I turned, looked up at him and saw his face was blank but there was something working behind his eyes, something I didn’t get but they were roving over my face.
Finally, Max spoke. “A warning, Duchess, I won’t let your Dad give you any shit.”
The conflicting emotions I had in the Jeep settled at his declaration of support and I moved closer to him.
“Okay,” I said.
His hand squeezed mine and then it tugged, bringing me closer and his other hand went to my hip.
“Another warning,” he muttered, his eyes locked on mine.
“What?” I asked when he didn’t say anything further.
He looked at me a second then I saw his jaw tense, his hand got tight in mine and his fingers gripped my hip.
“Max?” I prompted, his apparent battle to gain control over something I didn’t understand was beginning to worry me because it didn’t seem at all like Max.
“The right thing to do would be to let you do what you need to do,” Max stated.
I felt my brows draw together in confusion and I repeated, “What?”
“Not gonna do that, babe.”
“What?” I asked again.
“You think to slide back, settle for something that made you run away because you think it’s safe, because it’s familiar, because you’re scared of takin’ a gamble on me, I’m warnin’ you now, Duchess, I’m not gonna allow that.”
Oh my God.
He was worried. In his Max way, he was worried I’d walk in, take one look at Niles and go back to my old life. Or let Niles and my father talk me into it. That was why he was silent in the Jeep and that was why he didn’t take my hand, because this was on his mind.
“Max –” I whispered, moving closer and putting my hand to his chest.
“You just need to know, I gotta fight to keep what we got so we can build on it, I will. Him, your Dad, you, I don’t give a f**k. In my life, I’ve learned when to let shit go and when to fight. This, babe, what we got, I’ll fight for.”
My hand slid up his chest and curled around his neck as I got closer. I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes and my stomach melted. I was back to thinking settling for Max would be perfectly all right. Definitely.
“Max –”
“Fair warnin’.”
My fingers tensed on his neck and I squeezed his hand. “Okay,” I whispered, “fair warning.”
He dipped his head and touched his mouth to mine, let me go but his arm curled around my shoulders, mine curved around his waist, my thumb going into his belt loop and we walked to the hotel. We no sooner opened the door when we heard it.
My mother screeching, “You dare!”
My head whipped to the side and up and I saw Max already looking down at me, his face both surprised and amused.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
Over my words, I heard my Mom scream, “Let me at him!”
Max’s arm dropped but he grabbed my hand and walked quickly with long strides and I had to rush double time to keep up with him as he dragged me to the hotel restaurant. When we entered we saw everyone in the restaurant had their heads turned to a corner table.
This was because, at the corner table, Steve was holding my mother back and her arms were outstretched toward my father, her fingers curled as if she was imagining strangling him.
Niles was standing, looking somewhat troubled and uncertain what to do but Dad was sitting, staring up at my mother with an ugly smirk on his face.