Page 42 of Revelation (Love Isn't What It Seems 3)

“No,” he stopped me. “I want to know how you are.”

Our eyes met and I bit my lip. This man shattered me with simple words of caring. Was that sad? My heart didn’t care. Instead, it clung to those words like a woman dying of thirst and each kind word was a drop of water. It was pathetic really.

“I’m okay,” I finally answered. “Livy told me what happened. It’s a lot.” I searched his face, wondering if he despised Livy or me considering what our father did. “How are you? It can’t be easy knowing that Liberty’s and my father caused so much pain to your family.”

“It’s not a fairy tale, that’s for sure,” he retorted dryly. “All of our parents made some pretty grave mistakes.”

Studying him, I had to wonder about Maxim's way of thinking. His stance on life seemed to be more relaxed than ours. But there were demons that he fought too. The guilt of what happened during his service was his cross. Mine was the night of the accident.

“You don’t hate Livy for it?” I asked hesitantly.Or me?But I was too much of a chicken to ask the latter.

“Absolutely not,” he replied without an ounce of delay or dwelling. “Those were not our mistakes.”

The mistake I made is my own.I thought with regret and felt like I lost something precious.

The waiter came up to take our order and I felt saved. I was done with that conversation. I lowered my head and pretended to look at the menu.

“You go ahead, Maxim,” I muttered. “It’ll give me time to pick out something.”

I knew what I was having but it would give me time to get myself together. Absentmindedly, I listened to him ordering chicken cacciatore.

After he was done with his order, I placed mine for a simple salad. My stomach was in knots and my appetite suffered. At this rate, I’d develop a serious case of weight loss. But at least some things were moving in the right direction in my life. Getting this job was one of them.

The moment the waiter left, I changed the subject.

“Brandon misses you,” I told him.

“I miss him too.” He meant it. I could tell by his tone and somber expression on his face. “Does Livy plan on staying at your place?”

“Yes, for now.” My sister and I agreed it would be better and easier for her. I could help her with Brandon and neither one of us would be alone.

“If you are okay with it, I’d like to visit him at your place then.”

“Yes, of course.” He shouldn’t have to ask permission to visit someone he obviously cared about and Brandon without a doubt, cared for him. “Whenever you want. Just shoot Livy or me a text.”

I could feel his eyes studying me, analyzing. It was uncomfortable to think he saw too much.

“How long have you and Daniel known each other?” I inquired, determined to keep all the conversation surrounded around him.

“Long time. From boarding school days.”

“Whoa, that is a long time.”

“What did you think about him?”

“I like him,” I admitted. “He is rather intimidating. Um… maybe a bit scary.”

He chuckled. “You read people well. But he’s a good guy. And he always has my back.”

“Doesn’t your brother have your back?”

“Alexander always has my back. But he’s older than me and was busy leading a company when Daniel and I barely entered middle school. We handled our own problems in school. And later, it was the same when we joined the military and then ventured into business.”

I thought back to my school days. I got what he described with Daniel at the university but through the first twelve grades, it was non-existent. It was almost worse that my grandparents paid for my education. I wasn’t able to fit into the private schools’ crowds, with this one foot in, other foot out of the social circles.

Until Brian. He made me feel like I belonged. If nowhere else, that I belonged with him.

“Is your brother going to get Livy?”

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