Page 44 of Dirty Secret

"I don't have to talk to a liar if I don't want to. If he really is this saint you are making him out to be—"

"I never said Max was a saint. And, you talk with your father all the time, and we all know he has a Ph.D. in falsehoods."

I didn't like Felipe's reasoning.

"Fake logic," I said turning slightly in my chair.

As if I was here to entertain him, he chuckled. "What is fake logic?"

"It's when logic is used but the person listening doesn't want it to be correct, so they pretend it's not true. A term I call, fake logic."

"How about an expert on this logic, or fake logic, as you put it? Would you consider an expert on the matter?"

"Yes, I would. As long as it's not you throwing your fake logic at me as if it would be the answer to my problems."

I turned my back as I heard Felipe's chair scrape the floor. "In that case, I'll be right back."

Good. I needed a break from my best friend. Let him go to the bathroom and piss and laugh all he wanted. I was going to sit right here thinking up alternative logic to defeat any fake logic his so-called expert may throw my way.

Taking out my phone, I noticed several missed calls from Max and ignored them. As I was looking up several almost solid counterpoints to hit Felipe with on Google, he returned, and I heard more than one chair scrape against the floor at our table. Turning back around, I cursed at what I saw.

Felipe's fake logic was in human form—Max.

"Is this some sort of crusade to prove your fake logic, Felipe?" I refused to acknowledge Max.

I knew he was there. He knew that I knew he was there, but I didn't have to act like it.

"Just hear him out, Heidi. Max called me when he couldn't get through to you. He's not who your father or his ex's father paints him out to be."

"So, this whole lunch was just a setup?"

Felipe scooted forward and with an expression I had never seen before, he answered simply, "Yes, it is. I have watched everyone in your life hurt you. Use you. Even the people who were meant to show you nothing but unconditional love treat you with disrespect. And I'm ashamed to admit that I have taken advantage of your kindness at times."

I placed my hand on his. "No, Felipe. You have never asked me to do something bad or illegal like my father has. I could never refuse you when you needed someone. You're my friend."

Felipe sighed. "Thank you. That's why you're my best friend. Even when I admit that I rely too heavily on your kindness, you still tell me you care. And that's why I had to set up this lunch meeting. Because you would be a fool to let Max go, Heidi. You two were meant to be together. And, at the very least, two people in desperate need of some good sex."

Max coughed while my ears and most of my face burned.

"I think that's my cue to break in." Max's deep voice rumbled and rolled down my neck in the most delicious way.

I missed his words, his deep tone. And as I gazed over at him, I realized I missed everything about him.

Felipe patted my hand and stood. "Oh, look at the time. I have to go. You two have a wonderful and very fruitful discussion." He winked at me before he moved to the door.

"Okay, so talk. If you wrote that letter to Mr. Willis, then why should I trust you, Max?"

I leaned back, studying his face. Growing up in my house, you learned the tics people had when they lied. But, to my surprise, Max had none, only sincerity radiating from his eyes.

"I did write that letter. But the question you should be asking is why I wrote it," Max said with a curve of his lips. I hadn't forgotten how endearing his smile was and the addictive warmth that always seemed to bloom in my heart after seeing it.

That's why I stayed away. His lips could set fire to the icy wall I'd carefully built over the last week.

"Then why did you write it?"

"Jackie. One of her dad's friend noticed a line on his plumbing bill labeled Miscellaneous Parts. He was surprised because the charge for the parts was over a thousand dollars. Mr. Willis, being a man that hated me from day one, asked all his friends who had work done by Brighton & Sonsif they too had this charge. And they all did."

"Pretty clever, assuming his friends wouldn't necessarily look at their bill. But, Max, not everyone is a fool." Except for me.

---