Page 82 of Charity's Redemption

It’s not that my car was expensive or that I was protective of it. I just didn’t want him to win… again.

I am tired of these losing battles.

He lunged at me, then plunged his hands into my pockets, fondling as he went about it until his fingers wrapped around my keys. I trapped his hand with my tight grip, then kneed him in the side of his thigh, drawing a grunt of pain.

“Bene,bella.”

I pushed him away with my shoulders squared and my head held high until he held up his hand and showed me the car ring dangling around his middle finger. Stomping my foot, I swiped for them, but he closed his hand around it and tsked. “Get in. We have things to do, and I’m starving.”

Max opened the passenger door, forcing me to accept my defeat and slide inside, then shut the door.

He rounded the front with a hurried gait, opened the driver's door and leaned inside, sliding the seat back far enough to allow for his six-foot frame.

Once he situated himself and changed all my settings, he glanced at me and put his finger under my chin. “You’re so damn sexy when you act like a brat.”

I rolled my eyes, my stomach flipping with butterflies.

How did these men cause so many conflicting emotions?

I jerked my chin away from his grasp.

“Where to?” he said, pushing the start button.

I unfurled my arms and clicked my seatbelt with irritation. “I need a wig and a tattoo.”

He pulled away from the curb with a smug grin on his face that I wanted to wipe away.

It seems like forever ago when I hunted for my brother, torturing people and questioning them as I went in pursuit. Only for him to be right under my nose, hiding in plain sight as he hunted me. Heated emotion stung my eyes as I recalled our last moments together.

Bastard.

“Have a place in mind?” Max said, pulling me from my inner thoughts.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked back the moisture pooling in my eyes as I cleared my throat.

“Yeah, just take me to Afterthought.”

Afterthought was a goth girl’s dream. It contained wigs, fake tattoos, and really, if you wanted, piercings, clothing and jewelry. Everything you could imagine. They even had sex toys in the back.

Max reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Are you okay?”

“Yep.” I cleared my throat and sniffed, wiping what little tears threatened to fall. “All good.”

I watched the city pass by for the thirty-minute car ride with skyscrapers and bustling people. People walked everywhere downtown. How more people weren’t hit by idiot drivers, I’ll never know.

Max pulled into the side parking lot next to the building, turning off the engine. I stepped out of the car, then raised my hands over my head, stretching my sore body.

My poor muscles weren’t used to sleeping in the same position all night. On top of everything that had occurred in the last few days, I’d taken a literal and figurative beating.

Max met me on my side of the car, and we walked inside the darkened building together.

Blaring heavy metal music, too loud for a shop, played over the speaker system placed throughout the shop. The gravelly voice screamed into the microphone so garbled I couldn’t make out a single word.

How do people listen to this shit?

I tapped Max on the shoulder and pointed to the back where an array of different colored hair sat on mannequin heads, showcasing their looks and style. “I need those.”

Three Gothic teen girls dressed in all back, wild colored hair, and dark makeup stood in the back corner of the room next to the wigs, ogling Max. I snickered, threading my fingers through his and dragging him that direction.

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