by J. Woods
“She must be pretty special to have you so worked up,” he heard from beside him. Turning his head he could see his dad was leaning against the car staring at the clipboard of sheets in front of him.
“Yeah,” Max ground out between clenched teeth. His father looked up, his eyebrow raised as he stared at Max as if he could see everything before he turned back to the clipboard. Max felt unsettled, and not for the first time when his dad looked at him with the knowledge he’d rather keep to himself. He was so unbalanced, a state so unfamiliar he had no idea what to do with himself. He had never felt anything other than the appreciation of a woman’s body that these feelings he was experiencing now twisted his stomach in knots.
“Want to talk about it?” his father asked. Max straightened and tossed the wrench back into the toolbox, a satisfying clang echoing throughout the garage.
“There’s nothing really to talk about. She wanted to fuck with my head, my head is now fucked. End of story.” He watched his dad’s eyebrows raise at his vocabulary before deciding to let it go.
“Let me ask you something. Do you want her?”
“What?” Max asked, scrubbing his hand with a rag he had stuck in his back pocket.
“It’s quite simple really. Either you do or you don’t. Do you want her?” he asked more slowly.
“Yes,” he admitted, letting out a defeated breath.
“So then go and get her Max. Everything can be worked out if you want it to. The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want it to?” Clenching his jaw he continued to stare at the engine in front of him, letting the words digest.
“When did you get to be so wise?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.
“Years of experience, my son. Years of experience.” The words released on his sigh were belied by the knowing grin that he was trying to hold back. Max knew his parent’s had a hard time when they first got together, their own baggage getting in the way of one another and it was a story they had been told bits and pieces of when they were young. But it was the happiness and pride that his father’s eyes still held when talking about Juliette that made Max wonder if his father was right.
“Hey, princess. Why don’t you stop daydreaming and order us some food. I’m starving,” Nate grumbled, pulling Max out of his errant thoughts. Guilt assailed him knowing he should be concentrating on the mission at hand. He couldn’t have Nate’s back if he were thinking about someone else’s. Pushing the wants of his heart (and his hardening cock at just the thought of her) aside, he determined he would go and get her when he returned from this mission. Because whatever Max put his mind to, he would seduce and charm until he got it. With a knowing grin he got up off the bed and moved toward the stack of menus.
Brie Murphy had no chance.
***
Brie stared at the message she had typed, her finger hovering over the send button. It had been three days and she hadn’t heard from Max since he had stormed out of her office Monday afternoon.
Max, can we meet up to talk - please?
She had typed it out five times and deleted every one of them. Before she lost her confidence she forced herself to press SEND and off it went, a moment of panic assailing her knowing she couldn’t pull it back. She had spent months haunted by the memories of that one blissful, heated night they spent together. She had wanted him to give her one more night, one more memory to keep with her and she could be rid of him she told herself. And now that she had that night, that memory, her wish answered, it wasn’t enough. And knowing that she had jumped to conclusions, assuming he was the man she made him out to be in her mind she had thrown him out of her life. He was pissed and he deserved to be. She needed to make him listen to her. Brie wasn’t an excuses kind of girl which left only one thing - the truth. She would have to pull on her big girl panties and make him listen to her. No matter what. She would handcuff him to her bed if she had to. She didn’t know what he would say or do and she wasn’t sure her ragged heart could handle any more, but it was a mess she created and one she had to clean up. Her mood was already dark from an email she received earlier, her mother reminding her of their luncheon on Sunday and a date she wished she could forget. Brie and her mother always made the effort to get together for lunch on the anniversary of her father’s passing and even though it was a lunch filled with long silences and basic conversation, it somehow gave her a sense of peace. But with her life falling apart around her lately, the last thing she wanted was a date with the woman who held only resentment toward her, where they would both be checking their watches until it was over. Just then her phone vibrated in her palm. Her heart skipped thinking, hoping it was Max. It wasn’t, but seeing Roxy’s name still put a smile on her face.
Girls night - my place tomorrow.
Maybe a girl’s night was exactly what she needed.
I’ll be there.
Brie showed up at Roxy’s door holding a bottle of wine and the phone that barely left her gaze in the past twenty four hours. She had even given in this morning and called him when she hadn’t received a return text but it went straight to voicemail. The door opened and her best friend quickly pulled her in from the cold and into a fierce, warm hug that Brie knew held an underlying meaning but had no idea what it was.
Brie was welcomed by Roxy’s sisters, Cameron and Stella and felt her breath get momentarily caught in her chest when she laid eyes upon the gorgeous woman who was at the root of Brie’s rash judgements. The woman whose face lit up the screen on Max’s phone and caused her heart to stutter into hurt before she kicked him out of her apartment. His sister in law.
“Hi, it’s so nice to finally meet you! I’ve heard a lot about you. How are you feeling? I heard about what happened at the party.” Her handshake was warm and firm and Max was right - she was completely gorgeous.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you. And it is lovely to meet you as well.” Brie forced a smile and felt the need to sit down. She needed to get over it; over the misdirected anger she felt toward this beautiful stranger and over her own complicated feelings, but the sense of possession over a man she had effectively shoved out of her life was entirely confusing. Zoe introduced her friend Rachel who was just as beautiful but in a more quiet way. She could tell the two were close without them having to say anything and it reminded Brie of the times she was in college and the camaraderie she missed by having a close knit group of women surrounding her. She looked around at the chatter and smiling faces and for some reason, felt more lost, adrift amongst the waves of chaos than she had before. She needed to confide in someone and the acceptance she felt here made her want to open her mouth and confess everything. But she couldn’t do that. Her life had turned into a web of secrets and it was one she was starting to loathe more and more by the day. And it was entirely her own doing. She needed to talk to Max, she needed to talk to Roxy and she needed to take back control.
“When are you due?” Zoe asked her then, pulling her out of her wayward thoughts.
“In a couple months.”
“That’s so exciting! Do you feel ready?”
“Yes.” No.
“I think between all of us we could actually open a baby store,” Roxy teased as she walked into the room, saving Brie from continuing the conversation. “That reminds me, are you free next Sunday?”
“I think so,” Brie answered, taking the sparkling cider Roxy offered.
“Good.”
“Why?” she asked with a smirk, knowing her friend was trying to keep a secret and failing miserably.
“You’re the worst!” Stella admonished as she watched and laughed at her sister.
“Okay we weren’t supposed to tell you...”
“We weren’t going to tell her until you opened your big mouth,” Cameron murmured, rolling her eyes. Brie couldn’t help but laugh.
“Fine! I won’t tell her then!”
“Oh no you don’t, you have to tell me now!” Brie told her with false authority. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, Zoe reached over an
d took her hand.
“We planned a baby shower for you.”
“You... what?”
“A baby shower!” Stella echoed with a wide grin.
“I don’t need that,” Brie protested, a feeling of unease settling in her stomach. Max’s family wanted to throw her a baby shower, the father of her child, who wasn’t speaking to her and they had no idea this baby was one of their own. She had royally screwed this up. She swallowed over the emotion building in her throat and noticed Roxy watching her.
“I know you don’t. But it’s not up for discussion.” Her friend sent her a look she didn’t know how to decipher before she seamlessly changed the subject, talking about her latest training mission she had just returned from.
A couple hours later Brie stood up to say her goodbyes. “Come upstairs with me for a minute?” Roxy asked with pleading eyes. Brie frowned in response but nodded her head and followed her friend.
“What’s going on with you? You’ve been checking your phone all night and you have dark circles under your eyes like you haven’t slept for a week. Talk to me,” Roxy implored after they had settled across from each other on the bed. Brie ran a hand over her face, she hadn’t thought she was that obvious.
“I messed things up Rox. I don’t even know what happened... well, I guess I do, but I don’t know how I let it get this out of hand.” She took a deep breath before she continued. “And then he completely freaked out and in the next instant he was gone. It is completely my fault, I mean he is just so carefree, he has this life that I don’t know how he is going to fit a baby into, but he was so upset, Rox. So upset that I realize now I probably should have told him. And now he’s not speaking to me and I don’t know how to fix it.” She fell back on the bed, throwing her arm over her eyes as she realized just how out of control her situation had become.
“Does this have anything to do with my brother?” Roxy asked quietly. Brie shot up, a look of stricken panic crossing her features as she stared at Roxy with her mouth hanging open.
How had she found out?
She felt her chin quivering as she nodded her head slowly. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her best friend.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, he’s miserable. And to give you some piece of mind, he hasn’t been with anyone since you two made that baby in your belly.”
“You know?” Brie whispered in something akin to horror.
“I know,” she confirmed. Brie’s head was spinning. Roxy had just delivered too much information to wrap her head around.
“He hasn’t been with... anyone?” Brie breathed. What did that mean? Roxy shook her head. “How do you know?” she asked, her fingers playing with the edge of the quilt on the bed.
“Because I’m a little sister and eavesdropping is what I do best.”
“How mad are you?” Brie lifted her eyes to meet her friend’s, she would do anything to make it up to her.
“I was pretty pissed when I found out.” Brie nodded her acknowledgement waiting for Roxy to rant and yell. She’d seen her friend upset before and she braced herself for her famous temper. She was instantly surprised when Roxy picked up her hand and entwined their fingers together. “But then I remembered that in a couple months there’s going to be a baby, and really if I’m honest, I’m happy it was you who tamed my brother.” Brie snorted at that.
“I don’t think anyone is tamed, especially your brother. But I need you to know I had no idea who he was Roxy. If I would have known, please believe me I would have never even given him a second look.”
“I know, Brie. Max said the same thing.”
“You’ve talked to him?” Roxy nodded her head. “I don’t know how to fix it,” Brie told her sighing.
“Just talk to him.”
“He won’t speak to me. God, he was so mad, Rox. And now he won’t answer my texts or my calls.”
“Just give him some time to get his head around it. I don’t know anyone who loves kids more than Max but I think right now, he just feels... hurt.” A moment of silence hung between them when Brie placed Roxy’s palm against her belly. A wide grin spread across her face as she felt the small movement.
Chapter Eleven
Max was exhausted. He and Nate had just spent three days staring at a crowded bus station and no sign of their target. She either received wind that someone was watching for her or the information they got was bogus, a ploy to deter the feds off Libby West and in particular, her father. They were starting to run around in circles and he and his brothers were starting to get pissed. They were tired of listening to the brilliant ideas and abiding by the rules of the CIA that were getting them nowhere. Max knew Nate was putting together a plan of their own - he didn’t know what the fascination was with the girl but he’d never seen his brother more focused in his life.
After they’d landed, Max turned on his personal cell and saw the missed text’s he’d received from Brie earlier in the week. His stomach plummeted at the same time a sense of anticipation rushed through him - she was reaching out to him. She wanted to talk. He would let her talk, let her explain her sordid story and then he would tie her to his bed and make her see just how wrong about him she was. He would fuck them both into oblivion, until she couldn’t see past the pleasure, until she was too exhausted to run away from him or kick him out of her life. He was done playing her game and he would show her exactly who was in charge. She was an enigma that he couldn’t wrap his head around. She managed to worm her way inside of him, he felt her in every pore, every crack and fracture of his soul that he refused to acknowledge. She was light and sensation and she was the most infuriating woman he had ever known. She was letting her own fears lead her into a false reality, a reality Max was determined to set right. No way in hell was he going to allow Brie to raise this baby herself, without him or, hell, with any other man. Knowing if it were any other woman who had told him she was pregnant with his baby, the sirens of terror would be sounding in his head as he questioned her motives. Which made him wonder - what made Brie so different that he wasn’t running for the hills? He found himself, terrified, yes, but with wonderment and a sense of possessive pride that she was carrying his child. His.
Scrubbing a hand over his face Max listened to his GPS direct him away from his apartment and into the Sunday morning downtown traffic. Remembering the last time he had seen her, he clenched his jaw at his behaviour. He had been so angry that she had kept her pregnancy from him, even now, he felt the slow simmering anger burning inside of him and he hated that was how it was left hanging between them. But he had no way of contacting her while he was away on a mission, his only form of communication, a satellite phone that linked only to the secure set of phone numbers programmed. His mind was at war knowing the mission they were about to take was the most important operation they had ever taken on. Savage Security was already a name that was rising high on the list of government agencies - the nameless, faceless group of men who got the job done cleanly and quietly. It was one that was quickly being funded by a group of important backers in the political world and Max had never been more proud to be a part of what he and his brothers had created. And not because of the promising threat that now followed their name but because they had never succumbed to the rules they all loathed so deeply. They were following their own set of rules, the ones that lay silently in the areas of grey, the ones that got the job done, the mission completed the way it was supposed to without worry of red tape or lines crossed. The West mission would give them exactly what they needed to continue to grow - to expand the Barn to include a medical facility for Stella, a lab for Cameron and soon a small runway for Roxy and her toys. It had always been the plan to include their sisters in Savage Security. Hell, they were some of the fiercest women he had ever known and he didn’t doubt for a second they could hold their own against the meanest sons of bitches. And when they were ready, they would join the team. Logan had already recruited Ace who was known to be colder than any of them and Max knew eventu
ally they would expand the team; he wondered now, however, if that time would come sooner rather than later. He would never give up Savage Security or the thrill of a mission but he knew with Brie and the baby that he would have to scale back. They were quickly becoming more important than anything he ever thought could.
***
Brie blew out a rough breath before she pulled open the door and walked inside the restaurant. She was exhausted. Roxy had given her so much to think about, Max wasn’t talking to her and on top of it all today was the day she wished she could skip over every year. Her heart hurt even more today than it had for the past week and today the empty ache she had carried for the past five years only intensified on the anniversary of her father’s death. But even with the hard memories of the day, Brie couldn’t stop from analyzing what Roxy had told her. She found it hard to believe that Max hadn’t been with anyone since her, but Roxy was so determined, so sure that she couldn’t help but wonder if it was true.