Page 83 of Red Hunt

I chuckled despite the pain that slowly trickled into my consciousness.

“As soon as the adrenaline subsides, you will be in a lot of pain,” a guy from behind Goofy said, his face equally stern. Then there were footsteps, and both men stepped aside.

As if hit by an electrical jolt, my pulse spiked, and my heart pounded in my chest. There he was. A sweaty, out-of-breath version of the man who owned my heart. The best man I’d ever met and the man whom I’d fallen in love with. Completely and utterly fallen in love with.

Only to be left alone and ignored by him.

My throat dried up and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth like I’d just swallowed a scoop of flour. I smoothed my face into a polite mask and awkwardly swiped my hands over my thighs.

Damn, that hurt.

“Oh, baby,” was all he said before he swept me up, then sat back down on the front seat with me on his lap.

“Oh God, Milli. I’m so sorry. I thought I’d lost you. Are you okay? Where does it hurt? What happened? What can I do? I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you in time. I’m so sorry I ran off like the stupidest asshole in the first place. I love you so much. I’m so sorry.”

He patted me down, all the while talking in rapid-fire succession. I’d never heard him talk so much, and having him near me, his clean scent of soap, deodorant, and purely Max engulfing me in a cloud of calm, of trust and safety, shelter and comfort was a sanctuary.

My sanctuary.

“I’m okay.”

He didn’t believe me. Didn’t stop touching me. So, I did the only thing that would break through his panic. I grabbed his face and kissed him.

Damn, my hand hurt.

The kiss calmed him immediately, made his hands stop with his frantic movements. I could feel his heartbeat thumping against his rib cage, felt his pulse drumming through the vein on his neck.

“I’m okay,” I whispered against his lips. “I’m okay.”

57

MAX

“You really shouldn’t give him the time of day,” Sharon said from the backseat of my truck.

Belinda next to her hummed in agreement.

“We got time. We can take care of you. Belinda and I can take shifts, stay at your apartment with you, drive you to your doctor’s appointments. You don’t need…him for all that.”

My chest tightened, and I clenched my jaw shut, same as I’d done all week. I could feel Sharon’s eyes glaring at my back—also something she’d perfected over this past week.

I peeked at Milli, who was sitting next to me, her face showing no reaction. Her finger never once stopped drawing invisible circles on her cast.

I focused back on the curvy road leading to the lodge up ahead.

We’d just been to the hospital for a second set of x-rays to ensure the closed reduction the doctor had performed a week ago had been effective and the bones in Milli’s hand were indeed healing in the proper position.

It’d been one week since I thought I’d lost the most important person in my life. One week since I’d gone to bed and woken up next to her every single day. One week in which I’d tasted the slice of Heaven a life with Milli by my side could be.

But it was also a week during which every single one of her friends had shown up and badgered her to not let me off the hook so easily.

But Milli wouldn’t comment on any of them, which made my heart soar sky-high.

Only to plummet down to Earth immediately. Because what she hadn’t done was let me in either.

She hadn’t talked to me beyond small talk and even though she slept in my arms every night, she hadn’t kissed me, hadn’t given me an in…and I hadn’t pushed.

We were in this strange kind of limbo, and it was making me doubt everything—my own feelings and especially hers.

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