Two Dates Max (6 page)

Hank hustled us onto barstools while he moved around the kitchen with relaxed familiarity. I listened to him banter with Elle, but couldn’t help wondering if Sean liked to cook too. It didn’t matter since my kitchen was totally my domain, but I wanted to know little things like that about him. I already knew he’d been in the Marines and it still affected a lot of his life. He kept a regimented schedule and didn’t like changes a whole lot. However, he could also be flexible when needed.

A wineglass appeared before me, interrupting my thoughts as a fragrant red liquid was poured into it.

“Try this. It’ll help take your mind off things.”

I raised a brow at Hank’s statement but he just grinned and set the wine bottle a few inches from me. Elle nudged my elbow.

“Hey, hon, what’s wrong?”

I smiled weakly and grasped my wineglass like a lifeline.

“Nothing much. Just tired, I guess.”

She gave me the look that said she didn’t believe me, but let it go for the moment. We’d been friends long enough to know there was always a right moment for emotional conversations. Right now I just wanted to get through Elle’s issues before worrying about mine. So far, Hank seemed like a great guy. I knew it was too soon for her to get serious about him. Maybe we needed to wait for her Declan-inflicted wounds to heal first. But Hank was doing all the right things just by being himself, as far as I could tell. I’m usually a pretty good judge of character…Sean notwithstanding.

Hank’s hamburgers were a feat of culinary brilliance. I was actually kind of sad to take the last bite. Then there were the potato wedges he’d baked as a side dish. There was no way to compare them to simple french fries. They were like mini baked potatoes, sour cream and all. I was so stuffed once we were done, I wasn’t certain I could walk. Elle giggled when I leaned back with a sigh and rubbed my belly.

“You look like you could fall asleep.”

I hid a small burp behind my hand and snorted.

“After only one glass of wine? Nah.”

Hank cleared his throat and raised the empty wine bottle, shaking it in the air as if to hear its contents.

“One glass, darlin’? I hate to break it to you, but I think you polished off this bottle on your own.”

I frowned at him but then glanced around the table. We’d moved outside to his very impressive back deck to eat in the cool evening air. Hank’s handmade oak table with matching chairs sat just outside his sliding glass doors. It was littered with the remnants of our meal, including two wine bottles. One sat between Elle’s and Hank’s glasses. The other, which Hank set gingerly back in place, was right at my elbow.

“Um…”

Elle and Hank laughed but I wasn’t very amused. I’m not much of a drinker and even with the food, a whole bottle of wine meant I wasn’t driving home anytime soon.

“Damn. I’ll have to call a cab.”

Hank shook his head as Elle looked his way.

“We can drive you and your car home tonight. Or, I’ve got plenty of room if you’d rather just crash here.”

I frowned, knowing there was something wrong with both scenarios, but a little too drunk to figure out what.

“Umm…”

Elle laughed and stood, picking up our empty plates. Hank immediately stood as well and took them from her.

“I got this, sweetheart. Why don’t you go get her settled in a spare bedroom?”

Elle nodded and Hank gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. She giggled before looking at me shyly. Hank grinned and went inside.

“Wow, I think he made you blush,” I said.

She just shrugged, smile still in place, before pulling on the back of my chair. I sat up and got shakily to my feet.

“Come on, lightweight. I’ll get you to a nice, soft surface where you can pass out until morning.”

We both giggled and staggered our way through the house. By the time we made it into a bedroom I was buzzing as if I had a headful of honeybees. I got the impression of warm colors and dark furniture before falling face-first onto a soft quilt. Elle pulled my tennis shoes off and urged me onto my back so she could help me slip out of my jeans. I somehow worked my bra off without hurting myself or removing my shirt, and then Elle got me under the covers.

“All right, hon, you’re set. I’ll wake you when breakfast is ready,” she said on a laugh.

I sighed and snuggled against the pillow.

“S’kay. I don’t work ’til noon.”

She might have responded to that but I was already snoring.

* * * * *

Pounding woke me as weak sunlight filtered into the room. I groaned and rolled over to check the time on my clock, but it wasn’t there. I frowned at the unfamiliar lamp. It was pretty, but I wanted to know the time. Just as I sat up I remembered where I was and flopped back down.

“Shit.”

The pounding hadn’t stopped and it took a few more seconds for me to realize the persistent beat was in my head.

“Ugh…”

That’s when I remembered why I don’t drink. I sat up again, more slowly, and threw my bare legs over the side of the bed. Luckily I wasn’t queasy. There’s nothing I hate more than being sick. I stood slowly to be sure and looked around for my jeans. Donning them was a study in patience as they fought me the whole time, but I finally defeated their evil plan to leave me pants-less and got them on. I ran my fingers through my hair and knotted it into a loose bun at my nape. Then, as presentable as I was likely to get, I walked out of the room.

Elle’s voice sounded down the hallway from the living room. I headed that way and prayed I wasn’t about to interrupt anything.

“Do you realize what time it is?” she asked in a stage whisper.

I frowned when there was no response and stepped into the room. She was standing by the sofa in her silk robe with my cell phone to her ear. The contents of my purse lay scattered on the sofa cushion and I realized she must’ve had to search for my phone.

“I know, Max, but—”

That brought my attention snapping back to her and I crossed the room quickly.

“Hey. That’s Sean?”

She looked up in surprise and I noted her bruises looked worse, which of course meant they were healing. She nodded before speaking into the phone again.

“Okay, okay. It doesn’t matter ’cause here she is.”

She all but shoved the phone in my hand and stepped away. I held it up to my ear but raised an inquiring brow at her.

“He’s been trying to reach you since last night,” she said.

The tone of her voice told me Sean wasn’t exactly pleasant this morning and for a second I considered just hanging up on him.

“Megan? Megan.”

His voice in my ear caught my attention and I sat on the sofa with a huff.

“What?”

My growl of annoyance must have surprised him because his voice softened when he replied.

“I was getting worried.”

I sighed and rubbed my free hand down my face before looking around. Elle had left the room and there wasn’t a clock anywhere.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Eight thirty-two.”

“Jeez, Sean. What the hell are you calling so early for?”

He sighed loudly into my ear. “I was texting you all evening and you never answered. I went by your house…late. And you weren’t there. Then I tried calling a couple of times. I was worried.”

I’ve never been the type of girl who was surgically attached to her phone. For me, it’s a necessity, a tool I use to communicate as needed. Leaving it in my purse all day without checking it is the norm.

“Oh.”

I had no clue what else to say. I felt a little bad for worrying him, but not much. He’d been such an asshole in his office, what the hell did he expect?

“Look, Megan. I’m sorry about yesterday. I was just having a bad morning, okay? I didn’t mean to take it out on you like that. I just… I’m really sorry.”

I scrubbed my face again, considered and discarded a few responses, then leaned back against the sofa cushions.

“Sorry I worried you.”

I wanted to laugh at my dry tone, which said I was anything but sorry.

“Yeah.”

“Look, Sean. It’s early and I kinda drank a bit last night.”

“Yeah? Who all was there last night?”

I was still a little groggy, but the tension in his voice was hard to miss.

“Me, Elle, Hank…”

I let it hang to get a reaction. I’m not a fan of playing head games, but figured he was due a little payback. He didn’t disappoint.

“And?” he growled.

I sighed. “And? No one else. What about you? Who were you with last night?”

“No one, damn it. Megan, I went by your house looking for you. Would I have done that if I’d been with someone else?”

My head started pounding again and I vaguely wondered if it had ever stopped.

“No…fuck, I don’t know. I think I’m still drunk.”

He chuckled a bit and made me shiver.

“All right. I’m hanging up now. You’ll be at the gym later?”

“Yeah, my usual shift.”

“All right, then. Bye, Megan.”

“Bye, Sean.”

I hung up and let my hand fall into my lap before closing my eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Working at the gym isn’t rocket science and doesn’t exactly require a lot of brain power. However, it can still be a challenging job when customers decide to be assholes. It just so happened that on Thursday afternoon when I finally stumbled into work, I was hungover, confused about Sean and so
not
in the mood to deal with anybody’s shit. So of course that meant I got every asshole member who used our club.

“
Excuse
me. Do you have any more towels or not?”

I took a deep breath and raised my head to smile at the bitch standing at the counter. She’d been there all of five seconds and apparently had a hot date with a treadmill.

“Yes ma’am. If you’ll give me just a moment—”

“I don’t have all day, girl. I need to get moving.”

I just nodded and turned away before she could see the smile slip off my face. Elle had called in again, and though I couldn’t blame her it made more work for me. I finished helping my current customer before grabbing a towel for super-bitch.

“Here you are, ma’am. Sorry about the wait.”

She snatched the towel, grunted and sauntered off. I rolled my eyes and rubbed the back of my neck with one hand. I’d only been at it an hour and was already counting the minutes until quitting time. Never a good sign.

The glass doors opened and a small stream of people walked in. I watched the computer as they each checked in and smiled through polite small talk for a few minutes. I recognized all of them until the last guy stepped up to the counter. He wasn’t dressed to work out, wearing jeans and a polo shirt, not tucked in. His head was completely shaved and wraparound sunglasses hid his eyes. He didn’t have a gym bag or anything else in his hands. I smiled as he faced me for a moment before turning his head to gaze around the gym.

“Good afternoon, sir. Would you like to take a tour?”

He frowned at me and shook his head. “Where’s Elle?”

My smile slipped and I shrugged. “I’m sorry, but she’s not in today.”

“When will she be in again?”

Something about the guy gave me the creeps, but I’d never seen him before in my life.

“I’m not sure. Would you like to leave a number or something?”

He looked around again as if expecting her to walk out at any minute. “No. I’ll be back.”

He then turned and stalked out. A few seconds later I heard a motorcycle start up and watched him drive away.

Dread lay in the pit of my stomach but I had no clue why. Some of Declan’s friends were pretty unsavory characters, but it was only the second day since his fight with Elle. He might not even realize she’d left him yet. Even if he did, what the hell would he send some guy to the gym for? I shrugged it away and sat down.

The rest of the evening dragged on until I’d swear the clock started going backward. Ben tried to hold a conversation with me about some mundane thing, but I couldn’t seem to focus. Sean and Elle occupied all my thoughts, and poor Ben finally gave up and walked away. I watched him go, feeling a bit guilty but not sure how to fix it. It was nearing the end of my shift and normally Sean would have been in by now. His routine was so much a part of him, I wasn’t sure what to think.

Eight o’clock finally rolled around with still no appearance from Sean. I sighed and gathered my purse before clocking out on the computer. It had been a really rough day and I swore red wine was off my list for eternity.

“Hey, Nettle. Heading out?”

I gave Ben a weak smile and nodded. “Yeah. Finally.”

“You looked a little out of it today. You all right?”

I laughed. “A little hungover to be honest, but other than that, yeah.”

He laughed too. “I wondered. I mean…I heard about Elle, but I didn’t figure you two would go out on the town or anything.”