The Gamble

The fear started sliding away and I started melting back into him.

“Max –”

“You were also there when you told me you loved my house. And when you told me beer was invented in Germany. And when you told Cotton how his pictures made you feel. And, if I remember, you were there when you looked at the bluff like you’d stepped into heaven. And when you went on about some television character’s lipstick. And you were also there when you took on Damon for Mindy. And when you practically threw Mindy in Jeff’s arms. And when you threw down with Kami and Shauna, both in one night. And you were definitely there when you saved Mindy’s life yesterday and you were also f**kin’ there when you did what you did for Mindy today.”

I couldn’t believe he remembered all that. Heck, until then, I hadn’t remembered all that. Some of it but not all of it and some of it I was trying to forget because it hadn’t been all that fun.

“Max –”

“The people in this town are friendly enough with outsiders, Duchess, but only as much as they gotta be. They’re friendly with you because they like you and they like you because, like me, they see all that, that’s a f**kuva lot to like and they know that’s just scratchin’ the surface.”

I couldn’t take anymore, I wanted to, but I couldn’t.

“Stop talking now,” I whispered because if he didn’t I’d start crying.

“You asked.”

“Okay, I did, but you need to stop talking now.”

“Baby –”

I looked down at the cookie sheet. “And don’t be nice anymore, I prefer you annoying.”

His body started shaking with laughter and he called, “Nina, darlin’, look at me.”

I kept my face averted. “No, I need to put the pasta in the water.”

“Honey –”

I pushed against his shoulders. “Let me go, Max.”

I felt his face in my neck. “You’re demonstrating another reason I like you right now when you act crazy and cute.”

Only Holden Maxwell would think my neurotic crazy was cute.

I kept pushing his shoulders and demanded, “Stop it, Max.”

His hand slid up my spine, his fingers sifted in my hair and his lips went to my ear. “All that, and there’s a lot of it, Duchess, I can hold in my arms. You wanna know why I’m so sure, that’s why.”

I choked back my tears and this made a girlie noise so I shoved my face in his chest.

He held my face there with his hand in my hair and he held me close with his arm around my waist. I held back the tears and I did this by deep breathing loudly.

Once I succeeded, Max kissed the top of my head again and offered, “I’ll put the macaroni on.”

Then he let me go and I turned back to the biscuits and hot dogs instead of downing the entire glass of wine which was what I wanted to do or, better, move back into Max’s arms.

* * * * *

We’d sat at the stools to eat the macaroni and cheese and pigs in a blanket.

We took our slices of cake up to the loft and ate them in bed while watching the horror movie.

The dirty plates were on the nightstand, I had my wineglass in my hand. The pillows were piled up and I was in the curve of Max’s body as well as his arm.

I was thinking that horror movies were a bit less scary watching them curled into Max, though not that less scary.

We were coming onto the cl**ax and I was thinking we were in the homestretch. The heroine had to survive, of course, or how could there be a sequel? She was the only one left of the original crew, someone had to survive.

Though it wasn’t looking good for her.

She ran into the deserted, broken down cabin which was a mistake, seeing as the psychopath used to live there before he hacked his whole family up with an axe and that was his favorite haunt.

She turned a corner into a room and there he was, him and his axe and he was ready to strike.

So he did.

At the same time, Max’s phone rang.

I jumped half a foot up from the bed and emitted a little terrified scream, nearly sloshing my wine on the bed.

Max started laughing.

Then he hit the pause on the remote and leaned into me, grabbing the phone from his nightstand and beeping it on.

Up on my elbow, I took a calming sip of wine and twisted my head to look at him as he said into the phone, “Yeah?” My eyes caught his and he said, “Yeah, sure, she’s here.” Then he offered the phone to me.

I felt my eyebrows go up.

“Me?” I asked.

“Arlene,” he answered.

“What?” I asked.

He shook the phone at me. I sat up and took it.

“Hello?” I said into it when I put it to my ear.

“Where are you?” Arlene queried.

“Um… watching a movie with Max.”

“Watching a movie with Max?” Arlene asked as if I said I was strapping in to take a joyride with Evel Knievel.

“Yes,” I answered.

“You’re supposed to be at The Dog with me getting wasted.”

Oh dear. I forgot about that.

“Oh, Arlene, I’m so sorry, I… the day kinda got away from me.”

“Yeah, I heard, two blond English guys are at the hotel bein’ snooty and actin’ like their shit don’t stink. Two blond English guys, word on the street says you, your Ma and Max faced off with this mornin’. That makes Damon, Kami, Shauna and two snooty, blond English guys. Girl, what is it with you?”

“Um…” I answered for there was no answer to give, I didn’t know what it was with me.

“You fight with two English guys then throw a fit on the sidewalk outside The Mark in the mornin’, come night, you get blotto at The Dog.”

Wow, the people in Gnaw Bone didn’t mess around with gossip.

“Is that a rule?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s a rule,” Arlene answered.

“I thought it would be better to give myself a facial and relax in front of a movie,” I told her.

“You thought wrong,” she replied then demanded, “Give the phone to Max.”

“Sorry?”

“Phone… to… Max,” she repeated.

“Okay,” I agreed, happy to give the unhappy Arlene to Max, I held the phone to him and said, “She wants to talk to you.”

His mouth was twitching and he took the phone from me then he put it to his ear.

“Arlene,” he said then he paused to listen then he said, “Right.” Then he bleeped the phone off and put it back in its charger.