Chapter 27 - Max

I didn’t think twice about Brooke’s mood when I took her to San Francisco. The timing worked out perfectly, with me having to go up there to take care of a few things for Lev. I hated to leave her when things were going so well, but I hated to get her hopes up as well by asking her to go along.

After hearing her heartfelt plea to continue her studies, the invitation just tumbled out. I wasn’t promising anything, but things were going to get sticky if she got too excited about something I couldn’t yet offer. Her suddenly growing quiet made me think she was on the same wavelength and would just see what happened.

This morning, she was equally quiet and tense, and I chalked it up to her being an anxious flier, hoping it wouldn’t be made worse once she realized we were getting on a smaller plane than she was used to. I wanted to surprise her that we’d be flying private, another attempt to impress my unimpressed wife.

When she saw my jet decked out for comfort, her quiet tension changed like someone had thrown a switch. Now, she seemed more angry than scared, and even though I kept a close eye on her, she barely seemed to notice we were taking off. She certainly did not clutch the seats or tug her seatbelt tight, but she was definitely stewing about something.

“Are you okay?” I asked, after my flight attendant gave us some bottled water and then disappeared behind the privacy curtain for the short duration of the flight.

I watched her as her fingers curled in her lap and her eyes closed. Then they flew open and she turned to me, with more rage in her eyes than I’d seen in a while. So, we were back to that. But, why?

“You were never going to let me go back to school, were you?” she said, voice shaking with something close to despair. “I don’t get why you’d bother to take me to San Francisco at all,” she continued. “And why, oh, why did you have to have a private plane?”

What the actual fuck? Why would that piss her off? Most people were impressed and pleased that they didn’t have to be around a bunch of grumpy strangers and wait in interminable lines.

Oh. I got it, like a punch to the gut. She wanted to be around all those strangers because she saw it as a way to finally get away from me. Even after the last week of getting along and being so close, she still saw herself as a prisoner. My heart sank as the pain of the realization subsided, and I could catch my breath enough to answer.

I got up from my seat and moved to hers, crouching down so we’d be eye to eye. She didn’t recoil, but she pressed her hands to her sides as if me touching her was the worst thing that could happen. Suddenly I was pissed off, too.

“You’re mine,” I reminded her quietly. “You have been since the moment I first saw you and couldn’t get you out of my thoughts.”

Pushing myself up, I sat beside her, about to spill all my deepest feelings as I stroked some loose strands of her hair behind her ear. Rearing back now, she grabbed my wrist and shoved it away, that familiar fire in her eyes that I knew so well. If I wanted to, I’d have her melting in my arms in seconds.

Instead, I only laughed, not a trace of humor in the rough sound that came out of my mouth.

“You only want me when you’re furious,” I said, voice low. “And that’s not enough for me right now. I want all of you, Brooke. Your heart and your soul, since you’ve already got mine.”

The look of shock on her face would have had me laughing sincerely if I wasn’t laying myself bare.

“What?” she whispered, shaking her head.

I grabbed her chin to stop the denial. “I love you, damn it. I fucking love every part of you, even the part that makes you think you despise me. Maybe especially that part because I love that fire in you that no one can put out.”

I dropped my hand and stood, using all my strength to turn away from her to storm to the back of the plane, leaving her in stunned silence with her lush mouth hanging open.

The flight was too short for there to be any more drama, and I think I might have shocked her into immobility, because she never left her seat, turned around, or said another word while we were in the air. Or as we drove away from the airport. I knew she wanted to get some of her personal things from her apartment before the lease ran out. Everything was tossed onto the curb, so I directed the driver to take us there.

If she felt any certain way about pulling up to her old home, she didn’t show it. The blank look on her face was driving me crazy, but pushing her for a reaction wasn’t the right move. I had to be patient, despite it nearly killing me.

Her tiny apartment was dusty because no one had lived there for so long, but it was cute and cozy, with her stamp all over it. The first sign of life in her eyes was when they lit on some framed pictures of her and Jenna. I watched her run her fingers over her battered old desk, feeling a bizarre jealousy at how much she cared for this place.

She silently gathered up her things in some grocery bags she had stored in the minuscule kitchen, and then looked around with longing in her eyes as if she’d never see the place again and it was tearing her up inside.

Hell, she had already torn me to shreds and I still only wanted to make her smile.

“Would you rather stay here than the hotel I booked?” I asked.

She turned to me with disbelief until she saw I meant it, and her shoulders slumped. Until she lifted them up, squaring them against me.

“Only if I get to stay here alone,” she snapped, grabbing up her bags and brushing past me into the stuffy hallway.

I was lost on what to do next since I truly believed she was coming around. We’d had an amazing week of working together, and while she certainly wasn’t the model of honed efficiency that Olivia was, I delighted in watching Brooke’s eager interest in every new thing I showed her about my life. She hadn’t been interested in my offer of running a new branch of the diner, but her eyes had lit up when I assured her there would be many more opportunities ahead.

I was wrong about all of it, apparently. Maybe it was time to let her go. Every fiber of my being balked at that idea and wouldn’t allow me to think it through. She still wasn’t safe from Luca Ross, and I was also sure losing her would kill me.

But right now, her unhappiness was killing us both.