“I’ll take care of that,” Greg spoke up as Max kissed my forehead and pushed me towards the living room. Lilly and Erica followed suit, us heading towards mybedroom.
“What was that?!” Lilly tried to whisper the question, but I could bet that the boys could still hearher.
“What do you mean?” I tried to playdumb.
“We mean when you so clearly told Max you would go on a date with him.” Erica’s smile almost matched the one that was on myface.
“It’s just a date.” I tried to justify it, like I had with Max. It wasn’t going to be anything more than that. It needed to be something simple. I couldn’t over complicate thingsnow.
“Whatever you say, babe.” Lilly disregarded my statement. The girls sat on the bed while I rummaged through my closet, finding a pair of skinny jeans that fitperfectly.
I wanted to look good, but also cover up as much as I could. The more I was around Max, the more I wanted him to touch me. This barrier wasn’t just going to be for him. It was also for me. I grabbed for a shirt with a Tardis on the front. Lilly frowned at my choice, but I didn’t care. I was going to be me, and if Max didn’t like it, then he clearly wasn’t the one forme.
When we headed back into the living room, the kitchen was cleaned spotless and the boys were finishing off the last of the doughnuts. I loved seeing Max laughing and carefree. He threw his head back at something Chase said, his back to us. Greg pointed towards us, and Max turned around. The smile on his face grew wider, and a blush crept across mycheeks.
“We ready?” Greg checked his phone. “Our ride just gothere.”
“Uber?” I asked Greg as we headed towards theelevator.
“Nah, someone better.” He gave a wink in my direction. I turned towards Lilly, shrugging my shoulders. I thought back to the day we were at Stone Mountain, when I ran. These boys were always glued to the hip. The only time I had not seen them together was when we saw Max at the restaurant the first weekend I started at The Ink Well. But I remembered that there was someone else with them that day, too. I linked arms with Lilly in theelevator.
“Hey,” I leaned in a little closer so only she could hear. “When we were at Stone Mountain, wasn’t there someone else withthem?”
I motioned my head towards the general direction of the boys. We were all crammed into the elevator, so it didn’t surprise me when Greg spokeup.
“Yeah, Jack.” He threw his name out there like it was no big deal, but I could have sworn I heard Max growl in front of me. “Don’t mind him. Jack just met Max’s sister, and he’s a little upset aboutit.”
Max turned his head towards Greg, who was hunched in the corner of the elevator. The scowl on his face was real, and even when I looked at him, it didn’t goaway.
“He should keep his eyes to himself,” Max snarled. We all stepped out into the lobby, and I almost dreaded the summer air outside. Luckily today had a slight breeze to it. A black SUV was pulled up to the curb. The passenger side window rolled down and we were greeted with a wide, knowing smile. “What the fuck is he doinghere?”
Max’s words bellowed throughout the street. I turned around to see Chase holding Max back. I looked closer at the man and realized exactly who hewas.
“Taking you all to lunch, of course. It was Greg’s idea.” Jack’s words were deep. He was the most different form the men here. He was dark and on edge, his eyes almost black. He was styled to perfection, from his jeans and button down shirt, down to his hair being perfectly placed. It was like a cover model and walked right off abook.
Max stopped his struggle and sent a warning look towardsGreg.
“Just get in the car.” Greg motioned for us to jump in as he held the door open. The back of the car held five more seats, which I wasn’t expecting. I jumped in first, sitting down just in time to see Max push past everyone to be able to sit beside me. I smiled as I looked out the window, waiting for us toleave.
“Where are we going?” Erica asked from the backseat, where she sat next toChase.
“Little Five Points,” Greg answered from the frontseat.
“The Vortex, to be exact,” Jack added. We sat in silence as we drove out of downtown, passing house after house and slowly coming up to greenland areas. It was at least twenty minutes before we hit another downtown area, but this one caught my attention. I perked up when I saw the old vintage buildings. I hadn’t seen this part of town yet, and it captivatedme.
The area seemed busy enough, so we had to pay for parking. When I hopped out of the car, I didn’t know where to start first. There were shops everywhere, and all I wanted to do was go into each of them. I spotted a comic book store, and my heart skipped a beat. This was my kind of place. Everyone else started to move away from the car, but Max kept me grounded where we were. He moved into my space, and backed me up against the car. There was no space between us and I didn’t push him back. “This isn’t a good idea,Max.”
His arms caged me in and he leaned towards me, nudging my head to the side as he trailed his nose along my jaw and up to my ear. I could feel his hot breath against me, and I shivered. He moved one arm to wrap around my waist, his hand sprawled out against my hip and the other still propped up against thecar.
“But this feels so right.” He planted a kiss against my neck. My breath hitched, which caused my hips to pivot forward against him. It was an involuntary action. “See how you react to me? And that wasn’t even a realkiss.”
“Max.” The way I said his name was almost like a plea. I tried to push him away, but he only budged a little. He gave enough space to where we were able to look at eachother.
“Friday night.” It took me a second to realize what hemeant.
“Idon’t—”
He cut me off with a finger to my lips. “Don’t back out on me now.” His lips brushed against my neck again, and I shivered. This man was taking one “okay” and running away with it. I knew I had answered too quickly. I wanted this date, but now I seemed too eager to be alone with him, and while that wasn’t a bad thing, it wasn’t a great either. This man could hurt me, that much Iknew.
“Friday.” The answer slipped out of my mouth as easily as it had earlier. I could feel the smirk against my neck, where Max still rested his head. This was happening. I was being held by a man who clearly had feelings forme.
“Are you two coming or not?” I heard Greg yell to us from the other side of the car. Max grabbed for my hand, leading me towards where everyone was waiting for us. I looked down at where our fingers were interlocked. I could get used to this. I could get used to the sight of Max wrapped around me. I looked up at him to see him looking at where we were interlocked as well, and I smiled. This man was definitely someone I had never expected to come into my life, but damn, did it feel good to have him. So much for not wanting to complicatethings...
