Indiscretion: Volume Four (3 page)

“Definitely.” I nodded once with a grimace. “As long as I come out of there with my balls intact, I’m all yours.”

I heard him laughing to himself as I made my way up the wooden stairs. My heart was in my throat, and I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. When was the last time I had been this nervous? I couldn’t remember. But I was facing two grown woman. I mean, how scary could that really be, right?

I knocked on the door and, before I’d even had a chance to draw my hand back, the door whipped open.

Fuck.
The look on Jackie’s face told me exactly how scary an encounter with two pissed off females could be. I swallowed hard.

“I need to talk to her,” I said trying to sound confident. Clearly Jackie was the first line of defense, and I’d have to make my way past her to get to Chloe.

“You son of a bitch,” she growled, swatting me with an oven mitt. At least that’s what I thought it was, given the fact that I’d only had about half a second to get a look at it before it was flying at my head.

I put my hands up to defend myself. She continued smacking me until she’d gotten her fill and finally stopped. I peeked out of one eye to make sure it was safe to lower my hands. Jackie was still standing in the middle of the doorway, hands on her hips, a menacing snarl on her face. She was petite and didn’t come near to filling the doorway, but everything about her stance said ‘don’t fuck with me’.

“Now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, can I come in and see her…please?” I didn’t think charm would get me anywhere with Jackie, but perhaps manners would.

She cocked her hip to the side and crossed her arms. “And why would I let you do that?”

“Because you care about your friend and she’s upset. She misunderstood something she saw last night and letting me explain to her might make her less upset.”

She eyed me suspiciously. “I’m not sure how she could misunderstand you having your tongue down someone’s throat.”

I brought my hand up to the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, muttering a curse under my breath. “It wasn’t what it looked like.” That sounded so trite. When she said nothing I continued. “Please. I’m not here to hurt her. I’m here to make it right.” I met her gaze and didn’t look away, hoping she’d see the sincerity on my face.

“Fine,” she said begrudgingly and pointing the oven mitt at me. “But I’m telling you right now—if she does decide to forgive you, and you hurt her again, I’ll put your balls in a vice and start squeezing. You’ll wish we never met.”

I didn’t for a second think she was using a metaphor. I had no doubt she’d follow through. “That’s not going to happen,” I assured her, mentally cringing at the image her threat brought to mind.

“We’ll see.” She stepped back from the doorway, and I walked into her home. It was a cute place, with wood floors and a stone fireplace. We were in the living room. Beyond that was the kitchen and a hallway, which I guessed would lead to the bedrooms at the back of the house. Chloe was nowhere to be found.

“Let me grab lunch out of the oven, and then I’ll go get Chloe and give you guys some privacy so you can talk.”

“Thank you.” Nerves crept in again now that I was no longer focused on just trying to get in the door. I stood with both hands in my pockets, watching Jackie make her way into the kitchen, open the door to a wall oven, and pull a casserole dish out, setting it on the stove. She turned toward the hallway without sparing me another glance.

The seconds seemed to crawl by, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe Chloe would refuse to see me. When I was just about to give up hope, I noticed her at the mouth of the hallway. Her hair was piled high on top of her head in a messy bun, and she wore a fitted tank top and shorts. She looked as if she still had on last night’s make-up.

Much of her body was on display, the clothes looking a little more snug than they should on her, but that wasn’t what struck me most as she stood there, staring at me.

It was her eyes. I suppose it’d always been her eyes that had drawn me to her the most. As she assessed me, she looked hurt and vulnerable. But more than anything, I noticed how she didn’t look at me the same way she used to. The way she had yesterday. Her gaze wasn’t full of eagerness, reverence, or delight, all things I’d come to expect from her. In this moment, her eyes were void of all emotion. And that was so much worse. At least if I had her anger I’d know it was because, on some level, she still cared. This empty indifference was soul-crushing and left me with little hope of a happy outcome.

Chloe

It had taken some convincing by Jackie for me to even leave the comfort of the bed in her spare bedroom. As soon as I’d set eyes on him, I instantly regretted not fighting her harder.

He looked as striking as ever, still decked out in his tux from last night, though the shirt and pants were rumpled-looking. He’d lost the jacket, rolled up the sleeves, and left the bow tie hanging open around his collar. It did nothing to dull the devastating effect of seeing Max in a tux. Even so, his hair was messy and his jaw unshaven. Grey shadows underneath his eyes hinted at a lack of sleep.

Despite my anger and the gut-wrenching pain he’d put me through, the desire to run straight into his arms and have him envelope me in his warmth permeated every pore of my body. The thought of Max’s hands on me had my braless breasts tightening against the tank top Jackie had lent me.

Traitorous body.

Jackie was less endowed in the chest area than I was, so it was a tight fit to begin with.

Before Max noticed I was there, I steeled myself and willed away every piece of emotion tumbling through me. I had to be strong through this encounter. I refused to be an idiot yet again and run blindly back into his arms. Better to feel nothing at the moment. I could fall apart after he left.

He turned to his side slightly and caught sight of me. “Chloe.” He said nothing else for a moment, only took me in with a pained expression. What the hell did he have to feel pained about?

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. If I did, all the anger and anguish I was feeling would come barrelling out. I sucked a breath into lungs that were rejecting the idea of oxygen and stood waiting for him to start the conversation.

He took a step toward me, and I raised my hand in a gesture for him to stop. He did. Which for some stupid fucking reason tore my heart in two all over again. A part of me didn’t want him to give up so easily.

God, I was such a mess.

“Why did you leave last night without saying anything?” His voice was hoarse, not strong and demanding like it usually was. Which suited me just fine since my head was still pounding from a hangover.

I stared at him, willing this to be over with quickly so I could go back to wallowing.

When I didn’t say anything, he exhaled a heavy sigh and tried again. “I have to assume it had something to do with Sarah being there.”

Fuck.
Just hearing him say her name almost had me rocking in the fetal position in the corner. I couldn’t take much more of this without breaking down. It’d be better to just get this over with. “I saw you outside with her,” I confirmed with a slight tremble to my voice.

Max’s face fell and all the color drained from it. “It wasn’t what it looked like.”

“It looked like she had her tongue down your throat and her hands all over your dick. Care to explain that?” I arched a brow at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

He gulped. “First of all, I had no idea she would be there.” Since I’d witnessed his reaction when he first saw her, I reluctantly believed that part of his story. He’d looked genuinely surprised to see her. “As soon as I realized she was there, I took her aside to try and figure out what the hell she was doing.”

Alright, if he wanted to play this game I’d go along with it for the time being. “And what exactly was she doing there, Max?” His name came off my lips like I was spitting out poison. He must’ve noticed because he blinked a few times at the sound of it.

“She claims she missed me and somehow convinced my father to let her tag along. I told her in no uncertain terms that I didn’t feel the same and that we would not be getting back together.” His expression was firm and didn’t waiver.

“Was that before or after she was groping you?” I gave him a pointed stare.

His hands dove into his hair in frustration. “Damn it, Chloe. You have to believe me.”

I chuckled darkly, without humor. “I don’t have to do anything, Max. This thing between us was temporary anyway. I don’t understand why you couldn’t have just told me you wanted to end it early. Why did you need to be unnecessarily cruel and make sure I witnessed the two of you together?”

With his hands on his hips, he’d been in the process of turning away from me to look out the living room’s picture window. But he stopped halfway and glanced back over his shoulder at me. “What do you mean?”

“Which part didn’t you understand?” I asked, my voice cold as ice.

He clenched his teeth, speaking between them. “About me making sure you witnessed the two of us.”

I gave him an ‘are you a complete idiot’ face. “The note?” I reminded him sarcastically.

He stalked toward me, his forehead creased. “What note?”

I’d lost a little of my confidence and ire because he looked like he really didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. “The note asking me to meet you by the pool.”

He shook his head, truly puzzled. “Chloe, I didn’t send you any note. When were you given it and by whom?”

My heart beat even faster in my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was Max’s proximity or the sinking feeling that something wasn’t right. “Right after I finished singing on stage. Shortly after you left the ballroom with
her
. I don’t know who gave it to me…one of the waiters.”

Max seemed to search my face for a moment before he said softly, “Chloe, I didn’t write you any note.”

My mind struggled to process what that meant. Who would’ve passed me the note? Who would want me to see Sarah and Max together? Was it malicious or was this someone trying to ‘help’ me again? One thing this didn’t change was the fact that Max had been kissing his ex at the party, so I decided to concentrate on that now and deal with the rest later.

“Whether that is true or not doesn’t matter,” I replied icily. “I know what I saw.”

“And what exactly did you see?” Max’s voice was stronger now, more how I was used to hearing it. Demanding answers. It was phrased as a question but as usual his tone made it clear that not answering wasn’t an option. Which just pissed me off even more that
he
was demanding answers from
me
in this situation.

“I saw you. And her. Kissing,” I said incredulous. “She was palming your cock, and you had your hands in her hair. I didn’t stick around to see what act two would entail.” My face heated in anger as all of the feelings I was trying so hard to push to the back of my mind were rising to the surface.

Max stepped forward until we were only inches apart. I had to crane my neck to look at him. His eyes narrowed. “Then you must have missed the part where I pushed her off of me and told her I wasn’t interested.”

“If that’s true, why would you even let her touch you? She was feeling you up for Christ sake! And you were letting her.” I poked him in the chest with that statement, my temper really flaring now. “That’s not exactly how you act when you want to let someone know you aren’t interested.”

“She was trying to get a rise out of me,” he said, hands flying out to his sides. “I was letting the reality that it wasn’t going to happen become very apparent to her.”

I gave him an incredulous look. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He breathed deeply for a few moments, pinching the bridge of his nose, then said with quiet fury, “You’re going to make me say it?”

“Say what?” What the hell was his deal? He had some nerve getting irritated with me in this situation.

“She was trying to get me hard, okay?” He spit out the words, looking disgusted. “She wanted to turn me on and, when she wouldn’t take my word for it, I figured when she grabbed my cock I’d let her see for herself that I wasn’t going to respond to her. I did that for a minute, then pushed her away.”

I blinked several times and looked down at the floor. God, I was so confused. I didn’t know what to believe. I’d been cheated on before, but Max’s behavior was in complete contrast to how Jeff had acted. He hadn’t grovelled at all and tried to win me back—he’d blown me off and treated me poorly. Max had flown my sister out. Why would he do that if he didn’t care about me on some level?