was painful for him to see you cry and not be able to do anything for it. The few times you were on your own with him, he confessed that he couldn’t help himself and wanted to tell you everything so you would be back to your old happy self that he liked so much but again, he remembered what your mother told him and had to hold himself. Everything reminded him of you. “You drive me crazy.”
“Is that a good thing?” You asked sheepishly.
“A very good thing, princess.”
According to romantic movies, you were supposed to make out and cuddle on the couch until you both fall asleep right where you were but it wasn’t the case for you mainly because Montgomery was injured and you wanted to take things a little slower this time, if he allowed you to do so, of course. After you both made it back to your room, you took the wise decision to call your father and let him know that Montgomery was staying with you. You certainly didn’t want him to come back home and find him shirtless hanging in his house. “Are you okay with this? … Thanks, dad.” Your father was aware of Montgomery’s family issues and you didn’t need to say anything for him to understand that something happened between him and his father. He simply added that you should stay safe before you ended the call. “Oh my God, dad, this embarrassing!”
“He gave you the talk?” Montgomery asked when you tossed your phone away, cheeks red in embarrassment.
Nodding, you just proceeded to help him settle back in your bed. “In nine months of relationship with you, he never did.” Seeing the growing grin on his face, you immediately reacted. “Oh hell no, Cruz, nothing will happen tonight.”
“Why not?” He whined. You could swear you were dealing with a five-year-old throwing a tantrum over the candy he didn’t get. Only he wasn’t far from being a five-year-old and you were the candy he didn’t get.
“Because last time I checked, you were still dating Kimberly.”
“You jealous?”
Rolling your eyes at him, you made your way to your side of the bed. “Is this even a question to ask, of course, I am! So nothing until you sort this out.” He sighed and dropped his head on the pillow. You sure were something hard to handle but he liked it. He liked the fact that you wouldn’t give up easily on him, no matter how hard he tried. “You know, she isn’t a bad person.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Kimberly, dumbass.”
“Why are you saying this?”
You were in the dark, getting just enough light to distinguish your silhouettes, laying next to each other. You couldn’t sleep, neither could he. “Because she came to talk to me the other day.” You shifted to lay on your side. “She surprised me, you know.”
“How?”
“Because she is smarter than you think she is. You know, she told me you were secretly checking on me.”
The only sound of your voice let him know that you were smiling. “Is this creepy?”
“Not at all.”
Then silence again. A comfortable silence this time. You thought he fell asleep because he didn’t react or move since you stopped talking but he was mentally preparing himself to tell you what happened the night before. He took a deep breath and spoke. It caught you off guard. You weren’t expecting him to do so, not after you managed to lighten the mood between you.
Montgomery had a few drinks with the boys before he headed back to his place. He was buzzed, not drunk, so when he entered his house, he didn’t quite remember that his father was in town and left his baseball bat and bag downstairs. He never did but the exhaustion and the alcohol took upon his mind. He was about to head to the bathroom when he remembered and quickly but silently when to get his belongings before his father saw them.
It was too late.
Mr de la Cruz was standing by the front door, holding the bat in his hands. He was angry. “What did I say about you stuff, son?” Slowly, he walked towards the terrified jock, swinging the bat as he got closer to him.
“I am sorry, I…” Montgomery’s voice was barely audible. He wished he could just disappear right at that moment.
“Louder!”
“I forgot it.”
“Oh, you forgot?” Monty just nodded and looked down at his shoes, already apprehending what would happen next.
He didn’t need to into any details for you to understand what happened. You could only imagine him not being able to fight back. “I was eight when he used it on me for the first time.” He cleared his throat, steadying his trembling voice before he continues. The simple thought of an eight-year-old boy getting a beating by his own father sent shivers down your spine. How could he do such a thing? “From that day, I never leave anything behind when he is home but yesterday… I was tired and I wasn’t thinking…”
“Shhhh, it’s over now, Monty.” You moved closer to him, resting your hand on his chest and kissing his cheek. His mind was replaying the scene which made his heart beat faster and faster inside his chest. He could almost feel the pain all over again but the warmth of your skin against his and your soft voice brought him back to reality. “You’re safe here.”
That night, you found it hard to fall asleep after what Montgomery confessed. Sure you knew his father had a temper and often lost it on his only son but you never imagined he could go crazy like this. Montgomery de la Cruz, the one labeled as the number one bully at Liberty, was a broken boy abused by his own father.
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