Page 34 of Crave

I waited a few beats. “Was that before or after he cooked you breakfast?”

Her face fell, but I didn’t see the guilt I was searching for. Guilt would tell me if she had unresolved feelings. I only spotted frustration at the situation and her rush to explain. “During. He offered and I felt funny about kicking him out when he was trying to be there for me. We ate, and he left. That’s it.”

It wasn’t it but at least she’d told me her version. “Why didn’t you call me? Did you really believe I wouldn’t have left Brooklyn immediately to come to you?”

“I knew that’s exactly what you’d do,” she said calmly. “And I didn’t want that. I was okay, and just craved sleep. There was no reason to have you rush back for nothing.”

“But you let Max stay?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure if this is going to come out right, but having Max there wasn’t a big deal. We share a long history. And though he cheated and I’d never look at him romantically again, he’s still someone I cared about as a friend. He’s part of our group. When he pushed hard to stay, it was easier to let him. It was about having another person around—it didn’t matter who it was.”

“You didn’t want to call Elle?”

“Adam, I only wanted to go home, sleep, and forget about the whole thing. I simply wasn’t thinking clearly. Can you believe that?”

I did. I may not like it, or the way she still cared about Max, but I also understood. If Gabby insisted on staying, would I say no? Even if we never slept together, anyone part of our crew was safe. Landon simply wasn’t a liar. She’d tell the hard truth whether I liked it or not, just like now. She wasn’t going to apologize for letting Max stay. She was going to apologize that she kept me out of the loop and that having Max there made me uncomfortable.

I could live with that. And I didn’t want any type of abnormal jealous relationship. Trust was key.

I trusted Landon.

I did not trust Max. Especially now that I put the pieces together.

Because now I knew that Landon had been set up and the game had completely changed.

Chapter Eighteen

Adam

Listen to Chemical

by Post Malone

“Ibelieve you, Landon.”

Her body collapsed in relief. Blue eyes flickered with gratitude. “Good.”

“Go over everything that happened at Red, from start to finish.” She did, and pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. “I think there’s something bigger going on here.”

She frowned. “What?”

“I’ll tell you in a bit. First, I want to know if you gave Max any indication who you were seeing and what his reaction was.”

She stared at me for a while, as if trying to decide if she should push for an answer or not. “He was fine. I told him I was seeing someone, and he made a joke about it, and that was it. Are you going to tell me now what Max said at breakfast? He told you what happened at Red?”

I nodded. “He called all of us to meet him and said you got attacked. Told us he went home with you and ended up in your bed, making you breakfast, getting cozy. Like the old days. Then he declared he wanted to find the person you were seeing and kill him.”

Landon gasped. “What? Wait—this doesn’t make any sense. Are you saying he’s pretending not to care about me dating someone else?”

“Yep. He’s still in love with you, Landon. Max wants you back. He’s playing the long game, thinking if he masters the good friend role, eventually he’ll find a way back in. Getting you that shift at Red was deliberate.”

A frown furrowed her brow. “What does my shift at Red have anything to do with it?”

I gave her a hard stare. “Max set you up. I’m almost positive he hired a guy to attack you just so he could jump in and play the hero.”

I waited for her shock and rage. I prepared myself to calm her down so we could work on a plan together. But the joke was on me.

Landon’s eyes widened and she began to laugh. My jaw almost unhinged. “Adam! That’s crazy! I know Max is an asshole and a cheater, but a criminal? No way would he do something like that. I think you’re overreaching.”

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