Max was furious.
It was the kind of seething, pent-up anger that could bubble over and explode at any second. Max had been here before in his life. When he truly lost his temper, it was a case of all bets being off.
Normally, Max was able to roll with the punches and if push came to shove he would walk away and let people deal with their own dramas rather than get sucked in himself.
But this was different.
Channing had infuriated Max and it had felt like one more comment would have pushed Max into saying some things that he could never have taken back.
With that in mind, heading over toThe Lion's Roarwas probably the smart move. Max took a sip on his cold beer and looked around.
The bar was quiet, and with its low lights and soundtrack of some classic blues coming from the jukebox it was probably the ideal setting for Max’s current state of mind.
‘Another?’ the bartender said, noticing that Max was nearly done with his beer.
‘Another, and keep ‘em coming,’ Max replied, his brooding looks clearly attracting a certain degree of interest an intrigue from the young bartender.
But Max’s mind wasn’t on whether a cute bartender was into him or not. No, Max had other things on his mind.
Channing was being a brat.
Something must have really got to him.
And I just stormed out the damn house…
Max felt frustrated that he hadn’t been more patient and attempted to work through things with Channing. Perhaps he should have stayed, but on the other hand Max knew that this could have ended up making things even worse.
‘I should have stayed,’ Max muttered. ‘I’m his Daddy for God’s sake…’
But Max of all people knew that sometimes you just need your own space to work through something.
With this in mind, Max decided that he wouldn’t message Channing to check in on him. If something was bugging Channing, then it was probably sensible to give him the time and space he needed to work it out for himself.
This might not have been a foolproof plan, but it was the best that Max had in that moment. Anyway, it wasn’t as if Max didn’t have his own worries to work through…
Judd fucking Trax.
This is all down to him showing up.
All the messages too…
Max gritted his teeth and took the last gulp of his beer, only to find it replaced with a fresh bottle by the cute bartender.
‘Thanks,’ Max said, his mind focused on Judd and what a total asshole he was.
Gradually, Max was coming to the realization that Judd’s role in this may have been more sinister than he’d first imagined.
Max had no proof, but it began to cross his mind that it was Judd who had spiked his drink. And if that was true, then there was a very good chance that it was Judd who had taken Max’s car after he abandoned it after the crash.
Max didn’t know what to think.
All Max knew was that he had to meet Judd to hash things out.
Max took his cellphone out of his pocket and after checking for any new messages from Channing, he began to type out a message.
You wanted to meet me one on one? Let’s fucking do it. We need to sort this out. I don’t care what you think this is all about, I just want to put an end to it. Max.
Max hit send and then sent a follow-up message with his location. It felt like the right thing to have done. The longer Max had allowed this thing with Judd to drag on, the worse the situation had become. The culmination of course being when Judd showed up and creeped Channing out.
