“No thanks. I’ll wait to hear what your dad decides.” I peer around Zach and see Tom standing outside, still smoking his cigar.
“Zach,” he bellows. “Leave her alone.” And walks back inside.
“Catch you later, Leigh.” He winks at me and follows his dad into the showroom.
• • •
Max is pacing outside the garage when Beth’s car pulls into the lot. He looks like a man possessed; his usually styled hair is standing on end from where he’s been tugging at it in frustration. I don’t even get to open the door when he yanks it open and manhandles me out.
“Where the fuck have you been?” His dark eyes flash with anger; never have I seen him this pissed.
“To fix things.” I tug my wrist out of his grasp and glare back at him.
“Fix it. How?” The muscle in his jaw continues to tick.
“I went to see Tom Anderson, okay.” I throw up my arms in defeat, not wanting to fight with him.
“On your own?” he rages.
“No, Beth came with me.” Max’s head jerks up to glare at Beth who gives him a little wave before running over to Aaron.
“Where’s my sandwich?” Aaron calls over, and I curse my stupidity for not at least stopping to get something.
“They didn’t go for a sandwich,” Max shouts, the exasperation clear in his tone and on his face. “They went to see Tom.”
“And.” Aaron slings an arm around Beth as he walks over to where we now seem to be congregating around her car. I perch on the hood and try to ignore the way Max is glaring at me and the anger that is radiating off him in waves.
“What have you done?” Max growls at me, and as sexy as it is, I wish he would stop doing it. It just makes me think inappropriate thoughts, like when he’s hovering over my body and sinks into me, all the way to the hilt. My cheeks flush and a cocky smile spreads over his lips because he knows what’s put that look on my face.
“Nothing. I asked him to reconsider the bet.”
“And?”
“And he said he’d think about it.” There isn’t much they can say to that, not until we know more.
“What did Zach want outside?” Beth opens her mouth and lets her belly rumble, clearly not noticing the shake of my head.
“Nothing.” I shrug, but I avoid looking at anyone, especially Max, and it’s a dead giveaway. He sits beside me on the hood and crosses his arms over his chest, the sleeves of his t-shirt pulling tight over the well-defined biceps. The black pattern of his tattoos distracts me, and I notice the pink lily on his elbow, the only splash of color in an otherwise black sleeve.
“Tell me.”
“It was just Zach being an ass; he said he had an idea of how I could settle the debt.”
Max’s eyebrows climb into his disheveled hairline. “No fucking way,” he grinds out and springs off the hood of the car to stand in front of me, blocking me from Beth and Aaron. He stares down until I finally drag my eyes up from picking at a frayed thread on my jeans to look at him. Pain flashes in his eyes brought on by Zach’s suggestion, and it does something to me. Max is just as vulnerable as I am; why I didn’t see that before, I don’t know. It is all just an act for him—this image of a player, manwhore, ladies’ man. However you dress it up, he’s really looking for that someone special but doesn’t want to get hurt. Like me. I push off the hood and press my hands to his chest. Dark eyes watch me but soften the longer I hold his stare. Prying his folded arms away from his chest, I step closer, so our bodies brush together, and wrap his arms around me. My hands reach for his face and cradle it between my palms, pulling it slowly downward.
“As if I would,” I whisper as my lips touch against his and my tongue slips past his lips and into his mouth. With a groan, his arms tighten around me and pull me closer still. Our kiss carries on, Aaron and Beth fade into the background, and even the worry about my dad and what the hell is going to happen disappears.
“Erm, uh.” Aaron clears his throat, which is his way of telling us to knock it off. And it works, we pull apart, but Max keeps his arms wrapped around my shoulder, tucking me into his body, and I don’t let go of him. Having him close reassures me and makes any doubt I have about saving the garage disappear.
“So what happens now?” Aaron doesn’t know where to look and his eyes keep darting about. He’s never seen me with anyone before, so I can understand his discomfort. That, and he thinks of me as a little sister.
“We wait. At least until Tom Anderson comes back to us.” Max sounds calm, but I can’t help the ominous feeling that is growing in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know if it has escaped their knowledge, but Tom Anderson was also racing the night my Uncle Donnie was killed, and that does nothing to ease the ball of anxiety weighing heavily in my stomach.