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Because he knew her so well. At least he used to.
Chase leaned against the wall opposite him. “How does it feel to have her back here?”
“Worse than avoiding each other the last three years.”
Chase raised a brow. “Why?”
“Because seeing her brings it all back. Everythinggood we used to share. And how it all ended.” The yearning was unbearable. “Now she’s hurt and in trouble, grieving for and feeling guilty about a man she was seeing but had broken up with the very night he tried to save her life.”
Chase gasped. “No shit.”
Max sighed. “No one but me knows that, so keep it to yourself.”
“Damn.” Chase pressed his lips into a frown.
“Yeah. And she feels terrible about it.”
Chase waited a beat, looked out at Kenna riding in a circle, back straight, head up, sun making her golden hair bright and shiny. “Maybe she’s not over you, the way you’re not over her.”
“Doesn’t matter how I feel, it is over. Has been for a long time.”
“Is it, though?” Chase eyed him. “Look at the way you can’t take your eyes off her.”
Max loved seeing her up on a horse, the wind in her hair, a soft smile on her lips. She’d been so lost in her grief and reliving that night that he worried she was spiraling into a pit of despair. But one simple thing, a ride on his horse, had brightened her spirit. Maybe now, he could stop worrying about her every second of the day.
“Leave it alone, Chase. Hunt has meddled enough by setting her up here on the ranch.” He held up a hand to stop Chase from defending, or agreeing, with Hunt’s methods. “I don’t mind.” He didn’t, even if it made it hard for Max to keep her in the past where she belonged. “I want her safe.” He needed her to be okay, so he didn’thave to worry or think about her. “But me and her... That’s never going to happen again.” He needed to keep reminding himself of that.
She’d moved on.
So did he. Even if his life hadn’t turned out the way he hoped and it looked like that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
Chase took a step toward him. “Why?” he asked in a mild way that compelled the truth.
“Because when the one person you love more than anything and trust more than anyone thinks the worst of you and calls you a liar, there’s no going back.” Max turned away from Kenna to tend to the poor thing that actually wanted his help. “I’ll get the bottle so we can feed the calf and get it well.”
Max grabbed him by the arm. “If you care about her this much, don’t you think it’s worth talking to her about whatever happened between you? Maybe you can work it out.”
Max pulled his arm free, his anger rising. “Don’t you think I tried? It was too late the second she accused me, because she already didn’t trust me anymore, even though I’d given her absolutely no reason to feel that way. So let it go.” He stormed out of the stall and went to the office to cool off before he said or did something he’d regret. He and Chase were back on good terms after what happened with their mother, him leaving for the military and coming home a broken man. Chase was better, they’d mended fences, all was good. And Max wanted to keep it that way.
He just wished his two brothers would stay out of his personal life. Even if they had the best of intentions, they were making it damn hard to keep Kenna in the past and not popping up in the future he wanted for himself, one that looked as happy and fulfilling as his brothers’ lives were turning out to be with the women they loved.
But that dream was never going to happen.
Chapter Eleven
Kyle paced the dingy motel room, trying to decide what to do, even though he already knew what had to be done.
He never expected things to go down like this. But he should have known the government wouldn’t back down until they got their top secret, we-have-good-reasons-for-using-this, program that would ruin people’s lives. And the world, in his estimation.
People had a right to privacy.
They had a right to believe that when a business or some other entity said their private information and data was secure, that it actually was, or that that business or entity had done everything possible to make it so.
Kyle had been too caught up in creating a key that opened any lock to think beyond achieving it to the consequences of its use. Those intended. And those not.
The government said they wanted it to do one thing.
But Kyle created the key to everything.
