Chapter Twenty-Nine Max
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Max
Especially not when she looked like that.
Her dress shimmered from the flickering votives, a warm green that made everything about her glow. Her hair. Her eyes. Her smile.
Her shock when he’d pushed through the doors both excited and saddened him, because he had a distinct feeling she’d only been relying on herself for far too long.
He passed on his own sip of champagne, which Alex was more than happy to drink on his behalf.
Max was gobsmacked when teammate after teammate had responded to his text late Thursday night, saying he was sure everyone had Saturday evening plans since they didn’t have a race, but if they didn’t, he could use a favor.
Nolan had been first in line, then Alex. The responses just kept filing in. He’d never helped them in this way—any of them—and yet they’d all shown up in spades for him, dressed to the nines.
He vowed to do better in the future, even if the semester was winding down and he wasn’t guaranteed to see any of them after graduation.
With Nolan, especially, who stepped up to Max’s side as he peeked through the sliver of curtain to catch another glance at Keely. “Enjoying the show?”
Funnily enough, he was. Keely was on stage now, introducing the Women in Science Society and their mission on campus.
“How am I supposed to know our cues if I’m not watching?” Max murmured.
“I dunno, maybe because we have speakers back here, too?”
“We have a very special treat tonight,” Keely said. She commanded the room, made it her own like she did when she was reading to the kids. Every eye in the room was on her. Max was rapt, too. Couldn’t look away.
Couldn’t ever look away from her.
He was starting to forget why that was a problem.
“In addition to the silent auction prizes located along the lefthand side of the room, donated generously by our sponsors, we will also be having a live auction. The Ash Mountain University track and field team has graciously offered up their best and brightest, and you’ll have the opportunity in a few minutes to place your bid for an evening with the athlete of your choosing. The possibilities are endless.”
The crowd was eating out of her hand, laughing at all her perfectly timed jokes. Of course everyone here loved her.
It was impossible not to.
Not that Max loved Keely.
He didn’t have time for love, not when his focus should solely be on his craft. While he’d seen marginal improvements lately in his PRs and relay splits, he was still a long way off from where he’d been last Olympics season.
Plus Dad was sick. Why would he voluntarily pull someone else into his own misery?
He blew out a slow breath, but his heart jumped harder and faster against his ribs. No, he didn’t love Keely.
He just thought she was a gemstone, and effervescent, and absolutely gorgeous when she snarked back at him.
He’d only dreamed of her a few times, not every night, and not always explicit.
Sometimes he dreamed they were walking Biscuit together, hand in hand.
For others, she was asleep in his bed beside him.
Max locked his hands together on the crown of his head, a trick his dad had taught him to steady his breathing.
But the longer Max looked at Keely, the tighter his chest squeezed.
The distance between them was a vice grip around his heart, growing tighter with every second and every foot between them.
As she called his first teammate to the stage, Max tried to explain away his feelings. He pulled out his phone, navigating to his dad’s text chain. The picture he’d sent earlier, an old-fashioned mirror selfie, remained unread.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Nolan said. Max had forgotten he was standing there. “Whatever thought you’re thinking.”
Max tugged at the neck of his shirt. If all his teammates could hold out, could keep their ties straight and their pants zipped, then so could Max.
Because it was for Keely.
On stage, she was reading the card of his teammate, who was, supposedly, showing off his cleaning skills by pretending to sweep. She giggled into the microphone, tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, and Max’s fingers twitched as if to do the same. He groaned under his breath.
Nolan hummed. “I see.”
Keely started the bidding, and it was hard to see from this viewpoint, but somehow, he knew, with the excitement splitting her face and her free hand pressed over her heart: this was going to work. They’d raised everything she wanted and more.
He grinned back, wide and dumb, even though she couldn’t see him.
“Sold!” Keely shouted. “For three hundred dollars.”
The antics escalated. His teammates had discovered a pattern: the sillier they were, the more they showed off random skills or their personality, the louder the audience laughed. And the louder the audience laughed, the higher the bidding crept. Four hundred, then six.
Alex, who demonstrated a standing backflip-hip-thrust combo, fetched a flat thousand, and the woman who won him was flushed to her toes. That could have been the alcohol, though. Max hoped he wasn’t around to find out for sure.
“This is our next to last athlete for the live auction, and also a reminder that the bar will be closing in five minutes. Up next, we have another member of the same relay team that brought you Alex Dawson—”
“Two hundred!” someone shouted.
“Nolan Aghil was born and raised in southern Mississippi before finding his home here at AMU. Nolan will graduate this semester with a major in exercise science and a minor in early childhood development. He wants to work with children through—”
“Four hundred,” someone else yelled.
“Primary school fitness programming,” Keely finished, ignoring the shouts.
Nolan took to modeling himself over any special abilities, but it worked well enough.
“Five!” Someone yelled over the crowd from the back of the room, and every eye went there.
To his surprise, Zoey Lamb’s hand was raised.
Nolan was pretty shocked, too, if his unhinged jaw was any indication.
Once Zoey was on stage to “collect” her prize, Keely pounced. “Any special plans for your athlete, Zoey?”
Zoey stooped down so her mouth was near the microphone. “I’m an anatomy major, and I’m running an experiment that measures electrical impulses to the heart during stressful events. I’m hoping Nolan’s expertise as an athlete will help add some complexity to my data.”
Max didn’t understand half of those words. Nolan must have, though, because he coughed. Zoey handed him the bottled water she’d been holding as they walked off the other side of the stage.
Keely stared at the last card in her hand, reading it over and over. Max’s card.
His hand curled around the curtain.
Whoever won him would have him for an entire night. Time he couldn’t spend with Keely. But he was her last chance to reach her fundraising goal. He simultaneously wanted to fetch the highest price ever recorded and scoop her under his arm, run and hide.
She looked over again, and he nodded in encouragement.
“I—” she stuttered. What was she thinking right now? Was something wrong? He took a step toward her. He could introduce himself.
His step seemed to spur her into action. “I’m sorry, everyone,” she said, crumpling the slip in her hand. “There’s been a mistake. The last auction item has already been sold.”
A murmur of disappointment flooded the room, but it was only a buzz to Max. He was more confused than anything. What was she doing?
She closed out with parting remarks about the bar closing, rideshare coupons for safe travels home, and queued the DJ—aka Jeremy—to start the background music again.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
“Keely,” he said, revealing himself in the wings. What had upset her? How did he fix it?
“Max.” Her tone, by contrast, was bubbly, her smile rounding out her cheeks. Her dress flowed behind her.
“What changed?” He ran his hands up and over her forearms, holding her elbows gently. “Why’d you stop the auction?”
They were still on stage, and more than a few people stared. Her friends, his teammates. He blocked them all out and focused on the woman in his arms.
She gripped his lapel, wrinkling the fabric he’d gone out and bought a steamer for.
Her nose scrunched, and he wanted to kiss it smooth again.
Wanted to kiss all of her and ask if she had enough tissues for her lingering cold.
Wanted to drag her to his bed and never let her leave, unless it was to get brunch with her the next morning.
Max wanted a hell of a lot from Keely, and he didn’t know what to do about any of it, other than stand here now, completely at her mercy.
“We made triple what we did last year, and that’s all because of you.
I’ll make a donation in lieu of bidding on you.
” She pressed her forehead to his collarbone, and his hand splayed across her back as he tugged her closer.
Peppermint. Her ribs expanded with a deep breath, like she was breathing him in too.
“I didn’t want to share you with anyone else tonight. ”
He wondered if she felt his heart, knocking against hers, begging to be closer. His nose skimmed her temple. “Just tonight?”
She tilted her head side to side, her little spiral earrings glinting in the candlelight. “Tonight. Tomorrow. Maybe the day after. . .” A warm glow lit her face, and it took everything in him not to sweep her backstage and show her what exactly he thought of that.
But he’d been learning discipline his entire life; he could wait a few more hours to kiss Keely the way she deserved, without an audience.
Jeremy stepped up and threw an arm around Max’s shoulders. “Did someone say something about Cookout?”