Max lets go of me with a start, snaps her black trench coat from the rack by the entrance, and wraps it around her trembling frame.
“Let’s get out of here,” she says.
The soft chime of the bell resonates above her head as she exits, and I follow. The white ballerinas she was wearing slosh in the water puddles, but she doesn’t double back for her boots, her clothes, or her fiancé.
The loud ringtone of Max’s cellphone buzzes through the open street, and she pulls it out of her coat pocket.
“Nick. Hi,” she says.
The gruff, worried voice on the line comes out even more frantic than the other night. “What happened? Where are you?”
“I left the house,” she admits, chewing on her bottom lip.
“What? No, Max, it’s too dangerous.”
“I know, I fucked up. I just—I had to clear my head. I’m heading back now. I’ll see you there soon.”
“How did you know?” he asks.
A small smile touches her lips. “I can hear the airport speakers behind you.”
“I’ll take a cab home. Then we’ll talk. Stay inside until then,” he orders.
“Promise.” She ends the call and slows for a moment, a nervous sigh slipping from her throat. She tucks the phone back into her coat and purses her lips in a half-grimace, half-smile. “Well, I hope you’re ready to meet my brother.”
“What does he know about me?”
She bites her bottom lip. “Erm…absolutely nothing.”
Nothing? Not even a hint of me, of what I am to her?
“I couldn’t tell him about you or the Mist King—not over the phone,” she adds quickly. “He would’ve thought I’d been enchanted by some dark Fae, or worse.”
All this time, she kept me a secret. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed…and a lot turned on.
“Enchanted by some dark Fae, eh?” I echo, a hint of a smile pulling at my mouth. If only it were that simple. “Can’t say he’s entirely off.”
Max joinsme in the kitchen, her hair still damp from the shower. Droplets cling to her neck, slipping beneath the collar of her black pullover. Her jeans are clean and dark, her skin flushed from the heat. The bridal underwear is bunched in her hands, and she dumps it into the trash. That alone loosens the tightness in my chest.
She’s home. Away from danger. Away from that damn shop.
More than that, she slipped off her ring. The sight of her bare finger fills me with joy, relief washing through me in a slow, steady wave. I didn’t invade her privacy this time. I gave her space to scrub the icy kiss of mist from her body. The thought of her safe, warm, and single is delirious.
I won. And now I’m about to meet her brother.
Max steps deeper into the kitchen and sets a kettle on. The scent of lavender and lemon balm drifts through the air. She looks more at ease now. Lighter.
“So what’s your brother like?” I ask.
“He’s strong and stubborn. Much more than me.Andparanoid.” She glances back at me. “He’s going to hate you.”
I frown. “Why?”
“Because you’re invisible. And you…” she averts her gaze and waves dismissively in my general direction, “you know. Want me.”
Her shoulders tense the moment the words leave her mouth, as if she didn’t mean to say them aloud. Her hand hovers over the kettle before she folds her arms across her chest.
“He was impossible when I started dating Lachlan,” she goes on. “Had him followed for a month. He was convinced my new fiancé was a spy on the Reds’ payroll. He’s going to lose his marbles when he finds out I’m getting cozy with a ghost.”
