5. Max
Max
A ll the usual suspects , I thought as I walked into the Red Fox Diner, my eyes scanning the red leather booths and the long breakfast counter.
The sound of clinking silverware and conversation filled the air, and the whole place smelled like pancakes, butter, and coffee.
This place was always busy around lunchtime. Most of the booths were packed full of elderly people with newspapers, young teenagers huddled over for gossip, and people on their lunch breaks.
No black cowboy hats in sight, though.
He’s not everywhere in Bestens. Chill out.
Was I glad or disappointed that Draven wasn’t here?
I was still pissed off. It had been a few days since he’d stopped in at the Hard Spot.
A few days since I’d seen him around my parents’ property, either. Lily said he was staying somewhere else and had “gotten busy,” but she’d been busy, too. Finally, today, I was meeting her for lunch.
And I was going to get answers.
I pulled out my phone, compulsively texting him before walking through the diner.
Max
Where are you hiding? You at the inn? A hotel in one of the cities? Did I finally scare you away?
Draven
Adorable that you think you could. I’m around. Don’t worry.
I had a growing curiosity about him that was building up inside me more each day.
Knowing he was attracted to me had made me a little bit crazy. Hearing he wasn’t with Lily anymore…
Well, that was just another thing I needed answers about.
I spotted Lily’s usual ponytail at a booth near the corner at the diner. I gave her a nod, walking through the crowded, narrow walkway between tables.
“Best spot in the house,” I told her as I sat down, popping off my baseball cap and setting it down.
“I’m glad I finally had a minute,” she said. “Casey’s been nuts. She made a joke about Bridezillas the other day but I don’t think she knows she’s two freakouts away from being one herself.”
“That bad, huh?”
Lily was in town for an old high school friend’s wedding. They had never been particularly close, but had many mutual friends, and Lily had been surprised when she’d been asked to be one of seven bridesmaids.
She’d been busy with bachelorette activities all week. Finally, we were getting a minute to hang out one-on-one.
She told me about some of Casey’s Bridezilla moments—saying that the flowers might end up being cream white instead of off-white and an ongoing war with another bridesmaid about the height of her heels.
After Lily and I had ordered iced coffees and had dug into our sandwiches, she sighed, leaning back on the booth.
“The stuff with Draven isn’t making it easier.”
I swallowed a gulp of my iced coffee, glancing up at her. “You mean the fight?”
She furrowed her brow. “No, we aren’t fighting.”
“No. I meant our fight.”
“Me and you?”
I set down my glass. “No. The fight I got into with him.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me he started something with you.”
“He didn’t mention it? The first night you guys got into town, I thought he was breaking into my barn. I came at him with my hockey stick. We ended up on the ground.”
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
A flare of pride flooded me, and I sat up straighter, balking at the way she’d said it. “I almost hurt him ,” I said.
Lily chewed on her bottom lip. “He’s pretty intense. I know.”
“Lil, I know I shouldn’t butt in on your dating life. But Draven seems like a prick.”
She looked down at the speckled table between us, waving a hand and shaking her head. “He’s not a prick.”
“Sure seemed like one when he nearly choked me.”
She grimaced a little. “Well, to be honest, I’m not dating him anymore. We broke up pretty soon after we got to town.”
Pieces rearranged themselves in my mind like sorting out a puzzle.
“You actually did break up,” I said.
“Well, our breakup was a long time coming,” Lily finally said.
So he hadn’t been lying.
He still drove me insane at the bar the other night. He was so obvious about being on the prowl, looking for a fuck. Talking about wanting me to clean his cock with my tongue?
I shifted on the booth seat.
“Going to go run to the restroom, then grab another water,” Lily said. “Be right back.”
As she went up to the counter, I felt for my phone, pulling it out and compulsively checking it.
There was another text from Draven.
Draven
What are you doing right now?
Max
Why do all your texts feel like an interrogation?
You’re the one who asked me where I was hiding earlier.
Because I feel like you’re probably up to something.
I’m just checking in on you. In a friendly way.
You think we’re friends now?
We can start. I’ll go first. I’m Draven, and I like riding horses, drinking whiskey, and fucking people until they can barely walk afterward. Your turn.
I’m Max, and I’m not telling you jack shit.
You’re so cute.
I hated that I blushed as I read that text.
I looked all around the diner, as if I was worried that everyone in here could see it all over my face.
But no one was looking.
I turned back to my phone.
I’m Max. I like making cocktails, playing sports, and every Harrison Ford movie ever made.
Indiana Jones fan?
Big time. And Han Solo is the best part of the original Star Wars movies, without a doubt.
Now that’s just rude to Carrie Fisher. She’s a bombshell.
You can fight me over that one.
Next time we hang out, I’ll put on Blade Runner.
Yeah, because we hang out. Like friends. All the time. Are you delusional?
No. I’m just attracted to you, and you want more info on me. Pretty simple, Baby Blue. You’ll get more of me. Promise.
I want less of you.
Say that again, without lying.
Fine. I want to see you again, but only for revenge.
Forgot your version of revenge is making me suck your cock.
It’s still revenge, even if you like it.
Fucking hot when you try to pretend you wouldn’t like it, too. Hard for me again?
I shoved my phone in my pocket as I saw Lily coming back to the table. I ignored my cock, which had been getting hard, against my wishes. Last thing I needed right now was to be thinking about that while talking to Lily.
I picked up a little yellow packet of fake sugar, tapping it on the table.
“Back,” she said as she sat down. “Anyway. Yes, we broke up, and no, I’m not too bent out of shape about it.”
“I’m surprised he made that long-ass road trip out from Montana with you, if things weren’t going well.”
She shuddered. “ Way too long of a road trip. I’m glad I’m flying back.”
“You’re not driving back in his truck?”
“Well, that’s the other thing. He wanted to get out of Montana,” Lily explained. “He might be staying here for a while, even after I head back.”
Lily looked like she was holding something back now.
My sister was more spontaneous than me, but she was also a nice person—too nice—which was part of the reason I couldn’t understand why she was dating someone like Draven in the first place.
“Why do you look like you’re about to give me a death sentence?” I asked her.
“You know Mr. Marsden?”
I nodded. “Old man? He comes into the bar sometimes.”
“You remember his house? The run-down one at the corner of Ridge Road?”
“Of course. I love that old house.”
Lily bit the inside of her cheek. “Draven bought it. He’s going to fix it up.”
I dropped the packet of sweetener onto the table. “That house? That house has been on the market forever. If I saved up enough money from bartending, I said I was going to finally give Mr. Marsden a deal on fixing it up myself, in a couple of years.”
“You don’t like the barn?”
I leaned back, running a hand through my hair. “The barn? I love the barn, but being on Mom and Dad’s land isn’t exactly a forever-home prospect for me.”
“I never knew you were interested in Marsden’s old house.”
“I didn’t know fucking Draven was, either.”
“Well, it’s his, now.”
“Who the hell buys a house when they’re on vacation somewhere?”
Lily waved a hand through the air again, like that shouldn’t have even been a consideration. “Draven has family money. They buy and sell houses out in Montana like they’re trading cards. But I don’t think he wants to go back home right now.”
I looked out the big picture windows at the intersection of Laurel Ave and Second Street.
I could see the outside of the Hard Spot from here.
I could also see the candy shop I used to frequent as a kid, and the old computer parts store that had turned into a hair salon, and the Chinese restaurant that had once been a different Chinese restaurant.
I liked being friendly with everyone in town.
Knowing their names and caring about their lives.
And if some hotshot cowboy who thought he was a hardass was going to actually live here, in my town, on these streets I knew better than my own hands?
I was going to fuckin’ kill him.
“Lily, we used to tell each other things,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were having problems with Draven before you came to town?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Because it’s embarrassing.”
“I don’t judge you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I mean, you kind of do. Sometimes.”
“I don't judge you. I’m… envious of you. Traveling around the country, having such a high-impact job.”
She smiled softly. “You love being in Bestens, though. You love bartending, too.”
I let out a long sigh. “I know I do. But that doesn’t mean I judge you .”
“I know it’s old-fashioned, but I always thought I’d be married by 26,” she said. “It just seemed like a good number. I’m 27 now, and he’s 30, and… let’s just say marriage wasn’t really in the cards.”
I gave her a look, trying to hold back from rolling my eyes. “He’s not husband material. Don’t know what drew you to him in the first place.”
There was something hidden behind her eyes. Growing up, people had always said my eyes were blue like a pretty sky, and Lily’s were a little greyer.
Right now, her eyes just looked sad.
Like there was something she felt for Draven that she couldn’t say.
Fine.
If she couldn’t be open about it, then I’d make him tell me the truth.
I’d force it out of him.