Page 42 of M.M. Scrooge
16
Max
I’m fully dressed,in the driver’s seat of my car, engine off. To my right, in the passenger seat, sits the bogeyman, posture perfectly casual, one leg crossed over the other as if that’s totally normal. We’re in the parking lot of Realm Physical.
To say I’m confused is an understatement. What now? I look to Bogey for answers, but he seems lost in thought, watching shoppers head in and out of the Save Big Time! surplus store the gym shares the strip mall with.
I wet my lips and take a breath. Which of a thousand questions should I ask first? I wriggle in my seat, but my ass doesn’t ache at all. Like I haven’t just spent the last couple of hours getting spanked to within an inch of my life.
Bogey scoffs. “You were never in any danger.”
So he can read my mind. I shutter my thoughts, or I try to. Definitely not gonna think about how hard I came with a metal rod fucking my dick.Shit. Now I’m thinking about it.
His creepy chuckle grates on my nerves. “You’re getting a second chance at many things tonight, Max. What you should be thinking about is how you’ll use this opportunity both for your own good and for the good of those around you.”
Does that mean… “Is it over?”
“The lessons? Yes. That part is done.” Bogey turns his hooded face toward mine. Our eyes meet. I shiver. “I’ll be leaving you now. I trust you won’t require a return visit?”
I shake my head so vigorously a muscle spasms in my neck.
“Remember, I’m always free on Christmas.” He stretches his spindly arm across the center console, and cool, bony fingers grip my chin. “Be a good boy, or I’ll see to it you get much worse than coal in your stocking.” He pats my cheek and vanishes, leaving curling tendrils of mist in his wake, then fading to nothing.
A weight lifts from my shoulders, making room for a sense of optimism I welcome with open arms. It’s a pleasant shift from the last… How long has it been? I don’t even know. Feels like days. Weeks? Did everything really happen in the course of just one night?
But that would mean today is Christmas, and judging by all the bargain shoppers in the plaza, it can’t be Christmas. The stores wouldn’t be open, and neither would Realm Physical.
What day is it?
I grab my phone. What? Time has somehow gone backward a couple of weeks. This can’t be right. But if it is right, that means…
I shrug my gym bag over my shoulder and stumble out of the car, then practically race into the gym.
Daisy greets me in the lobby. “Whoa. Somebody’s in a hurry. Where’s the fire?”
“What? Never mind. Hi, Daisy. Is Daniel here with Andrea?”
“Yup. In the middle of a workout.” She nods toward the staff room. “Andrea’s got a note posted on the board asking for someone to cover her shift the day after Christmas. Can you do it?”
My mind is reeling. I’m about to get a do-over. Daniel is here right now, in the free weight room with Andrea. That conversation we had in the bathroom that pissed him off so much? It hasn’t happened yet. I can change it!
Oh my god, I can be kinder to Andrea too. Just fill the shift she needs me to and not demand to take the rest of them. Wish her a good trip.
I don’t want my actions to hurt anyone ever again. I close my eyes and see the sorrow on Caleb’s face, the loneliness I caused Tristan, the anger that replaced the love in Ash’s gaze. I don’t have to be that person anymore.
I can be better. Nice, even. Treat people how I would like to be treated.
And never, ever see the likes of the bogeyman again.
Starting now.
“Yeah, I can totally do that. Thanks, Daisy. Merry Christmas!” Ignoring her shocked expression, I spin on my heel, jog past the cardio machines, and throw open the door to the free weights room.
There they are. Andrea kneels next to Daniel, offering encouragement as he finishes a set of ab rollouts. Daniel, sweaty and just as fine as I remember, bubble butt clenching in all its glory, glances up, sees me, then looks quickly back down.
Shit. He’s trying to avoid me.
Am I that big of an asshole? Don’t answer that. Yes. Yes, I am. But not anymore.
