He snaps his head in my direction, watching the side of my face. I need a muzzle or at least a filter. I just admitted that I like having him around. I don’t even know which way is up anymore. Heat crawls up my throat, warming the bottom of my jaw.
I’m saved from having to say anything else when his phone rings, distracting him from my unintentional confession.
“Yeah?” His tone is abrupt, and I’m curious who’s on the phone, but I look out the window and pretend not to listen to his every word, while my brain tries to make sense of what I’m feeling. It would be so much easier if I weren’t broken, if I had something normal to aspire to, but I gave up on that hope a long time ago.
“Cleveland,” he tells whoever is on the other end of the line, and then he follows it up with, “She’s with me.” From there on out, he’s mostly monosyllabic with his replies until he finally says, “I always do,” and hangs up.
The tension in the car seems to build with every passing moment of silence. I don’t know the etiquette on how to behave when you start falling for a man you should hate. Hell, I wouldn’t know what to do even if we didn’t start out as enemies.
“You’re taking the turnpike?” I sit up abruptly. “They capture photos of every car.”
“I know. There’s no way to track the vehicle to me, and it’s faster,” he assures me.
“Do you go to Ohio often? I hate it.”
“No, I don’t travel much.”
“Too busy running strip clubs and being a criminal mastermind?” I tease.
“Mastermind is a stretch.” He runs his hands down the sides of the steering wheel in what seems like a caress. Jesus, why am I noticing shit like the way he touches the car?
“Do you mind if I turn the radio on?” I blurt out, eager to focus on something else.
“Go ahead,” he answers, and I’m already reaching for the fancy touch screen like I know what I’m doing.
CHAPTER24
WINGER
“Wait for me,” I instruct before exiting the car. The moment I’m free from the small interior, I gulp down fresh air, hoping it will do something to clear my head, but thoughts of Max shuffle through my mind in an endless loop.
The little glimmers of hope she gives me, whether intentional or not, are fucking with my head. I shouldn’t have let her come with me. I shouldn’t be doing things to make her happy. I should be doing things to ensure her safety, and that includes getting her the fuck away from me because I know I’m one look, one word, away from admitting I’m not going to walk away from her or let her get away from me.
I can try to pretend that I’m doing it all for her own good, that she needs protection, but the truth is it won’t matter if every motherfucker on her list is dead or not, because she’s mine.
I reach down and open her door, extending my hand to help her up. She looks up at me with her clear blue eyes, and I swear there’s something besides disgust and fear swimming in those depths. I can’t say it’s attraction, more like reluctant hope. Whatever it is, I want to stoke it and strengthen the embers until every mote of distrust is erased.
Maxine takes my hand, allowing me to help her to her feet. There’s a red flush high on her cheeks when she drops my fingers and straightens her shirt. For just a moment, I think she’s embarrassed to be seen with me, so I take a step back, but her eyes dart up, catching me off guard as she peeks through her lashes.
I know this look. I’ve seen women glance at Rex like this for as long as I can remember. Most of the time, it doesn’t even seem deliberate, almost like they can’t help themselves. Is that what’s happening here?
“Where are we going?” Max can’t seem to meet my eyes again as she steps to the left, allowing me to close the door.
“Why don’t you tell me how you would approach this situation? What I would like to do would draw far more attention than I want, especially with you here.”
“What do you want to do?” she questions as we begin walking slowly down the city street.
I almost tell her not to ask, but she’s looking over at me again, and my lips loosen. “I’d like to break every finger he touched you with and pulverize the bones so badly, the splintered fragments would pierce his skin like needles, and then I’d really get to work.”
She stops dead in her tracks so abruptly, the people walking behind us have to swerve to get around or risk bumping into her. “That…” Her mouth opens and closes a few times as she tries to put into words whatever she’s thinking. My chin lifts as I prepare to hear how insane that is, but when she finally finds her voice, she tells me, “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
My fingers twitch at my sides with the need to touch her, and just as I’m about to lose the battle and thread my fingers into her hair and pull her closer to me, she adds, “You can’t do that for me though. I’m not worth what it would cost you.”
Her words couldn’t have hit me any harder if they were a physical blow. I move without thinking, and not even her startled expression slows me as I wrap my fingers around the back of her neck and haul her against me. I’m breathing so fucking hard, my exhales sound like the chuffs of a wild animal. “Do not ever say that again. Don’t even think it, Max, and I’m not fucking kidding.”
“Okay,” she agrees with a whisper, but there’s no conviction in her tone. Her eyes search mine. We’re so close, I can see the yellow flecks in her irises, reminding me of sunshine and dandelions, things I haven’t thought about in a very long time.
MAXINE
