“Heidi.” My voice cracks. I clear my throat and try again. “Heidi.” My hand starts to lift to the piece of silky hair that’s fallen from her braid.
The obnoxious beep of my cell phone interrupts us. A glance at the screen displays an unfamiliar number, but I have to answer, just in case. When a robotic voice comes on the line, I exhale and hang up. But by now, Heidi has stepped back and is over by what I assume is her locker.
“I’m going to go,” I say quietly. She nods. And as I turn to leave, I can honestly say I’ve never been more grateful for a spam phone call giving us a reprieve from whatever is starting to grow between us.
Because as fast as I try to rebuild my defenses, she seems to be smashing them to pieces. And I don’t have a fucking clue what to do about it.
Chapter fifteen
Max
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Sawyer claps me on the shoulder as he pushes past me into my apartment. “Nice to see you, too, bro.”
Beckett follows, then our cousin Leo, and then to my surprise, Hunter trails in. He gives me a sheepish smile. “Hey, Max.”
I close the door and turn around slowly to see my brothers and cousin setting bags down on the coffee table. A set of poker chips comes out first, then decks of cards, then a case of beer. Leo walks over and hands me one. “You guys showed up at my house, bringing guys’ night to me when I needed it most. I don’t pretend to know why the twins decided you needed guys’ night brought to you, but family comes first.” He lifts his bottle, and dumbfounded, I lift mine in return.
“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m fine.” I move into the kitchen where Hunter is opening pizza boxes I hadn’t even realized he was carrying.
“Sure, y’are,” Sawyer calls out. “That’s why you missed drinks at Hastings last night and why you’ve been ignoring all of our texts.”
I blink slowly as his words settle over me. With the pressures of work — Teagan’s declining health in particular — plus the strange shift in things between Heidi and me, apparently, I’ve been a bit distracted. Absent, even.
“Sorry, guys.” I take the plates of pizza Hunter hands me, tucking my beer bottle in the crook of my arm, and head back to my living room where Leo and the twins have set up a poker game. “Is this, like, a tradition or something now?”
“If beer and poker is what’s needed, then beer and poker is what we do.”
Leo chuckles at Sawyer’s attempt at being wise. “Okay, Yoda.”
“Actually, if Sawyer were pretending to be Yoda, he’d say ‘beer and poker, we need.’” Beckett’s wry voice interjects.
“Look, I have a little girl. Sorry I’m not up-to-date on my nerd fandom references,” Leo gripes.
“Dude, Vi is no excuse to not know how Yoda talks.” Sawyer shakes his head, and I chuckle as well.
“He’s not wrong.”
“Yeah, even I know you butchered that Yoda reference,” Hunter chimes in, wincing as Leo scowls at him.
“I can still put you on highway patrol, Callaghan.”
The rest of us fall silent. Leo and Hunter have some figuring out to do on where they’re going to draw the line between their work dynamic — with Leo being Hunter’s superior — and their off-work dynamic, with Hunter dating our little sister, Leo’s cousin.
The parallel to Heidi and I is not lost on me. We’ve also got a steep hill ahead of us in trying to figure out if we can exist as anyone other than Dr. Morgan and Dr. Donnelly to each other.
But I must admit, I’m no longer willing to avoid the idea quite as desperately.
“We’re not here to give Hunter a hard time. We’re here to play poker. Deal ‘em, Beck.”
“To be fair, we’re also here to figure out what’s going on with Max,” comes Beckett’s oh-so-helpful reply.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Traitor. You’re meant to be the brother with boundaries.”
“Boundaries are only good when they help, not hinder. You’ve made it clear that not pushing you to talk about whatever is bugging you isn’t helping anymore.” He lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “We’re worried about you, Max.”
I sink back against the couch, thinking about what he just said.
