Page 22 of Max

I took a chance and looked up. The moment I did, I knew I would have nightmares. For the rest of my life. There, right in front of me, walked Nico like he was king of the world. Trailing behind him, their wrists and ankles bound and linked to the one in front of them, were five girls. Behind the girls, two men carrying guns walked, and at the end of the line was Vinny. He was carrying a briefcase. Even from where I was, I could see he was furious. He didn’t want to be where he was, and he was repulsed by whatever they were doing. I couldn’t tell how I knew that. He was Nico’s right-handed man after all, but in all the time I knew him, I got the feeling he wasn’t happy with Nico. And if he could, he would leave.

“We need to call the police,” Melanie said.

No one moved as we watched Nico shake hands with the guy in a suit, after which the doors to the van that I hadn’t got a clue was even there, opened. One by one, the girls were pushed into the van. Vinny came forward and gave the briefcase to Nico. He then gave it to the suit guy. They shook hands and after a brief conversation, broke off.

“We need to call the police,” Melanie repeated urgently.

“Don’t need to, they’re here,” Max said soothingly.

“Then why aren’t they rescuing those girls?” She was on the verge of hysteria.

“The will,” Max typed something on his phone, a woosh of a text going could be heard. “And in about fifteen minutes, a raid is going down in here.”

“How do you know all of this?” She questioned.

He ignored her and touched my arm, “Bean?”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn't. I kept staring at the spot where I last saw those girls, my insides shaking. It was even worse than I thought. I didn’t know what to expect when I got here, but what just happened, I wouldn’t expect ever. I couldn’t even understand what I just witnessed.

“Bean?” Max tried to turn me to him.

I didn’t budge. I still stared at the same spot. All of a sudden, I couldn’t see the stained concrete. All I saw was black. That was because Max picked me up, turned me, placed me on his knee, and held my face against his chest. All I could feel was cotton, soft cotton. And all I could smell was wood and oil. It took a second for all of that to penetrate my brain, but when it did, I looked up. Max looked down. Then I asked even though I didn’t know where that was, but I knew I wanted that.

I opened my mouth and whispered, “I want to go home.”

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Chapter Eight

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Skylar

I didn't know where home was. But Max did. After a few murmured words that included Melanie nodding her head and him squeezing her upper arm, he led me to his car. The sight of that car made me laugh under my breath.

"What's funny, Bean?" he asked gently, his eye attentive almost as he was on the lookout for me to fall apart entirely.

"This is the third time that I'm running away from a shitty situation in that car," I said matter of factly. "And all three times, you were behind the wheel."

"It is my car, Bean."

I didn't say anything to that. We fell silent after he helped me in the seat, helped me to buckle my seatbelt, and as he was shutting the door, he turned to Melanie.

"You sure you're okay to drive?"

"Yeah," she mumbled.

I didn't hear anything else. He sat behind the wheel, started up the car, and off we went.

As I said, I didn't know where home was, but he did. He drove us straight to his house. The sight of it made me sigh. Which, in turn, got me a questioning glance from the man sitting beside me, but he stayed quiet. He got out of the car, rounded the hood, and helped me out of it. Then, with a hand at the small of my back, he guided me to the three stairs, reached for the door and let us in. As we went inside, he turned on the lights and gently pushed me down on the couch. The whole time I stayed quiet. The whole time, I replayed the going on’s in front of the warehouse in my head. The only thing I could see were the faces of those girls. I thought I was scared before. I thought I knew what fear was, but seeing the terror on the faces of those girls, I knew I was wrong.

I was lucky.

Lucky that Nico was the way he was with me. He could have been much worse, and I could have been lost beyond the reach.

"Here, baby," Max pushed a glass into my hands, the liquid in it in ripples. It took me a moment to figure out it was because my hands were shaking. In fact, my whole body was trembling. "It's vodka. It will warm you from the inside and help with the shakes."

I hated hard liquor and tried to give it back.