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“Tell me something I don’t know, brother.”
* * *
It tookclose to thirty minutes to get Chris back to Max’s house, then drive to her house. With each passing moment, her curiosity grew as did her worry. She knew the only reason Freddy Swanson would confront Max would be over her. And she just didn’t get it. He was the one who tossed her aside all those years ago. He could have collected the hundred bucks and she’d have never known.
She had behaved and waited until Max and she made it home. She turned to confront him, but he was leaning against the door, his eyes closed, posture slumped as if he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. The swelling had gotten worse on his lip, and the cuts and scrapes needed to be attended to. Anna just couldn’t bring herself to prod him. He looked completely worn-out.
“Come on, Rocky. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Without opening his eyes, he reached out his hand. She took it and tugged him along up the stairs. After helping him out of the tattered shirt, she eased him onto the toilet.
As she opened the medicine cabinet, he asked, “What did he do to you, Anna?”
His quiet question caught her off-guard, although she should have known he would want to know.
Concentrating on wetting the washrag, she said, “He just broke my heart. Or I thought he did at the time.” She shrugged and moved in between his legs. Sliding her hand under his chin, she lifted his face so she could see his cuts better. Gently, she dabbed at the one on his lip. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and she finally met his gaze.
“Tell me.”
She’d never told anyone. People at school had known, had viciously ridiculed her. But there had never been a moment she said the words to someone who hadn’t heard the rumors. She’d barely been able to admit it to herself.
“We dated for a couple of weeks. He talked me into sleeping with him.”
She moved onto a cut above his eyebrow and pretended to concentrate on her task. She noticed he winced when she dabbed a little too hard on the wound.
“There’s more to it than that.”
Sighing, she said, “Do you remember what I was like then? Naïve just doesn’t begin to describe me at that age.” She laughed wearily. “There was old Freddy Swanson, quarterback, homecoming king, and he wanted to go out withme.”
Looking back, she couldn’t even remember the joy, the excitement of being asked out by Freddy. All she could remember was the pain of his betrayal…the embarrassment of what followed.
“We slept together once. Then he dumped me.”
She tried to free her hand, but he stopped her by gripping tighter. “Anna.” He tugged until she looked at him. “Tell me.”
Panic coated her stomach as she blinked to fight back the tears. She didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want him to know the shame she’d endured.
“I had a certain reputation.”
He frowned. “Reputation?”
“I’d pretty much been what you would call a hard sell. Everyone knew I hadn’t slept around—little if at all. So, apparently there was some kind of bet. Freddy won.”
* * *
A few secondspassed before the true meaning of her words hit Max. But when it did, anger returned, stronger than what he’d felt earlier and ten times more deadly.
“I should have broken that son of a bitch’s arm.” He’d broken his nose, but even that paled to the idea of breaking other various bones in his body. “I should have broken off his arms and shoved them up his nose.”
“I think you did enough damage.”
“No, I didn’t.” He looked at the unshed tears in her eyes and silently cursed. Anna wasn’t a crier. It took a lot to get her going.
“Max, you’re making more out of this than you should.”
“Don’t you…”know that I love you. He shook his head. Of course she didn’t. But the truth of the matter was, he had just realized what those three words meant, just how deep the love went. The pain she felt was his. And now he knew why she protected herself. Kept herself cocooned away from commitments. If he prodded, she’d deny it. So there was only one thing he could do. He rose and took her hand.
“Come on.”
