Page 52 of Enemy Boss

“Can I see it?” Max says. “The email from Bill. Well, more the attachment.”

“Of course,” I say. “I don’t have my works laptop with me though. You can see it tomorrow at the office after we give our statements to the police.”

“Ok. Are you worried about giving a statement? In case you get charged with punching Ross?” Max says.

“The only thing I’m worried about in regard to that creep is that I didn’t hit the fucker harder,” I say.

Max picks my hand up and gently runs her finger over my grazed knuckles.

“I don’t know. Your knuckles suggest you got a decent punch in,” she says.

I laugh.

“What?” Max says,

“As much as I’m happy for you to think I’m some sort of macho guy that punched your ex hard enough to split my knuckles open, in the interest of total honesty, I must confess that I punched the wall at the office after our talk this morning,” I say.

“Not your brightest move,” Max says, and we both laugh.

A knock sounds on the door.

“That’ll be the pizza,” I say.

I get up and go and open the door, but it’s not the pizza delivery guy. It’s Harriet. She looks shocked to see me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she says. Before I can answer, she smirks. “Nice robe.”

Fuck. I forgot about the robe. Oh well. She goes and sits down on the arm chair at the end of the couch.

“Max? Are you ok?” she asks. “I got your text after I finished work and came straight over. Looks like I was a bit late to the party though.”

“I’m sorry,” Max says as I retake my seat on the couch. “It was all a misunderstanding and everything is fine. I forgot I texted you or I would have let you know.”

“Too busy kissing and making up?” Harriet says with a grin, and I realize then two things. One, why she’s here and two, why she was so shocked to see me here. Max obviously texted her earlier and told her that we broke up.

“Partly,” Max grins and then she turns serious. “But also, Ross turned up here.”

“Oh fuck. What happened? How did he find you? Are you alright?” Harriet says.

I can’t keep up with her questions, but Max seems to be able to do so without any problems.

“He followed you until one day you came here,” she says. Harriet looks horrified and opens her mouth to speak, but Max waves her words away. “It’s not your fault before you say anything. He barged in and honestly, I think he’s lost his grip on reality a bit. He kept saying things like he would forgive me for seeing Cullen behind his back and he wouldn’t accept we weren’t together anymore. He started getting a bit handsy but then Cullen arrived and dealt with him. He punched him and knocked him unconscious. And yes, I’m fine.”

Harriet looks at me.

“I was pissed you’d hurt my best friend, but she seems to have forgiven you so whatever. You get a pass for punching Ross. But I am gutted I wasn’t here to see it,” she says.

“It was brilliant,” Max says. “His nose bled and then he went down like a sack of potatoes.”

I love that Max loves how I punched Ross out and hearing her tell the story to her friend makes me feel kind of good. I’m not someone who goes around fighting, but if anyone lays a finger on my lady, they are going to know about it.

Another knock sounds on the door.

“This has to be the pizza this time,” Max says.

I get up and go to the door again. This time, it is the pizza guy. He hands me the pizza and a bag with fries and another with a bottle of soda. I thank him and take the food and close the door.

“I should go, let you two have dinner in peace,” Harriet says.

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