The Bad Boy's Baby

Chapter 17: Truth Hurts

Hey, this is part two continued from the very abrupt ending of the last chapter! Sorry for that! Please, enjoy, its still in Maddie's POV :D

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  "She would have been so beautiful, Maddie." He said suddenly, that happy tone gone. Replaced with melancholy. His eyes were sad, and his smile gone. I wanted to know how she looked. I decided maybe he needed a break.

"How did she look?" I asked, tentative.

He paused for a few moments before getting up, taking out his wallet and lying back down again. He opened it and then took out a photograph, which he handed to me, without a word.

I took it carefully and looked at it, and almost gasped.

There was a girl, about 11, with long dark blonde hair. She looked tall for her age- and she was slim. She stood casually but still, one could get that feel of poise and ballet around her - she carried herself like a princess would. She was standing on the beach sand, and even with the sun on her face, her blue eyes, exactly like Colton's blue eyes, stood out on her heart shaped face.

She was entering that weird puberty phase we all go through, but one look at her would have been enough.

She was going to be the worst of the heart breakers.

"She's... she's beautiful." I whispered. I didn't know what else to say. Looking at her, I could imagine her as a teenager, as a grown up lady, with a heartbreaking face.

"I know right?" He smiled as he took back the photo and looked at it again, then tucked it away.

"She would have broken hearts, and not because she was vindictive or mean or bitchy- Serena was just one of those nice people, you know? Like they were born to make the world a happier place. Innocent. It made me so proud. There would have been boys- or girls, whatever her preferences - after her and I'd take on the big brother protector role- I'd do the whole investigation of all those guys asking her out or whatever, you know? Or maybe she would have broken hearts by just rejecting people- she was very invested in dancing and she knew she wanted a career in dance, and she would have seen dating as a waste of time. And I always tried to convince her but she always said that as long as I was there she didn't need anyone else- and she always stuck to me, because I was six years older than her, which meant that I'd leave her when I went to college and that idea terrified her- I'd been with her since the day she was born. I taught her how to walk, how to talk, I even fucking toilet trained her, even though I complained about it, but I'd still do it in a blink of an eye. And she never told me but she didn't have to- I knew her like I know my own hand. She told me everything - and I mean everything, Maddie. I was like her daily diary entry."

By that time my mouth was open because I realised that this wasn't a normal sibling relationship - this wasn't even a older brother taking care of a younger one. This was what an actual parent did. And Colton had done all that.

The pain. I'd heard of parents who never got over their children's death. It was almost like a curse to live while your child died; to outlive your children was wished by no parent. Colton and Serena hadn't been close. They'd been like two peas in a pod. How did he manage to survive like this?

"But as much as I loved her, I was still a selfish asshole." 

This time in his voice was now low, and sad, and filled with something like self loathing.

"I'd given up most of my interests so I could take care of her. Maddie, I'd be lying if I said I didn't resent her sometimes- of course I did. Blindly as I loved her, there were times when I had to go to a party and I had to stay back to take care of her. And she stuck to me like glue- she was attached and didn't like being away from me for long, even though she had her own group of friends that she played with. It could get annoying sometimes, like how a parent has to give up on friends night to take care of their children- like that. And we fought too, like cats and dogs, but not for long, because I just couldn't be mad at her for long, and same for her. It would be a cold war for a maximum of an hour, after which either I would apologise, or she would. Usually me. I didn't even care, because Serena had a higher capacity for giving the cold shoulder than I did. I didn't like them one bit."