Page 46 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

I wentto sleep that night with Mason’s words ringing in my ears. I was mostly curious about what Mason had done to Max that he still felt guilty about. They were obviously still very close to each other.

Sunday morning, I woke up early and came downstairs for breakfast only to find Max already there, making a vegetable omelet. I pulled out a barstool, resting my head on my hands while I watched him cook.

“Hey, kiddo. Rough night?” He grinned, his eyes taking me in.

I grunted, and he chuckled.

“Ah. You’re just hungry, eh? I have just the thing to perk you right up. And it’ll be done in two minutes.” That was Max’s solution to everything. In a bad mood? A good breakfast would fix it right up. Happy? A celebratory meal was required. Tired? A good steak dinner would give my body much-needed energy.

My “bad mood” this morning was obviously in reference to my unbrushed hair. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet either.

But I wasn’t in a bad mood. It was my natural disposition in the morning, despite being such an early riser. Or maybe, it was because of it? I couldn’t help but wake up early. My internal alarm clock went off at six-thirty every morning, and once I woke up, it was nearly impossible for me to fall back to sleep.

Max put omelet on a plate and slid it over to me before he made himself one. “Thank you for breakfast,” I said, taking a huge bite.

“Anytime, kiddo.” He grabbed the seat next to me, and we ate our breakfasts in companionable silence.

I finished my meal before him, and I sat there, sipping my tea when his phone vibrated with an incoming text. Max was always conscientious about not answering the phone when we were eating together, but when Mason’s name flashed on the screen, he grabbed the phone.

“Sorry, kiddo. I need to check this. It might be important.”

I shrugged, because no cellphones during meals was his rule, not mine. I always tried to respect it, but I wasn’t going to police his phone usage.

Max read the text quickly, and then let out a smile.

“Good news?” I asked him.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. An old friend of ours is back home after spending months traveling. He wants to meet up for lunch today.”

“Really? What friend?”

Max bit his lip, as if he was trying to stop from smiling. “Do you know Brody Frost?”

The name sounded familiar to me, yet I couldn’t remember where I had heard it before. “I think so. Is he famous or something?”

His grinned, and I couldn’t help but mirror his expression. Max seemed pretty excited to see his friend again. “I’m actually surprised you don’t remember him, considering you had his poster hanging in your room when you were twelve.”

Poster in my room? My eyes widened when I remembered, and my cheeks flamed red, losing any hint of a smile that was on my face just seconds ago. “The hockey player?”

Max laughed. “Yeah. I think you told me you wanted to marry him when you got older.”

“Oh, my God. Stop talking.” In my defense, I didn’t remember his name because Brody’s last name used to be something else. “Isn’t he known as Brody Reed?”

“Yeah. That’s his ice name. His legal name is Frost, but he changed it to Reed, his mother’s maiden name, on the ice because his dad is a famous former NHL player.”

“He doesn’t want people to know who his dad is?”

“No. He didn’t want his chances of making it to NHL be associated with having a famous father. I guess he wanted to make it on his own merits. Not that it mattered, anyway. They discovered who his dad was his second year of playing professionally. But since he had already made the team, I don’t think he cared all that much.”

I nodded. I could respect that.

Max winked. “I can introduce you to him.”

And just like that, my cheeks went from normal to flaming in one-point-two seconds flat. A Bugatti Chiron couldn’t even reach top speed that fast. “I’m okay,” I answered primly. “In fact, I would appreciate it if you never, ever mentioned this to anyone, ever again. Especially not to Brody Frost, or Reed, or whatever his name is.”

“That’s good. He’s too old for you, and you, my beautiful girl, are way too good for an old bastard like him.”

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