Chapter 11

Max

Once Charlie is out of earshot, I take my seat again and look across at the guys. “So, what do you think?”

“She is delicious,” Andy says and Ben and I both groan.

“Don’t say shit like that man,” Ben drawls.

“What? Delicious?” Andy jokes. “I think it’s the perfect word to describe the tasty snack that is Charlie.”

He continues, listing off what feels like a hundred different synonyms for attractive and somehow never finding the one that explains the enigma that is Charlie.

“I guess the point I am trying to make dude is that I can’t let you keep her.” Andy concludes his list with that wholly inaccurate statement.

“For real though, I think it would be cool if we could all do things to keep her happy and distract her. I need you guys to be chill about it, but her last situation was more than a little weird. It was like some kind of secret relationship with her boss and then she walked in on him fucking his secretary. She got fired because of it and that’s why she’s really up here for the winter. ”

Ben’s eyes darkened and Andy frowned. “Seriously bro?”

I nodded. “I know right? Who would keep that gorgeous creature a secret and then pull that kind of disgusting shit?”

“Maybe we should take a trip down to Van.” Ben’s words were laced with menace.

“Or we could stay up here and help her forget about it,” Andy says cautiously. He is more of a lover than a fighter, but he can throw a mean punch when he needs to.

“Yeah alright,” Ben mumbles. “For now, at least.”

It’s something thing I love about my boys.

Their morals are rock solid and between the three of us we could dish up some serious justice when it was called for.

This one time in the 10th grade, Ben absolutely rocked this dude’s shit because he kept trying to pants this poor 8th grader.

He was suspended for a week but that creep never went near her again, so it was totally worth it.

Ben’s eyes darken and zero in on something behind me. Before I can even turn around to see, he is out of his seat and storming over to the darkest corner of the bar where there is a guy standing with some chick.

Oh shit, it’s not just some chick. It’s Charlie

This guy has his hands pressed against the wall by her head and is effectively trapping her in the corner. Before Andy and I can get over there, Ben grabs the guy’s shoulder and pulls him back roughly, freeing Charlie.

“Is there a problem here?”

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