Though the expression on his face was gentle and somewhat cheeky, I could pick up a vibe of something else. Beneath the laissez faire fa?ade, he was studying me.
I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling on the spot, and pushed my bowl of pasta toward him. “Do you want this? I lost my appetite.”
“You sure?”
I nodded and looked back at the window, the grey sky my failsafe.
I saw him start to eat out of the corner of my eye, happy that the mouthfuls were keeping his giant mouth occupied.
I decided to take the nice route out of all of this.
“Thanks for bailing Dex out of jail.”
He made an amused sound as he slurped up a noodle. “No problem.”
“Did you do it because you like the guy or did you do it for me?”
I realized right then I was being a tad presumptuous with his feelings toward me but I pushed through it and looked him straight on.
He eyed his next bite of pasta like it was a question. “Well, I guess you could reckon I did both. Dex didn’t deserve to be in jail. And I knew you’d be distraught without him.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said automatically.
His eyes narrowed into brief green slivers. “Interesting.”
“What?”
“I thought you would have gotten over your little problems by now.”
I leaned away from him. “Little problems? Need I remind you what those little problems did to me? Fuck, you men are all the same.”
“I’m just saying,” he said slowly, “that you seemed to have gotten over them when you were with me. That’s all.”
“I wasn’t me. I was possessed.”
He turned back to his pasta. “Darling, if you want to tell yourself that...”
Without meaning to, I punched him hard on his arm and the fork and pasta were finally set free across the kitchen, clattering to a stop on the floor.
He sighed and put his head in his hands.
“Sorry,” he said, even though I was the one who should have apologized. “I shouldn’t have…I should have known it wasn’t you.”
I breathed out in a huff and got off the stool. I threw the fork into the sink with a clatter and fished out a new one from the cutlery drawer.
“I’m sorry,” I said, handing him the new fork. “You don’t even know me. It’s not your fault.”
He gave me a sheepish look between his parted fingers. “You have to understand that when a gorgeous gal is throwing themself at you, it’s really hard to say no. I knew you weren’t quite yourself. I just reckoned it was a revenge thing…not a possessed thing.”
I allowed myself a small smile. “It was both. Sometimes I think you can’t separate the two.”
“I know what you mean,” he admitted. He held out his hand. “Friends?”
I hesitated, then shook it quickly. To his credit, he didn’t try to hang on any longer than he needed to.
“So,” I began. “You’ve checked up on me and eaten my lunch. Anything else you need?”
He grinned. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I promised your mother I’d spend some time with you.”
My face wrinkled with disgust, the feeling spreading through my veins. “Why? I don’t need a babysitter.”
He twirled pasta around his fork, watching the turns. “I know. But it makes your mother feel better.”
“So?”
“So…so I can tell her you’re doing great. And then she can relax and maybe not watch you 24/7, worrying that you’re not well.”
My hands suddenly felt cold.
“Is she really worried?”
“You have no idea,” he said, then took a pointed mouthful.
I rubbed at my arms. He eyed me.
“Are you feeling chilly?”
I ignored him. The clock on the wall read twenty to one. What were the chances of getting Maximus to leave before Dex showed up? What were the chances I’d be able to keep the whole thing a secret with him staring me down like some test subject?
I started to loathe myself for getting involved with Maximus in the first place. I should have known better than to get with the guy who was always showing up at the most opportunistic times, including right now.
“Well,” I said, pushing away from the counter, “you’ll have to amuse yourself for the next while.”
He cocked a brow.
“I’ve got womanly stuff to attend to,” I finished.
He nodded, perhaps buying it. Or at least getting that I didn’t want him anywhere near me.
“I’ll be right here, little lady,” he said, the hope inside me deflating like the tomato he speared with his fork.
I quickly ran up the stairs before he had the chance to say anything else.
~~~
I saw the Highlander out on the street, a black metal beast waiting in the low fog, and booked it down the stairs before Dex could ring the doorbell. The last hour had been the longest of my life and the stored up energy insured I got to the door in seconds flat.
I opened it to see Dex coming up the stairs. He looked different in the daylight, his nose a bit swollen and tinged with a purple bruise that had spread to his eye. It had been courtesy of my father and I only then realized how brave he was for coming back to the scene of the crime.
If he was nervous in any way, he didn’t show it and his confidence gave some strength to my fluttering heart. His eyes were brown and clear, brow set in a determined fashion. He was wearing his black cargo jacket, hands thrust deep in his pockets and collar turned up against the cold. The newsboy cap perched on his head gave him an air of unique distinction though his face remained scruffy with a day’s old stubble.
He didn’t say anything but as usual with us, he didn’t need to. His look said it all: Are you ready?
I nodded grimly and opened the door a bit wider, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. He walked past me into the foyer and I pretended the smell of his skin and shampoo didn’t cause butterflies in my stomach.
“Perry?” I heard Maximus say from the living room.
I stood my ground and Dex stood beside me. His hands remained in his pockets though I was scared enough that I wished they were holding me instead.
Maximus appeared a few moments later, staring at us from down the hall. He didn’t look surprised at all, if anything he just looked disappointed and maybe embarrassed.
He strode down to us and I could feel Dex stiffening up beside me. That strange energy I sensed in the car was back and it was doing funny things to the hairs on the back of my neck.
To his credit, Maximus stopped a few feet away and wiggled his lips in thought.
“Well, I figured this would have happened,” he remarked casually. Everything was always so laid back with him, wasn’t it?
“Because you know everything,” Dex countered.
Maximus looked behind him for a second and lowered his voice. “Look, I knew Perry was itching to get out of this joint.”
“How did you know that?” I whispered, my voice sounding hoarse.
He chuckled. “Why else would Dex dare show his face here after what happened?” He gave Dex a pointed look. “You do realize that this can’t end well.”
Dex took a step toward him and looked him dead in the eye, brimming with intensity. “I realize that. That’s why we’re getting out of here. Perry’s better off in Seattle than she is here. Even if she did move in with you, you’re still too close to…this place.”
Maximus rubbed at his jaw and for once looked a bit put-out. He looked up at the ceiling and the spaces around our heads without really looking at us. “If you would just give me some more time with them, they’ll back off.”
Dex and I exchanged a glance out of the corner of our eyes.
“Are you talking to us?” I asked Maximus.
“Max, who is it?” my mother’s voice rang out.
“Fuck,” I swore under my breath. I think a part of me thought I could get moved out of there without anyone noticing and I could just leave them a note or something. It felt an awful like I was running away from home and, you know what, I was OK with that.
“Perry, what-” she said then stopped dead as she saw Dex. Her face went from impassive Swede to full-on IKEA rage. “What the hell is he doing here?”
Impulsively, I grabbed Dex’s arm and said, “Mom, we need to tell you something.”
“We?” she questioned, her voice turning up into an ugly sneer. She marched toward us and suddenly I was afraid of her throwing a punch at him. I had deliberately picked 2pm knowing that my dad wouldn’t be back from his classes until at least 4pm but maybe my mom had always been an equal threat in the abuse department.
“Mrs. Palomino, it’s all right,” Maximus said, putting his arm out to catch her. She shrugged away from his grasp and continued until she was straight up in Dex’s face.
“You get the fuck out of this house and stay the hell away from my daughter.”
My jaw nearly plummeted to the ground. I had almost never heard my mother swear before and on top of that, she was acting like she actually gave a shit about me.
Dex managed a small smile and without faltering said, “I’m afraid that’s impossible Mrs. Palomino. I’m here for your daughter. I’m going to be doing the opposite of staying away from her. She’s moving in with me. She’s coming to Seattle.”
My mom cackled like a witch, her face fighting between belief and disbelief. “You really think I would believe that?”
She looked at me with incredulous eyes. “Why is he here, Perry? Did you invite him?”
I looked at Dex who was keeping his eye on my mom and then I turned to Maximus. He gave me a sympathetic smile and I knew I had no choice but to bite the bullet.
I met her blue-eyed gaze with what little reserves of strength I had left. “Dex is telling the truth. I…I don’t think I should live here anymore. I think it’s time for me to move out.”
She blinked at me a few times, her brain trying to fight the sincerity she heard in my voice. “But…pumpkin. That’s OK. We can work through this. Just don’t move in with him.”
“I can’t wait. There is nothing to work out. I need…I want to get out of here. Now. I’m going with him. I love you but it’s time for me to go.”