Unravel(48)

“Sometimes I’m afraid it will all bite me in the ass,” she admitted.

“None of it will. Everything you’re doing right now is a step in the right direction.”

That seemed to be my go-to saying for Lana. I had repeated those words over the past week so many times I’d lost count.

“I know my dad will try anything to get me to go back home.”

“Lana…” I chose my words carefully.

Her phone interrupted me. She looked down the same time I did.

Her dad was calling.

I knew there was only one reason he would be calling her right now. It figured he would be the first one to know she was gone.

I stayed perfectly quiet and tried to keep my eyes on the road, but they kept straying to the right. Lana’s finger hovered over the answer button for a long second before she pressed ignore.

It may seem inconsequential for most people, but for Lana it was huge.

“Who was that?” I asked innocently.

She dropped her phone into her purse and pulled the clasp. The snap sounded loudly in the car. “No one.”

I wanted to celebrate this moment. I made a quick left.

“Where are we going?” she said. “Apartment’s up ahead.”

I grinned. “We, my friend, are going furniture shopping.”



22—REVOLUTION

“Stay,” Max said in a throaty whisper.

I shivered. My eyes closed. My head sank deeper into the pillow and Max’s scent was all around me. It made saying no twice as hard.

“I can’t,” I said weakly. “I gotta…”

I had to do something. I just didn’t know what that something was. Everything that was important in my life seemed to fade in Max’s arms.

His head was bent as his lips traveled down my neck. Pieces of his hair brushed against my skin, making me shiver. The minute we stepped inside his house we came at each other with this frantic, all-consuming need to touch.

“I really gotta go,” I groaned with frustration.

Max lips stopped moving. He looked up. His lips were damp and slightly parted. I wanted nothing more than to stay right there, curl my hands into his hair, and drag his lips to mine.

He rolled over and lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He was breathing heavily, his abs becoming defined with each breath.

I jumped out of his bed before I changed my mind and turned back around and jumped him.

Max rolled onto his side. “Why do you have to go?”

“I just need to,” I said absently.

I walked around the room, searching for my shoes. Pieces of clothing were scattered across the floor. Max’s jacket. My cardigan was tossed in the corner.

“Everything is okay now.”

Lana moved into her new apartment a week ago. And while it was a huge relief that she wasn’t underneath her dad’s thumb anymore I couldn’t just shut her out; I carried her with me wherever I went.

I continued to stay with her. I would hear her crying herself to sleep, or sometimes screaming out. I asked her if everything was okay. She would never answer me, even though I knew she could hear me.

“Everything is okay. Right?”

I found one heel next to the door. “Yes… but…”

“But what?” Max said.

I looked at Max. The other heel was partially underneath the bed. I put both on and walked over to him.

Max sat up and slid to the edge of the bed. His hands were on the bed, shirt still unbuttoned. He opened his legs and I walked in between them, staring down at him.

“Things have just been… difficult,” I said carefully.

Max stared at me. “How difficult?”

“Pretty difficult.”

I was being generous. There were some days that seemed like everything was going to be all right. But then there were those days where it felt like I was in hell with Lana. It felt like the world was crumbling down around her, around me. It sucks the will to live out of you. Leaves your energy depleted, and steals your happiness.

And the next day would be okay. Lana would have to start over, rebuilding her happiness. All I could do was watch.

His hands curled around my hips. I stood frozen in place. “Just stay,” Max said. “Stay here. I’ll take away all those worries for a few hours.”

His eyes were heavy lidded and the right side of his lips curved up in a half-smile that should’ve been innocent. It was anything but. My defenses instantly crumbled.

With one tug, I was on top of him. His hands held me tightly against his warm body. His kiss was slow on purpose. Meant to drive me insane. Meant to coax me into staying the night with him. He did these slow, little licks that made me moan. My mouth opened. My body relaxed deeper into his. He sucked on my lower lip and tugged gently. I barely noticed the sting. Not when his hands moved up and down my thighs.

I gasped into his mouth.

His fingers found the zipper of my dress and slowly dragged it down.

My dress parted, allowing him to slip his hands inside. Fingers grazed my spine. I sucked on his tongue with hunger. My body wanted it all. I wanted pleasure from his hand and I wanted to see every part of him. It was this frantic need that made me shake.

His touch always seemed to take me to another place, where my worries and fears unraveled and slipped away from my body.

I pushed myself off of him and took off my dress.