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Everly had brought me out of the darkness, literally and figuratively. I loved her. Still loved her. We may not end up with a happily ever after like my parents, but I wouldn’t let her belief in me go to waste.
“Dad, I have to go.”
“Max…” He grabbed my arm as I tried to brush past him. “We still have to talk.”
“I know.” I looked at the shelves again, admiring everything my family had accomplished.
We still had so much to talk about. My mother. My birth mother. The reasons behind their lies. My future. But it could wait.
I didn’t know where I was going from here. I didn’t know if a year from now that shelf would house a new success story. My new success story.
I needed to think. I needed to clear my head and figure out a new plan. Maybe even plot the takeover of a hotel. There was only one way I knew how to sort out my life, and that was on the track.
I had two kilometers to run.
Chapter 32
Everly
I drove like a bat out of hell to the park. I had managed to go home and change my clothes. I even remembered to grab a bottle of water to hydrate. That was the first lesson Max had ever taught me about running.
Max.
I slammed my car door shut and forced him out of my head. I couldn’t get bogged down with thoughts of him. The relationship had been doomed from the start. We were as star-crossed as two people could be, and there was no way I could have known that I would have fallen in love with the same man I wasn’t supposed to give the time of day.
Max and I might not have walked off into the sunset together, but at least I had learned one very important lesson. I could be anyone I wanted to be. I could be sexy. I could be a student. I could be neither of those things, and I would still survive. I had a bright future in front of me, and I wasn’t going to waste a minute of it.
There was a light breeze in the air today, which was good, considering I needed all of the help I could get propelling myself down that track. With the wind at my back, the eight times around might not be such a daunting task.
I saw the crowd of bobbing heads in the distance. They had already started running. I rushed the registration desk, almost toppling it over when I skidded on some gravel.
“Can I still run?” I blew out the words with heavy breaths.
“Of course.” The blond gym rat who sat behind the desk answered. He gave me a soft smile, but I knew by the way he looked at me that he doubted my stamina.
Maybe he was right. I couldn’t even run from my car without being out of breath. How was I going to run two kilometers? I fisted my hands at my sides. I can do this. I had to do this. I owed it to my gram to do this.
I gave the gym rat my name and
he found it on the list. Not that I would have been able to argue if it wasn’t. I hadn’t done anything to register, it had all been…
Max.
Was I ever going to be able to do anything in this world without thinking about him? I’d never be able to run again without thinking of him, and sex…Well, he had ruined me for sexual activity of any kind.
It took all of my willpower not to ask if he’d registered. He had no reason to be here. He was so far beyond running two kilometers.
I downed the rest of my water then performed some of the stretches Max had taught me. I went through the routine without thinking. After the last few weeks, the movements were second nature.
The first step on the red clay felt like the first step toward my future. I felt great. I felt confident. I was on my way to a new life—to a new Everly.
But one kilometer into the race, my feet hit the ground like they were coated in cement, every step hurt worse than the last. Then panic seized my insides. I doubled over, right in the middle of the track, and actually forced someone to sidestep me. The crowd was now evenly dispersed around the track, people running at their own pace. The woman behind me cursed under her breath, but I didn’t acknowledge it.
The realization had finally washed over me. I had just flunked out of law school. I had just disappointed my parents. Gone against all of their wishes. And there was no going back.
“Did you forget to drink your water again?”
I sucked in a huge breath when I registered the sound of the sexy voice beside me.
