Page 85 of For All It's Worth
“What the fuck? Charlie, no!”
“I didn’t open it,” I protested, trying to back down from going on the defensive. My own actions had put me in this situation, and Max had every right to react the way he did. He’d told me what would happen if I drank again.
Max had turned pale with fear and shame filled me at being the cause of it.
“Look,” I said, turning the camera to the still-sealed bottle in its bag. “Unopened and staying that way. I’ll give it to one of Will’s neighbors or something. I promise that I’m not going to fuck this up. I felt like an idiot the whole walk back here and an even bigger one in the liquor store. Not sure what I was thinking.”
“You’re at Will’s?”
“Yeah, I’m cat-sitting, remember?”
He face-palmed, running his hand slowly down his face. “This week has been a mess, I swear.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m sitting outside your apartment block. Have been for half an hour trying to get the courage to come up and apologize.”
Laughter burst from me. Relief made me feel giddy. Max and I were quite the pair.
“Text me the address. I’ll come over.” Max demanded.
“You don’t have to,” I hedged, I wanted him here more than anything. Lucifer was cute and all, but not as cute as my Max. Didn’t snuggle nearly as well, either.
“But I want to. We aren’t ending our first argument with us being apart. I want to go to sleep with you holding me close, knowing that we’re okay.” There was the softness that had been missing in his gaze earlier.
“I want that, too.” I was sure that he could hear the honesty in my voice even if he couldn’t see it clearly in my eyes. I needed him with me but hadn’t wanted to ask him. I didn’t want to be a burden. Max had enough going on.
“Okay then, but you need to make us some food because my stomach was in knots earlier and I haven’t been able to even think about eating.”
“I can do that.” I smiled at him. “I’ll raid Andy’s kitchen.”
“Andy’s, not Will’s?”
“Have you ever had Will’s cooking?”
“Uh…no? Yeah, no.”
I laughed again, overjoyed at how quickly we’d gotten over this bump. “Be glad of that. He’s lethal in the kitchen.” I changed the subject. “Can you stay over?” The words were a rare show of vulnerability from me and almost stuck in my throat.
“Already planned on it. See you soon.” Max ended the call with a shy smile and a weight lifted from my chest. If he could look at me like that, then we would be fine.
Raiding the cabinets quickly for a meal idea for us yielded an easy-to-make rice dinner since there weren’t many gluten-free options for Max. Andy kept things pretty well stocked otherwise and I was impressed at the equipment he’d brought to the apartment. Most of it had to be from when he lived alone. I knew he’d learned to cook with his mom working so much when he and Abby were kids.
I’d learned out of boredom. There had been a boyfriend just after I left college that was in culinary school, and he’d taught me some basic things. After we’d broken up, I’d still messed around in the kitchen some. I found it relaxing.
Recently I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to cook since Mom had ruled over her kitchen, and when I was with Max we ate a lot of takeout.
The food was ready when the front desk called to say Max had arrived. After giving permission, I looked for Lucifer and shut him in Will’s room before leaving the door ajar for Max to come right in.
He found me in the kitchen, plating up our food. Coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me, his head resting on my back just below my shoulders. I sank into the feeling for a second, just enjoying the feeling of us being close.
Squeezing and then patting his hands as a signal to move back, I worked on grabbing the silverware and getting glasses for water. “Can you grab the plates and I’ll get the rest?”
“Sure, do you want to eat in here or the dining room?”
“Wherever you like. I need to let Lucifer out of Will’s room.”
“I can do that.”
