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“I thought that would be your answer.” Zander sat forward a little, expression more intense. “Now, this question you might need to think about. I have promised Max that the second it’s feasible, I’ll gift you some of my blood. It’ll heal you completely, so you won’t have lingering side effects of this accident. I sadly can’t do it right now—you need three more surgeries to correct things and your body is frail enough that my blood would send you straight into shock. The doctors say another two, three months, and I can do it.
“I’ll heal completely though?” Karson blew out a breath, stunned. “Well. You must be very powerful, Zander. To have blood that potent.”
“I am, yes. I’m first generation.”
Karson let out a low whistle. “Shit. When my son meets an eligible bachelor, he does it with style.”
“I consider myself the lucky one, thank you.” Zander shot Max a wink before sobering once more. “That said, I know how badly Max has missed you. I feel it would be remiss of me not to offer this. Do you want me to turn you? Again, you do not need to answer me immediately.”
Karson spluttered for a long second. “You’d be willing to?”
“Of course. I’ll turn anyone in my family if they wish for it.”
For a moment, Karson sat there, looking like someone had just taken a chair to his back. Then he blew out a breath. “
I think I want to sleep on this. My first inclination is—yes. I’ve never seriously entertained the idea, but…with the offer in front of me, it’s damn tempting. For one, I wouldn’t have to leave my son without a parent for the rest of his life.”
Max wanted his father to stay with him for a long time so encouraged this line of thinking. “I’d miss you terribly.”
“I know you would, Son. Honestly, if I’m going to live for hundreds of years more—there’s so many things I wanted to do in life that I never got the opportunity for.” Karson spoke to Zander, voice firming with each word. “I want to sleep on this, but I think my answer will be yes. You’ll need to wait until I’m healed, right?”
“It’s better on your body if we do, yes.”
“Then we’ll discuss it later. Zander, I just have one question. Your parents, how do they feel about all of this?”
“Oh, they adore Max.” Zander got that mischievous grin, the one that spelled trouble. For Max. “My sire especially likes him, says he’s got a spine of steel, which is high praise from Fernando. Let me tell you the story of how those two met—”
Max tried to interject because the memory still had him kicking himself. “No, he doesn’t need to know that story—”
“What are you saying? People are still laughing about it. I’m still laughing. So, Dad, did Max tell you how I was in a bad racing accident? He did? Oh, good, well it was that very night—”
Zander was on a roll now. There was no stopping him. Max, resigned, just sat back and listened. At least his dad would get a good laugh out of it.
Max had a feeling he’d never live the towel incident down.
Chapter 18
After two weeks of proving stable, Max’s father was cleared for the first surgery, meaning they were back at the hospital. This one was supposed to be an outpatient surgery, so if all went well, his father would only be staying a few hours for observation before being released.
Still, Max was feeling little nervous. He couldn’t help it. Everyone had heard of operations taking a turn, of people dying when they shouldn’t, and he’d just had too many things go wrong unexpectedly in his life to trust in good luck. Hence why he lurked in the white, sterile waiting room of the hospital while his father’s procedure was underway. Thankfully he was on fall break right now, so he was free to lurk and not have to miss classes on top of it all.
Zander was the ultimate support during this time, having taken off from work. He stayed at Max’s side, distracting him and offering him silent comfort in turns. Max appreciated it so, so much. He needed Zander right then, more than words could express, and he vowed to himself several times to find a way to repay the man who always gave him everything.
Which, really, shouldn’t be hard. Zander was incredibly easy to please.
Halfway through the surgery, Max felt the need for a bathroom break and maybe a snack. He stood, telling Zander as he moved, “I’m going to grab something from the vending machine, hit up the bathroom. You want anything?”
Zander hesitated for a moment but eventually said, “Nothing, I’m fine. Come right back, pretty please?”
Max couldn’t help but smile at Zander’s words. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a minute.”
It was a mark of growth on Zander’s part that he let Max walk away without two bodyguards trailing him. Vanessa and her lackeys hadn’t shown their faces in almost a month, and Franklin felt they’d finally backed off, likely an order from the higher ups. Max was also reasonably sure they’d given up at this point. He still had bodyguards for shopping or when he was on campus, which he didn’t mind as they were very discreet. But since Zander was with him today, they had given the bodyguards the day off.
The waiting area for surgery was small and quiet, just a dozen chairs and a TV screen showing patient numbers and the status of their surgery. Max had to leave that area and go down the hall, almost midway, before finding the bathroom. After using the restroom, he headed for the vending machines, which were even further, next to the elevators. Honestly, the short stroll did him good, helping him walk off some of his anxiety. Max was tempted to make a lap around the whole floor before returning to Zander, just to get some of the wiggles out. Just a few minutes wouldn’t hurt; he didn’t want to worry Zander by being gone too long.
Hmm, what to get? Water sounded good, he was rather parched, maybe some crackers? He didn’t want sugar, he wanted salt.
The vending machines actually had a good selection, and there were several things he liked, so Max took his time and pondered. Hmm, maybe some cheesy crackers and—
