Page 23 of Cursed Fox

I knew who Maverick was, or at least I’d heard of him a lot when he was starting up his business. Wes had told me to makemyself available in case his friend needed any help. Thankfully, Maverick seemed to be more capable with technology than Wes ever was and never needed my help.

Getting up from the couch, I slowly made my way over to the front door. Opening it only a crack, I got my first look at the man my boss had described to me. And holy hell was Wes right. The man did look like Santa Claus.

"Hey." Maverick gave me a soft smile. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"Sure." I opened the door wider. "But I should warn you that Lex isn't here. He stormed out a little bit ago and I haven't seen him since."

I looked out the door to see if maybe I could get a glimpse of Lex, but he was nowhere in sight.

"He actually called me and asked that I come over to sit with you for a bit."

"Ohhh." I practically deflated right in front of the man. Lex was pushing me off onto someone else.

"Don't worry, he'll be back eventually."

I scoffed. "I'm not so sure about that. I think I pissed him off."

I imagined the look Maverick was giving me was the same pitiful look I had given Lex not too long ago. "He gets pissed when he has to talk about his time in captivity."

It was hard to hide the surprise in my tone. "He told you why he left?"

Maverick gave me a sad smile. "I make sure he calls me any time he has a night terror. I just didn't expect him to ask me to come here and stay with you."

"Did he tell you I tried to wake him up?"

Maverick nodded. "He did. Not the smartest move, but I understand why you did it. It's hard to listen to someone go through that and not want to help them."

It sounded like he knew from experience, which I guessed maybe he did. "I know I shouldn't have, but I just wanted to help. And look where that got me."

"You frightened him when he woke up with his hands around your neck."

I brought my hands up to the spot where Lex had been holding. He hadn't hurt me. In fact, he hadn't even squeezed that hard. I doubted I would even have any kind of bruises come morning. A few red marks maybe, but no bruising.

"I didn't mean to, and trust me, now I know better in the future. That's if he ever comes back. I get the impression he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore."

There was that sad smile again. "I wouldn't give up on him just yet. The fact that he asked me to come here says a lot about how much he cares. The Lex I've known for thirty-five years would've just walked away and been done with it."

Maverick's answer gave me some hope. "Lex mentioned something about being responsible for his parents’ deaths. What did he mean by that?"

Shock was written clear as day on Maverick's face. "He mentioned them?" When I nodded my head, Maverick whistled. "He never talks about his parents. Except to Olivia."

"Who's Olivia?"

I tried to keep the little green monster under control, but for some reason the thought of another woman getting any piece of Lex made me jealous.

"Maisie's niece. Her parents recently died at the hands of a greedy son of a bitch. The two bonded over their shared trauma."

My heart broke for the girl who’d lost her parents, and for the younger version of Lex who’d lost the same.

"How can I help him?"

A huge smile broke out on Maverick's face. "Just continue doing what you're doing, because it's working. I'm already seeing the difference."

I could do that. As long as Lex let me.

Lex never came backthat night after he stormed off. At some point, I caved and went back to bed, only to wake up with Maverick still hanging around. Since there was no food in the apartment, he offered to run to the bakery to get some for us.

Despite declaring that I wasn't hungry, it was hard to pass up the scones he brought back. I was adding meet Maisie and visit Wickedly Delicious to the top of my list. For not one, but two reasons. I wanted more scones and I wanted to meet the little girl who’d captured Lex's heart and devotion.

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