“Babe, your Dad’s a dick.”
“Oh dear,” Mom was still mumbling.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Your Dad?” Max asked back. “Definitely jetlagged yesterday. You’re right. He’d wipe the floor with Kami at the same time takin’ on Shauna.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” I noted.
“It wasn’t,” Steve, who had arrived at our group, put in.
“What happened?” Mom asked.
“Bottom line, he ain’t leavin’ mainly because Niles arrives tonight and they want Nina to ‘appear’, Lawrence’s word, at breakfast at the hotel tomorrow morning,” Steve explained and my eyes locked on Max as my heart skipped a beat and this one wasn’t happy.
“What?” I whispered.
Max got close and his hands came to either side of my neck. “You ain’t goin’.”
“But –”
“Fuck ‘em, playin’ these games with your head.”
“Max.”
“Nina, they can want whatever the f**k they want, that doesn’t mean you have to do it.”
I shook my head, short, dazed shakes and then it hit me.
So I said, “I’ll go.”
Max’s brows drew together dangerously and he asked, “What?”
“I’ll go.”
His hands tightened on my neck and I felt his body tighten with them. “Why?”
“Because, it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nina –”
“No, Max,” I cut him off, hooking my thumbs in his belt loops at the sides of his jeans and I explained, “You don’t break up with someone over e-mail or over the phone. You do it face to face. No matter what you may think, Niles isn’t a jerk, he never hurt me, lied to me, cheated on me, hit me. He deserves me breaking up with him face to face.”
“Your father’s pretty convinced he and Niles can talk you into changing your mind,” Max informed me.
“Well, they’re wrong.”
“Duchess –”
I interrupted him, this time by leaning into him and I said softly, “Max, they won’t because you’ll be there with me.” His body jerked with surprise as his head tilted to the side. “And Mom,” I went on. “And Steve. You’ll all take care of me.” I leaned in closer and promised, “It’ll be okay.”
His fingers at my neck tightened again and he whispered, “Baby.”
“You’ve done a lot for me but can I ask you to do this too?”
Max’s eyes held mine for a long moment before he replied softly, “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
This was what he said, what he meant was he wouldn’t allow it to happen any other way. I knew that, he knew it too but it was nice the way he said it.