Chapter 15

Max

Emma practically leapt out of the car, not even waiting for the driver to come open the door. I cursed and followed her, wishing I’d just remembered to tell him to go straight back to my place. I was an idiot. Now look what had happened.

I followed after Emma, stopping just outside the limo and giving the guy she was storming toward an incredulous look. That was Lance?

He was tall, probably nearly as tall as me, but barely half as wide. Either he’d never filled out after high school or was living proof that they still used the rack as a torture device. I found myself wishing for a strong breeze to take him out of the equation so I could get back to the way things were before his sudden and decidedly unwelcome arrival.

I could see what he might have to offer besides being able to serve as a decent scarecrow stand in, as he wasn’t a bad looking guy. His dark hair was cut stylishly, framing his male-model cheekbones and well-defined jaw. I still thought Emma was way out of his league, but I’d been picturing him as a literal troll this whole time, so it was a step up from that.

“What the fuck is this?” Lance yelled at the approaching redhead. He pointed to me, to the limo, then to the dress she wore. “Have you started escorting now, huh?”

Then again, maybe he was a literal troll.

“Hey!” I yelled, already striding toward him. “Don’t fucking talk to her like that.”

Emma spun on her heel and put a palm up to stop me. “I’ve got this Max. Please.” She turned back to Lance, who she now stood a few feet across from, and leveled an accusatory finger at him. “As for you, how dare you talk to me like that!”

“I call it like I see it, toots,” he sneered. “It’s not my fault I came over here to talk, only to have you show up in a limo like some sort of kept prostitute.”

“I said don’t talk to me like that!” Emma snapped. “You broke up with me, remember? Did you think I was going to sit around and wait for you to change your mind?”

I liked Emma standing up for herself. Lance, on the other hand, did not. I could tell by his expression that he’d expected her to take whatever punishment he meted out. It was clearly how their relationship had worked before. I couldn’t imagine him being any less of a dick than he was being now, and wondered why Emma hadn’t been the one to make the break. Either way, I was happy that she was finished with him.

“I expected you not to get down like a wanton hussy the moment my back was turned,” Lance hissed.

I rolled my eyes. “Toots? Hussy? Where the hell did you find this guy, Emma? The 1920s?”

Both Emma and Lance glared at me. Emma’s glare was colored by a hint of amusement. Lance’s was absolutely riddled with hatred.

“Why are you still here? Go home,” Lance said, trying his best to intimidate me.

“He’s here because I want him to be,” Emma replied. “And as far as you’re concerned, well... you’re not. This has nothing to do with you and I think you need to leave.”

Lance’s face took on an even darker cherry shade. He gritted his teeth, looking back and forth between Emma and me while he mulled this over. Clearly, the guy had come here with some sort of intent and I was messing up his plans. Good. He was messing up mine, too.

Lance turned his body away from mine, like he could ignore my very presence if his back was to me. Even though he spoke a little quieter, I could still hear his pleas.

“Em, please. Just talk to me a little, okay? I’m sorry about what I said. I just wanna talk.”

Emma’s gaze flashed over to me and I made a show of looking elsewhere. She could handle this. I wanted more than anything to grab Lance by the collar and toss him out onto the street, but that wouldn’t endear Emma to me. I wasn’t going to leave her either, though. Not with this guy. He was wound up like a spring and I didn’t trust him not to do something rash.

“This is not a good time,” she said. “And after the way you’re acting, I don’t think any time is a good time. The things you’ve said tonight are a good reminder of how you treated me while we were together.”

“I treated you like a princess!”

Emma snorted. I chuckled a little too, because she looked like an actual princess right now and that was all my doing. I highly doubted Lance ever treated her half as well as I did, and I was only just getting started.

“Rather than trying to work on our relationship, you opted to toss me out like a bunch of expired produce,” she said, levelling an accusing finger at him. “You always criticized my weight, how I dressed, and the fact that I never went to college. And now that you’ve noticed I can get along just fine without you, you’ve come over out of the blue to try to make sure I don’t get too comfortable and to reassure yourself that I need you. Well guess what, Lance.” Emma crossed her arms, and the expression on her face was truly daunting. “I don’t need you. In fact, you’re just the opposite of what I need.”

“You’ve always needed me,” he sneered.

She laughed. “Wanting and needing are two different things. And yeah, I wanted you, but I don’t anymore. You make me sick.”

Her words hung in the air, and I felt like breaking out into applause. If I hadn’t wanted Emma before, seeing this would have put me over the edge. She was fearsome and fearless, and her beauty suited such savagery. She was a funny, quirky girl who liked to eat pretzels and look at wedding dresses for fun, but she could also stand up to a bully like a world class fighter. I was more desperate than ever to get her back in the limo and naked as soon as possible.

Lance exploded. “You filthy trollop! Of course you don’t want me anymore. You probably get way more money from sucking that guy’s dick than you ever did waiting tables. I’m surprised he even wants you. You’re a disgu—”

Lance didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. He might have, if my fist hadn’t collided with his nose so hard that I heard it crack. Warm blood spurted over my fist, and I shook my hand in disgust.

Emma ran up to me, eyes wide with horror. “What the fuck, Max?”

“Not quite the thank you I was expecting,” I said dryly.

“Not quite the... are you fucking kidding me?”

Apparently she hadn’t turned off her Amazon death glare yet, as I now felt the full brunt of it.

“God damnit!” Lance yelled, still staggering with his hand over his nose a few feet away. Blood oozed through his fingers, dripping all over the sidewalk. It was a sight worth smiling over.

Emma walked toward Lance, but didn’t get close. “Is it broken?” she asked.

“I don’t fucking know! I’ve never had a broken nose before.” His voice came out nasally and thick, like he had a bad cold. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You should go to the hospital,” she said. “I’ll give you some money for a cab.”

“Are you going to give me money for a new nose, too?”

I rolled my eyes, “That’s dramatic.”

Emma jabbed a finger in my direction. “That’s enough out of you, mister! Capiche?”

I liked her when she was a little bossy. I didn’t think I could hold back much longer. I needed her, and I needed her soon.

I clenched my fist, feeling the ache of my knuckles from where I’d connected with Lance’s face. If he didn’t leave soon, I was going to punch him again.

“Lance, get out of here,” Emma said. “We’re done. This is frankly a little sad.”

Lance wiped the back of his hand over his face, smearing blood across it. “Emma—”

“Go!” She waved him off like a disobedient dog. “You’ve done enough damage for today. Just leave.”

He looked like he was going to fight her on it for a sec, but then he turned on his heel and huffed away. I watched him go, a victorious smirk widening my mouth. Now it was just Emma and I. No distractions, no interruptions...

“You need to go too, Max.”

Emma’s face was slightly downcast as she said this. She’d lost some of the fire she’d had fighting with Lance, though I could still see it coiling in the air around her.

“Why do I need to go?” I walked toward her, stopping close enough to smell her delicious scent. With my hands in my pockets, hiding her douche of an ex’s blood, I looked down at her with concern.

Emma tilted her face up to meet my eyes, and her expression was so sad that it nearly sent me staggering back.

“This wasn’t a good idea,” she said. “This hasn’t been a good idea from the start.”

I was shocked. What about this little run-in with her ex had made her change her mind? We’d been on the same page until now, so ready to tear each other’s clothes off and explore the forbidden fruit.

“Because I hit him?” I prospected. “I won’t apologize for that. He completely deserved it.”

She shook her head. “No, not that. Although I’m not impressed with that either.”

“Then what, Emma? Because I don’t think it’s worth missing out on this if you’re just getting cold feet because of an unfortunate chance encounter.”

“It wasn’t chance,” she said. “And it’s not like I’m only a tad anxious about it all. I was already a little anxious before I even got in your limo tonight. This is about me seeing something clearly for the first time.”

“Tell me.” My murmured command sent her lips curling back, and I wondered how she would react if I just leaned down to kiss her right now. Would she still send me away?

“I wanted my independence,” she said. “After Lance kicked me out, I realized that I’ve spent my whole life going from one steward to the next. I’ve never actually just dug my heels in and did things on my own. I can’t go straight from Lance to a new guy, especially not my boss.”

My jaw clenched. I had a feeling my thoughts about Lance and the nature of their relationship had been spot on. I couldn’t promise her that I wouldn’t break her heart. I couldn’t promise her anything. That left me without words to tell her why I didn’t want her to make me leave.

A pained look passed over Emma’s face. “Have we gone too far? I don’t want to have to quit my job, but I’d like to keep things professional from now on.”

Those words cut a bloody hole in my side. I didn’t want to keep things professional. I wanted to keep things very unprofessional. I wanted to fuck her over my desk, push her up against my office wall, and generally make filthy an otherwise immaculate office. But I couldn’t force her to continue things, nor would I ever do something that low. So if she wanted to keep things professional... well, I didn’t agree with it, but it was her choice.

“We haven’t gone too far,” I said. “I daresay we could go a bit farther before turning back.”

The lightest of smiles touched her face, but even my humor couldn’t sway her now.

“Thanks, Max. I’ll see you on Monday.”

Emma turned and began striding up the walk toward the building, and I watched until she’d passed through the door and was out of my view entirely. Then, with a dejected sigh, I slid back into the limo and told the driver to take me home. Alone.