Dirty Maverick (The Maxwell Family)

by Alycia Taylor

  “His loss. Honestly, the two of you had something great going, and if he can’t see that, then he’s the one that I feel sorry for. And he’s moved to a department that’s so different from him. They’re a great group of guys, but they’re very different from Max. I don’t think he’s going to be happy there at all.”

  I nodded. “I thought the same thing. But like you say, his loss. We have a great team, and he’s the one that is missing out on all of this.”

  Surprisingly, I had a good time with Thomas. The two of us got along better than I thought we would. It wasn’t the same as it had been with Max, but it had potential. He was a nice guy, and very easy to be around, and I had a feeling we might actually become friends outside the workplace. I was glad that I had least given it a shot. I wasn’t going to mope around the office missing Max all day. He had made his choice, and I wasn’t going to let it get to me. I had also met Thomas’s girlfriend, and she was lovely. She was the type of woman I liked to be around because she wasn’t jealous or suspicious. She would have no problem with me going for coffee with Thomas because she would know that Thomas had eyes only for her.

  “We should do this again,” Thomas said as we stood up to leave.

  I smiled at him. “Yeah, I’d like that. And I’m sorry if I wasn’t, you know, approachable before.”

  “Nah, you were. I just didn’t want to ever break up you and Max.”

  “There’s no such thing as me and Max,” I said sadly.

  As we got back to the station, the chief called me back into his office. He smiled when he saw me and told me to take a seat. He went to close the door behind him, and I wondered if everything was okay.

  “Sorry about that. I took a small coffee break,” I said.

  “With Thomas? Yeah, that’s fine. That’s good, Madison. I’m glad to see that you’ve made other friends here. People like you. They respect you.”

  “They do?” I asked. That was news to me. I didn’t think people gave me much thought at all. I assumed I was just one of the numbers. And without Max, I was probably in their minds a lot less than before.

  The chief chuckled. “Of course, they do. It baffles me that you don’t know that. Although I guess that’s what makes people like you. You don’t go around flaunting your popularity. And before you say anything, you are popular. In fact, the reason I’ve called you in is because I have some news for you.”

  “News?” I asked. I was still feeling flushed from the compliments. It was always nice to be told by your boss that people liked you.

  “I’d like you to head the new narcotics team,” he said and beamed at me.

  “What? Are you serious?” That was a big responsibility and definitely something that I never thought I’d be asked to do. When I had first started as a cop, everyone had looked at me as if they couldn’t take me seriously. I was just a young girl who wanted to be like a boy, and I figured everyone would always see me that way. But the chief had asked me over all the men in the office, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had just accomplished something huge. I knew he wasn’t doing this because he felt sorry for me either. The chief only ever did something that he believed strongly in. It was one of the things that I loved most about him.

  “Is that something you’d be interested in?” the chief asked.

  “Are you kidding me? I would love nothing more than to do that. Yes, I am more than interested. I am so flattered. Thank you. That’s a huge honor.”

  “I’m glad you said yes,” he said, and I couldn’t believe that he would even think I could’ve said no. “You’re perfect for the job. I honestly couldn’t think of anyone better than you. Now, I want us to do some major reshuffling here, which means I want you to put your team together.”

  “I get to put the team together myself?” I said in excitement. The day was just getting better and better.

  “Of course. I want you to make sure you have the right team. I can choose one for you, but it won’t be the same. I know you will make the right choices. So, give it some thought. I’ve organized a conference meeting for this afternoon. I know it’s soon, but I’d like us to get started as soon as possible. Does that give you enough time?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll get right onto it.”

  “Great, welcome on board, Madison. And I’ll see you this afternoon in the conference room.”

  I made my way back to my desk, feeling elated at the news. I was so glad that something good was finally happening in my life. I needed this after everything I had been through. At least now I’d have something productive to do with my time. It wouldn’t take long for me to forget completely about Max Aarons. I sat down at my desk and got out a sheet of paper. I pulled up all the names of the staff on the computer and scrolled through them. It didn’t take me long to figure out exactly who I wanted on my team. I paused slightly when I got to Max’s name. I would’ve taken him in a heartbeat. He was perfect for this job. But he had made it clear that he didn’t to work with me, so I moved past him and continued to scroll through the names.

  Just before four that afternoon, I made my way to the conference room. I frowned when I saw that Max was headed straight towards me and quickly hurried my step. He got to me before I had a chance to disappear into the room.

  “Madi, could I have a few minutes of your time?”

  “Sorry, Max. I’m about to go into a meeting.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to be in the meeting too. I think we all are. But I just need five minutes.”

  I shook my head. “I’m heading the meeting. So, I need to go in now.”

  “You’re heading it?” he said. He seemed surprised, and I felt a moment of smugness take over me.

  “I’m heading it,” I said and pushed past him before he had the chance to say anything else.

  I waited until everyone was inside and stood at the front with the chief.

  “Thanks for coming here today everyone,” the chief said. “Now, as some of you might know, we’ve decided to do a lot of reshuffling and restructuring here. So, with that in mind, I’d like you to meet the new Head of Narcotics, Madison Hayes.”

  Everyone clapped and then laughed as I took a bow.

  “I have asked Madison to put together her very own team, which is why she has called you all here today. Madison, if you’d like to take over.”

  I stood up and said my hello to the team, and told them how much it meant for me to be in this position. I thanked the chief too for feeling like he could trust me. Then, I got out my notebook, and I began to read the names of my new team, asking them each to come up one by one. I saw Max standing at the back of the room, watching me, and I pretended not to see him.

  “And our final team member is Thomas Leery,” I said and beamed at Thomas as he walked up to me. He gave me a high five, and we all chuckled. “And that’s it. Welcome aboard,” I said. I looked around the rest of the room and smiled. “The chief will be letting you know what other changes are ahead, but for now, this is the first new team, and I have a good feeling about it.”

  I waited at the front of the room while everyone made their way out and I felt proud of myself for how I had handled everything. People kept coming up and congratulating me and telling me that I deserved to get the position. It was nice, and I felt happy again for the first time all week. When I saw that only Max was left in the room, I started to walk out, but he stopped me.

  “Can we talk?” he said.

  “I’m busy, Max.”

  He nodded. “Well, congratulations. I think the chief did the right thing by choosing you. You’re definitely the right person for the job.”

  “Thank you. He told me just this morning. I’m very happy.”

  “Madi, can we talk?”

  I sighed. “Go on. What do you have to say?”

  “Can we . . . can we go for dinner?”

  “What? No. You can talk now if you want to.”

  “You’re distracted, and I know you have a million things to do right now. And I really need more time than
just a few minutes. Please, can I take you for dinner?”

  “Max, I don’t think so. You’re the one that chose to leave the department. Not me.”

  “I know. But I didn’t mean I wanted us to stop being friends.”

  “Oh yeah? Could’ve fooled me.”

  “Come on, please, Madi. Just one dinner. And I promise you that if you’re not happy, you never have to see me again. But just one dinner.”

  Not seeing Max wasn’t going to be easy. We might not have been in the same department, but we still worked near each other.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “I’m not going to stop asking you. I will ask you every single day until you say yes.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “God, you’re so annoying. Okay, fine, dinner. But something quick.”

  “That’s fine. Something quick. I promise. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow.”

  “No, I’ll meet you there,” I said. This was not a date, and I wanted to make that very clear.

  “Okay. That’s fine,” he said. “I’ll text you the details.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Max

  I called my brother that morning to let him know that I was finally going to get a chance to talk to Madison. The more I spoke to him the more I realized what an idiot I had been all along.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I had said to him over the phone.

  “How much time do you have?” he teased.

  “Why did I walk away from the one real thing in my life?”

  “For that very reason,” I guess. “This is the first woman you have ever loved.”

  “Love? I like Madison a lot, but I’m not sure it’s love.”

  Xavier had laughed. “Hmm, okay then. Let me know when you figure it out.”

  “Figure it out?”

  “You love her, Max.”

  I made my way over to the restaurant, with the words ringing in my ears. Did I really love Madison? I liked her a lot. I liked her more than most people. But I wasn’t sure if I loved her. Then again, what did I know about love? I had never been in love before. I had never understood how some people threw the word around so easily. I had watched people fall into relationships quickly, and within weeks they were telling each other that they loved them. Months later, they wouldn’t be together. Yet, despite this, they’d meet someone else, and the process would happen all over again. Wasn’t love supposed to be something special? It had lost its meaning over the years. But not to me. I was very aware that I had never been in love. I’d had a few girlfriends, some more serious than others, but I had never loved them. Each time, I’d hoped it would become love, but there had always been something missing. I wasn’t sure if it was love that I felt with Madison. But I was sure that she was not someone I was ready to let go of just yet. I had made a huge mistake, and I was willing to own up to it.

  The restaurant that I had chosen was a little Chinese restaurant near to where we lived. It wasn’t overly romantic, but it had a nice atmosphere. I didn’t want her to think it was a date, but I also wanted to be somewhere that offered a nice environment for conversation. I found a small table at the back and with my face to the door, I waited for her to come in. Ten minutes in, the waiter asked if everything was fine and I assured him that she was just running late. But almost half an hour into arriving, I was starting to wonder if she would ever show up. Madison was never late. It was one of the reasons why the two of us got along so well. We were always on time for everything. Madison was either proving a point or else she had simply changed her mind. At exactly half past seven, I thought about getting up and leaving, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she walked in. As usual, Madison was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I had a feeling she hadn’t made an effort to show me that she wasn’t interested in me. But what she didn’t realize was that she still looked beautiful regardless. Her plan had backfired for sure.

  “You’re late,” I said as she walked in.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Yeah? So? This isn’t a date,” she said and sat down.

  I chuckled. “Doesn’t make it any less rude.”

  “Ah, but you’re the king of rude. I’m only following in your footsteps.”

  “Touché. So, what do you think of the restaurant?” I said and gestured around me.

  Madison looked around and nodded. “It’s no ‘pastrami sandwich café, ’ but it’ll do.”

  The waiter came by to take our order, and once he was gone, Madison looked at me.

  “So, are you going to tell me why you wanted to talk or are we just going to sit here and pretend like nothing is going on?”

  “You see, that’s what I’ve been missing. Nobody else is a straight talker like you. I have to skirt around other people in case I offend them.”

  “Oh, I have no trouble when it comes to offending you. In fact, I relish it.”

  I laughed. “I’ve missed you, Madi.”

  “Max, what’s going on? Seriously, you’ve been so weird. One minute we’re friends, we’re partners, we’re something else that I don’t really want to discuss right now. The next you’re telling the chief that you don’t want to work with me anymore. You ignore me for weeks. And now, you want to have dinner and joke around with me like old times. I’m not your puppet, Max. You can’t just decide when and where you will be friends with me. Either we’re friends, or we’re not.”

  I sighed. “You’re absolutely right. And that’s why I wanted to meet with you tonight. I wanted to meet up with you so that I could apologize for the way that I’ve been acting.”

  “Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? I know I’m just one of the guys, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. And that’s got nothing to do with me being a girl, and everything to do with me being a human being. You can’t just play around with my emotions that way. It’s not fair on me.”

  What was wrong with me? Why had I not taken into consideration how she must’ve felt when I just walked away from her like that. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing when it was clear that I was just being a coward.

  “I’ve missed you,” I said again. My voice came out in a whisper that took both of us by surprise.

  “I’m not going to tell you that I missed you,” she said.

  I smiled. “I know. I understand. Can I explain myself?”

  “You better,” she said.

  “That time that we shared in the safe house was probably the best few weeks of my life. I have always felt comfortable with you. It’s why we worked so well together as partners. But I didn’t realize just how much I liked you as more than just a work partner. I still cannot believe that I went through so many years ignoring that feeling. But the moment we kissed, I knew that it was what I had always wanted.”

  She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. You have never liked me, and the only reason you thought you did was because you had no memories of our time together. The moment your memories came back you realized just how much you didn’t actually feel for me.”

  I stared at her in shock. “Is that really what you think happened?”

  “Sure. It’s the only explanation. How else do you explain going from hot to cold like that? Your memories returned, and with them, you realized that you didn’t like me in that way at all. Then you felt so guilty for leading me on, and you didn’t know how to tell me that you had changed your mind. So, you stopped seeing me, and you told the chief that you didn’t want to work with me. Simple.”

  I shook my head. So, she’d been thinking that the whole time? It made sense now that she said it out loud. If the roles were reversed, I would be thinking the same thing too. I sighed.

  “I’m an idiot. Such an idiot,” I said.

  “I agree,” she said, and I laughed. How I had missed this!

  “That’s not what I was trying to do at all. I actually thought I was doing the right thing. Madi, the reason why I didn’t want to see you anymore was because I didn’t want anything to happen to you again
. It was my fault that the team was in danger that day. I should never have been so careless. And Blake . . . .” I said and shuddered. It was still hard for me to think about his betrayal. “If it wasn’t for me, he would never have known so much. I let him in because I trusted him. But I should’ve never trusted anyone except for you and the chief. I did this to you. You almost died twice because of me.”

  “But Max, you saved me twice. Don’t you see? This has nothing to do with you. This would’ve happened regardless. We all trusted Blake. It’s not your fault. Nobody blames you.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I still blame myself. And . . . there’s something else.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What happened with you and me . . . .” I started but at that exact moment the waiter came by with our food, and we had to wait until he left. The waiter didn’t seem to notice at all that we were in the middle of a serious conversation and continued to talk to us like nothing was happening. When he left, we both chuckled awkwardly.

  “We should’ve just started talking about sex and watched to see how nervous he got,” she said, and despite the low lighting, I noticed that she blushed slightly at her words. I resisted the urge to tell her how cute it was.

  I chuckled. “Yeah. We should’ve. Madi, what happened with you and me . . . I wasn’t with you because I had lost memories. The lost memories just helped me make the first move. It’s been tough not being with you now. I’ve missed you so much, and even just looking at you now makes me wish we were back in that safe house.”

  “So, why just end it? I don’t understand.”

  “Well . . . I thought that you didn’t want to be with me.”

  “What do you mean? I never once gave you that impression. I never once said I didn’t want to be with you. We might not have spoken much about the situation, but I never told you that I didn’t want to be with you. In fact, I thought that I had made it pretty clear how much I was enjoying myself.”

  I nodded. “I know. But . . . Madi, we’ve been partners for years. Why were we never together? You didn’t ever once make a move on me.”