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“Get some rest,” Jake said hoarsely, turning away and not waiting for a response… and this time it was Max who sagged in defeat. He knew he was bad off and had put his buddy in a terrible situation, forcing him to make a decision that Max wasn’t strong enough to make on his own. The whole thing was messed up – and yelling at his best friend didn’t make him feel any better.
“GET BACK HERE, ORTEGA…” he hollered in frustration, seeing his crutches propped against a chair in the distance. No one was here to help him get them, and it was just another reminder of the loss.
Max put his head in his hands, fighting back tears as he sunk his fingers in his hair, resisting the urge to scream in frustration and sheer devastation. He was driving off the people that were here to help him – and pushing Daphne too hard.
If he didn’t stop lashing out, he was going to be alone, and that was almost as terrifying as losing his leg.
10
DAPHNE
She was hiding… like a coward.
Everything Max said to her was exactly what she wanted to hear – frighteningly so. It was as if he could see down into her soul and pluck out the key components that made her tick. Every time she pictured getting her truck out of the shop and leaving to see different landmarks or national parks, she had once only seen herself, but now, in those images and dreams, Max was there – and things were different.
It wasn’t some nomadic girl staring in wonder at the world with star-struck eyes and taking everything into her soul. No, now it was a couple holding hands, admiring it all together and discussing each place, seeing everything, and spending time together cuddling. There would be no more sleeping on the bench seat of her truck but nights in a roadside inn or a tent under the stars.
And in those dreams, she let her mind wander to a very surreal place where they were holding and touching each other. She had never been drawn to anyone like she was to Max, but the very idea of marriage was looking so very different now. It wasn’t a stifling, choking, suffocating thought, but instead, slightly appealing.
No one could bethisperfect, could they?
She’d never even met the man before Houghton told her, nearly ordered her, to go in there and ‘save’ him. Everything in her balked at the request until she heard his desperate cries. When she walked into Max’s hospital room, and he’d looked at her so frightened, so wary. She knew he either thought she was either the best thing in the entire universe – or had come to finish him off, and she wanted to save him.
She took his hand in hers, needing to give a rope to a drowning man to keep him from sinking and married him. It was supposed to be fake, supposed to be only until he was back on his feet, and she never imagined he would want to make any of this real.
Except he did.
Max reached for her, he kissed her, and wanted to talk. He wanted to know all about her, what made her tick, and promised her the moon and the stars. He spoke of traveling the world together, exploring places, and calling to her soul, and she wanted so much to answer, yet was so frightened to believe something so good, so perfect, could have literally dropped into her life by chance.
Coincidences happen all the time. People won the lottery. Strangers took chances, and those chances turned into successes.Déjà vuwas a real thing… but in all those instances, those tiny pops of ‘cosmic chances’in this world, she saw them happen all around her – but didn’t trust them.
Those things happened to other people –not her.
Max was one of those wonders of the universe, which caused doubt to flare to life inside of her every time he was too perfect, too sweet, or too romantic to believe. She was waiting for the problems to start, to have him turn out to be some abusive troll or some other cretin, and it still wasn’t there.
Sure, Max had a temper – and a mouth to go along with it – but it was understandable after having gone through such a trauma. The moment she told him he’d crossed a line with her, he immediately backed down just because it mattered to her. She mattered to him – and it was obvious. He’d let her set the rules from the very beginning, and now was adding and expanding to their world outside of the hospital room – which made this all the more real.
And she ran.
She called the shop where her truck was being repaired, asking for an ETA on the injector… and halfway hoping it was there, while at the same time hoping it wasn’t. She was torn with her feelings, torn at what would happen if she stuck around, and torn to see where this would go with Max.
Hanging up the phone, Daphne saw there were no missed calls, no text messages, and realized that there was no one in her life except Max. If he had her phone number, she knew the big softie would probably have called or texted to check on her.
He was just that kind of guy, and it was kind of nice.
Lying down, she closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Daphne jumped as a knock sounded on the door to her cabin – jerking the door open, only to have Houghton push past her, barging inside.
“Come in…” she blurted out, unable to help herself, and heard his chuckle as she stared outside, realizing it was dark out. Checking her watch, she realized that she’d not only closed her eyes for a few minutes – she’d fallen asleep… overnight.
Max had been by himself all evening.
“It’s my cabin. I will – thank you,” Houghton began and hesitated. “Where’s the stuff from Gideon and Jake?”
“The clothes?”
“Yes.”
