Page 45 of Break

Her words are a punch to the gut, leaving me at a loss for what to say. Words have never been my friend. I find it difficult to have that easy back and forth that Vincent and Max are so good at.

I know she didn’t intend to hurt me with her truth, but fuck me, she did. To know that I’ve screwed up enough to make this woman feel like she can’t even ride in a car with me to do something personal, rankles.

Rubbing the back of my head, I look away from her, feeling ashamed that this is how she sees me. “Well, if you ever change your mind, I’d be happy to take you.”

“Breakfast will be ready in about an hour.” Her dismissal is obvious, so I give her the space she wants. Sitting on the front porch, I sip my coffee while listening to the sporadic noises as Mina busies herself in the kitchen with chores.

Chores she’snotresponsible for.

I don’t turn around when I hear Max and Walter slip through the door. Max seats himself next to me on the step, two fresh coffees in hand, offering me one.

“Morning,” he mumbles.

Walter bumps his way between the two of us, and his heavy body expels a gusty groan as his chest hits the wood.

Patting his head hello, I respond to Max. “Morning. Breakfast should be ready soon.”

“Smells good.” Max is a man of few words before he gets his coffee working through his system. Taking another sip, he adds, “Hungry.”

Snorting, I look over at him and smile when I see that he’s got his eyes closed, like he’s falling asleep where he sits.

“I talked with her a bit this morning,” I tell him.

His interest is piqued. He cracks an eye open to look at me. “And?”

“And… nothing. I tried to get up early enough to take over cooking duties, but she beat me to it. Caught her looking at my tattoos and offered to take her to get one.”

He waits, and when I don’t continue, he pushes for more information. “And?”

Shrugging off my disappointment, not in her, but in myself, I say, “She declined.”

“For any particular reason, or she just doesn’t want one?”

“Not sure if she doesn’t want one, but she doesn’t feel comfortable with me taking her there,” I admit. It’s embarrassing, but honestly, he’s pretty much in this same boat as me. Just haven’t figured out if we’re sinking or scooping out water to keep the damn thing afloat.

“Ahh…” I’m not surprised at his lack of response. Nothing to be done about it now except continue to be here and show her that she can trust us to do what we say. Max flips his wrist over to check the time on his watch. “We can probably go in there now. Been a bit since I saw you sitting out here.”

Standing up, I pick up the extra mug I sat next to me and carry them into the kitchen. I rinse one and set it in the empty dishwasher, and refill the other. It’s definitely a three-cup kind of morning. Looking around, I see what looks like a quiche on top of the stove, steam billowing. There’s also a couple of plates piled next to it with silverware.

I hear the slam come from the laundry room on the other side of the kitchen wall and meet Max’s eyes. He mouths the question “laundry?” and I just shake my head. This woman doesn’t slow the fuck down. She needs to before she runs herself ragged.

Mina comes out of the laundry room carrying a basket on her hip, trying to balance it with one hand since her other arm is still wrapped in the sling. Hurrying over to her, Max grabs the basket from her, scowling down at the perfectly folded clothes piled inside. “What are you doing, Mina? You’ve got a banged-up shoulder. You shouldn’t be doing this kind of stuff, let aloneourclothes!”

I close my eyes and hold back a groan at Max’s temper.Iknow he’s not mad at her, butshe’snot going to know. He doesn’t stop either. “This isn’t your job. You’re already doing way too much around here, even though we’ve both told you that you don’t need to.”

“Max,” I say softly to encourage him to stop. Checking in on Mina, she looks tortured. Eyes wide, lips tucked between her lips, and scrunched-up face flushing a bright red like she’s preparing for more to come. Seeing her distress has me stepping in more firmly when he opens his mouth to continue. “Max. Enough.”

When he looks at me, I nod my head in her direction and watch as he deflates, noticing her reaction to his anger. She’s speaking before he has a chance to correct himself.

“I’m so sorry. I just… I saw the laundry piled in there and I was just in here, waiting for the quiche to finish, and thought I could throw it into the machine. Then when I opened the machine, there were already wet clothes in there. I went to move those into the dryer, but there were clothes inthereand I didn’t want them to wrinkle, so I folded them and just transferred it all over. I was just bringing it out here so you guys could go through it and take what was yours.”

Max holds his hands up to show him he’s backing off, but she doesn’t see it as she continues her explanation. “It’s not folded perfectly, but I did the best I could. I’m really not trying to be rude or an inconvenience. It’s just, I’m so thankful for your help and a little work to show you that is what I know how to do.” She hiccups back a sob, and then says, “It’s all Iknowhow to do.”

Stepping toward her, he holds his hands out to her. “Mina, honey, please don’t apologize. I mishandled this. We appreciate everything you’ve been doing around here. It’s been amazing. I just don’t want you hurting yourself. I want you to recover and focus on yourself, that’s all.”

Stepping up to Max’s side, I give her a gentle smile to let her know that I’m not upset either. “He can be an ogre, but it comes from a good place,” I assure her.

Mina looks between the two of us, eyes wet, holding back tears, and breathing heavily. Thankfully, she can see the truth in our faces, and she sags in relief, nodding her head that she understands.

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