“Yes, god of thunder, but you’re missing the point. I wanted you from the moment I saw you, but I still would have left. It took you intervening for me to pull my head out of my ass.”
“Now hold on just a damn minute,” Maxine scoffed. “If my memory serves, and it usually does, you did leave. In fact, you both had sticks up your asses until I intervened.”
Max ignored his mother’s outburst. He’d grown quiet when Mia said she wanted him the moment she saw him, and his expression had turned smoldering.
Mia didn’t miss it either. She raised her hand to block the view. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll have to add Hungry Max to the list.” I didn’t know what list she was talking about, but Max grinned and winked. “All I’m saying is,” Mia continued, “I didn’t know what was best for me until you forced me to open my eyes. And that’s all your mother was doing.”
“Selective memory, both of you,” Maxine jumped in. “He wouldn’t have helped you see the light if I hadn’t stepped in and forced him to get on a plane and claim you. And you, you left with your panties in a wad without fighting for what you wanted.”
Mia swung her head toward Max and narrowed her eyes.
“Is this true?”
“He’s a man, of course it’s true,” Maxine sighed.
“We’ll talk about it later.” Max glowered at his mother.
“You can bet your sweet lumberjack ass we’ll talk about it later,” Mia answered between her teeth.
“Children,” Maxine shouted. Mia turned to her and crossed their arms.
If I weren’t so worried about Shane, I would have popped some popcorn and settled in for the show. These three were hilarious.
“Are you done?” Max looked at Mia, and she stuck out her tongue.
“You’ll be puttin’ that to good use later,” Max gruffed.
“Never a dull moment in the Hunter home,” Maxine sighed. ”But, as you can see, Maximilian,” she waved her arm toward Mia, “your mother isn’t so dumb after all. You can thank my interference for being with the love of your life.”
Max stared blankly at Maxine for a moment then hung his head. He muttered, “Fuck,” then walked to her and kissed her forehead.
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
“You love me,” she chided.
“Lord only knows why. Now stop interferin’ with Shane.”
“Scouts honor,” Maxine answered, cupping her son’s cheeks. “Sage has his attention now; she can take it from here.”
“He may never change his mind,” Max said, turning his attention toward me. “Shane’s stubborn to the core. When he gets an idea in his head, that’s it, unless you can convince him otherwise.”
“I know, but I have to try. For his sake.”
“So what’s your next move?”
I turned and looked at the door, biting my lip as I decided how to proceed.
“I’ve turned his world upside down since I arrived and accused him of something that wasn’t true. I think it’s time I made up for a few things.”
***
Sitting on his porch with a bottle of Jack, Shane would have given anything for the sun to set. His mood was black and he needed the dark. He continued to drink, determined he would sleep that night without images of smoldering wreckage. Unfortunately, as the bottle emptied, it wasn’t a burnt-out wreckage he saw, but pale-green eyes instead.
Tilting the bottle back, he drank deep and tried to focus on the burn, the way his mind clouded as his blood warmed.
You could have breathed me in, even when it hurts to breathe, and I would have helped you heal.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the memory, but it wouldn’t stop.
That’s what I would have given to you if you’d been brave enough to try.
“Brave enough to try?” He chuckled at the irony.
Standing suddenly, he threw the bottle against a tree in his yard and watched as the amber liquid seeped into the soil. “Keeping you at arm’s length is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life!” he shouted.
Fireworks from the carnival erupted in the distance, and Shane flinched. He curled his hands into fists as he tried to block out the sound and the memory it evocated. But Sloan’s face appeared before him no matter how hard he attempted to push it out. Her lifeless eyes, eyes shaped like Sage’s, stared back at him, their light gone from this world as she lay tangled inside the wreckage. They haunted him.
Their similarity was one of the reasons he couldn’t look directly at Sage. Even though the shade of their eyes was different, she and her sister shared the same cat eye shape. He already had nightmares about Sloan’s lifeless eyes; he didn’t need them during the day.