Page 49 of Unrivaled

Max propped his chin on his hand. “I have hidden depths.”

Marcie swung by with the milkshakes—served in giant soda fountain glasses with a cherry on top of each. Max reached for his, giddy with anticipation. “Thank you.”

Grady pulled his drink toward himself. “Seriously, though, how are you getting away with this?”

Max wrapped his lips around the straw and held eye contact while he sucked down the first few delicious mouthfuls. Then he pulled back and licked ice cream from the corner of his mouth. “I’ve lost five pounds since the beginning of the season.” Max had a ridiculous metabolism, but that was too fast. “Nutritionist basically said eat some calorie bombs and worry about it later.”

“Well, this should qualify.” Grady took his first sip of milkshake, and his eyes widened. Then he took another sip, and another. “Okay, wow. Ten miles is nothing for this.”

“Right?” Max beamed.

Grady smiled back, and Max felt a rush of triumph—success at last. “Although I admit I thought you were going to tie a knot in the cherry stem.”

“Maraschino cherries are gross.”

Grady picked up his spoon and scooped Max’s cherry off the top of his milkshake. “More for me.”

He popped the whole thing in his mouth. Fortunately for Max’s sanity, he didn’t do the cherry-stem trick either, just pulled it out and set it aside. “Strawberry cheesecake, huh? Pretty good.”

Max took a big sip of his own to wet his dry mouth. “Yeah.”

Their meals arrived in short order. If the milkshake impressed Grady, Max was pretty sure the burger had him ready to forgive and forget. He only made one guilty face before he wolfed down the plate full of food.

Max felt smug, which was a much more comfortable emotion than guilt.

Somehow they ended up talking about kids’ movies, because Grady had never seenDespicable Meand didn’t get why Max’s dog was named Gru. “You know, it’s the one with the Minions? Little yellow guys, obsessed with bananas?”

When no little light bulb came on in Grady’s eyes, Max reached for his phone. “Here, I’ll show you.” He didn’t want to explain his attachment to a movie about a self-proclaimed villain with a marshmallow center who ended up adopting a bunch of adorable children and falling in love with the woman who started off his enemy. Safer to stick to the slapstick comedy of the Minions.

“Seems like it’s just your speed,” Grady quipped, like he was supposed to, and Max relaxed.

“Whatever, dude. The Minions are comedy gold.”

By the time they’d finished their plates, Max had his footing back and the suspicion had faded from Grady’s posture. Something inside him loosened. Max really hadn’t been trying to be a dick. It was good to know he hadn’t ruined this.

But he discovered he had fucked up in an unexpected new way when he called up the rideshare service on his phone. “Shit.”

Grady raised his eyebrows. “Problem?”

Max put his phone away. “I forgot what you forgot earlier—it’s late on a weeknight. Nobody around to drive me home. I’ll have to ride with you back to Philly and get a car from there or call a cab.” Which would take forever.

Grady checked the time and made a face. “I’m not handing you over to some random in the middle of the night.”

How valiant of him. Lucky for that milkshake, or Max might start feeling warm and fuzzy. “Afraid I’ll get mugged?”

“Hey, don’t laugh. There was that guy in Toronto who got carjacked last year.”

“Won’t be a problem for me since there’s no car.”

Grady bit his lip and shook his head. “Look, it’s late and I don’t want your mysterious disappearance coming back to haunt me. But I’m also tired, and I don’t want to drive all the way to Jerseyand backin one night, so….”

Oh God, was he offering to drive Max home in exchange for a bed for the night? That would be perfect. Except tonight was supposed to be about Max fixing his fuckup, not making Grady go out of his way for him. “You don’t have to do that.”

Grady gave an abortive, self-conscious shrug. “It’s no big deal. Wouldn’t want to leave Gru without a father.”

“He would probably turn to a life of crime,” Max agreed. “I mean, if you’re sure, I’d appreciate it.”

“I don’t have to be anywhere until two tomorrow—flying out for the Eastern Canada trip.” He looked like he couldn’t believe he was offering, but he didn’t sound like he wanted to take it back. “It’s just an extra twenty minutes’ driving tonight. No big deal. And you’ll probably annoy me enough that I don’t fall asleep at the wheel.”

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