I nod at Luke, but it seems unnecessary because he's already decided he's not going to take Max on tonight. Turning, he disappears into the dark.
"What the hell, Max?" I crane my neck to glare at him as he dissects every inch of me. His jaw clenches as his eyes scroll down my body, skirt around my waist, and linger at my spread thighs. I slam my knees together, wipe my mouth, and pull my clothes straight.
Max nails me to the spot with his glare. "I just overheard the strangest thing. Apparently, Cassidy Slater is finally putting out tonight."
I cringe at his words. "Max, what have you done?"
A vein in his neck bulges. "I just saved him a lot of pain, Little One. If his hands had gotten any farther, I would have had to break them."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" I shuffle on the slide and try to squeeze past him, but it's an attempt to no avail. "Get out of my way, Max."
He stands staunchly. "I saw your peep show, Little One. You were seconds away from crawling onto his lap. No wonder he took you back here."
My breathing becomes shallow. "You were watching me?"
"Half the fucking District was watching you spread your legs for him."
"I was dancing. Not spreading my legs for him! Why are you so mad at me?"
He glares down at me over a tight jaw. "Do you know how easy it would have been for him to rape you back here?"
"He wasn't going to do anything to me, Max. He's a cop."
"Then tell me this" – he leans towards me – "if he wasn'tgoing to do anything, why did he take you back here? Why didn't he just kiss you on the hill?"
Swallowing hard, I reach for an answer to that question, but come back empty. "I'm safe," I whisper. "I'm here with Toni."
"Yeah?" He looks around the dark, derelict water slides. "Where.The fuck. Is Toni?"
I glance at the ground between his feet. "I don't know."
"Are you fucking stupid?" he scolds. "Are you in heat or something?"
I feel both the sting of his words and my welling tears. As he glares down at me as if I'm some naive idiot, too many feelings swarm around inside me—most of them completely contradictory. There is this skip in my heart that inadvertently relishes his attention, concern, and what looks and sounds a lot like protectiveness. But the weight in my belly churns because I was alone in the dark with a stranger. That's true. I still don't believe Luke would have done anything, but I don't know for sure, do I?
"You're being a jerk again," I say.
He shakes his head. "I don’t like it."
"I was just kissing him."
His body makes a shadow over mine. "I. Don’t. Like it," he states, and I flinch even though his words were spoken softly. "Does Flick know her little sister strips off for guys and disappears into dark corners with them?"
I stare up at him. "Flick would encourage me to express myself. I don’t do it enough."
"Express yourself?" He near snaps the words. "Express yourself all over his fingers."
"Max. Stop it."
"Is this what you want? To give up your virginity to a stranger outside a waterpark?"
My eyes widen. "How did you know I was a?—"
"It hurts." The words come out through a growl. "The first time can hurt. It isn’t meant to be done like thi?—"
Anger bites at the heels of humiliation. "Excuse me! I don't want to discuss my virginity with you,Max Butcher. It’s none of your business. And as if you care about my virginity. As if you care about any girl's virginity. It's not a prize, right?"
He fixes his eyes shut, making no noise or movement for a few seconds. His eyes open and find mine again. "Who said it wasn't a prize?"
