“Well, it’s probably best if we wait on that. I think I need a little time with that one.”
“You’re right, I totally understand. That’s enough about Nick anyway. Tell me what’s going on with Max. Did you guys get a chance to talk?” I could hear it in her voice. She had fallen for him. Damn it.
Joanie was my best friend, my sister, my family. What in the hell was I going to tell Max? What was I going to do? She deserved happiness. I wanted her to be happy, but did it have to be with Nick?
I started to try and tell her about my situation with Candi and my grandparents’ estate when Max came out of the bathroom. He had an earthy brown towel wrapped tight around his waist, clinging flawlessly to his lower body. The muscles in his torso flexed and relaxed as he walked past me and opened his dresser drawer. I watched random drops of water fall from the tips of his sharp black hair then track down his shoulders and across his back. Seductively, he started to loosen the tuck of his towel and his eyes slowly grazed up my body as he bit his bottom lip. Oh my God, what is he trying to do to me? I lost my words. It was a measurable minute before I picked my jaw back up off the floor and was able to talk.
“Wilson? Heeelllooo? Are you there? I swear this cell coverage sucks!”
“Hold on a minute,” I sighed as I dropped the phone away from my mouth. “You can’t do that right here, right now; I’m trying to talk to Joanie.”
“Do what?” he asked as he let go of the towel from around his waist and dropped it at his feet. “I’m just getting dressed,” he said, turning his back to me. I watched as every single muscle from his calves to his shoulders flexed while he reached for his boxers. Could there be anything more sensual than watching my boyfriend pull on his clingy Calvin Klein’s, one leg at a time? I think not.
I did my best to look away as he finished getting dressed, so I could focus on my conversation with Joanie. Even though I could tell Max was getting dressed slower than usual, I pushed the phone to my ear and started telling her about my situation back home.
“So, J, Max and I have to go back to California tomorrow morning.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s something to do with my grandparents’ house. If I don’t sign some papers before the end of the year, I could lose it all,” I stressed.
“Maxi, the lawyer is here. I think you and Wilson need to come down,” Nancy announced as she knocked on the door.
“Okay, Ma,” Max answered as he looked over at me. He was ready to go downstairs, fully clothed in his perfectly fitting jeans and even tighter black t-shirt that accentuated every curvy muscle and clung to every spot I wanted to taste.
Joanie had no idea of the silent conversation I was having there with Max. He looked at me, I shrugged as I pointed to the phone, Max shrugged back and pointed at the door…
Joanie continued, “Oh, I thought you were going to leave Sunday after New Year’s. Well, shit, that puts a kink in things, doesn’t it?” Her words caught my full attention.
“What do you mean a kink?” I asked her.
“Well, it’s just that we are here in Aspen, and we’ve always celebrated New Year’s in Cali. I was hoping we’d be here. Together. But if you gotta go back at least you’ll have Max with you.” When Joanie said that, my heart twisted. What does she mean by that? I’m telling her this so she’ll get ready to come back with us.
Max pointed to his wrist, at the fake, non-watch he was wearing, and said he had to go. I held my pointer finger in the air, asking him silently for one more minute. He stood waiting.
“Well, J, I assumed you’d come back with us. Max is going to get his father’s plane,” I offered.
She was silent for a moment. All I could hear were some very shallow breaths on the other end of the phone. I knew Joanie so well—we’d lived together for over ten years. I knew that she was about to tell me something I wasn’t going to like. She didn’t even have to say it. She had fallen hard for Nick and she wanted to stay longer with him.
“Wil—” she started to say my name but I stopped her.
“Don’t worry about it. I totally understand.” Even though I wasn’t happy about it and the tone of my voice reported it to her.
“I won’t stay in Aspen, if you need me. I am serious, Wilson; I will go home with you. I need to know you’re okay with this. Nick will understand,” she reasoned.
Max leaned over, kissed my temple, and whispered that he was going downstairs and to come meet them when I was ready. I watched him walk out of the bedroom, and as he shut the door, my heart was tugged clear out of my chest. So I did what Joanie had done for me when I fell hard for Max…I was happy for her.
“No, J, stay here with Nick. I’m totally okay with it. You deserve to be happy. I can handle this stupid lawyer thing back home. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” she asked one more time.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Maybe you guys can have your first kiss at the stroke of midnight,” I teased.
Joanie gave a nervous chuckle. That’s when I knew, she was into him deep. One night and he had her going to the moon.
“You guys kissed already, didn’t you?” I asked, not really wanting to know.
“Yeah, we did,” she sighed.
Oh, my, she was taken. I couldn’t blame her. He was charming, a great kisser, and totally hot. And I’d never admit to anyone…not even J…that I was a little jealous of them.
Chapter Twenty
~ Max ~
I had to walk out of the room, I was done with all the responsibility that was being thrust down my throat, and all the excuses Gary was making for my dad’s selfish choice to make me CEO of Goldstein Petroleum. I didn’t ask for it, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be locked down to this company starting immediately. Why in the world is Calvin agreeing with Gary anyway? Everyone knows Dan is cut out for the job, not me. It was like a train ran straight through the middle of my gut without slowing down. Pain burned in the deepest parts of my chest, places that I didn’t even know could hurt. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath or say anything to Wilson as she met me on the stairs.
She had taken a shower. Her blonde hair, still damp, danced and tapped against her neck and shoulders. She was dressed in her slim-fitting black jeans and a blue top that clung to every curve of her body. I wanted to smile at her, wanted to let her know everything was going to work out, but I couldn’t. How was I supposed to tell her that I had to stay in Aspen? What words were going to be good enough to make her feel okay about going back to California without me?
“Maximillian, wait…” my mom shouted as I started taking the stairs two at a time. I stopped and looked up at Wilson before I turned down to her.
“I am sorry your father did this to you,” she said, “But I know it will be for the best. Your family really needs you right now.” Her voice cracked as she spoke.
I took a couple of steps toward my mom. I knew where she was coming from, where she had been living the last couple of days. I understood that she’d just lost the love of her life. But I wasn’t going to give up on mine before I even had a chance to really create something. Something that could be beyond magical.
“Mom, I love and respect where you are coming from, and I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but Dad’s chicken-shit way of forcing me into something he’s always wanted for me, without even giving me a chance to create something with my own life? Well, I can’t think of anything more selfish than that. I’m sorry, Mom, but I was serious when I told Gary to find a way out. I am not your man. Not for this.” I felt my body seething as I told her what was on my mind.
“Hey!” she hollered. A bellowing voice I hadn’t heard in years filled the room. I noticed her body shaking from her head to her feet, her eyes bloodshot from crying and her hair flat against her cheeks, plastered there by her tears. She pointed her boney, tiny finger at me as she spoke. “Who do you think you are? How dare you speak of your father that way? He did nothing but provide for you kids. Anything
you ever wished for, he gave you. You kids never wanted for anything…”
“You know, Mom, the only thing I ever wanted from him was to tell me he was proud of me. That’s all! Now he’s gone, and I’ll never get the chance to hear that.” I felt my body give up, I felt my legs give out from under me, and I crumpled on the stairs. My mom was down at the bottom of the stairs, Wilson frozen on the top step, and there I was, in the middle, losing it. For the first time in days, I felt that my father was really gone.
My mom rushed up the first couple of steps. She slipped her hands around my jaw and pulled my face up to look her in the eyes. “Your father loved you…I love you,” my mom said as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. She pushed her lips to my forehead before I closed my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said as I wrapped my arms up around her. She lowered to her knees and held me.
“Maxi, we are all hurting,” she whispered. “It’s going to take time. I hope someday you’ll see why your father did what he did.” I felt her pull away as she held my face in her delicately aged hands. Her eyes, clinging to mine, were damp with pain from the words I just spat at her carelessly, words meant for my father.
“I think you need to talk to Wilson; tell her what’s going on,” she whispered just above inaudibly as her eyes darted behind me.
I knew Wilson was there. I knew she’d heard every last word; and yet, part of me wished she hadn’t. Damn, I don’t want to rehash the details of what happened in the meeting with Gary. She should have just been there with me. Then at least I wouldn’t have to be the one to let her down. But she wasn’t with me; instead she was on the phone with Joanie. I needed her next to me as Gary cemented my future with GP. Instantly, I felt my head run hot and I started boiling on the inside. Son-of-a-bitch! I could feel myself starting to get upset with her, even though I knew she needed to talk to Joanie about leaving tomorrow. At least she’ll have her best friend with her when she goes back to California.
I watched my mom nod at Wilson before she kissed me and left us alone. I didn’t turn around to look at her; instead I dropped my face into my hands. I was done. In the next moment I felt her fingers drawing across my shoulders and down the front of my chest. Her body pressed firm against my back and her breath warmed my ear as she whispered, “Don’t worry, Max. Everything will be fine. We’ll just…do what we have to do.”
I could tell that she wasn’t entirely sure of what she was saying. A note of reluctance rose in her voice. But when her lips pressed against the side of my neck, and opportune warmth flooded across my flesh.
“Well it’s starting, Wilson. I can’t go back to the Bay Area with you tomorrow,” I growled back at her simple solution. I stood up, almost knocking Wilson back behind me. I suddenly realized, in the whirlwind of haste when Gary was reading the will, I forgot to call and hold a car and the company jet.
“Shit,” I spat.
“What?” she exclaimed.
“I completely forgot to call GP and get a plane,” I answered back as I unlocked my iPhone and started to dial my father’s company. The phone rang against my ear as I began get a taste of the collateral damage my father created with naming me CEO of his company.
“At least you spoke to Joanie. Good thing she’s going back to California with you.” I couldn’t help but feel relieved that my girl wasn’t going back alone.
Wilson’s expression dropped, changing before my eyes as she looked down at the floor and walked to the foyer. I could tell by her body language, something was up.
“What is it?” I asked as I followed her off the stairs. I watched Wilson twist her lips. She was about to say something when Pam answered the phone.
“GP Transportation Division, Pam speaking, how may I help you?”
I motioned for Wilson to hold that thought.
“Hi, Pam. It’s Max.”
Pam had been with GP my whole life. She was hired by my grandfather as a receptionist before my dad took over running the company and promoted her to human resources then head of transportation.
“Oh hi, sweetheart, how are you? How’s the family? Your momma?” she murmured in a sad tone.
“I’m hanging in there. Everyone is doing the best they can right now,” I answered quickly. I really didn’t want to talk about my feelings right then. What I really wanted was to get the car and plane reserved. “Look, Pam, I’m calling because I need to line up a car to pick up my girlfriend from the house and take her to the Aspen airport tomorrow morning; also, I need to have the jet ready for a flight to Oakland International.”
“Okay, sure, let me just get some information from you.”
“That would be great,” I answered as I watched Wilson pull at her bottom lip. I noticed that she seemed to do that when she had something she wasn’t saying, or needed to be said.
“Alright, Max, you have two travelers, correct?”
“Yeah, two.” I said quickly.
“So your girlfriend and yourself?” Pam asked. I could hear her typing in the background and I couldn’t help but notice the emphasis she put on girlfriend.
“No, unfortunately, I won’t be accompanying her.” There was a pit in my stomach. The type of pit that twisted and gnarled into a huge knot. I hated have to say I wasn’t going with Wilson to California.
“Oh, I see,” she hummed.
I looked at the stairs before looking at Wilson again. She was turning a shade past pale, and I noticed her nervous habit of pulling at her lip had changed to biting and rolling it between her teeth. “Pam, I’m going to have to call you back in a minute.”
“No problem, sweetie, just call me when you can. And please tell your family I’m thinking about them.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” I stated, not waiting for her to respond before ending the call.
“What’s going on, Wilson?”
She released her plump lip from between her perfectly straight white teeth and said, “It’s not a big deal.”
“What’s not a big deal?”
Wilson avoided looking me in the eyes as she answered, “Joanie isn’t going back to California with me.”
“What? Hold on, what did you just say?”
Wilson looked straight into my eyes.
“Max, it’s not a big deal.”
“Joanie isn’t going home with you?” I croaked, a little more harshly than I’d intended. I didn’t like where this was going. I didn’t want Wilson to have to face those lawyers alone. “Well, shit, that isn’t going to work,” I spat as I started to pace the entryway.
“Max, come on, I can handle flying by myself. I’m a big girl, you know.”
“It doesn’t have to do with you being able to fly home or not. Wilson, I don’t want you to have to go deal with the lawyers all alone.” The muscles across my chest started to tighten. I couldn’t breathe deeply enough to erase the pure frustration I had boiling in my body. There was nothing I could kick or punch hard enough to make me feel okay with anything Wilson had just told me. My jaw began to ache with pressure from grinding my teeth to keep from saying some pretty choice words.
“Well, it’s just the way it is. It isn’t forever. J will be flying back a couple of days after me. Besides, if I’m okay with it…then, you should be too,” Wilson said as she reached up and wrapped her hands around the back of my head. I stood rigid and tall, not willing to bend. She pushed up on her tiptoes to kiss me. Of course, once her lips brushed against mine, her magic took over. My muscles relaxed and I leaned into kissing her. It’s hard to stay seriously pissed or frustrated when someone so beautiful decides to kiss me. I slipped my arms around the small of her back and pulled her in tight.
I dragged my lips across her warm cheek. I felt her shiver as I pressed my mouth against her ear. “This doesn’t change the fact that I’m totally pissed that Joanie and I won’t be there for you,” I whispered.
“Well, babe, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do,” she countered in a low, brawly ton
e.
“Well, I don’t really believe that. What the hell is keeping Joanie from going with you, anyway?” I responded without thinking. The words just rolled off my tongue. Wilson’s body stiffened as she stared at me. She thrust her hands against my chest, pushing me away, before slamming her hand against her hip. She didn’t have to say a word; the look on her face said everything.
Damn it, I’ve offended her.
“Well, I’m sorry you don’t believe me,” she spat.
“It’s not like that. You know what I mean.” I reached out for her, but she wasn’t giving me a chance.
“Do I, Max?” she responded in a cheeky tone. “I didn’t tell J you weren’t going. I didn’t want her to change her plans for me.”
“What plans? I thought she came here to be with you! What plans are more important than going home with her best friend?” I asked. Her words seemed to come from out of left field. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Joanie was protecting Wilson?
“Well, her plans changed,” Wilson said as she looked down at the floor, adding “What am I supposed to do? She’s fallen for him.”
“Who’s ‘him?’” I asked, knowing full well who she was talking about. I felt every muscle in my body constrict. My breathing became weak as I swallowed every word that wanted to fly from my mouth.
“Nick,” she whispered.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve gotta be kidding me! Of all people…I can’t believe she’s blowing you off for that asshole!” She knows what happened. How can she be with that snake? I never saw this coming. Joanie would never flake on Wilson like that.
“She’s not blowing me off, Max. I kinda told her to go for it.”
“Are you forgetting that he tried to keep us apart? I mean, he lied to you and took advantage of you. He’s lucky I didn’t fuck him up more than I did,” I said as I came toward her.
Beyond Eighteen Page 14