Unravel(60)

Max muttered a curse underneath his breath. Our rolls switched. He stepped in front of me and pointed at the door. “I said go!” he bellowed. Even bruised and bloodied, Lana’s dad still had the nerve to smirk at me. His face sobered when he looked at Max with a sharp look in his eyes. “Think about what I said.”

With those words, he walked away, whistling a tune that I didn’t know. His footsteps echoed in the hall. Max and I were frozen in place, waiting for him to leave. The front door slammed seconds later. The windows rattled and Max and I were surrounded by heavy tension.

I let go of his arm. He walked away, his hands clasped behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling.

Moment later, there were footsteps coming down the stairs. Lucy stood in the doorway. I forgot she was even in the house. She gasped as she took in Max. Lana’s dad’s blood was on his shirt and hands and even a little on his face. She didn’t say a word.

“You can leave for the day,” I told her quietly.

She looked at Max. He kept his eyes rooted upward but nodded bluntly. She left moments later.

The house was completely quiet. It was finally just the two of us.

“What are you doing here, Naomi?” Max said gruffly.

“What am I—” I shook my head in disbelief. “What am I doing here? What the hell was he doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Max said. He still wouldn’t look at me. “I opened the f*cking door and there he was. I still had stuff I wanted to say to him, so I let him in.”

“Was busting his face up what you needed to say?”

His hands dropped. He turned to look at me, his eyes flashing. “I’m not going to say sorry! I did what I’ve been dreaming of doing to that f*cker since I found out the truth!”

“I’m not asking you to say sorry. I’m asking you to think!” I shouted. “He was trying to provoke you. All he was waiting for was that one moment. The one where you react. And you gave him what he wanted.” I held out my hand and jabbed a finger in the middle of my palm. “He had you eating right here. Right in the palm of his hand!”

“Everyone in this f*cking town is eating out of his f*cking palm!” Max exploded. “He’s used to calling the shots and no one going up against him. Today he got a very small dose of reality. Next time it won’t be very small.”

My nerves were shot. And Max’s had fried and blown up in flames minutes ago. We both stared at each other, both out of breath.

Some of his anger started to crumble. He looked away and spotted Michael’s blood sprayed across his collar.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

He walked out of the room, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. I followed him up the stairs.

I shut the door and leaned against the wall. Max took off his shirt, wadded it up in a ball and threw it in the corner. He paced the room like a caged animal.

“You should’ve let me finish him,” he said.

“Okay. You finish him. What happens after that?”

“He’s dead and no one has to deal with him again!”

“No. He’s dead and you’re behind bars. And then who do I have?”

That sobered him up. He dropped his hands as he walked over to me. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft. “I’m sorry I did that in front of you.”

His fingers combed through my hair. He looked at me thoughtfully, staring at every single feature before he kissed me. His lips stay pressed against mine. Not moving… just there.

My hands gripped his face and I tried to deepen the kiss, but he wouldn’t move. Adrenaline was still coursing through me. I wanted to transfer all that energy into kissing Max rather than arguing with him. I inhaled through my nose as I moved my lips against his. Max didn’t budge. My head tilted to the side and I dragged my tongue across the seam of his lips. Not a thing.

He held back on purpose. He didn’t allow lust to take over.

I hated that. I wanted to forget what happened downstairs.

Max’s grip on my face tightened as his lips slowly started to move against mine, his tongue slipped inside my mouth. I gasped.

I could feel what was behind this kiss: desperation, fear, and ultimately, loss. And that scared me more than anything. I gripped his shoulders, my grip bordering on painful.

We had nothing to worry about. We would be fine. I wanted to tell him just that, but I didn’t pull away long enough to say it.

I made my way to the bed, and Max followed. The pace of his kiss may have quickened, but his hands were slow and not near fast enough for me. I hurriedly undressed him and he took his time taking each article of my clothing off.

And when we were both naked, with me draped over him, he let me take the lead. Yet everything was still different. I kissed his strong jaw, moved down his body. His skin warm against my lips. I kissed the side of his pec. My teeth grazed against the cut of his abs.

Max’s hand curled around my skull. He lifted me up, until we were face to face and kissed me in a way that would leave my lips bruised. I moaned and slid him inside me in one fluid motion.

I moved up and down slowly, watching him the entire time. Each time his hips lifted, his arms that were wrapped around my waist, would tighten.

I held on right back.



29—TIME’S UP

On an early Friday morning, at the beginning of August, I suddenly woke up.