“Max! What the hell are you doing here?”

Sadie was secretly elated to see Max standing outside her house, but at the same time, considering the way they had parted ways the last time they had been together, she was tempted to turn him away and make him leave.

But, then again, she already knew from past experience, it was impossible to make Max do anything he didn’t want to do. He would make sure he had communicated his message before leaving, whether she liked it or not. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear anything he had to say. Not after their last chat.

“What I’m doing here is making sure Leon doesn’t come back. Did you know he has been watching you? He knows I came over the other night. He knows everything. Do you have any idea how creepy that is? Why haven’t you gone to the Council about him yet? They won’t do anything unless you complain. I can talk until I’m blue in the face and they won’t fucking do a thing about it.”

“What do you care, Max?” Sadie asked. “Didn’t you tell me you were better off without me, anyway? So, maybe Leon will take care of that for you. He wouldn’t be any worse than the other men I’ve dated over the years. What the hell? Maybe I should just go out and see what he wants to do.”

Even just the thought of it made her shrivel inside, and she felt guilty for betraying the truth in her heart. She knew she loved Max, and him alone. And yet, he had proven to her the last time he had been with her that he had been incapable of changing. She had set her hopes too high with him. Just because he was a successful man now didn’t mean he had grown at all. It was the hard truth.

“Maybe you should just shut your mouth before you say something you really regret,” Max said, stepping toward her menacingly. “You know you don’t mean that. So why don’t you just shut up and we can talk about this like rational people.”

A hot bolt of anger sprang to Sadie’s chest and she stepped toward Max, just as menacingly. He hesitated, unsure of how to take this turn of events. She hadn’t ever realized just how much power she held over him until this moment, but now she saw that he actually did respect her and could be affected by her moods and her presence. It was a strange revelation. Especially to have in the heat of the moment like this.

“You need to watch the way you speak to me, Max,” Sadie exclaimed.

“I really just wish you would take care of this Leon situation, all right? Do you know how dangerous that little bastard is now? He has some kind of tie to the assholes who put me in this position in the first place. And you and I both already know how he feels about you. Why do you think it’s okay? It’s not okay. It will never be okay.”

“I know, but I don’t think that you intruding on my life like this is okay either. How am I going to be able to explain all of this when I’m asking myself where my self-respect has gone? I don’t want to be subjected to the way you make me feel if you’re never even going to be serious about me. None of this is what I want.”

Max gaped at her and she pushed past him, shaking her head in misery. Why was it that he never seemed to really understand how she was feeling? Even though he was a shifter and he was supposed to be able to hone in on her emotions, he still seemed to be completely lost the majority of the time. Was she doing something wrong? Or was he just that stupid? Either way, she couldn’t believe the situation she had gotten herself into. It was unbelievable.

“So, what is it that you do want?” Max called after her. He seemed genuinely confused, and that only served to make her angrier with him. Still, if he didn’t already know, then the only way for him to find out would be to ask. But she was definitely not in the mood to be answering questions right now. She had enough on her mind without having to try to explain her entire thought process to Max. Especially not when he was the one who was getting her all confused and flustered in the first place. She needed some space.

“I want you to leave me alone for right now, okay? Maybe we can talk about this later. But, right now, this is just too much for me.”

“But you’re pushing me away!”

Sadie shook her head and closed the screen door, letting it latch itself shut as she pushed the heavy oak door closed and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. So he still cared about her. Even though he had made it sound like he didn’t want anything to do with her now and never would again. Still, somehow, he had managed to summon up the emotional capacity to try to warn her about Leon and ask her what it was she wanted from him. Somehow, it felt like a step in the right direction, even though her entire body was exhausted by such a simple conversation.

What she needed to do was get some rest so she was able to actually function the next day. Most people thought working at the post office was a breeze, but the truth was, sometimes, it was grueling work. And it was made much harder when she had things on her mind like Max and his unrealistic expectations of her. There was no way she would ever be able to measure up to what he wanted her to be. And there was probably no way he would ever measure up to her expectations either.

They were better off without each other, and the sooner she came to trust that reality, the better it would be for both of them.