The Gamble

Chapter Five Charlie

I opened my eyes, blinked at the bright sunlight and smelled bacon cooking.

I was alone in Max’s bed. Max, evidently, was downstairs cooking breakfast.

I rolled to my back and stared at the point in the A-Frame ceiling.

After sending my e-mail to Niles and crying my eyes out – so much, I had to move to the chair by the couch, curl in it holding a toss pillow to my chest in order to give myself a comfortable cocoon while letting go a part of my life that was once important to me, in fact I thought it was going to be my entire future but I’d figured out wasn’t so important anymore – I cleaned up my face. Then I threw another log on the fire. Then I stared at the log burning, trying to sort out my head. Then I failed at sorting out my head. Then when it got late, I made dinner for one and ate cookies for dessert. Then I read until it got later. Then when it got really late, I changed into my nightgown, put in a movie, slid into bed and, again, obviously, fell asleep while watching it.

Now, clearly, it was morning and Max was home.

And he said when he came home, we would finish.

And as I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I decided I was going to have to figure out a way to tell him I wasn’t ready for us to finish in whatever way that would come. I wasn’t ready for what was happening in his A-Frame on my Colorado adventure. I wasn’t ready to explore what was going on between him and me.

I wanted to, honest to goodness, I wanted it so badly it felt like an ache.

But I was coming to terms with my life changing in one way. In fact, I had realized the day before as I stared at Max’s fire, I knew before I even took this timeout that Niles and I were never going to work and I realized that I’d known that for a long time. I’d either fallen out of love with him or he’d bored the love out of me. But before I even left I had understood somewhere in head that I simply needed distance to come to that conclusion and that distance would give me the courage to carry it through.

Therefore, I couldn’t process, nor did I want to, the colossal shift back to Nina of Old. Nina who opened her heart, let loose, took adventures and even more risks. Nina who did that and got her heart trampled and her head messed with for her troubles.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to play it safe and be smart, sane and rational every second with every nuance of my life.

I was sure I’d learned my lessons way back when and I wasn’t going back to that.

I couldn’t live the life that I was living with Niles, I’d come to terms with that.

And I couldn’t go back to who I used to be. Heartbreak lay down that road, heck, it was paved with it.

And Holden Maxwell had heartbreak written all over him.

I pulled myself out of bed, went to the bathroom, did my routine and then, deciding on propriety in the face of our impending conversation, I walked to my suitcase and dug around until I found my wool robe. It was like a big, long, button-less, cardigan sweater that went down to my calves. It was creamy green and had a hood. It cost a fortune and it was lush.

I shrugged it on, belted it up and headed downstairs to face Max. I hit the bottom, saw him in the kitchen and stopped dead.

His back was to me and he was wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. His shoulders, the muscles of his back, the wide expanse of smooth, tan skin, was all exposed to the naked eye and I was blinded by the beauty of it. So much, it was a wonder I didn’t throw out my hand and go reeling.

At that thought, he turned and gave me a view of his chest.

At this view, arguably better than his back, I sucked in breath then whispered to myself, “Oh my God.”

“Hey baby,” he called, apparently (and luckily) not hearing me and headed my way.

I stood immobile as he walked to me.

He stopped in front of me, his head tipped down and his hand came to my jaw, tipping my head up.

“You sleep okay?” he asked softly and I nodded. “Wake up at nine o’clock your time?” he went on and I shook my head. “Sorry I was out so late.” I shrugged and he grinned. “I see I got Nina Zombie.”

“Um…” I muttered.

He shook his head once still grinning then dipped his face and touched his mouth to mine. My toes curled.

“Look after the bacon, will you?” he said when he lifted his head. “I’m gonna go put on some clothes.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Might be good you get some coffee in you before you get near sizzling bacon grease,” he advised, still amused.

“Okay,” I repeated on a whisper.

“God,” he muttered, his thumb drifting across my cheek, his clear, gray eyes watching it go, “you’re cute.”

I swallowed. He let me go and walked away.

I stood where he left me and realized that I was, officially, in trouble. If I couldn’t function at the sight of his chest, how was I going to tell him we weren’t going to explore what was happening?

Especially if he kept touching me and calling me “baby”?

I pulled myself together enough to take one step when the door under the loft opened, my body jerked in surprise and I gave out a small scream.

A girl walked out, a woman-girl, like Becca. Wild, curly, almost frizzy strawberry blonde hair and a lot of it. Cute as a button face. Cornflower blue eyes. Long, thin, shapely legs that went on forever.

And last, but oh so definitely not least, she was wearing the shirt Max wore yesterday.

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.

“Forgot to tell you,” Max called from upstairs, probably because he heard my scream, “Mindy’s here.”

“Hi!” Mindy cried brightly and skipped to me, actually skipped. “You’re Nina, right?”

“Right,” I said, immobile again, this time for a different reason.

“Cool!” she cried, grabbing my arm in one hand, my hand in the other, both with a friendliness that was unreal and she jumped up and down twice.

“I, um… need to look after the bacon,” I told her.

“Oh, sure,” she said, looking suddenly confused at my behavior in the face of her outgoingness.

“Nina’s a zombie in the morning, Mins,” Max called and I knew he could hear everything. “Maybe you should look after the bacon, darlin’.”

Mins? Darlin’?

“Cool!” she cried again as if looking after bacon was her heart’s desire, her hands moving from me. “I can do that.”

Then she turned and part skipped, part slid on the wood floors in her adorable baby blue socks with darker blue hearts all over them, part danced to the kitchen.

I followed with a lot less exuberance.

No, it wouldn’t be hard to tell Max we weren’t going to explore anything. He wanted me to be a member of his harem? No. Not me. I wasn’t going to become a card carrying member of that particular club with, apparently, Mindy, who he’d brought home when I was under his bloody roof, and maybe Becca not to mention the ex-member, bitchy, cheating, awful Shauna.

No way. No bloody way.

I went to the cupboard over the coffeepot as Mindy pushed the bacon around in the skillet and I took down a mug. Then I poured coffee. Then I spooned in some sugar. Then I went to the fridge and sloshed in some milk. All the while I did this, my mind tortured me.

Did he sleep with her on the couch when I was upstairs in his bed? He was a big guy but his couch was deep, long. Mindy was long too but she was also thin. It would be cozy but it would work.

Did they do it, Max knowing I slept like the dead?

Or maybe not caring if I heard?

And also not caring what I’d think that he had a predilection for young girls?

Not that he seemed to discriminate since he’d obviously wanted me and Shauna seemed to be about my age. Maybe he slept with anyone. Maybe that was why Sarah, the hostess at the restaurant, gave me that weird, closed down look when I walked in. Maybe he liked buxom, copper-haired, Deadheads with fabulous earrings too.

I was sipping at my coffee and seething when Mindy turned to me. “So, you live in England?”

“Yes.” My reply was short and curt and I didn’t care. She might be okay with this arrangement, seeing as Max was gorgeous and had a fantastic house, but she was young, she’d learn.

“You like it?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied again and saw Max rounding the counter in jeans, a navy t-shirt that fit him like the gray one he wore with his pajama bottoms. In other words, it fit him too well.

I had the urge to throw my coffee mug at him and then I squelched this mainly because he meant nothing to me. I barely knew him. This intensity of emotion was because I broke up with my fiancé via e-mail the day before. My emotion had nothing to do with Max.

He hit the range, his hand hit Mindy’s waist and my eyes narrowed on his touch.

“I got it now, babe,” he said softly and I felt that punch in my gut again when he called her “babe”.

Mindy moved away on another skip then she rounded the counter and planted herself on my stool.

“Duchess,” Max called and my eyes cut to him, “get Mindy some coffee, will you?”

He wanted me to get Mindy a coffee?

I was back to wanting to throw my coffee mug at him.

Max was oblivious, I knew this because he turned to Mindy and asked, “You take cream or sugar?”

“Lotsa milk, two sugars,” Mindy ordered and I moved to make her coffee mainly because this would give me something to do, something that had nothing to do with me inflicting bodily harm.

As I was filling her order, Mindy called out to me, “Hey Nina, you ever wanna move home?”

“Home?” I asked, pouring coffee.

“America.”

“No,” I lied because I did, all the time, I missed home constantly. The trouble was I was also home in England and I knew if I came back to The States I’d miss my other home so I couldn’t win either way.

Which was, I realized at that dire moment, the story of my bloody life.

“Really?” she asked.

“Really,” I answered when I poured in “lotsa milk”.

“She misses grape jelly,” Max muttered and I ignored him and the memory he invoked and gave Mindy her mug of coffee.

“Hey, thanks!” she cried, like it was a surprise I made it for her when she’d watched me the whole time then she continued, “Why do you miss grape jelly?”

“They don’t have it in England,” I replied and went to the fridge.

“What else don’t they have?” Mindy asked with open curiosity.

“Quite a bit,” I answered, not inviting further discourse.

I pulled out my yogurt and berries. Then I grabbed the bunch of bananas on the counter and I yanked one off. Then I pulled a knife out of the block by the range. I was going to eat my breakfast and if Max didn’t give me my keys I was going to throw such a fit that Mick, the nice police officer, would be called to the scene and then I’d damn well get my bloody keys.

“You all right?” Max asked quietly when I got close and I could feel his eyes on me.

“Perfectly fine,” I answered, not looking at him and I reached into a cupboard to pull out a bowl.

There was silence a second then, ever game, Mindy called, “Why’d you move there? To England.”

Not thinking clearly and it didn’t matter anyway, I’d be out of there very, very soon, I answered, “I’ve sort of lived there on and off most of my life.”

“But…” Mindy said to my back as I started to slice bananas into the bowl, “Max said you were American.”

“I was born here,” I told the banana. “My mother is American, my father is English. They got divorced when I was a baby and my father moved back.” I finished with the banana, threw the peel in the bin under the sink and started to rinse the berries.

“So, you’d go back to see your father,” Mindy guessed.

“No, my father forgot I existed until he got remarried and his second wife had a baby, my half-brother.” I turned off the tap and shook the berries in their plastic container, the water leaking out. “She wanted her son to know his sister.”

“So, that’s when you started going?” Mindy surmised.

“Yes, when I was around seven.”

“Cool that you have a brother,” Mindy announced happily from behind me and my eyes closed automatically as I felt that punch in my gut again, this one different but familiar, it had come at me a lot over the last three years but it never hurt any less.

“Yes, cool,” I said and opened my eyes then turned to my bowl, dumping some berries in and setting the rest in the container aside.

I looked at Max who was watching me closely, his face carefully blank but his eyes alert and asked, “Where’s my granola?”

“Cupboard with the oatmeal,” he answered and I turned there.

“I’ve got a brother,” Mindy shared. “We’re close but he lives in Seattle now, which is a bummer sometimes and not a bummer others ‘cause he can be kinda, in my life. YouknowhatImean?”

Yes, I knew what she meant. I knew if her brother knew that she was carrying on with a mountain man Lothario who was old enough to be her much older brother, then her real, Seattle dwelling brother would be in her life.

I didn’t say this, instead I said, “Of course.”

“You close with your brother?” she asked.

I poured granola on my berries then set the box down and answered, “I moved to England permanently because of him.”

“Yeah?” Mindy prompted.

“Yes,” I said, spooning out my yogurt and not measuring my words, not even knowing why I was speaking at all. “He was in the Army, sent to Afghanistan. When he was there, a bomb blew his legs off.” I heard Mindy gasp and I felt something coming from Max but I was impervious, like I was in a different world. “My father, who is not a nice man, turned his back on his golden boy when he felt he was no longer…” I hesitated then said, “Golden.” I shook my head at the still painful memory and put the top on the yogurt. “His fiancée broke things off with him and he was having trouble adjusting. So I moved to England to help.”

There was silence as I mixed my fruit, granola and yogurt and I turned to face the kitchen. When I did I saw they were both staring at me. Well, Mindy was, it was more like Max was watching me, closely.

Mindy broke the silence, saying quietly, “Jeez, Nina, I’m sorry. He okay now?”

“No,” I told her bluntly, looking right at her. “Charlie never adjusted. He committed suicide three years ago.”

“Holy crap,” Mindy breathed and I watched the color drain out of her face.

“That pretty much sums it up,” I told her.

“Mins, do me a favor. Go upstairs, get yourself one of my t-shirts to wear into town, yeah?” Max said and Mindy’s eyes moved to him.

She also saw him watching me, how he was watching me, her body jolted and she hopped off the stool.

“Yeah, right, um… a shirt…” she hesitated, her eyes going back and forth between Max and me.

“Just lose yourself for awhile, okay?” Max ordered, not taking his eyes off me.

She didn’t answer or maybe her answer was her skip-dancing away.

I looked at Max and took a bite of my breakfast.

“What was that about?” Max asked, not moving toward me.

“What?” I asked back, my mouth full, well beyond thinking it rude to speak with my mouth full.

“Closed up tight for two days, you share a tragedy and you do it like that?” Max asked and it dawned on me that he looked angry. “What’s that about?” he demanded to know.

“Mindy was asking,” I explained after I swallowed.

“You didn’t have to tell her like that,” Max returned.

“Oh, sorry, Max,” I said, my voice tinged with sarcasm. “Does she have a delicate disposition? Should I have shielded her from that?”

“Yeah, considerin’ she was raped three weeks ago and her boyfriend’s bein’ a fuckin’ dickhead that would have been good.”

I felt every cell in my body cease moving and I stared at him.

Then I whispered, “What?”

“Mindy was raped three weeks ago. She was in Denver with Becca. They were out clubbin’ or whatever the fuck they do these days and got separated. Mindy was raped. She went through that, they haven’t found the guy, she gets home, her boyfriend who she lives with starts actin’ like an asshole. Then more of an asshole. Brody, her brother and my best friend who lives in Seattle, asked me to come home and look out for her seein’ as he can’t.”

Oh my God.

Mindy and her baby blue socks with darker blue hearts, skip-dancing, jumping up and down when she met me was raped.

“So, Nina,” Max cut into my thoughts, “I’ll ask again, what the fuck was that?”

“I thought…” I shook my head and looked away, closing my eyes, feeling like a bitch because I’d been a bitch then I looked back and whispered, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, yeah, it does, considerin’ she’s like my sister too and she and Brody talk and you didn’t make a very good impression. This’ll be all over town and to Seattle and people’ll think I got another Shauna in my bed.”

“I –”

He cut me off. “I don’t care what people think but I do care what Mindy thinks and I care what Brody thinks.”

“I –”

“Jesus,” he muttered, looking away and I noticed he’d taken the bacon off the burner and it was sitting in its grease then he went on as if talking to himself, “was I wrong about you?”

There it was. My opening.

“Yes,” I told him and he looked back at me. “I’m a screaming bitch.” He stared at me and I went on, “It was jetlag, I think, making you think I was cute… or… whatever. Really, I’m like this. I act like this all the time.” He didn’t speak just kept staring at me so unwisely I went on. “I’m over my jetlag. I’ll probably be bitchy willy nilly to just about everyone.”

His head cocked to the side and his face got dark in that scary way before he repeated, “Willy nilly?”

“Yes,” I replied instantly, “to everyone.”

“So, what you’re sayin’ is, you’re actin’ like a bitch to me and to Mindy in an effort to bullshit me into givin’ you your car keys back so you can run away because you’re scared as shit of what’s happenin’ with us?”

No, that wasn’t what I was saying. At least, it didn’t start that way.

I looked at him in an effort to assess my next move and he looked really mad so I found it difficult to assess my next move.

Then I said carefully, “No.”

He moved toward me, I retreated and hit counter. He didn’t stop until he was super close, he pulled the bowl out of my hand, set it to the side and then he put a hand on the counter on either side of me and leaned in.

“Duchess, let me explain somethin’,” he said in a low, quiet, angry voice. “Bitches, real ones, don’t say the words, ‘willy nilly’.”

“Oh,” was all I could think to reply.

“You talk to him?” he asked and I got confused because I was thinking he was changing the subject.

“Talk to him?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“Him,” Max clipped and I realized he was changing the subject and I tensed, didn’t answer and Max said in a low, warning voice, “Nina.”

“Kind of,” I whispered quickly.

“How kind of?”

“I sent an e-mail.”

“You sent an e-mail,” Max repeated, his face disbelieving of the fact I’d send a breakup e-mail to my fiancé and even in my state, I had to admit it did sound bad.

“I’m…” I hesitated, “better at saying things when I write them down. I can edit. Make sure that it says what I need it to say and I don’t…” I licked my lips, “that I can make it so it doesn’t…” This was hard but for some reason I kept going. “I had to do it so it didn’t… hurt too much.”

Some of the anger slid from his features and he muttered, “Baby.”

“Can you move away?” I asked quietly.

“No.”

“Max, please.”

He ignored me and asked, “That really happen?”

My head jerked and I asked back, “The e-mail?”

“Your brother.”

My whole body jerked and I looked away.

“Nina, look at me.” When I didn’t, his hand wrapped around my jaw and he made me look at him or he made it so he could study me which he did a long time before murmuring, “What else is behind that fuckin’ shield?”

He really didn’t want to know, if he did he’d know why I jumped to conclusions about him with Mindy with Becca and he’d know just how messed up my head was. I wanted to be gone but I didn’t want him to think I was messed up and just that was messed up.

I didn’t answer and his hand at my jaw became fingers sliding into my hair.

“I’m sorry about your brother, honey.”

I pressed my lips together, felt the tears hit my eyes and then whispered, “Me too.”

“You were close,” he stated, I nodded and when he opened his mouth to speak, I beat him to it.

“Please, don’t. Please don’t, Max. You can’t be nice to me, not about Charlie. You can’t be nice. Anyone who’s nice… when people are nice…” I stopped talking and tilted my chin down to hide my face.

His fingers were in my hair, cupped against my head and he pulled me into him so my forehead was against his chest.

“All right, Duchess, I won’t be nice.”

My hands went to his stomach and I pushed at it as the tears clogged my throat and I choked, “You’re being nice!”

“Honey –”

My fingers curled into his t-shirt and I demanded, “Stop it!”

His hand at my head twisted it so my cheek was against his chest, his other arm went around me and he pulled me to his body which was shaking. “Baby,” his voice had laughter in it, “I’m not doing anything.”

I felt my breath hitch and at the sound his arm got tight and his fingers flexed against my scalp.

“I miss him,” I whispered and I didn’t know why, I didn’t even think the words before they came out of my mouth.

“I can tell.”

I pulled in a shaky breath then another one and the third went in smooth so I told him, “You can let me go now.”

“Keep tellin’ you when you’re in my arms, I like you where you are.”

“Max –”

His hand in my hair pulled my head back and when I was looking at him he declared, “Next up, we’re talkin’ ‘bout your Dad.”

“I don’t have a Dad.”

His brows slid together and he said, “You mentioned him earlier.”

“No, I mentioned my father,” I stated clearly. “I don’t have a Dad.”

“All right, then we’ll talk about your father.”

“No, since I never talk about him.”

“Nina.”

“Max.”

“Did I stay away long enough?” Mindy called, Max twisted, I got up on tiptoe to look over his shoulder and Mindy halted at the counter. “Whoops, see I didn’t.”

“You did,” I said quickly.

“I can come back.”

I pushed against Max’s stomach again, he released me and moved to my side as I said, “You’re fine.”

“Sure?” she asked.

“Definitely,” I replied.

Her eyes hit the stove and she observed, “Bacon’s all greasy, Max.”

“I’ll sort it out,” Max told her.

She skip-danced around the counter, throwing him a cheerful smile and I marveled this girl was raped three weeks ago. Marveled at the same time that the knowledge hit my stomach like a rotten pit.

“I’ll do it,” she offered and I saw she was in one of Max’s t-shirts and obviously her own jeans for they fit perfectly.

“You need a shirt?” I asked and she looked at me as she pulled paper towel off a holder.

“Uh, last night, I kinda got beer on –” she started but Max cut her off.

“Damon doused you with beer,” he stated and Mindy’s eyes flitted to him.

“Damon?” I asked, grabbing my bowl.

“Her dickhead boyfriend,” Max muttered, pulling down a plate and handing it to Mindy.

“He’s just –” Mindy began but Max interrupted her again.

“A dickhead,” Max declared.

Her face fell and she arranged paper towel on the plate.

I decided to wade in. “Why did he, um… I mean how did he get beer on you?”

“He threw it at her,” Max answered and Mindy ducked her head and pulled bacon out of the skillet.

“He threw a beer at you?” I asked Mindy, not comprehending these words, at least not in recent Nina Land with Niles who didn’t even drink beer just occasionally gin and tonics or wine with dinner and he wouldn’t begin to imagine dousing anyone with any liquid.

Older Nina Land was the land where there were dickheads who might (though they didn’t) douse women with beer. Though, maybe not women who’d recently been violated.

“He’s, not, really… coping… uh –” Mindy stammered.

Max’s hand went to the back of her neck and he said quietly, “She knows, Mins, I told her.”

Mindy nodded but didn’t lift her head from her bacon task and I squelched a new desire to throw my bowl at Max for he may not be okay with me being a bitch to Mindy but he certainly wasn’t handling this very well.

“He’s not coping with what happened to you,” I said to her and she nodded and took the last piece of bacon out of the skillet when I went on. “Men are idiots, mostly. Anyway,” I changed the subject. “Upstairs, my suitcase is on the armchair in Max’s loft. You can go through it, grab whatever top you want.”

Her head twisted to me and her eyes slid along my robe.

The she began, “I couldn’t –”

“Why not? You can’t wear that.” I dipped my head to Max’s t-shirt. “It’s huge on you.” And it was, she was swimming in it like I had but I’d worn his t-shirts to bed which was acceptable.

I pretty girl who’d just been raped? No.

She needed to remember she could look pretty and it was okay.

“But, your clothes are really nice. Becca said –”

I spooned up more fruit, yogurt and granola and smiled at her before asking, “You have a flesh-eating virus or something?”

She grinned at me and replied, “No.”

“Then go and pick something.”

Her eyes moved to the ceiling then to me and she said, “Anything off limits?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“You sure you’re sure?”

I shook my head but smiled and promised, “I’m sure I’m sure.”

“Cool!” she cried, dropped the bacon fork and skip-danced out of the kitchen.

I spooned breakfast in my mouth. Max’s eyes followed Mindy but since I was in the back recess I couldn’t see her. I knew when she was out of sight though because Max’s eyes came to me.

Then he came to me.

Since I was already against the counter, I had nowhere to retreat.

He got super close again, took the bowl out of my hand, the spoon out of the other, dropped the spoon in the bowl and set it on the counter.

I swallowed my food and demanded, “Would you quit taking that away? I’m trying to eat breakfast.”

I said this as I looked at the bowl. I should have kept my eyes on him. For, when my head twisted back, his hand came to my neck and his mouth came down on mine.

I really tried not to respond this time. I knew how good it could be so I thought I could steel myself against it.

I was wrong.

His tongue touched my lips, my mouth opened like it had a mind of its own and then I was in his arms. Max deepened the kiss and my hands slid around his neck, my fingers going into his hair. I went up on my toes, pressed into his body and he pushed me back into the counter.

It was as good as it was yesterday, just as good, which meant it might always be that good.

Which was bad.

His mouth broke from mine but he didn’t move far away. His hand came back to my neck, curling around, his forehead rested on mine and our heavy breathing mingled.

“Tried to wake you up last night when I got to bed, you were out like usual, didn’t have the heart in the end,” he whispered.

“Okay,” I whispered back, not really thinking because my mind was on my nipples which had gotten hard and were tingling and my stomach which had somehow disappeared and between my legs which was tingling even more.

“Mindy was on the couch,” he went on.

“Oh.”

“No Mindy tonight,” he finished and I found that my stomach hadn’t disappeared because it spasmed in a way I really, really liked.

“Oh,” I breathed this time and I watched his eyes smile.

His thumb slid along my jaw. “You kiss like that, honey, lookin’ forward to findin’ out what else you can do.”

I kissed like that? It was Max who was a good kisser.

I didn’t tell him this, instead, I shivered.

Then I muttered, “Um…”

He interrupted me with, “Men are idiots?”

“Mostly,” I answered on a whisper and I heard and felt him chuckle.

“Hey! I know!” Mindy shouted from somewhere not exactly close but in Max’s house nowhere was exactly far.

Max closed his eyes, rolled his forehead to the side and his body unfortunately followed it

I hastily grabbed my bowl.

“What?” I asked when Mindy hit the kitchen.

“You and me and Becca can go shopping in town this afternoon then later we’ll take you to dinner.”

“That’s a great idea,” I told her.

“We got plans,” Max said from beside me and I watched as Mindy’s face fell.

Then I looked at Max and widened my eyes at him. He caught my hint, looked at Mindy then he sighed.

Then he said, “You bring her home, safe and sound, we can push ‘em to later.”

“Cool!” Mindy exclaimed.

“Doesn’t anyone around here work?” I asked.

“I work at The Dog with Becca so we work nights,” Mindy said, walking to the cold bacon and picking up a slice. “I’m off tonight, Becca’s gotta work but that isn’t until later.” Then she bit off some bacon and chewed.

I noticed that Max didn’t answer my question.

“You’re good to stay with Bec?” Max asked and Mindy nodded. “And we’re movin’ your shit there this mornin’?” Max went on, Mindy took another bite of bacon and nodded. “You’re gonna stick with this break with Damon?”

“A week, Max,” she said. “That was the deal we decided last night.”

“You stick with a week,” Max returned, sounding exactly like an older brother though, I couldn’t know, I didn’t have an older brother, just a dead younger one, but I was guessing since, even younger, Charlie used to sound like that a lot.

She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

Yes, definitely an older brother.

“Mindy,” Max’s voice was a warning.

All right, maybe a somewhat scary older brother. Charlie had never been scary.

“I’ll stick with the week,” she answered.

“You make Damon stick with it too,” Max pushed.

“Oh… kay,” she replied impatiently and I looked at Max to see he was grinning which, when I looked back at Mindy, I noted she found annoying.

“I love that top on you,” I butted in. “You should keep it.”

Mindy’s annoyed face disappeared and her eyes hit me. “I couldn’t.”

“You can.”

“But –”

“I’ll replace it in town this afternoon. There looked like there were some great shops.”

“They’re awesome!” Mindy cried. “I can’t wait to show you.”

“Me either,” I replied, spooned up more of my breakfast and when I was shoving it into my mouth, Max’s arm hooked around my neck and he pulled me into his side.

“Make me some eggs and toast to go with that bacon, Mins,” Max ordered, she rolled her eyes but headed to the toaster, I tested his arm around my neck and found it didn’t budge. “Hand me my coffee, Duchess,” he ordered me, I caught Mindy’s eye, rolled mine back, she giggled then I reached forward, his arm still around my neck, grabbed his mug and handed it to him.

So, in the end, I finished my breakfast pressed to Max’s side, his arm around my neck, watching Mindy make eggs and toast while Max sipped cold coffee.

And I not only didn’t tell him we weren’t going to explore our situation, I let him kiss me again, told him about Charlie and made a date to spend the afternoon and have dinner with, essentially, his baby sister who’d been raped only weeks before.

Yes, I was officially in trouble.

***

I took a shower in Max’s downstairs bathroom, hauling all my stuff down there to do it. There, I got ready while Max took a shower upstairs and Mindy sat on the toilet seat chatting animatedly to me like a girl who’d never experienced anything but extreme happiness while living in a land of golden rainfalls, fairies that granted wishes and dancing leprechauns that showered treasure on you.

When I was done getting ready which, if Max’s impatient yet amused demeanor was anything to go by took way too long, we all climbed into the Cherokee and went to Mindy’s apartment where we packed up a lot of her stuff. In fact, as far as I could tell since she and this Damon person didn’t have much, outside of dishes and furniture, it seemed like most everything she owned.

On a trip to the Cherokee with a box, I caught Max who was heading back in.

“Isn’t this, um…” I asked quietly, in case Mindy could hear, “a lot of stuff for one week?”

Max put his finger to his lips, winked at me then took the box from me and headed back to the Jeep.

When we were done packing up, we drove across town and then Becca helped us carry it up the two flights of stairs to her third story condo.

After we had Mindy safely ensconced in her new lodgings, Max took us out for lunch at a little rustic but lovely café by the river. We had a booth by the window and Max sat by me. Mindy and Becca did most of the talking, so much I didn’t have time to think much less room to speak. Though I did manage to think it felt nice the way Max lounged beside me, his arm across the booth at my back, his bearing laid back but possessive. And I also managed to remind myself I shouldn’t be thinking that way, even though I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.

The sun was shining and the cold snap had completely disappeared. It had to be twenty, maybe even thirty degrees warmer that day and the snow was melting so fast the gutters in the streets had turned to streams. The sun glistening off the water and the snow made the clear day so much brighter it was cheerful, like the town had its own brand of magic.

Experiencing it, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Mindy had, indeed, lived an enchanted life prior, of course, to being raped.

When we walked out of the café, Mindy proclaimed, “All right, girl time! No boys allowed.”

“Like I’d wanna go shoppin’,” Max muttered, his arm sliding around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.

“Right, so, skedaddle,” Becca ordered.

Max grinned and said, “She’ll be right back.”

Then he walked me to the Jeep, shoved me into it with a hand in my belly, followed me in, slid his fingers in my hair, an arm low at my waist and then he made out with me right there on the street, in town, in broad daylight.

Yes, made out with me. Tongues and all.

I did not fight this mainly because I was focused on fighting my body’s reaction to his hands on me and his tongue in my mouth and, unfortunately, losing.

When his head lifted, I noted vaguely he didn’t let me go.

“You gonna be all right with the terrible twosome?” he asked and I found it unfair he seemed capable of breathing and standing erect. My knees had gone weak and my breath had gone funny.

“I think so.”

“Don’t let them get you into trouble.”

“Okay.”

His face came a few centimeters closer and he whispered, “Look out for her, yeah? She has…” he hesitated, “bad moments.”

At this open evidence of his concern for Mindy, something I liked a lot, my hand, moving of its own accord, slid from his hair to cup his jaw.

“I’ll look out for her,” I promised.

His beautiful eyes looked into mine for seconds that felt like minutes then he touched his mouth to mine in one of his sweet, swift kisses and he pulled me from the truck.

“I’ll see you at home later,” he said.“Okay.”

He chucked me under the chin and started to walk around the Cherokee.

I made a massive effort to pull myself together so I didn’t watch him like a love-struck idiot and headed back to Mindy and Becca. He tooted his horn as he drove passed us and I lifted my hand in a wave, hoping my wave didn’t make me look like a love-struck idiot.

“I think he likes you,” Becca said then she looked at Mindy who was watching me and they both giggled.

“I need to spend money,” I muttered.

“Yeah, me too,” Mindy said, linking her arm with mine and we took off.

There weren’t some great shops in town, there were some really great shops and considering I didn’t have to pay for a wedding anymore and I’d been saving since Niles asked me over a year ago, I went crazy. I bought so much stuff both Becca and Mindy had to help me carry my bags. I also found Sarah’s earrings and feeling generous I bought all three of us a pair even though they were more expensive than I was expecting mainly because they were heavy with silver and beautifully crafted. Becca and Mindy tried to protest but I wouldn’t let them. A girl who’d been raped and her friend who was looking out for her needed new, expensive, heavy, silver, beautifully crafted earrings. It should be a law.

We ran into practically everyone the girls knew it seemed since we were constantly stopped in shops and on the boardwalk. There were a lot of introductions and gabbing. I was a curiosity since some had heard of me already and it was evident Max was a popular person and anyone associated with him was automatically an object of fascination most especially an outsider with an English accent. Others, Becca and Mindy freely told, “Nina’s with Max” which then made me an object of fascination.

After the curiosity about me wore off, most of the talk was about Curtis Dodd and who might have done the deed. Most of this was liberally interspersed with open comments about how no one was really going to miss him. Some of it was catty talk about Shauna who, it was evident, was not a popular person. There were a lot of careful looks at Mindy who seemed to have trouble dealing with these indicated by the pink that would tinge her cheeks. When that happened either Becca or I would get close. Sometimes, if Mindy started shuffling her feet or chewing at her cuticles, I’d grab her hand. When I did this she held on tight and I’d feel the sting of tears behind my eyes but I just held her right back.

We walked by a photography shop that printed digital photos and I asked the girls if we could go in because I was dying to see the photo Cotton took printed out rather than small on the screen at the back of the camera. When we entered it appeared to be a Shrine to Jimmy Cotton, the walls were wallpapered with his pictures. We hung out while the photos were printing halfheartedly looking at photography stuff we had no interest in. When they were done, I paid for the photos and we stood a few feet from the counter looking through them.

I came upon Cotton’s photo and stared, stunned at what the man could do with a digital camera. The framing was magnificent, he managed to make the bluff, river and mountains most of the photo, Max and me at the side.

But regardless of the beauty of the vista, it was Max and me that took my full attention.

Not surprisingly, Max was incredibly photogenic, smiling natural and casual into the camera.

Surprisingly, even with his supreme male beauty, I looked natural and casual, smiling at his side. My cream cap, blonde hair and pale, wind-kissed skin was an attractive foil to his dark handsomeness. I liked the look of us together, maybe a bit too much.

And we didn’t look like we’d just met and barely knew each other. We looked like we’d known each other forever, comfortable in our close hold.

We looked even like we belonged together.

I hadn’t realized I’d put my hand to his stomach, my arm around his back and I noticed that I fitted into his side like God created me specifically to slot right there. And his hand curled at my neck, gloved fingers barely visible through the strands of my hair, had the weird look like he was claiming me. I was, just simply, his.

“I freaking love that picture!” Mindy cried, standing close, staring at the photo and Becca got close too.

“Wow, awesome shot,” she breathed. “Max is hot and you’ve got the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

I started, tore my eyes from the photo and looked at Becca. “I’m sorry?”

Becca’s gaze came to my face. “Prettiest eyes, Max said it too.”

I blinked and felt my eyebrows go up just as I felt a pleasant warmth wash through me.

“I’m sorry?” I repeated.

“Max said you’ve got the prettiest eyes he’s ever seen.”

Oh my God.

“He said that?” I whispered and Becca grinned.

“Yeah, the other day, when, um…” Her gaze slid to Mindy who was listening then came back to me. “He said it the other day when we were talkin’ ‘bout you. He said you were cute when you were pissed and you’ve got the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen.”

Oh. My. God.

I looked back to the photo and examined, for the first time in my life with any great attention, my eyes. You couldn’t see it really in the photo but I knew they were deep set and hazel, more brown than green. I’d never thought much of them except wishing they were bigger, wider so I could use more flair with eye shadow and, even focusing on them, I didn’t think much of them now.

“You do have really pretty eyes,” Mindy said to me softly. “I noticed them right off the bat.”

“I… they’re… um…” I stammered.

“Really unusual, striking, eye-catching, no pun intended,” Becca said on a grin.

“Can I have a copy of that photo?” Mindy asked, still speaking softly and I looked closely at her.

She was gazing at the photo and her face was soft like her voice.

“Sure, darling,” I said softly back and her eyes skittered to me.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

I walked to the counter, handed my memory card to the clerk as well as the photo and asked for another copy.

Then I turned to Mindy and told her, “Best part about it, outside the view, is that Jimmy Cotton took it.”

“Jimmy Cotton does not take snapshots,” the clerk said to me, his voice filled with unmistakable outrage.

I turned back to him, surprised at his entry into our conversation and the tone of it, and asked, “I’m sorry?”

“Jimmy Cotton…” he waved my photo at me, “does not take snapshots.” He indicated the walls of his shop with a wave of his hand. “He’s a master.”

“Yes, I agree, but he happened onto us at the bluff yesterday and he took our photo.”

“With a digital camera?” the clerk shot back, now his tone was filled with derision as if digital cameras were the invention of the devil.

“Um…” I looked at the memory card then answered, “yes.”

“Jimmy doesn’t do digital.”

“Um…” I started but I heard Mindy whisper from beside me. “The bluff?”

I turned to her and said, “Yes.”

She snatched the photo out of the clerk’s hand and looked closely at it.

“God, I was lookin’ at you and Max, I didn’t notice you were at the bluff.”

“We were. Max took me there yesterday,” I said and her eyes moved quickly to me.

Then she breathed, “Wow.”

“Sorry?”

“Wow,” she said louder.

“Wow, what?”

“Wow, Max took you to the bluff.” The strange wonder slid out of her face and it brightened then she smiled, blinding and huge. “He took you to the bluff.”

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word because I was confused.

“What’s the big deal?” Becca asked, getting close.

“The bluff is Max’s favorite place in the world,” Mindy answered.

“He seemed rather fond of it,” I remarked and Mindy giggled.

“Yeah, you could say he’s ‘rather fond of it’,” Mindy replied through her continuing giggles. “Brody told me he’s seriously rather fond of it. It’s his special place and he doesn’t share it with just anybody. He didn’t take Brody there for years. He didn’t take me there until my sixteenth birthday and he’s known me since I was born.”

I had the strange sensation of not getting a good feeling about this information at the same time I was getting a good feeling about it.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Mindy said through a smile.

“Wow,” Becca whispered.

Wow was right.

“I don’t know what to do with that information,” I told Mindy and Becca.

“I’ll ask Brody what you should do with that information,” Mindy offered helpfully and I felt my lungs seize.

“No, don’t do that.”

“Oh yeah, do that,” Becca encouraged. “I wanna know too.”

“No, don’t,” I repeated.

“You gotta,” Becca said. “This could be huge.”

“Yeah,” Mindy’s eyes were bright with excitement and happiness. “Lovin’ this, Brody’ll love it too.” Her bright, happy eyes came to me. “Maybe even enough to come home and check you out.”

This was a nightmare.

“Um… that kind of scares me,” I told her and she laughed, linked her arm with mine and put her forehead to my shoulder.

“My big bro is cool, you’ll adore him. He’s awesome,” she said when she lifted her head.

I looked into her carefree eyes and I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble.

“Brilliant,” I muttered and she grinned.

“That’ll be a quarter,” the clerk said from behind us, waving the print.

“A quarter for a Jimmy Cotton print? Bargain!” Becca exclaimed, I thought mostly to annoy the clerk.

If this was her intention, she succeeded magnificently and the three of us walked out of the shop together under the weight of his irate scowl, Becca and Mindy gulping back giggles.

Me?

I found it funny, their giggles were infectious and I definitely laughed.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t quaking in my boots.

***

We were sitting at a red and white checked table clothed table in the center of which was an enormous pepperoni and mushroom pizza that a family of five could assist us with consuming and everyone would be sated when Mindy started the conversation.

“Okay, it’s none of my business, really, but it kind of is because I’ve known Max since I was born.”

I looked at her around my beer knowing I wasn’t going to like this.

I lowered my beer and asked, “What’s none of your business?”

Her head tipped to my hand. “That diamond on your finger.”

I was right, I didn’t like this.

“Mindy –” I started.

“I know you’ve known him, like, real brief, but sometimes shit happens fast when you know it’s right and you guys seem solid,” she said softly. “Still, it isn’t Max’s.”

Max and me seemed solid? Shit happens fast when you know it’s right?

I ignored both of those and said softly back, “No, it isn’t Max’s.”

“So, is it an heirloom or something?” she asked and I pulled in a deep breath.

“No,” I said on the exhale.

“So, whose is it?” she pressed.

I looked at Becca who had a slice of pizza in her hand, her hand to her mouth, her teeth in the slice but her eyeballs were wandering around the room looking at anything but Mindy and me and, if she didn’t have the pizza in her mouth, I knew she would have been whistling.

Then I looked at Mindy and made a decision. “His name is Niles.”

“Niles?” she asked and I could tell she didn’t much like his name.

Niles was a perfectly fine name, of course, however it didn’t ring American Mountain Man like “Max” or “Brody” or “Damon”.

“Niles,” I repeated.

“Okay, so,” Mindy went on and I could see she was pulling up the courage to do so and I wished she wouldn’t but I understood why she did, considering it was obvious she was close to Max and cared about him. “You’re wearin’ Niles’s ring, why are you up at the A-Frame with Max?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We got time.”

“Mins,” Becca whispered.

“No, it’s okay,” I said but I didn’t know why I said it since it wasn’t.

Then suddenly it was.

And over beer and pizza, I found myself telling two twenty-four year old girls (I’d found out their ages) everything about my life, Niles, Charlie, my timeout adventure in the mountains and my e-mail.

I did not, however, tell them about Max.

When I stopped speaking and grabbed another slice of pizza, Becca breathed, “Wow, you’re goin’ through a lot.”

“Yes, that’s about it, wow,” I whispered then bit into my pizza.

“So, you aren’t with this Niles anymore?” Mindy asked.

I chewed, swallowed and licked my lips.

Then I whispered, “I don’t think I’ve been with him for awhile.”

Then I suddenly felt tears hit my eyes.

“Oh, Nina,” Mindy whispered back, her fingers wrapping around my wrist.

My neck twisted and I dropped my slice, Mindy’s hand went away and I took a sip of beer.

Then I shared, “You know, the funny thing is, that part doesn’t hurt. Losing him, not at all.” My voice dropped and my eyes went between them both as I asked, “Does that make me a bad person?”

“No,” Becca said instantly.

“I don’t think he’s been with you for awhile either,” Mindy said and went on, “by the sounds of it.”

I nodded my head and told her. “I’m just sad because I care about him and I don’t want him to hurt.”

“Not sure he’ll hurt,” Becca muttered and I looked at her.

“Sorry?”

Becca pressed her lips together, glanced at Mindy then said to me, “He seems pretty clueless. Don’t want to sound like a bitch or anything, but, way it sounds, not sure he’ll even notice you’re gone.”

I had to admit, this idea had merit considering I’d sent that e-mail yesterday, Niles checked his e-mail frequently and I hadn’t heard from him at all. I did tell him I’d call in a few days but I’d also broken up with him. Like Max had said, a man cares, he phones.

And even though I said I’d call in a few days, if Niles cared I broke up with him, he’d phone, my offer to call in a few days be damned.

Ergo, it seemed Becca was right.

Nevertheless, I started, “He’s just –”

“Clueless,” Mindy said firmly.

“But –”

“Listen, Nina,” Becca cut in, “you’re gorgeous, you’re classy, you’re sweet, you dress awesome.” She glanced again at Mindy then went on with a sageness that was beyond her years. “See it all the time, a good woman settles for somethin’ that feels good, in your case, it felt safe, but it ain’t right. This Niles guy might be a nice guy, but he ain’t right. It’s good you realized it before it was too late.”

She’s right, Charlie said into my head and my back went straight.

“I saw you look at me,” Mindy said to Becca and she looked somewhat peeved so I couldn’t focus on the fact that Charlie was in my head again; or on what they’d both just said to me; or on the fact that it made sense and I felt relief, deep down, to have two twenty-four year old girls I didn’t know all that well assuring me I was doing the right thing. Instead, I needed to focus on Mindy and Becca.

“I did,” Becca said honestly to Mindy.

“Damon’s just havin’ a rough time,” Mindy told her.

“Yeah, you’ve said that, like, a million times,” Becca said back.

“Well, that’s ‘cause he is,” Mindy retorted.

“Girls,” I waded in.

They ignored me. “For Nina, this Niles guy, he’s boring and clueless and,” she looked at me, “Nina and Niles? That doesn’t sound too good. Now, Nina and Max…” she grinned. “that goes great together.”

“Becca,” I said but she looked back to Mindy.

“So she said yes because she felt safe. Now she realizes safe ain’t all that. For you, Damon is hot and he’s… well, that’s about all he’s got, bein’ hot. Mostly, he’s a jerk.”

“He isn’t a jerk,” Mindy returned.

Becca looked at me. “He’s a jerk.”

I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do but I decided to add, “Max doesn’t seem to care much for him.”

“Max never likes my boyfriends, neither does Brody,” Mindy said to me.

“Maybe because they’re all jerks?” Becca suggested.

“They aren’t all jerks,” Mindy replied.

Becca looked back at me. “All hot. All jerks.”

“Looks aren’t everything,” I advised Mindy

“Easy for you to say,” Mindy muttered. “You’ve got Max. He’s the hottest of the hot.”

She had that right.

“You’ll find um… hot and nice,” I encouraged, though I wasn’t certain I should. It was my experience that those two didn’t go very well together. Niles was nothing to sneeze at. In fact, he was quite good-looking if not powerfully built and amazingly attractive. He was also nice. He was just…

Clueless.

“Easy for you to say again,” Mindy said to me. “You’ve got Max, he’s hot and nice.”

I suspected she had that right too, though the jury was still out on that one.

“Mindy –” I started and she cut me off but before she did I noticed her color had gone high, the light had gone out of her eyes and her shoulders had slumped.

I guessed this was all indicative of a “bad moment” coming on.

“Can we not talk about this?” Mindy asked and I knew from the dead tone of her voice that I was right.

“Girl –” Becca began but Mindy cut her off too.

“I asked, can we not talk about this?”

I looked at Becca who was looking at me. I tipped my head at Mindy and Becca shrugged.

“All right, darling, we’ll not talk about this,” I said to Mindy.

“I need a drink,” Mindy said back. “Let’s go to The Dog.”

“We’re drinking here,” I reminded her.

“The Dog’s more fun,” Mindy told me.

I was supposed to be back at the Mindy-less A-Frame after dinner to meet Max. Max and his hands and his mouth and his tongue and his muscled back and amazing chest and queen-sized bed.

“I could go to The Dog,” I decided.

“Brill!” Becca exclaimed. “My shift starts in half an hour, we’ll get you at one of my tables, we’ll carry on girlie time even when I’m workin’.”

“I need to call Max,” I told them, digging in my bag, looking for my phone. “Do either of you have his number?”

“Sure,” Mindy said but I was still digging.

Then I realized I’d left my phone on Max’s nightstand. And Niles might have called while Max was at home.

Drat!

I dropped my purse to hang on the chair and turned to the table. “Actually, I forgot my phone.”

Mindy’s thumb was moving on her phone, she beeped it and handed it to me. “Use mine, should be ringing.”

I took it, glanced at them both and muttered, “Excuse me,” before I got up and walked from the table the short distance to the lobby.

“Yeah?” Max answered.

“Max?”

“Duchess?”

“Yes.”

“Everything okay?”

“Um… we’re going to The Dog.”

There was a moment of silence, loaded silence.

Then, “What?”

“We had a somewhat… difficult conversation at dinner. Mindy needs a drink.”

“Mindy’s drivin’ and she’s supposed to be drivin’ you up here, she doesn’t need a drink.”

“Trust me, Max, I think she needs a drink.”

He was quiet a second then his voice was soft when he asked, “That bad?”

“Not really,” I answered honestly, “just that, if we don’t do evasive maneuvering, it might get there.”

“I need to come down?”

All right, maybe he was nice.

“I’ll call you if I think you should.”

“All right, Duchess,” he replied, “and speakin’ of callin’. Your phone’s here.” I held my breath and he went on. “You got a coupla calls. The display says they’re from your Mom.”

“Oh.”

Mom. She knew I was here. I was supposed to call her and talk through the Niles situation. With all that went on, I forgot.

“You want me to answer, she calls again, give her Mindy’s number?” Max offered.

“No, that’s okay, I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“Whatever you want, honey.”

Yes, evidence was clearly suggesting Max was nice.

“I better go.”

“Yeah, you go, the new plan is you have fun, Mindy has fun, I’ll come down to pick you both up ‘round eleven. That enough time for evasive maneuvering?”

The evidence was becoming overwhelming.

“You don’t need to do that. I’ll stay sober and drive Mindy home.”

“How’ll you get here?”

“Well, I could stay with Mindy and Becca and maybe one of them will bring me back tomorrow morning.”

His voice was different, firm to the point of being solid when he stated, “Babe, that’s not gonna happen.”

“Max –”

“See you at eleven.”

“Max –”

“Be good.”

“Max!”

Wasted effort to say his name, he hung up.

I slid Mindy’s phone closed and walked back to the table.

“Max has a new plan,” I announced when they both looked at me, I sat down and I looked at Mindy. “He wants us to have fun. He’s designated driver, picking us up at eleven.”

“Killer!” Becca cried.

“Cool!” Mindy cried at the same time.

I smiled at them genuinely this time because really, if I got down to it, spending time with them, shopping at great shops, eating delicious buffalo burgers, snowmobiling, gazing at beautiful vistas, meeting Cotton and having him take my photo with Max, getting my head sorted about Niles which was a relief even if it was a sad one, my Colorado adventure might have started out terrible and was trundling along the road of deeply confusing but still, it wasn’t turning out half bad.

***

“Rat-arsed!” Arlene yelled through a guffaw. “That’s just screwy.”

“Well then, what does shitfaced really mean?” I returned.

She considered this, head tipped to the side then grinned somewhat crookedly and proclaimed, “You got me there.”

“Ha!” I cried and she and I both laughed.

I was right when we left the pizza place. My Colorado adventure wasn’t turning out half bad and it was getting better.

The Dog was fun. It was well off the main drag out in the middle of nowhere. You had to know it was there to find it which meant it was almost entirely populated by locals.

And it was populated. Even for a Thursday it was busy, nearly jam-packed. The music was loud and the beer was cold. It was great.

Arlene, my taxi nemesis, had hit Mindy and my table around forty-five minutes after we arrived. She introduced herself and without invitation sat herself down at a stool at our small, high, round table. She was older than me I guessed by about fifteen years or so. She was short, very round but had the daintiest feet and hands I’d ever seen. She had close cropped hair that looked permed and it was colored a peculiar shade of peach that I thought was supposed to be strawberry blonde but missed the mark by quite a bit.

And she was hilarious.

“What other words do they have?” Mindy asked, leaning into me.

I was educating them on English English versus American English, I’d been doing this awhile and they thought it was fascinating.

“Um…” I mumbled, sucking back more beer, of which I’d lost count how many I’d had, I swallowed, dropped my hand with bottle to the table and stated, “Rubbish.”

“Trash, you said that one already,” Arlene told me.

“Bunged up!” I cried.

“What?” Mindy giggled.

“Means you have a stuffy nose.”

“Love it! Bunged up!” Arlene said on a near shout.

“They also say ‘head full of cold’ when you’ve got a cold,” I shared and then carried on. “Pants are underwear, trousers are pants. Vests are called waistcoats, tank tops are called vests and robes are called dressing gowns!”

“We speak the same language at all?” Arlene asked and I smiled at her.

“Not much,” I answered. “But it works anyway, though never, but never, tell someone you were rear-ended. Ever,” I advised. “They don’t say that but what they think when you say it is very rude because they aren’t thinking of cars at all.”

We all laughed uproariously as if this was the height of comedy.

“I like you,” Arlene declared, grinning broadly. “Never thought I’d say this in my lifetime but I may even like you better than I liked Anna and she was a hoot.”

“Anna?” I asked, wiping a tear of laughter from under my eye.

“Max’s wife,” Arlene replied.

I stopped laughing, her words hitting me like I was a cartoon character standing at the bottom of the cliff and the anvil fell on my head.

I didn’t get the chance to crawl out from under because, shockingly, Mindy was suddenly yanked violently from the table.

“Hey!” Arlene exclaimed, hopping off her stool and I turned.

A tall, good-looking, dark-haired boy-man with scarily bulging biceps that did not look attractively powerful, just scary, had his fingers wrapped tight around Mindy’s upper arm.

“Big, bad Max moved you out today, did he?” he sneered in Mindy’s face, giving her a shake.

I hopped off my stool too as Arlene rounded on Mindy and the man.

“Damon, leave her be,” Arlene ordered.

“Fuck off, Arlene,” he clipped at Arlene and her upper body drew back in visible affront.

“You eat with that mouth, Damon Matthews?” she demanded to know.

“This ain’t your business.”

“Well,” I got up close to them and declared quietly, “it’s mine.”

He swung to me and gave me a head to toe. “Yeah? Who’re you?”

“I’m Nina Sheridan,” I announced like I was saying, “I’m SuperGirl.”

Damon was not impressed. “So?”

“She’s Max’s woman,” Arlene proclaimed and this wasn’t taken favorably by Damon.

“Fuck,” he muttered low, his eyes narrow and not leaving me. “That asshole gets all the sweet pieces.”

“What’s going on?” Becca arrived before anyone could say word one to his rude comment and Damon swung to her.

“You fuck off too, bitch.”

“Did you call me a bitch?” Becca shrieked, instantly beside herself with fury and I got closer in an effort to defuse the situation.

“Listen, Damon –” I started but he jostled Mindy and began to move away.

“We gotta have words,” he told Mindy, ignoring me.

“Damon, I told you, we’re on a break for a week,” Mindy said softly, planting her feet, twisting her arm in his hold and he stopped and glared at her.

“Funny, you get nailed in Denver and we’re suddenly on a break.”

Mindy went solid, Becca went solid, Arlene went solid.

I, on the other hand, saw red for the third time in my life and moved.

“Take your hand off her,” I insisted, having got right in his face.

“Fuck off,” he bit out, right in mine.

“Take your hand off her!” I yelled.

He leaned into me and clipped, “Fuck… off.”

I got more in his face. “Take it off. Now!”

He took it off and shoved my shoulder, shouting back, “Bitch! Fuck! Off!”

I went back on a foot and, so furious at what he said to Mindy not thinking that, boy-man or not, he was bigger than me and his biceps were scary, I lifted both hands and pushed with all my might against his chest.

He went back two long paces and I shouted, “That’s it, asshole, move along!”

Without delay, he took two steps forward, his arm went across, down and then swung out and around, backhanding me viciously, his knuckles connecting with dazzling accuracy at my cheekbone.

I jerked to the side and bent double, my hand going to my face, my hair flying then settling around me, my eyes blinking away stars.

I was still blinking away stars when I heard Mindy cry, “Max!” and then Max’s gravelly, frighteningly furious voice order, “See to Nina.”

Then I straightened as I felt Arlene’s hands on me and I watched Max do with one hand what I had to do with two. He planted his palm in Damon’s chest and Damon went flying. Max stalked after him and did it again and Damon went flying again.

“This ain’t your business, Maxwell,” Damon snapped, trying to evade Max’s hand but, as if it was a magnet and Damon was steel, Max’s hand hit his chest again and Damon was propelled back, right toward the door.

“You okay?” Arlene asked me and all I could think to say was, “Max.”

“Come on!” Becca shouted, grabbed my hand and Mindy, Becca, Arlene and I rushed to the door Max hustled Damon out of.

We were followed by a slew of people.

I didn’t notice because the minute we hit the parking lot and shuffled between two cars to get to the open area I saw Max’s fist connect with Damon’s face and Damon went down to all fours.

“Enough?” Max asked calmly and Damon’s head twisted up to look at him.

Then he rose to his feet, lifted his fists and said what I was guessing were two of the very few words in his vocabulary, “Fuck you!”

He lunged forward swinging, Max ducked away but righted with a powerful upper cut to Damon’s ribs and Damon went back several paces.

Max followed him and landed two more blows, left then right, both to the ribs again then another one to the face and Damon went back down to his hands and knees.

“Enough?” Max repeated, towering over him.

Damon was coughing and he lifted one hand to his ribs then he pushed to his feet.

“Damon, boy, stay the fuck down,” a man urged.

“Come on, Maxwell,” Damon taunted stupidly, wriggling his fingers at Max.

“Be smart,” Max replied.

“Fuck that,” Damon said and lunged again, lifting a fist too slowly, Max easily deflected it then landed quick blows to Damon’s belly, both of them causing Damon to expel painful-sounding “oofs”. Then Max caught him under the chin and Damon flew back and fell down to his behind.

“Stay down!” another man shouted.

“Enough?” Max asked, standing over him.

Damon kicked at Max’s feet but Max casually stepped away.

“Dick!” Damon spat, saliva flying from his mouth, blood dripping from his lip.

“I asked if you’ve had enough?” Max said to him.

“Enough of that twat, Mindy?” Damon sneered and Max’s body, loose for the fight, got tight.

“You’re the dick!” Becca yelled and I looked to my left to see Arlene and another lady had hold of her and she was straining to get at Damon. I looked to my right to see Mindy, pale and visibly heartbroken, staring at Damon and Max.

I moved to Mindy and put my arms around her, she instantly leaned into my body, wrapped her arms around me and put her head to my shoulder.

“You’ve had enough,” Max decided on a mutter, turned away, dismissing him and his eyes came to Mindy and me and even though I knew he wasn’t mad at me the look on his face still made me shiver. “Jeep,” he clipped.

I nodded. “I’ll run and get our purses.”

“I’ll get them for you,” another lady said and took off.

Damon pushed to his feet behind Max.

“Max, he’s up,” a man informed him and Max, now two feet away from Mindy and me, turned around.

“Come back tomorrow, asshole, get all her shit. Don’t want her back,” Damon said to Max, swiping at his lip with the back of his hand.

Mindy made a funny, sad noise and my arms got tighter.

“Her name’s only one on the lease, Damon, figure you should get your shit out. I’ll be there, you give me the keys,” Max called back.

“I ain’t fuckin’ movin’,” Damon returned.

“Then you get home from work tomorrow, your shit’ll be in the snow,” Max told him.

“Touch my shit, we got problems,” Damon threatened.

“We don’t already got problems?” Max asked the obvious.

Damon glared at him then made another threat, “This ain’t over.”

“Damon, be cool, stand down,” someone advised but Max, apparently, had had enough.

He walked back to Damon and Damon tried not to appear to cower and mostly succeeded since he didn’t retreat but he still looked a bit scared.

“You mistreated what amounts to my sister and backhanded my woman, how is it in that scenario that you’re put out?” Max asked quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Mindy and me ain’t none of your business,” Damon shot back.

“There isn’t a Mindy and you,” Max returned.

“Your woman put her hands on me,” Damon accused accurately but he was beginning to sound like he was whining.

“She’s wearin’ heels, boy, but she’s five foot seven, you got five inches and at least a hundred pounds on her,” Max replied and I figured he was being a might bit generous with the weight but I wasn’t going to correct him, mostly because he wasn’t done talking. “And, lastly, she’s a woman. You don’t ever strike a woman in anger.” Damon continued glaring and Max continued speaking. “I’m feelin’ generous since you’re bleedin’, so I’ll point out you should learn a lesson from this. A man hurts your woman, you take yours from that man. You never take it from your woman.” Damon just kept glaring at him so Max asked, “You got me?”

To which Damon muttered, “Just fuck off.”

Max’s back was to me so I couldn’t see his face but he didn’t speak and I suspected he was examining Damon to see if he was really that dumb. Deciding that Damon was indeed really that dumb, Max shook his head, turned and walked away.

“Here’s your bags.” The lady who ran to get them handed both to me.

“Thanks, um…?” I said, looking at her face.

“Jenna.”

“Thanks, Jenna,” I whispered, she nodded to me and I led Mindy to the Jeep.

The lights flashed as we walked to it and I knew Max was behind us. I helped her into the back, tossed our purses to the seat beside her, moved to the passenger side door and saw Max there.

“You okay?” I asked, looking at him but he didn’t answer.

His fingers and thumb caught my chin and he tipped my head up to look at me in the outside lights. His face, I noted, was no less scary and it got scarier when the entirety of it went hard and tight when he looked at my cheekbone.

“Max, I’m okay,” I whispered but I wasn’t. Now that the commotion was over, my cheek stung like crazy.

“Need to get ice on that soon’s we can,” he muttered.

“Mindy should stay at your place. That man is… I don’t trust him.” I was still whispering.

“Yeah.” He was still muttering. “She’ll stay with us. Get in, I’ll talk to Becca, I want her stayin’ somewhere else tonight too. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

He let my chin go and the backs of his fingers drifted along my jaw before he moved away and jogged to Becca.

I got in and turned to Mindy. “You’re staying at Max’s, okay, darling?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking out the window.

“Mindy, look at me, sweetheart.”

She didn’t look at me. “He hit you.”

“I’m okay.”

“He hit you. I saw it. Becca saw it. Max saw it. Everyone saw it.”

“Sweetheart, I’m okay.”HESHEHshehe

She started crying silently, I knew because her body was moving with her sobs and I crawled through the two front seats and got close beside her, pulling her into my arms.

Max got in and looked around his seat to us, his face, even in the shadows, I could see was still angry. Mindy didn’t lift her head or stop crying.

“I’m going to ride back here with Mindy, is that okay?”

His eyes went to Mindy in my arms, her face in my neck and he nodded.

“Buckle up, Duchess,” he said quietly.

I nodded back, buckled Mindy first, used the middle seat buckle for myself and held her shaking with tears frame all the way back to the Max’s house.