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“I wonder who pissed that guy off,” the drunk slurred.
You.
I took a step back, and his hand fell away from me.
“Um.” He took a step back when he finally realized Max was coming right at him. “I’m gonna head inside,” he muttered and left, and I exhaled and faced Max. He still had his focus on where the guy had just disappeared to.
“Max?” My voice was soft, maybe too soft for him to hear me. But he stopped right away and snapped his head in my direction. “Are you okay?” I had my hands in front of me, my fingers twisted together.
Max was a few feet from me and I saw him blink, as if reality finally came through his anger fog. I saw his nostrils flare and his jaw clench.
He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I’m fine. You’re fine?” He took a step closer.
“I’m fine.”
He looked over my shoulder to where the guy left.
“He was just drunk. He didn’t do anything but grab my waist.” I swallowed at the sound I heard come from him. He was so angry. I’d never seen him like this before.
Before I knew what was happening, Max was on the porch and standing in front of me. I craned my neck back and looked in his face, and he lifted his hands and cupped my cheeks, his gaze roaming over me. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
I smiled, hearing the concern in his voice. “I promise. I’m fine. Can we just get out of here?”
He held my hand and led me away, down the porch, and to his car. We were about to get into his vehicle, when I saw Della walking toward us, presumably with her crush in tow.
“You heading out?” she asked once she was at Max’s car.
I nodded. “Yeah. This really isn’t my thing.”
She gave me a sympathetic look. “Honestly, me neither. That’s why Trent and I are heading out. We’re going to that all-night diner. You can join if you want?”
I shook my head. “That’s okay, but thanks.”
Della looked over her shoulder at Trent then back at me. “Okay, well don’t wait up, if you know what I mean.” She gave me a wink.
I smiled and pointed to Max. “Della, you remember my best friend Max?” I looked at him and watched as he lifted his hand in a wave to her, but he had his focus on me, as if he didn’t give a shit about Della.
“Yeah, of course I remember,” Della said on a grin. “Well, I’ll see you later.”
I nodded, although I didn’t feel like going back to the dorm. I didn’t want to be alone. I watched her leave with Trent, and then it was just Max and me again. “Can you take me back to your place? I don’t want to be alone right now.”
Even in the darkened interior of the car, I could see how much he cared for me.
My best friend forever.
Although, I wished like hell we could be more.
“Absolutely. I don’t want you to be alone either.”
I rested my head back on the seat when he started the engine and pulled away from the curb, and all I could think about was maybe tonight I should finally be honest. Maybe tonight, I should tell Max that I wanted something more.
Chapter Six
Abigail
Max shut the front door to his duplex, and I stood there for a minute just taking everything in. I’d been here plenty of times since he moved in, and although it was small, with just one bedroom, a tiny living room that was attached to the kitchen, an even smaller laundry room, and then a little bathroom down a short hallway, it really did feel like home.
And as I looked at Max, I knew it felt that way because I was with him. It didn’t matter where we were, whether it was my dorm room, this duplex, at my parents’ house, or hell, sitting in his car underneath the bridge as traffic went by above us while we listened to music. Anytime I was with him, I always felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
And that was how I felt tenfold the entire drive to his house, as we listened to the Beatles, as I kept glancing at him and seeing his masculine features that were lightly accented by the dashboard.
Even now, my heart was still racing. I wanted to just tell him right here and now how I felt, that I had fallen in love with him, hell, that I thought I loved him from the moment we first met five years ago. I’d been this shy, timid little girl when we first moved to town, but he read me so easily, as if I were his favorite book and he knew every single word. He opened me up so I didn’t feel scared of rejection.
