Page 67 of Secrets

Summerville

Max

It's been weeks since Max had Daphne outside the shop, and not only does he still need his tattoo finished, he needs to see her. Giving her space was a noble idea, but he's pretty sure he's about to lose his damn mind not seeing her. And now that he's had her, he can't stop thinking about anything except for her.

He walks into the tattoo shop to see Nick screaming in Daphne's face as she looks to be on the brink of breaking down into tears.

"You're a pathetic excuse for an artist. You basically just maimed that poor girl who walked out of here thinking she got some grand ink. It's terrible. The worst thing I've seen, includingthe shit I took this morning!" Nick shouts, spit landing on Daphne's cheek.

Grabbing him, Max slams him against the wall, his hand wrapped around his throat. "What the fuck did I say about you berating the artists? Huh? I said I'd fucking kill you. I'll give you an option. Do you want your neck broken, or should I slash your belly like the fucking pig you are?"

"Max, stop," Daphne says, tugging at his arm. "Please don't kill him. I can't take the guilt if you end up in prison for murder."

"Who says I'd get caught? I don't know if anyone in here sees anything."

Yohan snorts. "I see nothing."

"Me, either, mate," Geoff says.

A guy he's pretty sure is named Phil adds, "It was a very quiet afternoon when Nick just walked out of the building without a word."

"Please, Max? Please?" Daphne pleads with big doe eyes.

Releasing him, he towers over the man. "Get the fuck out of my face. You were just saved by an angel."

Nick stammers something that comes out as just sounds rather than words, and he runs away. She grabs Max's hand and pulls him down a hallway towards a set of stairs.

"Where are we going?" he asks as she pulls him into a studio apartment at the top of the stairway.

"My place," she says, shutting the door behind him. "Thank you."

Nodding, he flares his nostrils. "I wish you'd have let me kill him."

"He's just a temporary problem at this point, anyway. He wants to sell the shop, and the investors are on board. I'm losing this place, Max, and I don't know what to do."

"Can you buy it?"

Tears stream down her face, and she shakes her head, her black braids hitting her shoulders as she does. "No. I can't get the money from the bank."

"I can help," he says, thinking about all the money he's saved away. Drugs were lucrative, and guns aren't bad money, either.

Her arms wrap around in him a tight embrace. "You've already done enough. You stopped Nick from going further than he did, and that means more than you'll ever know."

"Daph, we need to talk."

"Yeah, we do."

Pulling away, he looks into her eyes. Her pain hurts him, but he's hurting, too. "I can't pretend what happened between us didn't happen."

Her lip quivers as she looks away from him. "I was afraid of that."

"I also can't pretend it didn't mean anything to me because it meant fucking everything."

Eyes meet his, and she looks surprised. "Really?"

"I've wanted you since I first met you, but you were with Nelson. But he was never good enough for you. I couldn't step in while you were together, but you're not with him anymore. And we fucked. It was pretty damn amazing, and as much as I may have seemed like I could just walk away like nothing happened, I can't. I don't want to, either. If you're not into me, that's fine, but-"

"It's not that at all, Max. I'm into you. God, I'm so into you. But your brother is my ex. There's no way he'd ever be okay with this, and the last thing I ever want is to create problems for you. Not when you're so special to me."

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