It was time to intervene. Max stood up and placed his hand on Charlie’s chest before he threw himself at her.
“C’mon,” Danny taunted. “What are you waiting for? Scared you might pop a hip?”
Charlie jerked forward.
“Relax,” Max said calmly, pressing his hand more firmly against Charlie’s chest. “She didn’t mean it.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Danny,” Max turned to her and gave her a reprimanding look, “you didn’t mean it. Now can we all just try to get along?”
He looked at one and then the other and neither of them showed any signs of giving in. The knock at the door was a welcomed distraction. Danny slowly started backing away to answer it.
“C’mon, Charlie,” Max said. “Let’s get back to the game.”
“She went too far that time.”
Max looked down at Charlie’s pitiful expression. He wanted to laugh but nodded sympathetically instead. “I know.”
“Richard,” Danny said, “what took you so long?”
Max quickly turned to see the Dick of the Year standing at the door. He only stopped staring when Richard stepped in and pulled Danny into his arms.
“Sorry,” Max heard him say. “I got caught up.”
He heard the smack of their lips, as if Richard was deliberately making it known that he had kissed her. He raked his hand through his hair and tried to keep his jealousy confined. He sat down and lifted the controls again as an attempt to keep his hands occupied, because they were ready to punch Richard in the face.
“Stay cool,” Charlie whispered when they heard footsteps approaching.
“Hello, Max,” Richard said smugly.
Max gritted his teeth and looked back at them. “Hello, Richard. It’s nice to see you back in town.”
Richard seemed to notice the lack of sincerity, but responded anyway. “It’s nice to be back.”
“How long will you be staying…this time?”
“Today’s my last day, I’m afraid.”
“That’s a shame. Work must be really tough.”
“Max,” Danny warned before turning to Richard. “I think we should get going.”
Richard wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her another kiss. “I think that’s a great idea, sweetheart.” He gave Max a haughty smile as he took Danny’s hand and led her to the door.
Max waited to hear the door close before he threw the controls on the floor. “That arrogant fucking prick! What does she see in him?” He stood up and began pacing the length of the room, shouting but not expecting anyone to hear. “How can she be so blind? This is the same guy who blew off the charity dinner last weekend because he probably had better things to do.”
“Danny didn’t invite him,” Charlie said.
“What?”
“Amber told me that Danny didn’t invite Richard.”
Max stopped for a second as the information sank in. It seemed strange that she would have invited him and not Richard. Actually, that didn’t make any sense at all. He wanted to believe that maybe she had wanted to spend the evening with him, but it was very possible that she hadn’t invited Richard because she knew how unreliable he was. Either way he wasn’t going to obsess about that, because right now she was with Richard. That smug, pompous asshole who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air she did.
“She can’t possibly love him,” Max said, his hands curling into tight fists. “I see her with him…and…and it drives me crazy! What the fuck does she see in him, Charlie?”
“Just forget about her, man. Move on with your life. It’s been six years. You’ve been there for six years and she keeps dating jerk after jerk. Just forget about her.”
“I can’t, Charlie. I wish I could.” He clasped his hands together at the back of his head. “It’s just…” He shrugged. “I’m in love with her.”
“I know, dude, but I want you to think about this logically. You don’t date anyone because you think that one day she’s just gonna wake up and realize that she’s meant to be with you. That in itself is a stupid notion. You’ve stood up to three of her ex-boyfriends and got beat up for it.”
“Four,” Max corrected.
“Yeah, four. That, too, was a stupid thing to do. You get stupid when it comes to her and you always end up doing the asshole thing.”
To Charlie, anything Max did when it came to Danny, whether in words or actions, was considered the asshole thing to do.
Max sighed. “Stupidity is a thing of the mind and unfortunately when it comes to her, my head has no say.”
Charlie shook his head. “Did you just grow a fucking vagina? That was incredibly corny, man.”
Max laughed, though it was not a genuine laugh. “That was pretty corny.”
“Are you done with your bitch-fit now?”
“Yeah…” He exhaled a steadying breath. “Yeah, I’m done.” Max sat down again and lifted the controls. “I’m taking Hwoarang this time.”
“You fight dirty with Hwoarang.” Although Charlie protested, he let Max have his way, giving him time to simmer down before he spoke again. “You know, New Year’s Day was only five weeks ago. It’s not too late for one more New Year’s resolution.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Get out there. Meet new people. Date more chicks. We’ll start working out, start taking care of ourselves. You need to move on with your life.”
Max gave a disheartened nod. “I guess that’s about all I can do.”
* * *
Max stopped typing when his phone beeped beside him and smiled to himself. He had not heard from his sister since he texted her for her birthday over a week ago and he suspected it was going to be something dumber than before.
The picture she sent him was of the clown from the movie It, sitting in front of a computer, and the caption read: I, too, am an IT guy.
He chuckled silently.
Max: LOL. You may be on the path to earning back my respect.
Jordan: Did you really laugh out loud? I hate being lied to
Max: No
Jordan: Damn! Have to try harder next time.
“Mister Shepard?”
Max looked up from his phone to see Dorothy, who had popped her head into his office. “Yes.”
“The boss wants to see you in his office.”
“Good news or bad?”
“Good, I think.”
He smiled, stood up, and walked down the long corridor to Mister Marsden’s office. There were a few people in there so he knocked to announce his presence. “You wanted to see me, Mister Marsden.”
“Max. Come in. Come in.” His boss led him into the office to stand in front of three other men, but then his eyes shifted and from behind the man, who was roughly the size of King Kong, came…Wow!
“Max,” Mister Marsden began, “this is Terrence Truman…” Big nose. Floppy hair. Really large teeth. “…Jonathan Abrahams…” Short. Fat. I’m-a-mama’s-boy sort of face. “…Luke…um…Sky Walker…” He was probably tortured as a kid. Which sane mother would give her kid a name like that? But seemingly, Chewbacca was his biological father. The guy was hairy and extremely large, standing a good few feet above everyone.
“And this,” Mister Marsden said, “is Sofia Panadero.”
Finally, some eye candy. She was gorgeous. Tall. Slender. Thick, black hair. Enormous blue eyes and light chocolate skin. Dressed in a tight red shirt and an equally tight pair of white pants. The perfect attire for Valentine’s Day.
Max’s hand went around, giving a firm handshake to all, but when he got to Sofia, suddenly the nerd in him gave instructions to his heart to beat faster and his palms became sweaty. She glanced at him with a look that did not seem professional and he felt the stirrings of a nervous knot developing in his stomach.
“Everyone, this is Max Shepard. I’ve assigned him to your account.”
“Glad to meet you,” Luke said, tapping him on the back.
Max jerked forward on the impact. What felt like a light tap to the man the size of a house actually felt like the Hulk Smash to the puny man on the receiving end. And to look that pathetic in front of such a beautiful woman after the sweaty palm incident was just another small sign of God’s undying love for him. A side order of a thousand watt lightning bolt would hit just the right spot about now.
“These are the board of directors of Bit-by-Bit,” Mister Marsden continued. “They’re a large tool company and they’re thinking of trading over the Internet. Max here is our best web designer and I trust you will find his work more than adequate.”
“Sofia will be taking the reins on this one,” Terrence said, handing Max a thin blue booklet. “Here’s a few of our specifications but they’re not final. You and Sofia can make alterations as you deem fit.”
“I’m really looking forward to working with you, Mister Shepard.”
She spoke with the slightest hint of a Spanish accent and the way she pronounced each word only drew attention to her luscious mouth. Her tone was so suggestive; it almost convinced Max that they were the only two people in the room. But they weren’t and he needed to say something purely because talking would force him to think about something other than those glossy lips that looked absolutely kissable. “You can…uh…you…and…um…” Great! He was stuttering now. That lightning bolt was starting to seem more and more appealing. “Call me Max. Yeah…just call me Max.”