Do I say something or wait for him to compose himself?
His nostrils flare. Any moment, I expect steam to pop out of them and his face to turn red.
Maybe he needs a few minutes—
Max turns and storms out the door.
What?
No. He’s going to find a boy to kill.
Or kill anyone in his path.
Not good.
I chase after him.
Down the steps.
Out the door.
Into the park.
He doesn’t slow down.
Thankfully, he’s got over a hundred pounds on me, and I prefer cardio to training on the mat with Dyce. Not that she lets me get away with it that often. I up the speed a little and catch up to him. “Max, stop.”
He completely ignores me.
This park isn’t very big. If I don’t stop him soon, he’s bound to run into a human being, and that won’t be pretty.
This might be stupid, but it’s the only way I can think of to stop this beast of a man from killing someone.
I launch my body at him, wrapping my arms and legs around him like I’m a monkey on his back.
Max slows down but doesn’t fully stop. “Get off.”
“No. You can’t go hurtling forward like a raging beast set to kill a boy who hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Anything wrong? Anything wrong?” Max’s hands come up and hold on to my arms so that I won’t fall off. “That boy looked at my daughter. My. Teenage. Daughter.”
“And he was the one who refused to date her.”
“What?” Max comes to a sudden stop, rocking us forward.
“He won’t date her. He’s such a gentleman, like you are, that he won’t even touch her.”
The sound of footsteps interrupts me.
Ace is jogging in the park.
“A little help over here would be appreciated,” I shout to him.
He stops for a second to look at the two of us, probably laughing a little in his head at the absurd picture we make. “It appears you’ve got everything under control. Have a nice one.” He turns and runs off in the other direction.
Does this really look like I have anything under control?
Seriously?