Page 76 of Fragile

He was wrong of course, I had seen the telltale evidence of tears.

“I take it you had a fight and she hit you?”

“Gave me a right crack, when I was only being fucking honest.” He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Maybe honesty is not always the way to go where women are concerned. Let me guess, she asked you if her bum looked big and you said yes?” I grinned.

Max released a huff of air and closed his eyes, looking pained. “Don’t get me thinking about her bum, please. And anyway, Amber doesn’t ever get upset; mad and even yes, upset no.”

“Really? Well, maybe you don’t know her as much as you think. She was upset when I met her just now. What did you do?” I said lowering my voice in case she came out and heard us talking about her.

“I told her what she didn’t want to hear and she went off half-cocked. Upset my arse, as if,” he looked uncertain now and slightly worried.

“You’re wrong Max, she was clearly upset, although she tried to hide it.”

This caused his brow to thread, giving him a mean expression. “So, she was pissed off you mean?” he questioned, his voice leaving his mouth like gunfire.

“No, she’d been crying.” I wasn’t sure if I was breaking some type of girl code but I went with it anyway.

He shoved off the wall and lowered his arms, shooting a wary look behind me towards the bathroom with narrowed eyes.

“You saw actual tears?”

I pursed my lips and glanced behind me. Max was now looking truly concerned.

“Not exactly but I know when a girl’s been crying.”

The colour drained from his face and he moved around me, his entire body now tense. “Fuck this shit.”

I watched as the large, hulking thug of the man that was Max, shoved the lady's toilet door open with a bang.

“You know that’s the ladies, right?” I yelled after him but he ignored me.

I released a puff of air. Drat. Had I put out a fire or started a much bigger one? I had no time to decide as an arm went around my shoulders and Gabriel drew me against his side.

“There you are. Everything OK?” he said, squinting to see where I was looking. “What’s up?”

I shook my head, deciding to leave the couple who were no doubt going for round two in the bathroom to it.

“Nothing. Max is here you know?”

“Yeah, I saw him earlier with Lady Swift but we didn’t get to talk. They were in the middle of something and I’m not one to get tangled in their bullshit. It’s been going on too long now.”

“Maybe there’s more to it, you know; love and hate and all that?”

“Who cares? Fuck em. Come on, let’s dance or at least sway,” Gabriel said with a grin. “I don’t usually dance. But for you…”

He placed his arm around my waist and led me away. I shot a glance at the bathroom but no one came out. I sure hoped she was OK in there. Max was a huge hulk of a guy and could be quite intimidating in the wrong situation.

As we entered the ballroom, I raised the niggling question, “I think Max and Lady Swift are in the bathroom. He went in there with all guns blazing. You don’t think he’ll do anything unacceptable?”

Gabriel chuckled. “Unacceptable is Max’s middle name. He won’t physically hurt her if that’s what you’re thinking unless she wants him to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Max has a kink but only when the victim is willing. She’ll be fine. Amber can look after herself.”

I filed away what I felt was too much information about Max and his sexual appetites and nodded, it was none of my business anyway.

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