Take the Chance (Top Shelf Romance #9) - Brittainy Cherry Page 0,126

bunch of warnings.”

My heart ached a little, and I reached my hand across the table to hold his. “What happened?”

“Nah, it’s nothing,” Max said, smiling thinly. “I’m the sponsor. I’m supposed to have my shit together.”

“The meeting’s not until nine,” I said. “You’re not on the clock yet.”

“I’m always on the clock.”

“I just smashed the clock.”

He chuckled, then heaved a sigh and sat back in the booth. I put my hand in my lap and listened.

“My parents caught me with a guy when I was sixteen. So nine years ago. They didn’t take it well, especially considering they hadn’t known I was gay. They disowned me, kicked me out.” He shook his head, his brown eyes heavy. “God, my life is such a cliché.”

“It’s not,” I said. “It’s what happened to you. Go on.”

Max toyed with his fork and waited while Betty set down our drinks and hurried off again.

“I’d met this guy. Travis. He was a little bit older than me, in college at the University of Washington.”

“Seattle?” I asked. I popped a cherry into my mouth. “Is that where you’re from?”

Max nodded. “Travis was a good guy, too. He was good to me. Never tried anything; was willing to wait until I got older. We were both new to actually living as ourselves. We weren’t in a hurry to experience everything all at once. We just wanted to be together.”

“What happened?” I asked softly.

“My parents freaked out. They told Travis if he came near me they’d have him arrested for statutory rape, even though we hadn’t come close to actual sex. But it scared him. His first relationship with a guy and he’s being threatened with jail. He broke it off with me and I was devastated.”

Max wrenched himself from his story to look at me.

“I don’t know if I should be telling you this.”

“Why not?” I asked. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

His smile flickered over his lips. “Yeah, we are.” He took a sip of root beer, wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Not much left to tell, actually. My parents’ concern about me being ‘violated’ by Travis was utter bullshit. They just wanted to punish him. And me.” He managed a grin. “My parents were trapped in another era. This era,” he said, indicating the restaurant. “You walked into their bedroom half-expecting to find twin beds, instead of one.”

I smiled for him, while inside I braced myself for something terrible.

“They forced me to break up with Travis, and then kicked me out of the house anyway.”

My eyes widened. “You were sixteen?”

He nodded. “I had no job, no place to live and a shit-ton of anger.” He lowered his voice, toyed with his straw. “I hooked up with some other homeless guys and they got me into selling drugs. Selling quickly became doing. I felt like I was carving up my soul into little pieces. I got caught a bunch of times, went to juvie a bunch of times, ran away from any foster home they tried to stick me in. It’s so movie-of-the-week.”

“How did you survive?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. I hitchhiked down here and fell in with a new set of bad guys. They sold more than drugs and convinced me I could make a lot of money if I did the same.”

“You mean… prostitution?”

He nodded. “That’s drugs for you. They make you think fucking terrible ideas are really good ideas.”

“Or even better, not think at all.”

Max lifted his soda in mock toast. “Anyway, I was seventeen, and got busted one night. The cop was a good guy. Instead of taking me to the station, he took me home, let me crash on his couch. I thought he was a perv with ulterior motives but I was too high to care.”

“But he wasn’t a perv,” I said.

“No. He got me cleaned up, got me in the program, helped me get my GED, then nursing school after that. All of it. I’d be dead without him.” He shook his head, his blue eyes cloudy with heavy storms of memory. “It’s funny how someone can be a better dad to you than the one who shares your blood.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“He died a couple years back,” Max said. “Myocardial infarction.”

“A what?”

“Heart attack.” He smiled a little. “Sorry, I take refuge in medical terminology. Easier to take sometimes.”

“I’m so sorry. But I’ll bet he was really proud of you,” I said with a gentle smile. “Is that why the shitty day? Were you missing him?”

Max shrugged.