19. Max

“What’s wrong?”Dash laughed as I walked into the training center. The grin on his face told me all I needed to know. “Cat got your dick?”

FNG laughed along with him, even though it didn’t make any sense, giving him a high five. “Man, that was good. Do another one.”

Dash shrugged. “That’s all I got at the moment. So, seriously, you got tased in the dick. That sucks.”

“It sucks even more when you get it trying to help a woman out.”

I wasn’t sure what I was doing here. I would normally be drunk for half the day at least, but now I was coming down here for some strange reason.

“So, did you come to join our team workout?” FNG asked. “Since Fox isn’t using weapons, I asked Dash to help us out.”

Grunting, I walked over to the first course, but my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t really give a shit about training or working as a team. The only thing I really wanted to do was go see a certain someone, but that would be bad for us. She tried to bite my dick off. I didn’t mind a little pain with sex, but that was taking it too far.

“See, you’re supposed to climb the rope,” FNG said, staring at the rope dangling from the ceiling. “You touch the top and then you win for the day. That is, if you start climbing before I get there.”

I sighed heavily. What the fuck was I going to do about Christa?

“Is this a guy problem or…” He glanced down at my dick, then back up to me.

“It’s not a guy problem.”

“Which means it’s a girl problem. I gotcha. They’re hard to understand. Myself, I ran into some issues with Honey. Of course, ours weren’t typical issues?—”

“I really don’t give a shit,” I grumbled. “This isn’t about a mixup. It’s more serious than that.”

“Ah…in what way?”

“In the way that truly fucks with any man. You know, I wasn’t supposed to be at that bar. And she wasn’t supposed to come home with me.”

“Whoa, whoa…back up. What happened at the bar?”

“She said she liked me. She said—she said that she could be falling for me.”

A hand came down hard on my back, and FNG grinned at me. “That’s fucking great, man. Welcome to the club.”

“Whoa,” I laughed. “What club? I’m not in any club.”

“Sure you are! You’re in the new relationship club. She could be falling for you? What else would you call that?”

“A really fucked up situation,” I snapped. “Do you see me? I’m drunk more than half the time. I don’t give a shit about anyone else’s feelings. I’m the last person on earth a woman like Christa should be with!”

He nodded, his eyes slitted as he stared at me. “Uh-huh, uh-huh. I hear ya. Tell me more.”

“What more is there to tell? You know me. I’m a disaster. I don’t give a shit about anyone.”

“Yet, you’re concerned about this woman.”

“Anyone would be. She called the IT room last night to talk to me.” I glanced around, then leaned in closer. “She told Rae she was gonna be a stripper, and I flipped.”

“Because you like her.”

There was no arguing with him. I did like her. At first, it was just sex. She was good in bed, and I kind of liked hanging around her. She was addictive. But then, when I saw her at the bar, something inside me snapped. She was drunk off her ass, and any man in the bar might have been me. The thought of her going home with some asshole who wouldn’t give a fuck about her really screwed with my head.

And then she said those words.

I’m not supposed to say this because I’ll sound crazy, but I really like you, Max. Like, I could be falling for you.

And the truth was, I was falling for her too. Not like, in love or anything. But I was falling into her trap, ready to jump at her beck and call.

“The fact is, I can’t be with a woman like that. She goes to church! She’s a good girl and I’m?—”

“A complete fucking mess,” he answered for me. “Yep, I totally see what you’re saying. But you should still consider what might happen if you give it a shot.”

“And why the fuck would I do that? Just to fuck with her head? Trust me, I’ll screw this up. I know I will. There’s not a single person alive who would look at her and say You know who would be really good for you? Max.”

“I might,” FNG grinned. “I mean, assuming I get to meet the little lady.”

“That’s only because you don’t know me.”

“Well, you did dump me out of a helicopter, and I’m still here rooting for you.”

“That’s because you’re an idiot.”

He frowned at me. “You know, I think you need to learn how to pay a compliment. See, when someone is on your side, you usually don’t call them names.”

“Who said I want you on my side? Who says I even want to be here?” I snapped. “I was happy on my island. I was doing things. I was…happy!”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he grinned at me. “So, what did you do there?”

“I…flew a plane.”

“Oh, that is so awesome. Yeah, I totally feel ya. Sun and the sand…what could be better? I bet you got a lot of women, too.”

“I had my fair share.”

He sighed dreamily. “You know, I would love to retire to someplace like that with Honey. I mean, not now. I’m too young to waste away on an island. There’s still so much more to do and see. Not like you,” he quickly clarified. “I mean, you had a job and everything. And on such a small island, I bet you were working all the time.”

“Not really,” I said, scratching the back of my head.

“Oh. Well, you were probably busy with some lucky lady. Maybe someone you were falling for?” He waggled his eyebrows at me, which only made this worse.

“Actually,” I cleared my throat, “Uh, I was too drunk. I don’t really remember any of the women I slept with.”

He nodded as he stared at me. “Sorry, I thought you said you were in paradise, but it sounds like…like you were just drunk all the time.”

“That’s because I was,” I snapped.

“Oh…cool. You know, not everyone wants to…not be drunk for months on end. It’s a lifestyle, right?”

For the first time in my life, there was actually someone who could make my life sound shallow and unappealing. I liked being drunk. I liked smoking my cigars and kicking back with my feet up. And what was so wrong with that? I made enough money to get by and traded favors for booze. It was a good life.

I had always thought it was a good life.

He slapped me on the back and squeezed my shoulder. “You know, if you really want that, you should go for it.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. Of course. Life is too short to waste it on…not being drunk all the time.”

He walked away, but I got the distinct feeling he was judging me. I could feel it rolling off him in waves, and for some reason that really bothered me. Not enough to think about it too hard, though. I had other things to think about, like how I was going to get Christa off my mind.

I strolledinto the IT room, trying to play this whole thing casually. I didn’t want to seem too eager, but I needed that information—the sooner, the better.

“Max, what are you doing here?” Rae asked without looking up from her laptop.

“How did you know it was me?”

“Because I’ve been tracking you as you wandered around the building.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because you never go anywhere. You’re always too drunk to do anything. And if you’re wandering around, that must mean you’re up to no good.”

I rolled my eyes. I had the worst reputation around here. Not that I was upset by that. I happened to like myself just the way I was, but that didn’t mean I needed to be predictable.

“So, what is it you need?”

“I don’t need anything. I was just…stopping by.” I touched the screen in front of me, jerking back when alarms sounded and lights started flashing. In a state of panic, I hit a few more buttons, desperate to get the noise to stop. Finally, everything went silent, but when I turned back to Rae, she was laughing hysterically. “Sorry about that.”

“That keypad controls the room temperature. I set off the alarms,” she laughed. “You should have seen your face. It was hilarious.”

“You were fucking with me?” I growled.

“Um…yeah, pretty much. So, aside from pressing all my buttons, what are you really here for?”

“I…I need information.”

“On your girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I snapped.

“Right,” Rae grinned. “She’s just the woman you do very dirty things to.”

My face turned beet red, but I didn’t let her get to me. “I’ll have you know that I do dirty shit to a lot of women. I mean, not all at once, but to each woman individually. And it’s not actually that dirty. It’s like…kinky. But not kinky,” I said, frustrated that nothing was coming out right. “I’m not kinky. I like normal sex. Just regular, normal sex. But good sex. I’m not a fucking prude.” Now, I felt like I had to clarify that it was kind of dirty. I didn’t want her to think I was a missionary guy. “But I talk dirty, ya know? And it’s not just lay her out and fuck her. I like to get in deep and hard. And there’s plenty of cunnilingus.”

I learned that word while watching that Dragon Tattoo movie. I was quite proud of myself.

“Anyway, that’s…basically it. I like regular, not weird, dirty sex.”

“With dirty talk,” she added, holding back a smile.

Fuck. Way to not let her get to me. “Just give me the damn information.”

“And what exactly did you want to know? How many partners? Her job? Favorite sexual positions? How about her favorite ice cream?”

“Just the basics,” I growled.

She turned back to her computer. “Just the basics,” she retorted with laughter in her voice. The printer started behind me, and she walked over to it, snatching it from the tray. “Oh, and it’s one.”

One? What the fuck was she talking about?

Her job?

Favorite sexual positions? I snorted, knowing the woman had more than one favorite sexual position.

Favorite ice cream.

…How many sexual partners?

Fuck. One? That meant…No, no fucking way. I would have known, or she would have said something. Right? Women loved to talk about that shit. Didn’t they?

“Rae—”

She turned and waited for me to say something, but I couldn’t. I just stood there like a fucking idiot.

“Yes.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, what?”

“Exactly what you’re thinking.”

“But…”

She cocked her head at me. “Don’t fuck this up. You’ve got something good.”

Don’t fuck it up. That was easy for her to say. I walked out of the IT room in a haze. I didn’t know where I was going or what I would do next. The only thing I could think about was what Rae had said. I was Christa’s only partner. Fuck, that was bad. And explained so much.

That’s why she told me she was falling for me.

Fuck, that made so much sense now. Of course, she wasn’t actually falling for me. It was the big D that was fucking with her head. I let out a chuckle, relieved that my problems were solved.

Except…were they solved? If she was falling for me because of sex, then I couldn’t sleep with her anymore. I needed to end things, which I sort of had, but now I really needed to end them. There could be no more drunken nights with her, no fantasizing over just one more night. This was really coming to an end. I just had to find her.

My phone jingled in my pocket, and I answered without bothering to look first.

“She’s at the church,” Rae said.

“What? How did you know?—”

“I’m always watching, remember? Now, go get her.”

Go get her. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. I was going, but it was to end things.

And then my phone chimed with a text and the address of the church. I looked up warily, checking all around me for cameras. I knew they were hidden all around the building. I just didn’t realize someone would be watching at all times.

My phone chimed again. Stop looking for me. Go get your girl.

That was creepy as fuck.