The heartbreaking look in his eyes when they flashed to mine stole my breath, but he quickly shuttered his expression.
I took another step closer. “Maybe we can solve whatever the problem is together…”
He barked a laugh, so harsh it stopped my progress. “No, we can’t. I already know…” Scrubbing his hands over his face, he sat down on the edge of the bed. “You won’t get past this. No one could. Butyou?”
A sound from the back of his throat emphasized exactly how ridiculous he found the idea, and I raised my eyebrows. I didn’t particularly care for the response, but I had no idea what he thought he could tell me that would be that bad.
Or why the jerk had to go and make it personal.
But something had clearly triggered him, so I put my feelings aside for the moment. Even though anxiety prickled my skin like nerve damage from an old wound, and my fear of hurt and loss reared its ugly head.
Max was hurting right now. And all I wanted was to stop it.
“Whatever you’re telling yourself I will or won’t do in your head, that’s not me. That’s your fear. And I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me about it. The only thing I want is honesty, remember? So I can decide what I can and can’tget past.”
To be fair, I also wanted his open-mindedness to resolving things with Kingston and Landon, and his help coming up with a plan to stop Drake, so we could get on with our why-choose lifestyle, but that seemed like a fight for a different day.
“She’s supposed to give me a birthday gift,” he snapped, practically spitting the words out as if they tasted like poison on his tongue. “She’s waiting in one of the rooms so I canunwrapher. How’s that for honesty?”
My eyes widened. “Well, it was definitely honest. But I’m assuming you told her you weren’t interested?”
His head snapped up, eyes meeting mine. “Of course, I did.”
I released a breath, relief flooding me that, even though we’d fought, he still wanted to assure me of his refusal with that much intensity.
But his admission didn’t seem to lessen his unrest.
“So, what’s the problem? No means no, Max. Even for girls.”
He stared at me, his dark eyes racing through a million thoughts, jumping between mine as he held my gaze. And I couldn’t make sense of what he was thinking, or what more there was to say. If he’d told her things were done between them, then that was that.
But my heart clenched when he dropped his eyes, and whispered words I didn’t expect.
“It’s not that simple, Quinn. Not here.”
Without hesitation, I went to the bed and sat beside Max, pulling one of his clenched hands from his lap and lacing his fingers with mine.
“Itisthat simple, Max. Always. It should be, at least. So, please, for your sake, if not mine, tell me what exactly that means before I spiral. Because right now I’m imagining her blowing you in a coat closet, and I?—”
He scoffed, filled with hatred. “You think she’d deign to get on her knees in a closet?”
I frowned, struggling with the thought. “I did find that one hard to picture…Not that I wanted to think about it. Or enjoying doing so right now.”
His history with Vivian was the last thing I wanted inside my brain. I’d have to rinse out my skull with bleach after this conversation already.
“But why is that what everyone says about you?”
Pulling his hand from mine, he stood back up. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
I watched him pace the room again, seconds from throwing the first item he picked up. “Max, if this affects you this much,don’t you think it’s something you should share? Not even for us, but just for you. I’ve never seen yo?—”
“Can’t you just let this one thing lie? It’s in the past. A rumor twisted by—” He growled. “I’m asking you not to push this, Quinn.”
His use of my name bothered me almost as much as his evasion, but something about the wild look in his eyes made it hard to get as angry as I wanted to be. Whatever this rumor was tied to, it had cut him deeply.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Okay, forget the rumor. Talk to me about why, if you told her you didn’t want that, Vivian expects you in her room.”
“It’s not—Vivian and I?—”
