“We all know you and Maisie slept together,” he began, ignoring the string of curses Axel spewed under his breath. “I’ve talked to her multiple times in the last three weeks and…”
“Is that what she told you?” he interrupted, sounding more than a little defensive even to his own ears.
“She didn’t tell me anything,” Walker replied. “We all just put two and two together.”
“I get that you’re maybe a little defensive because of the circumstances,” Connor chimed in. “But we’ve known each other for a long time, and we’ve never seen you like this. So if something happened…something bad…we need to know.”
“Bad?” he asked incredulously. “Bad like…how? Do you think I forced myself on her?! Is that it?”
No one said a word.
Shit.
Swallowing hard, he shook his head. “Everything that happened was completely consensual, okay? Not that it’s anyone’s damn business.” Another head shake. “And it really pisses me off that any of you would even think that I’m capable of something like that!”
“No one said…”
“You didn’t have to,” he snapped. “It’s insulting and…and…” He shoved against Slater, who was sitting next to him. “And if I weren’t blocked into this freaking booth, I’d be out of here!”
Harlow reached across the table and rested her hand on his. “Okay, no one would ever think you forced yourself on Maisie. That didn’t even enter anyone’s mind. It seemed like maybe you were upset because there was something there and maybe you ended it because of what you thought we’d all think.”
“We asked you not to mess around with her,” Walker reminded him.
“Walker…” Harlow sighed.
“Okay, okay…I’m just saying.”
“Well, stop saying,” she warned him before looking at Axel again. “So…is that what this is? You have feelings for Maisie and you’re not seeing her because she’s working for the resort?”
This was something he never wanted to talk to any of them about, but it looked like he didn’t have a damn choice.
“I did have feelings for Maisie,” he began gruffly. “But she’s the one who didn’t want anything beyond the weekend. It was a fling. That’s all. So…yeah. I guess it just brought back some issues from my childhood or whatever, and it put me in a funk. That’s all. Can we drop this now?”
Everyone at least had the decency to look remorseful.
Or maybe it was just pity.
Milo was the first to speak. “Axel, I think it’s only natural that you’d get those feelings from time to time. You’ve been through a lot that none of us could even begin to understand. But if having Maisie around is going to make you uncomfortable, we can work around it.”
“She’s the most qualified for the job,” he said quietly. “And firing her isn’t an option. She needs this job, and I wouldn’t take that away from her.”
“No one’s saying that,” Slater said. “But maybe we can plan so you don’t have to see her. You know, we can put a schedule in place so there are no surprises.”
It would have been easy to say yes, but…he wanted to see her. Even if it was from a distance, he’d still rather see her that way than not at all.
“That won’t be necessary,” he assured everyone. “I guess…this is the first time that I wasn’t the one to walk away in this kind of situation.” Shaking his head, he added, “And I didn’t like it.”
“No one does,” Harlow told him, squeezing his hand again.
Before anyone else could speak, their server came over to get their drink orders, and since they all ate there so often, they ordered their dinners as well. That effectively broke the mood, and the conversation moved on to other things for a while.
“Where’s Annabeth?” Axel asked Connor. “She was with you when you left the resort earlier.”
“Swati’s watching her,” Connor said, smiling. “They were going to get pizza and then go to the movies.”
“She loves kids,” Harlow explained. “She’s got a ton of nieces and nephews, and when I mentioned that Connor might need a babysitter every now and then, she volunteered.”
“Wow, that was very nice of her. Are any of her nieces or nephews around Annabeth’s age? It would be nice if she made some friends now that you’ve moved her here,” Axel said.
