She nodded once through tears. “I thought you might respond this way. I’m staying at the Hampton Inn if you change your mind and want to talk.”
“Not gonna happen,” I bit out, watching as she pulled her purse further up her shoulder and, with a sad smile at Wren, made her way back to her car.
My chest heaved as I stared after her, hating feeling weak even for a moment. When Wren’s hand pressed gently to my back, I flinched away from her touch. I was too raw and too angry to face her now.
“Max—”
“Don’t.” I shook my head. “I know what you’re gonna say. That I was too harsh. That I should have talked to her.”
“That’s not what I was going to say at all,” she countered. “Don’t shut me out, babe. I’m on your side.”
I snorted, unable to quell the fury welling up inside me. “Save the hallmark bullshit, all right, Wren?”
She reeled back from my words. “Don’t try to hurt me because you’re hurting, Max,” she ordered, fire lighting her gorgeous eyes.
I needed to get away—from the look in her eyes, from the house, hell, from this town all together.
“You haven’t shared much about her,” she noted quietly. “But from everything you said, she doesn’t deserve you or Emmie. Don’t be ashamed. She’s no reflection on you.”
The fact that she’d zeroed in so precisely on what I was feeling—shame—pissed me right the hell off. I wouldn’t be weak. Not because of that poor excuse for a mother.
“I don’t feel anything other than pissed,” I barked, unable to quell my temper.
She flinched at my tone.
Fuck, I couldn’t seem to stop myself from lashing out.
“You don’t talk about her,” she noted softly.
“I don’t think about her, ever,” I snapped.
Her eyes filled with unshed tears. “Yeah, clearly you have no issues, Max,” she shot back hoarsely.
I sucked in a breath, trying like hell to calm down. “Look, I need to get out of here for a while.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, the defensive gesture that I’d created, twisting my already churning insides to the point of pain. She watched me stoically, unmoving as I gathered my jacket and keys.
“Max, what are you doing?” she demanded quietly, her gaze seeing right through my anger to the pain underneath. She’d always been able to read me, and right now, I couldn’t stand having her see me laid bare.
“I’ll get Gunner over here in five minutes. Lock the door, set the alarm,” I ordered by way of answer.
The shit of it was, I just couldn’t seem to stop myself from running. And that’s exactly what I was doing. It was as though the memory of Janelle was cloying at my insides, making me itch. Making me ache.
I tore away from the house, kicking up gravel as I went trying to escape my past and knowing I could very well be fucking up my future.
Chapter 28
WREN
I lay staring up at Emmie and Grace’s ceiling that night, feeling a mixture of worry over Max, who I still hadn’t heard from, and anger at him for how he’d treated me. I thought I’d had him, all of him. But as it turned out, he’d been holding himself back this entire time, and that hurt a whole hell of a lot worse than anything he’d said in anger. There was part of him I’d never touched, a piece of him that he held back from everyone, including me. Was that love?
When Emmie appeared with a cozy blanket in tow, I watched her mutely as she walked into the kitchen, grabbed something from the refrigerator, and sat on the couch, moving my legs into her lap. She produced a pint of ice cream and two spoons.
“Who needs dinner when we can have ice cream?” She shot me a warm smile before her expression grew pensive. “Have you heard from him?”
I shook my head. “I know it’s only been a few hours, but he’s never done anything like this before. Part of me is worried, and the other is so freaking mad at him I can’t even think straight.”
She nodded. “He deserves it. He shouldn’t have left the way he did.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, feeling like a heel for not asking sooner. “With Janelle being out?” Both Max and Emmie seemed to prefer to refer to their birth mother by name, so I followed their lead.
She shrugged, swallowing a bite of ice cream. “Yeah. I really am. I was younger than Max. I don’t even really remember her. Jill has always been my mom as far as I’m concerned. And what negative memories I would have had, Max always protected me from.”
“He’s a good big brother,” I murmured.
“The very best.”
“He’s never talked about her with me.”
“He’s never talked about it with anyone that I know of.” She handed over the ice cream. “I don’t know how much he’s really thought about it. Max can be hard to read. One thing I do know for sure,” she continued firmly, “is that my brother loves you.”
It was the first time I’d doubted it, and just when I needed to believe it the most.
When a knock sounded on the front door, we both turned in surprise. X was posted out front, so whoever it was didn’t pose a threat.
Emmie rose and headed for the door. “What are you two doing here?” she asked Gunner and Cash as they stepped into the room.
“We wanted to check on Wren,” Cash returned, his blue eyes landing on me.
I bit back a smile, my heart warming at the knowledge that these guys weren’t just Max’s friends anymore. They were mine too.
“I’m okay,” I assured them just as I noticed Gunner’s jacket was wriggling.
“Do you have a dancing tumor we need to know about?” Emmie asked with a raised brow.
Gunner unzipped his jacket, revealing the cutest little piglet I’d ever seen. “My mom doesn’t just breed Mastiffs. She breeds mini pigs too. This little girl is the runt of the litter. Ma’s been bottle feeding her. I thought maybe… well, I thought she might cheer you up.” He shrugged, looking mildly uncomfortable.
“Hell yes, she will,” Emmie spoke for me, squealing with delight as Gunner handed her the piglet. “Oh my God, she’s so cute,” she crooned as she brought her over and placed her in my lap.
“I can take her back. I just thought….” Gunner trailed off.
“No.” I smiled despite myself. “This is perfect. You’re better at this than you think,” I assured him.
I swore he blushed a bit at that.
“Yeah,” Emmie agreed quietly. “You are.”
The two of them shared a look that had Cash and me exchanging a raised brow in response before he waded in. “You guys got any beer? Ice cream ain’t gonna cut it judging from the mood in this room.”
“It’s Ben and Jerry’s, it’ll cut it,” Em assured him. “But yeah, we have beer.”
A key sounded in the lock a moment before Grace walked in. “What’s everyone doing?” she asked in confusion. “Is that a piglet? Or did I just have a really long day at work?”
I laughed. “Gunner and Cash are taking a shot at being therapists and brought a piglet and are now apparently opening beer,” I informed her.