“To be fair, it was more instinct than logical, coherent thought.”
“Mmhmm.” Maxx offers out his elbow to me. “Why don’t you hop as best you can, using me as much as you need?” He flicks that jewel-toned gaze of his toward the direction of our fleeing perp. “He could try to ambush us again, and I can’t let myself be caught off-guard again.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” I say, brushing some dust off of his chest and belly with my hands. Then it gets … weird. I pause and stare at my fingers; he pauses and stares down at me. Then I know for a fact that I’m fucking blushing while simultaneously being disgusted with myself. This is my sister’s boyfriend. Gross. Tacky. Just … “Eww.” I somehow say it out loud even though I don’t mean to.
“Eww?” Maxx echoes, looking down at my hands. I very quickly draw them back and clear my throat.
“Anyway, you can’t blame yourself for that. Who expects to be beaten with a stick by some crazy guy?” Maxx gives me a tart smile and then leans down, reaching up and finally tousling my hair the way he’s seemed to want to since we started the hike this morning. It feels … sisterly. But that’s okay, right? It’s actually great because if he marries Maxine then I’ll be his sister-in-law.
“I’m not going to forget you said eww when you brushed my shirt off,” he begins, emerald eyes sparkling with mischief. “But also, me. I should’ve expected to be beaten with a stick. I’ve been taking Krav Maga since I was eleven.”
“Of course you have,” I murmur with a roll of my eyes. Why wouldn’t he be an expert in some sort of bad ass-y self-defense training? It makes perfect sense. “Well, then, let’s get the hell out of here before the creep comes back.”
“So,” Maxine begins, just a week later when she finally gets a chance to drive up and see me. Already, she’s declared that Oregon is much prettier than Washington. Considering the only time I’ve been to Oregon, I got attacked on a hiking trail, I’m inclined to disagree. “Do you like him or what?”
My older sister leans forward, planting her elbow on the table and grinning at me like she knows a secret. Considering both Maxx and I told her what happened over voice chat in the parking lot, I’m not sure that there’s anything to tell.
“Maxx?” I start, wondering if she’s sensed some of my creeper vibes. But I swear to you, I’d fall on a sword before I’d ever considering taking my sister’s boyfriend. Maybe if I’d met Maxx first, I’d have been into him. As things stand, he couldn’t be any more off-limits to me. Chasm on the other hand … Grr. I’m not going to think about Chasm, not right now. He’s been acting like he did before we started getting to know each other: a little distant, a little rude, a lot cocky.
My sister snorts and waves her hand dismissively, the ice cubes in her chai latte clinking as they start to melt. She pauses to stir her drink a bit.
“Not Maxx; I already know you like him or else you’d have given me an earful.” She lifts sheepish eyes up to watch me and I’m struck once again by how closely Saffron was able to match me and her other daughter, me and her parents. I look like a Banks, from my toes to my teeth to my hair. “Your stepbrother, the wannabe TikTok star.”
“Parrish?” I echo, trying and failing not to grit my teeth when I say his name. The first thing he did when he saw me limping into my room with Maxx’s arm around my waist was act concerned, helping me onto my bed and then giving Maxx a look that was damn near impossible to interpret. But as soon as Maxx left? I got the third degree from him about my hike. As if it’s any of his business. “He’s been a dick all week.”
“How come?” Maxine asks with a frown, glancing up at a young couple as they enter the café. A quick glance over my shoulder shows me what, exactly, it is that she’s smiling about. Their PDAs are off the charts. Gagging, I turn back to my sister.
“How come?” I repeat with a dry laugh. “Because he hates me.”
“Maxx thinks he likes you,” she tells me, causing me to damn near spill my mocha. Maxie pretends not to notice me blundering around with my drink as she glances casually at her phone. She wants me to call my grandparents, but I’m still annoyed. For almost two years, they knew I might not be their granddaughter? Why call the stupid hotline from that damn Netflix show then? Why couldn’t they have just let things be.
