Page 40 of Pucked and Pregnant

“It’s okay, I wanted to look out for you,” he says. “I chose to.”

“You were just a kid yourself.”

“I miss what it was like before all this mess started. You know, when we were little, and you were just my stupid annoying sister.”

“Me too.”

He grins. “Ah, so you admit that you’re annoying. Ouch.”

I kick him under the table.

“Is this really productive?” Aiden asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Max, I want us to get along better and I believe you’re serious this time, but if we’re going to have a healthy relationship, there are some things you’ve got to change.”

I can see his jaw tightening.

A muscle in his neck starts to twitch.

He’s getting defensive, just like he always does.

A pit opens in the bottom of my stomach.

Any minute now, he’s going to give me the same old, “I’m just looking out for you” speech he gives me every time we get close to making any progress.

I should have known this was too good to be true.

Just like clockwork, Max starts to open his mouth, but Aiden clears his throat aggressively.

Max gets the hint and takes a breath, then says, “Okay, go ahead. I‘m ready to listen.”

If the moon fell out of the sky it would still be less surprising than the response he just gave.

Things really might be different this time. I had hoped upon hope that they would be, that’s the reason I wanted to meet with him. I take a slow, measured breath.

“Max, I need you to accept that I’m an adult. My flings are none of your business. If I ever get to the point where I find someone important enough to settle down with, then you’ll meet them. But I get to decide when that is. And I need you to understand that I know what’s best for myself.”

He gives me a pointed look so I add, “You can ask all the questions you want and you’re free to express your opinion, but at the end of the day, it’s my choice, not yours. It still bothers me that you and Dad decided I was going to live with you without even asking me first, and that’s not the first time you’ve done or tried something like that.”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s not going to be something that happens overnight, but I am going to work on being better at respecting your boundaries and acting like a brother instead of a bodyguard.”

“Thank you but there’s one more thing. I want my own space. I need something that’s solely mine.”

“I know.” Max nods. “That’s why this whole week while you’ve been gone, I've been looking at places for you, and I think I found the perfect one.”

“Seriously, Max? I can’t believe?—”

Aiden holds up a hand to stop me. “Yelling isn’t going to help anything right now. I agree that’s going overboard—and it was, Max—but I’m fairly sure that this is a misguided way of showing you he’s supportive.”

I force my hands to unclench as Max nods earnestly at me from across the table. If he nods any harder, I swear his head is going to fly right off.

“Fine. I will look at it, but if I don’t like it?—”

“I’ll back off and help you look for another one. I promise. But I’m sure I’ve found a winner here.”

He slides me his phone and I look at the listing photos.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, open-floor concept, and a master bath that can only be described as decadent. It’s beyond perfect.

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