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Max. Was here. On the track.
The crowd had already taken off when I’d started. There was no way I would have been able to see him, which was a good thing. I might have run the other way.
“What are you doing here?” I looked over, which wasn’t the best idea, since turning my attention from the path caused me to teeter to the left and I had to hold out my other hand to right myself. But the uneasiness was worth it when I saw his face—still beautiful, still sexy, still everything I had never wanted.
“I needed to clear my head.” He spoke with perfect ease. As if running around a track eight times was like getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen.
A piercing pain in my side caused me to double over.
“You haven’t run once over the last two weeks, have you?” His expression was stern, one I had rarely seen on him during the time we’d spent together.
“I…” I gulped in a breath. “I was busy.”
Three or four people buzzed by us on their way to victory. The pain that felt like it was splitting my body in two didn’t feel quite so victorious.
“Take a deep breath.” I followed his lead and mimicked his breathing. “Don’t stop now. You can do this. Just like law school.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I willed them away.
“You must have rocked your exam if you’re here.”
I had just failed law school. If I couldn’t do that, what made me think I could do anything? There was so much he didn’t know. So much I needed to tell him, to explain to him.
“I’ll be right beside you.” He placed his hand on my biceps and squeezed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I looked up and smiled. He didn’t mean that. Not really. When the race was done we’d go our separate ways.
My entire body burned, and not the really good burn that coursed through me when Max was inside me. More like a painful burn that made me crazy, and I was about to get even crazier.
“Max, I owe you an apology.” I jerked forward with the force of someone running by me.
He caught me with both hands, his fingers digging into my arms. He was wearing the same white hoodie he’d worn the very first time we ran. What I wouldn’t do to go back to that day and start over. Will myself not to fall in love with a man I could never have.
“I’m so sorry for that night in my room. I knew better than to think that you were into…all that stuff, but I let my friends cloud my thinking.”
I had been so insecure about myself that I let other peoples’ opinions get in the way of my gut feeling about Max. And I had been so horribly wrong. Because if he were the man Sadie and Grace thought he was, he wouldn’t have stopped on the track and he wouldn’t be by my side right now.
“I just really didn’t understand why a man like you wanted someone like me.”
I hung my head, embarrassed, ashamed. I still didn’t know what drew him to me in the first place, but I shouldn’t have questioned it.
His finger touched the bottom of my chin and he lifted my head. “You’re not the only one who needs to apologize.” He ran his hand through his hair and looked around.
People continued to run by. We stood in the middle of the track, right in the way, but I didn’t care. Mending things with Max was more important than being cursed at by strangers.
“I shouldn’t have left you that night. I should have known…” He looked at me, his brown eyes softened. “I thought you didn’t get me. That you didn’t see I wasn’t the person everyone thought I was.”
“I did.” I grabbed his hands and squeezed. “I do.”
“But…” He released my grip on his hand and reached out to place it on my cheek. With his thumb caressing my jaw, he continued. “You’re so determined. You’re going to be so successful and I…” He stopped. He wanted to say something. I knew by the look in his eyes he had something on his mind. “I know I have no right to ask but I’m going to…” I knew it was only a matter of time before the elephant in the park was referenced. “Why are you here?”
“I didn’t take my exam. I…” He waited for my response, but I was terrified to say it out loud. He’d be the first one to know about my decision. Even though I knew he’d understand, I was afraid. Afraid he’d be disappointed. Afraid he’d be jealous that I’d had the guts to leave it all behind. I knew just how much he struggled with his predetermined future. I knew he wanted out. Despite my very brief panic attack in the middle of the race, I had never felt so light. So happy. So carefree.
“I quit.”
He stared back at me, dumbfounded. “You’re kidding.”
I shook my head. “I realized that my gram was right. I had the ability to change someone’s life all along. My own.”
