37. Max

“You don’t even haveanything to pack. What’s taking you so long?”

“I just want to make sure I have everything!” she called out from the bathroom.

I just wanted to get the hell out of here. This wasn’t really my honeymoon, and Christa wasn’t really my wife. As soon as we got home, she would leave me. I could already see it in her eyes. We didn’t fuck last night, and she stayed firmly planted on her side of the bed. The tension between us magnified with every hour that passed.

Sighing, I flopped down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. As soon as we were on that plane, I was getting drunk off my ass. In fact, I should have gotten wasted last night, but some part of me thought we might have one last night together. How wrong I was?

“Alright, I’m ready,” she said, coming out in a dress that nearly made me forget everything I had just been thinking. It wasn’t anything flashy or low cut. In fact, the only thing sexy about it was that she was in it.

Clearing my throat, I stood and headed out. I couldn’t stare at her or I’d never get on that plane. As it was, it might be easier to stay behind and just chill on the island. But we had to take care of the annulment.

“Where is everyone?” Christa asked, looking around for the rest of the OPS family.

“Cash said to meet him at the airport. He had to get there early.”

“Oh, well, I guess we should leave,” she smiled, sliding her sunglasses on her face.

I snarled at how chipper she was to leave me. “Yeah, let’s leave.”

I continued to stand there, glaring at the woman I couldn’t get out of my head. She was willingly leaving me. I got it. I really did. She didn’t agree to get married, so why wouldn’t she be happy to get out of here? “We should leave.”

But she didn’t look so confident now as she stared at me. “Right. We should.”

Still, neither of us moved.

I took a step toward her, ready to sweep her up into my arms and demand she stay when she backed away from me. “You know, it occurred to me that we’ll never leave if we both just keep saying we should leave.”

What the hell was I thinking? This was what I wanted. A life of freedom was all I’d ever wanted. So, why was I playing into fantasies of keeping her in my arms?

“Exactly, which is why we’re going to leave.”

I grabbed her hand and led her to the waiting car. The man glared at me, probably because he’d been waiting for us for the past fifteen minutes. I scowled at him as we got in. “Airport.”

The drive was even more fucking tense than whatever the fuck happened just outside the hut. I couldn’t stop shifting in my seat, desperate to touch her and keep my distance at the same time. My head was a fucking mess. I’d never wanted a woman before, and she definitely wasn’t someone I ever thought I’d end up with. Yet, knowing what was to come was tearing me up inside.

“We’re here,” the man said, pulling to a stop at the private airport.

I shifted in my seat, looking out all the windows and behind us. “Where’s the plane?”

“Maybe they moved it?” Christa said hopefully.

“Yeah, they moved it. That’s it,” I said sarcastically. “They just decided this airport wasn’t going to work, so they moved it to the airport a hundred miles away.”

“Hey, don’t get pissy with me. I’m not the one who moved the plane.”

“Nobody moved the plane,” I snarled.

“Clearly, someone did or it would be sitting somewhere we could see it!”

I leaned forward to the front seat. “Are you sure you brought us to the right airport?”

He slowly turned and pulled the toothpick from the corner of his mouth. “Did you want to go to the one a hundred miles away?” he asked mockingly.

I got out and slammed the door, staring all around at the empty tarmac. It didn’t make any sense. Cash said to meet him here at seven. It was six-thirty. I pulled out my phone and desperately searched my contacts for his number. When I found it, I called and waited for ten fucking rings before he finally picked up.

“Max.”

“Where the fuck are you?”

“In Kansas.”

“You’re what?” I shouted.

“Uh…yeah, that’s where we work. Where else would I be?”

“At the airport. You told me last night—you said, meet me at seven o’clock. I’m here, so where the fuck are you?”

“In Kansas,” he repeated.

“I know that?—”

“Then why are you asking?”

Growling in frustration, I squeezed the phone, trying my best not to break it. “Cash, why would you tell me to be here if you were going to leave early?”

“Oh, I guess I should have told you that I meant seven o’clock one week from now.”

“What?”

“Yeah, listen, it’s already paid up. Just stay there and relax. We’ve got this.”

“It’s not about what you got!” I shouted. “You said we were going home. Christa wants that fucking annulment, and now you want me to tell her that’s not gonna happen?”

“It’ll happen. Just tell her it’s temporarily delayed.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, finally realizing what Cash must have dealt with every time I was drunk off my ass. “Cash, I am not telling her the plane isn’t coming for another week. She doesn’t want to be here. I can’t do that to her.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to think of something else then.”

Clenching my jaw, I decided I’d take a different route. “Fine, we’ll just get a flight back and you can eat the cost of your honeymoon package.”

A low chuckle rumbled over the line. “You can try,” he said right before the line went dead.

I hit redial, but it rang twice before going to voicemail. I hit dial again. He couldn’t ignore me forever. This time, it went straight to voicemail. “Fuck!” I shouted, turning and kicking the tire of the car.

“What happened?” Christa asked as she rolled down the window.

“They left us here for the week.”

She shoved the door open and leapt out of the car. “What? Why would they do that?”

“Because Cash thinks he can manipulate us.”

“Max, I have to get back. I can’t just stay around here for a week!”

“Relax. We’ll just have to get our own flight back. I’ll take care of it.”

I tried to buy tickets online, but for some reason, it wouldn’t go through. I called the airline and sat on hold for ten fucking minutes before I finally got to someone who could give us some answers.

“Sir, you’re on the no-fly list.”

“What? No, that can’t be right. Try the name Christa Corvin.”

“Sir, you tried to buy tickets earlier. The names were already run through the system. I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything more.”

“What is it?” Christa asked.

“We’ve been put on the no-fly list.”

“What? No, that’s not?—”

“Fucking Cash,” I muttered.

“But why would he do that?”

“To get his way,” I snarled.

“Hey, buddy, are you staying or going?” the cab driver asked.

“Would you just fucking relax?” I snarled.

“Fuck you,” he said, taking off.

Christa chased the cab down until it turned the corner and disappeared from sight. She spun and glared at me. “Well, that’s just fucking perfect!”

“Watch your mouth,” I snapped.

“Why should I? You never do.”

“You’re not me. You’re better than that!”

She tossed her head back and laughed. “I am so sick of people telling me what I should be or what I should do. You know, I never swear?—”

“It sounds wrong coming from your mouth.”

“Why? I thought you liked me like this,” she said, holding her arms out wide. “Don’t you want me down on my knees, acting like your dirty slut?”

I stalked toward her, gripping her by the back of the neck. “Only in the bedroom,” I grumbled right before I smashed my lips to hers. “I don’t need you to act like me. I just want you to be you. But fuck yeah, you can be my dirty slut anytime you want. In the bedroom. Out here, you’re just mine.”

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared up at me. “But…”

“But we’ll figure it out,” I rumbled.

It wasn’t an answer. Hell, if anything, we were further away from figuring out what was going to happen between us. But I knew I didn’t want her to be like me. I didn’t like seeing the worry in her eyes or the regret when she woke up from a hangover. Good times were fun and all, but a woman like her shouldn’t be living her life like a drunk like me. She was too good for that. She had too much going for her.

“So…what do we do now?”

There weren’t many options at this point. “Go on our honeymoon.”