Chapter 4
Max
Her eyes drifted shut before I even reached the door. The sight of her from our first meeting flashed into my eyes. No one told me there was a bail hearing. I should’ve gotten the call to be there. I wonder who his lawyer was. Public defender or a well-paid lawyer. I did my research; he was well off. His family owned a small chain of hotels in the area. They had just branched into Maryland.
She looked so weak in that hospital bed. The night I first met her, she was stumbling, covered in blood. Cuts and bruises all over her face and body. Her auburn hair was matted to her skull from the blood dripping down her hair. I called the ambulance shortly after she collapsed into my arms. Lydia came running out seconds later, she sat with her until EMS arrived. I recognized Megan from the area. I saw her walking around the neighborhood with him multiple times. I never saw him strike her before. She also never seemed scared of him. I never saw bruises on her. Not all damage is done physically though. We are trained to look for signs of mental manipulation.
I knew that I was in the wrong. I was told to stand down, despite my anger toward the situation. I told Rick that I knew where she lived because I lived behind them, three houses down. I had always thought she was beautiful. I never spoke to her though. Once I found out she had a boyfriend, my confidence deflated like someone push a pin into me. Rick told me that I had to stay away from her for her safety and mine. The Paxley family was loaded and would do anything to keep this under wraps. I’m going to get a phone call later.
Sandra was still outside the room when I left. Great, more bullshit. Never date inside the workplace. Shit never ends well if you end up breaking up. I stalked past her; I didn’t want to look at her and she sure as shit didn’t have the right to look at me like I was the one caught with my dick in someone. No, she was the one caught with someone else’s dick in her. Rick did his best to keep us away from each other after that.
“Hey, can we talk?” She ran up behind me and grabbed my arm. I pulled out of her reach and kept walking toward the elevator. “You can’t ignore me forever. You know that.” I paused, turning around, and looking down at the woman I thought I loved. She was so wrong about me not being able to ignore her. Six months later and I’ve been doing a damn good job at avoiding her despite her trying to talk to me every chance she got.
“I don’t want to talk to you. I won’t hash it out. I don’t want you back. I will go on forever acting as if you do not exist. So, stop harassing me. I’ve put it in writing multiple times not to text me, call me or speak to me at work. Thirty-seven texts a day falls under harassment you know,” I replied, turning back away from her, and heading back to the elevator.
“You need to let it go, I already apologized,” my blood started to boil, and I was ready to lose my shit. She really didn’t know what she was doing. Well, actually she did. The elevator dinged as I pressed the button. I got on and turned around and looked at her.
“Yes, you apologized for getting caught. Not for fucking your partner in our bed. Stop trying to talk to me or I’m going to HR. I mean it.” I said as the doors to the elevator began to close. Shock rippled across Murdoch and Felton’s faces. Fucking priceless. I put my sunglasses on and smiled to myself. That was oddly satisfying.