“She was living in the woods,” I told Mom as soon as she turned her green eyes on me. “I nearly ran over her on my bike one night on my way home. It was foggy, and she didn’t see my light until it was almost too late. I wiped out.” Mom’s face paled, but I kept going before she could rip into me for not telling her about my wreck. “When I got up, I thought I was dreaming. Or dead. Because all I saw was an angel.” I pressed a fist to the center of my chest. “I felt this pressure right here. It doesn’t hurt, but when she’s not close, I can’t breathe.”
Her face softened, but she waved her hand, urging me to continue.
“I took her home with me. She’d been on the streets for months, running from her uncle. Tony,” I snarled his name and glanced at Kelli. “You don’t have to worry about him. I plan on paying the sonofabitch a visit soon.”
“How long has she been staying with you?” Kelli demanded, but her voice wasn’t nearly as frosty as it had been.
“A little over a week.”
“How long have you been fucking her?” she spat the words at my feet, and I had to clench my hands into fists. Hurting a woman went against everything I’d ever been taught, but I wanted to strangle my uncle’s wife for the way she was trying to make my relationship with Delaney seem.
“Let’s get back on topic,” Mom encouraged, trying to defuse my temper. “Tony the pimp was going to put the little deaf angel to work in one of his whorehouses, and baby girl ran away. She is resourceful and old enough to make her own decisions.”
My gut began to clench.
“I think we should ask Delaney who she wants to live with.”
“No,” I growled. “She’s mine, and I’m not letting her go.”
“She’s not a doll, Max.” Kelli threw my earlier words back at me. “She’s a human being. Let her decide who she would rather put her trust in.”
“I agree,” Mom said with a sigh. “Delaney needs to know who Kelli is to her.”
“I don’t care about that. She is more than welcome to explain who she is to Delaney.” I raked my hands through my hair, my stomach already protesting because I could see from the gleam in Kelli’s eyes that she was going to try to steal my treasure away. “But you aren’t taking her from me.”
“Max honey, maybe this girl will want to go with Kelli.” Mom’s voice became consoling. “I mean, she was homeless a week ago. Of course, she wants to be with you right now—”
“No!” I roared. “It’s not like that—she’s not like that. She’s with me because she cares about me. I love her, Mom. And I think she loves me too.”
“You’ve known her for a week,” Kelli scoffed.
“Don’t,” I whispered so I didn’t yell in her face, then I blinked at my mom when she opened her mouth to no doubt agree with the other woman. “Just don’t, Mom. Don’t play what I feel for her off as some meaningless infatuation. I’ve never felt like this before. Lexa fell for Ben fast, too.”
“I know that, but Lexa wasn’t living on the streets. You’ve given this girl a roof over her head, food to eat, clothes and jewelry, from the looks of her. That outfit she’s wearing didn’t come from the Goodwill, Max.” She tossed her hands in the air in frustration. “I bet she’s even why you bought the Tahoe.”
“She is,” I confirmed with a nod.
“She went from having nothing to having everything handed to her. If we tell her who Kelli is to her, maybe she will realize that what she’s feeling for you is just gratitude.”
I straightened my spine. “Fine. Let’s tell her. Right now. And I’ll show you that you are wrong.”
“Max,” she said with a sad shake of her head. “I know this is going to be hard.”
“No, Mom. You don’t know anything, but I’ll show you.” I turned and lifted my arm toward the bar. “Let’s go so you can see what my little treasure is really like.”
16
Delaney
Nova and I weren’t sitting there long before a shadow appeared on the table. Lifting my head, I met the startling blue eyes of Max’s sister, Lexa, and his adopted sister, Tavia. Both women and their families were in pictures on the walls of the apartment, so I knew exactly who each one was.
Lexa looked a lot like her brother with her long, glossy black hair, those amazing metallic eyes I loved so much, and the beautiful facial features that belonged on a runway model. Not even the scar on her cheek could distract from how utterly gorgeous she was.
Beside her, Tavia, just as beautiful but looking nothing like her honorary siblings, was assessing me with narrowed eyes.
I gulped, because neither one of them looked particularly welcoming. My heart dropped into my stomach, and I knew they were thinking all the terrible things I’d known they would.
That I wasn’t good enough for their brother. That I was just using him.
And even though I’d known down to my bones this was exactly how his family would react, I’d held out hope they would see that what I felt for Max was real.
Disappointment and hurt had me pushing away the plate of food Ryan’s guard had placed in front of me, and I quickly dropped my gaze to the table as shame burned my face.
I felt Nova shifting beside me and chanced lifting my head to find my new friend standing. Her angelic face was scrunched up in displeasure as she confronted the two women in front of her. As tiny as Nova was, they both towered over her, Lexa more so than Tavia, but they each seemed like Amazonians in comparison.
Ryan moved in behind her, his hand going to her shoulder, whether to comfort or to urge her to calm down, I wasn’t sure, but his stance was nothing but protective.
Not wanting to watch them—mostly because I didn’t want to read the taller women’s lips in case they were calling me names, I glanced over to where I’d left Max and his mom now that my view was no longer blocked by Ryan. But Max was no longer there. Neither was his mother or the woman she’d been keeping back.
My gaze went around the room, my heart starting to pound when I couldn’t find him anywhere. No, he wouldn’t just leave me, I tried to assure myself. He cared about me. He wouldn’t abandon me with all these people who so obviously didn’t want me there.
But he was gone. I couldn’t see him anywhere.
Tears burned my eyes, and I jumped to my feet, needing to be alone. I didn’t want anyone to see me break down. They’d already gotten enough of a show on my behalf.
I took two steps, but that was as far as I got before there was a wall of muscle standing in front of me. Blinking in surprise, I looked up into three sets of faces that looked so similar to Max’s, my lips fell open in gaped-mouth wonder. These three had to be related to Max, yet I hadn’t seen pictures of any of them on his walls at home.
All three of them were taller than the majority of the other men in the bar, their shoulders just as wide as Max’s. The one in the middle seemed to be the oldest, and the one to his left looked more like him than the one on his right, who had three earrings in his left ear and a stud in his nose. At a glance, they were just as beautiful as Max was, but with a second look, I could see they weren’t anywhere as close to being as perfect as Max Reid was in my eyes.