Chapter 23
Adam
Friday
Max swung his club down. The club head made contact with incredible force and sent the ball careening into the range we had reserved. I watched the golf ball fly into the distance and land strategically by one of the distance markers on the artificial grass.
Golfing was not my favorite sport, but Max had convinced me to take the day off work and go out with him to the driving range. I accepted the challenge because I desperately needed to get away from the office for a while and there were more than a few things that he and I needed to discuss.
“Good shot,” I complimented.
He shrugged, stepping back so that I could take a turn. “Nah, I messed up on the follow through.”
I chuckled, getting another golf ball from the bucket and setting it on the tee before lining up my nine iron. I squared my feet and positioned my shoulders, wiggling a bit until the stance felt comfortable. I pulled in a long breath and let it out through my nose as I swung back and brought the club down hard, hitting the ball exactly on my intended target point on the backside of the ball.
The white ball went soaring and landed among all the others. It was an impressive shot considering how out of practice I was – not that I was going to admit I was out of practice.
Max raised an eyebrow and smiled with admiration, “You’ve been practicing.”
“Meh, just a little bit. I don’t have a whole lot of time now with work and everything.”
“Tell me about it,” he agreed, setting his ball up on the tee once more and taking another swing.
I watched his aim admiringly and took a swig from my water bottle. My mouth was dry and made worse by the emotional storm cloud looming overhead. There was an uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach, knowing I would have to broach the topic of Brandon sooner or later. I was accustomed to confrontation, but Max and I were friends. We had a history together, and I had to know if he was involved with what was going on.
“So, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” I started pleasantly. “Do you remember that guy from the Men’s Club Christmas party?”
“The one who got your panties all in a twist? Yeah, I remember.”
I swallowed hard, leaning against the golf club. “I need to know what you know about him and if you’re involved with him professionally.”
Max brushed it off dismissively, trying to downplay the seriousness of my tone, and set up another ball on the tee. His dirty blond hair was more than a little disheveled from the hour we’d already been at the driving range, and beads of sweat had begun dripping down his forehead. “I already told you, man; he’s one of us.”
“Max!” I insisted louder, poignantly catching his attention. “I’m serious. What do you know about him?”
“Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I’m trying to protect you,” I responded honestly. I wished he knew how much I cared about him and wanted to shield him from the legal ramifications I knew would be coming from the DA. “If there is something about him that I should know, you’ve got to tell me. I don’t want to see you get tangled up with this guy and be brought down with him.”
Max sighed, turning to me and gave me the attention I was seeking. “I’m not involved with anything sketchy,” he assured me quickly. “I don’t even know Brandon that well, to be quite honest, but I know he’s powerful and has some dangerous connections. When he showed up at Men’s Club, I had the same reaction you did. But everyone else just fell in line and accepted him, so I went with it.”
I relaxed slightly and pressed him further. “So, you’re sure that nothing going on with him will come back to you?”
“Nah, why would it? I don’t get involved with stuff like that.”
“Stuff like what, exactly?”
He shrugged, picking up a bottle of water himself, and took a hefty drink of it. “I don’t know; it’s really hush. No one else talks about it, so I don’t ask any questions. But I can tell you that it seems like some pretty high-level garbage. That’s why I keep my distance, and I suggest you do the same. I don’t want to know anything about it; the less I know, the less I can be held accountable for.”
“Right. ”
He sighed looking down at his watch and said, “Our time here is almost up, so why don’t we collect our clubs and head over to the locker room?”
“Sure.”
He and I both put our clubs back into the caddy and removed our gloves while carrying it all back through the hall inside. I glanced absentmindedly at the equipment rooms we walked past in the fitness center. Our memberships here were the best investments he or I had ever gotten, and I looked forward to our workouts. At the end of the hall was a pair of water fountains between the lockers room and we went into to put out stuff down. It took us a couple minutes to find our lockers and change.
“Hey, man, sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable with all this shit. I just don’t want to see you get in trouble.”
Max nodded, taking off his shirt and said, “I know, but can we talk about something else. It’s really bumming me out. How’s Vanessa doing? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“She’s doing great,” I told him happily. “At least, she seems to be. Things are really going well for her at the new job; she’s even got a friend that works there. I think she’s happy.”
“That’s good. I knew you’d take care of her,” he responded swiftly. “Obviously you like her, or you wouldn’t have invited her to move in. Are you still getting along?”
For the first time in my life, I actually blushed and had to look away from him. I swallowed hard and ran my hand through the back of my hair uncomfortably.
Shit, how am I going to get out of this?
“Uh, yeah. We seem to be getting along okay.”
Max stared at me confused as he finished changing. I was still shirtless and pulling on a pair of khakis when he cleared his throat and asked, “Adam, is there something you’re not telling me?”
I sighed, letting my head fall slightly and slammed the locker closed saying, “We may have hit it off better than I expected…”
His expression fell instantly. “You slept with her, didn’t you?”
I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was furious. It was low and dangerous in a way I seldom heard him speak to anyone. Still, I knew the truth would come out eventually, and I didn’t like keeping it from him in the first place.
I nodded shamefully as I turned to him in apology. “Yeah, a couple times.”
The next thing I knew his fist was colliding with my face and I went slamming against the lockers. A painful groan escaped as I made contact with the metal doors. My cheek and jaw were throbbing with pain as I started up at him in shock. “Dude!”
I knew he would be angry, but I didn’t expect him to be that angry.
“Dammit, Adam! You said you wouldn’t do that shit. You promised!!”
I felt a sinking feeling, and I knew he’d never look at me the same. In all the years we’d been friends, I had never seen the expression on his face that he was giving me right now: betrayal. I hated knowing that my relationship with Vanessa was hurting him like that, but I was so conflicted. I cared about her and had no intention of being harm to either one of them.
Even if I broke it off with her and brought our relationship, whatever it was, to a screeching halt, Max would still be angry. I’d let him down.
His fist came flying at me again and somehow, I managed to avoid it. He was red in the face and furious; I’d never seen him so angry in the decade that I’d know him. “Max, I’m sorry! What was I supposed to do, call you up and say, ‘by the way, Vanessa and I are sleeping with each other now. I hope that’s okay with you, because I very well might be in love with her?’”
He stopped mid-air when he was about to come down on me again, and his eyes were conflicted. “What did you say?”
Realizing my mistake, I just shook my head embarrassed. “Nothing.”
I didn’t know what to say after that. Was I in love with her? I didn’t know for sure, but I enjoyed spending time with her and couldn’t stop smiling anytime she was around. I cared about her deeply and treasured every moment she let me touch her. Her kisses were sweeter than candy, and I could spend all day lost in them…but was it love?
“Did you say that you’re in love with her?”
Shit.
“Yeah, I think I did.”
“Is that true, or are you bullshitting me right now?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know; I could be.”
“Fuck, Adam! That’s my sister we’re talking about. I knew something was going on with you after New Years. I should have seen it coming.”
“Look, I don’t know what to say. I really like her, and we’ve got a good thing going on between us. I didn’t plan for this to happen, but it did.”
He slammed his locker door and looked away from me in silent rage while thinking about what I said. “You better not mess with her,” he warned. “If I hear about you sneaking around or breaking her heart, you and I are going to have problems.”
I almost laughed at him, but the look on his face was murderous, so I just nodded in response. “Understood.”
Max was not the overly protective type, but I understood where he was coming from. He felt betrayed, like I was taking advantage of his sister while she was down. It wasn’t like that.
“I know you’re a good guy and wouldn’t do that type of thing, but I’ve been wrong before.”
I grabbed my shirt of the bench and pulled it over my head with a tired sighed before putting my hand on his shoulder and looking him in the eye before saying, “I told you I’d take care of her and I meant it.”
“Good. Now let’s get out of here and get some lunch.”