Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
N ovember 27 th
Gobble, gobble. I tried not to feel like a loser, but it didn’t work. Thanksgiving was two days ago and my parents had a full inn for Thanksgiving. So they gave me the option of either sleeping on the couch in their bedroom or waiting to visit until my time off during Christmas. I know this is their busiest time of the year and they felt horrible asking, but also, how would I explain Clark? So, I told them that worked out perfectly since I was spending it with friends here in the city. I lied. Eli and Kenneth spent Thanksgiving with Eli’s family. Leah and Noah spent it together at a romantic getaway in the Poconos. And Felix and Amelia spent it with Felix’s family.
That left Clark and me ordering Chinese.
Max had asked if I wanted to join his family, but I declined. I figured Sierra would be there and I can’t let myself fall any more in love with Max until I know what’s going on with him and Sierra. Could I ask him? Sure. But then I could look like the friend who wanted more and ruin a friendship when he didn’t want more. Tonight I find out what’s going on. Tonight is book club and Kitty is joining us. I’m so nervous. I’m not trusting myself with reading paperbacks right now because I might accidentally tear a page. I just have to get through today while trying not to focus on tonight being a possible deciding factor in my love life.
“Are you seriously putting on Pride and Prejudice again?” Clark looked ready to cry.
“I can do the Bollywood version or do you want the zombie version?”
“Zombies. Please, for the love of god, zombies.”
“This one has the best Mr. Collins,” Paige told him as she turned on the movie. Clark actually chuckled during this version and by the end of the movie, it had been deemed his favorite.
“You know, I could ask Max for you,” Clark offered as Paige got up to get ready for book club.
“No! I don’t want to ruin a friendship by having feelings when he might not be available. His friendship means too much to me.”
Clark rolled his eyes and glanced at his watch. “You know he’ll be here in 5-4-3-2-1—” There was a knock on the door and Clark gave her an I told you so look as he went to answer it. Max stopped by every night at this time to check on her. “Oh, look, it’s Max,” he called out as he opened the door.
Max gave him a questioning look but hurried into the room. “I have news. We found evidence of Chip buying bomb making materials. We showed the evidence to his father, who in turn gave us permission to track his car since it’s technically a corporate car. Chip’s making his way to New York City. Lenora’s book is supposed to be released tonight at midnight and we’re going to get him before he can do anything stupid. Just hang on a little longer, okay?”
Paige felt relief like none other. Clark was now like a brother to her. An annoying brother, but a brother nonetheless. But she wanted him out of her apartment. She missed Monty and wanted her bunny back. “That’s excellent news. I can’t wait to tell the book club tonight.”
Max sighed. “I don’t suppose you would skip book club tonight, would you?”
No way. She needed answers and those answers were at book club. “Why? Clark will be with me and Chip won’t know I go to book club. This isn’t when we normally meet anyway since Kitty is joining us.”
Max smiled at that. “That does make me feel better. And thanks for inviting Kitty. Due to her father’s position and career, she was born into the socialite role. But it never really suited her. While she’s friends with Sierra, I know Kitty struggles to find real friends. Look, I have to go. I’ll call you as soon as I have something.” Max leaned forward and kissed her cheek before rushing out the door with one last order to Clark to keep her safe.
Paige arrived at Felix’s early, but Amelia was already there, saving them the entire sitting area. She’d also pulled up more chairs and couches than they would ever need. “What’s going on?”
“Oh,” Amelia said, looking as if she got caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing. “It turns out we’re going to have more people at book club than normal.”
“Kitty is just one person. I don’t think she needs her own couch.”
“Well, and then there’s Clark,” Amelia said, clearly hiding something. “And Felix wants to join, and Kenneth, and Noah. And well, the guys were talking in their group chat. Jack is coming since Leah had invited Moxie. And with Moxie coming, Griz thought it would be fun for him and Gina to also come. Then they didn’t want to leave Roman out, so he’s coming too.”
“I hate you all right now,” Paige muttered.
“We just want to support you.”
“Or you all want to see my heart get broken when Kitty says that of course Max and Sierra are still happily together.”
Amelia reached out and took Paige’s hand. “No, we’re here to support you because we all love you.”
The door opened and within five minutes the entire seating area was filled. Kitty came bouncing in with an excited, happy smile on her face. Paige instantly felt like an asshole for inviting her to get intel on Max instead of inviting her out of friendship. Well, that Paige could control. She wasn’t going to use Kitty. She would just put on her big girl panties and ask Max directly. Or maybe she could get Clark or Jack to ask Max. Either way, she wasn’t going to use Kitty.
“Kitty!” Paige got up and hugged her. “I’m so excited you could join us. Here, let me introduce you to my friends.”
“Oh, I know Jack. We run in the same circles. Hi, Jack.”
Jack stood up and kissed Kitty on her cheek. “Hello, Kitty. It’s nice to see you again. This is my girlfriend, Moxie.”
The entire group gasped as Moxie blushed. “Girlfriend! Whoa, when did that happen?” Paige asked what everyone was wondering.
“At Lenora’s book launch,” Moxie said, still blushing as Jack reached out to hold her hand.
Kitty was momentarily forgotten as everyone congratulated Moxie and Jack. They were adorable together. Jack was so protective and loving toward her and Moxie seemed to glow with his attention.
“Well, these are my friends and their significant others,” Paige said, continuing the introductions. “Eli and Kenneth, Leah and Noah, Amelia and Felix, Griz and Gina, my bodyguard, Clark, and my friend, Roman.”
Paige and her book club watched a real, honest, meet-cute live and in person. Kitty’s eyes widened as Roman stood and shook her hand. Roman seemed to stand taller somehow as he looked down at Kitty with an expression on his handsome face that softened instantly in that really sexy way men get when they look at a special woman. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kitty.” Roman sounded like the alpha wolf leader on the hunt and Kitty was his prey.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Roman. Is your girlfriend joining us?”
“I’m not dating anyone right now. Here, would you like to have a seat next to me?”
Kitty sighed. “Oh, yes, very much.”
“I’ll let everyone chat a bit and get us drinks,” Paige called out.
“I’ll help,” Felix told her as Clark silently followed them to the counter. “We invited Max, but he didn’t reply. I would ask Kitty now in case Max shows up.”
“He has a lead that he’s chasing down,” Paige told him as Felix went behind the counter and started to make pitchers full of hot chocolate.
“Good. I worry about you with that threat out there. Here,” Felix said, handing her a pitcher of hot chocolate. “Can you place this on the table?” Paige took it as Clark took a tray full of cups and made her way back to the group.
“No way!” Kitty cried, playfully batting her lashes at Roman. “You know Max too?” Paige almost dropped the pitcher. No, no, no. She wasn’t going to put Kitty in this position, even if Kitty didn’t know it. “How do you know him?” Kitty asked, but Leah swooped in before Paige could interrupt.
“Don’t you dare,” Leah hissed. “I see the guilty look you have. We all like Kitty, but you need to know this too.”
“I met him when Griz, Moxie, Paige, and I were at a furry convention and got carbon monoxide poisoning. He’s friends with Paige, and now all of us. He’s a great guy. How do you know him?” Roman asked. Paige was also in awe of how open he was about his fury life.
“I know him through his ex-girlfriend. What’s a furry?” Kitty asked.
“It’s someone who dresses up as an animal, just like you dress up for regency balls,” Eli told her smoothly. “Now, what do you mean, ex -girlfriend? He broke up with Sierra?”
“How do you know Sierra?” Kitty asked, now curious. Paige hoped she didn’t feel as if she were being interrogated even though that was exactly what her friends were doing.
“Met her once when she and Max were on a date at the beginning of the year. She’s not nearly as nice as you,” Eli conspiratorially said to Kitty.
“Oh, I know. We’re friends in the fake kind of way. We’re always at the same events, but Sierra is really fake. That’s why Max broke it off with her. Sierra only cares about being seen and Max does the bare minimum of society events. I guess at some charity event in March she was a real bitch to one of Max’s friends. He broke up with her that night,” Kitty told them.
Leah stepped forward since for the life of her, Paige couldn’t seem to be able to move or breathe, for that matter. Her head was spinning—Max was single and had been since she saw him at the gala the night she’d met Sierra and stabbed Patrick’s balls. Eight months ago? In March ?
Paige noticed that Jack was nodding his head as if he knew what Kitty said to also be true.
“But we saw her here just a little while ago and she was talking about going to some event with Max,” Leah said, pushing Kitty for more information.
Kitty rolled her eyes. “They stayed friends because, like I said, small social circle and she’s friends with Max’s sister—well, kinda. When she got married and had Lexi, they grew apart. They keep in touch, but Max has refused all of Sierra’s attempts to get back together.”
“Is that because he is seeing someone else?” Eli asked.
Kitty shook her head. “I saw his sister a couple of weeks ago. She said Max said he’s not dating because he’s waiting for someone special. Now, tell me about this furry thing. I do like dressing up, you know.”
If Kitty noticed Amelia and Eli bolting to join Leah at Paige’s side, she didn’t say anything. Kitty was too lost in Roman to notice that Paige’s whole world was spinning with a mixture of disbelief and hope.
“Waiting for someone special?” Eli excitedly whispered.
“That’s you,” Amelia told her, reaching out and grabbing her hand.
“I—” Paige paused when the door opened and all of her friends went instantly quiet.
“Max! We were just talking about you,” Kitty happily said, jumping up and giving Max a hug.
Max looked around and stopped as his eyes connected with Paige’s. “Clark, you can go home. We got Chip.”
Everyone let out a sigh of relief and congratulated Max on a job well done.
“Told you so,” Clark whispered as he hugged Paige. “It’s been a pleasure, Miss Turner.”
“Thank you, Clark,” Paige told him. It was strange to suddenly have him leave. She’d gotten used to him, even if she wanted to throttle him sometimes.
“Oh, I drove you—”
“Not a problem. I’ll get Paige home,” Max assured Clark.
Paige couldn’t look at her friends. She knew they were all giving her goo-goo eyes as if Max was suddenly going to declare his love for her. Okay, a girl could wish.
“Great. I’ll pack up and slide the key back under the door after I lock it. Now, go get your Mr. Darcy, Paige.”
“I love Mr. Darcy!” Kitty called out as Clark left.
Paige still hadn’t been able to take her eyes off Max. “Did I interrupt something?” Max asked Paige, Leah, Amelia, and Eli as everyone else finally got back to talking.
“Eli was explaining how we all met,” Paige said, still not being able to process what she’d just learned.
Max was single and he had been for most of the year. He’d broken up with Sierra after she was mean to Paige. Did that mean there was hope that he liked her as much as she liked him? All these thoughts were flying through her head as Eli, not so subtly, shoved her on the loveseat and made Max sit next to her.
Book club went on around them, but Paige couldn’t say what they talked about. Max had placed his arm behind her on the couch and his thigh was pressed tightly against hers as people talked all around them. It was as if his touch made it impossible to hear what was going on around her. She was so focused on the warmth of his muscled leg and the gentle brush of his thumb on her shoulder that she did not even realize others were around her.
“What would your heroines do?” Amelia finally whispered to her before sitting up and loudly saying. “Oh, you’re tired from the holidays and are ready to go home? Max, do you mind taking Paige home? We’re going to chat a little longer.”
Her quiet little bookworm had turned into a butterfly as Amelia expertly maneuvered Paige into Max’s car and sent them on their way with a smile.
Just what in the cliffhanger was she supposed to do now?