The Gamble

Bitsy’s upper body leaned away from him before she breathed, “What?”

“Max!” Harry spat. “Max! Fuckin’ Max. Holden f**kin’ Maxwell with his varsity letter his freshman year and his scholarship and his mountain that everyone thinks it’s so great he kept clean when all that buildin’ was goin’ on all over the county. Max didn’t let anything touch his land. Oh no. Not Super Wonderful Holden f**kin’ Maxwell. Not him. He could have made it rich workin’ alongside Curt but he didn’t do that. Not Holden Maxwell, man of integrity. Man of strength. He had Anna and they were always holdin’ hands, always laughin’, always tight, lookin’ at each other like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Then he lost her but he didn’t lose everything, not Max. No. After he lost her everyone thought he was even more wonderful how he stayed cool with Curt and stayed tight with you. How he manned up,” spittle flew out of Harry’s mouth on the last two words, “how he built that house for his Dad, how he kept goin’ even though everyone knew losin’ Anna rocked his world. He didn’t fall. He didn’t even falter. Not Max. Everyone thinkin’ how strong he was. How f**kin’ perfect. Then the finest piece of ass in two countries waltzes into town and before you could blink, she’s cuddlin’ up to him at The Mark, she’s in his bed, she’s makin’ out with him on the street and at The Dog and two weeks later she’s movin’ from f**kin’ England just to keep him warm at night.”

He bent at the waist to put his face in Bitsy’s.

“No,” he sneered, “he can’t have everything and I’m gonna make it so he doesn’t. I’m tired of havin’ nothin’ and waitin’ fuckin’ years to make your play against Curt and all the while I’m watchin’ Max have everything he wants. Every woman opens their legs for him and everyone in town thinks he shits roses. The same time, everyone in town thinks poor Harry, gettin’ played by Shauna. Poor Harry, losin’ Bitsy and pinin’ after her all these years. Poor f**kin’ Harry. Well, Bits, f**k… that. Max told me himself just this mornin’ to man up and I’ve decided I’m takin’ his advice.”

“But Harry, Max doesn’t have everything,” Bitsy whispered.

“Yes he does, Bits. He even has you. Even you think he shits roses,” Harry retorted.

“You can’t –” Bitsy began.

“I can and I can now especially because she knows everything and I’m not waitin’ ten years finally to have the only thing I ever wanted, except half of it,” his eyes dropped to her legs before slicing back to hers as I heard Bitsy gasp, “to have Max’s latest bit of pu**y take it away.”

“Harry,” Bitsy whispered, “this isn’t what we planned.”

“No, Bitsy, it isn’t but I’m the man and I’m sick of bein’ led around my dick so I’m changin’ the f**kin’ plan.”

“You can’t do that,” she told him and he leaned back, throwing his arms out.

“No?” he asked then planted his fists on his hips. “Watch me.”

“Harry!” she shouted when he started to move around the bed. “If you hurt Nina, you won’t have me,” she threatened, Harry’s body rocked to a halt and he turned on her.

“Yeah? You gonna run away?” he asked snidely and I watched Bitsy close her eyes tight then my eyes went back to Harry when he kept speaking as he untied my ankles. “This is what people know. Shauna wanted Max. She always wanted Max. And she used that Robert guy like she used everyone else. When he became expendable, he was gone. When Nina got in the way, she was gone. Shauna’ll wake up and she won’t know shit. And all they’ll know is that she’s here with the gun that made three bodies dead and she has the residue on her hand. She f**ked herself with her play on Curt, makin’ her a suspect in his murder so they’ll probably pin that on her too. But don’t worry about Shauna, Bits. She’ll make a good bitch in prison. She’ll have her shit sorted exactly as she wants it before she finishes buttoning up her orange jumpsuit.”

Then he was finished with my ankles and started walking toward me again and I started moving on the bed, ineffectually shifting my body to get away from him, running into Bitsy as he pulled a set of keys out of his jeans pocket.

“Don’t do this, Harry,” Bitsy whispered from behind me as he leaned toward my hands and I kept trying and failing to move away.

“Please,” I begged, using Bitsy’s words, “don’t do this.”

“Shut up,” he muttered.

“Please,” I whispered, “please. You may think Max had everything his whole life but you don’t know me. I didn’t. I didn’t have everything my whole life. My Dad left me when I was a baby –”

“Shut up,” he repeated, still working at my hands.

I didn’t shut up. “My boyfriends cheated on me, stole from me, beat me –”

“Shut up,” Harry said again.

“The brother I loved, I adored him, Harry, loved him beyond anything, he had his legs blown off and couldn’t hack it so he committed suicide.”

Harry turned to me and clipped, “Shut up!”

I ignored him and kept going. “Today, I was happy, Harry. It was the first day in a long, long time I woke up happy.”

My wrists were freed but before I could make a move I was being dragged from the bed.

“Harry! Don’t!” Bitsy screamed.

I struggled but Harry was big, he was a mountain man and he dragged and shoved me toward the door even as I twisted and pulled and tried to flee.

“Harry! Please! Don’t do this!” Bitsy screeched from behind us.

Calm, Nina, calm and think, sweetheart, Charlie said in my head as Harry kept control of my struggling frame and shoved me through the door into a dark hall. Keep talking, talk to him.

Instantly, I took my brother’s advice.

“I understand what it means. I understand how it hurts to have everyone think poor Harry because they always thought poor Nina. But now I’m happy. And I’m sorry if this hurts you but Max is what makes me happy. Please don’t take that away. Not from Max, from me.”

He caught my wrist and yanked it behind my pack, pulling it high until it hurt so much I cried out. He positioned himself at my back and marched me forward, his lips to my ear.