To the Max (32 page)

He was already taking off the cloth around his shoulders. “What? Where?”

“It’s nothing. And it was my fault. I didn’t check the traffic when I crossed. I could have sworn it was green, but I was too distracted talking to my mother, and I didn’t see the car coming. I dodged it, though. My palms and knees are a bit worse for wear, but I’ll survive.”

He froze. “You telling me a car almost ran you over?”

“‘Almost’ being the operative word. I dodged.”

“I’m coming.”

“No need. I’ll be released—”

But Max had shut the phone and was jumping off the barber chair.

* * * *

Annie had known she should have lied to Max, said she was doing overtime at the office, but she was a terrible liar. He would see the scratches and her messed-up tights. What was she going to tell him, that the copy machine had attacked her? Besides, she was thirty-five, not a nineteen-year-old idiot. Still, she’d known he was going to get all protective, and he did.

He walked to her and kissed her, softly cupping her head. “You okay?” he whispered against her lips.

She nodded. “Just a case of scratched hands and knees.”

The only reason why she’d been admitted to the ER was because she was pregnant and there were too many people with itchy fingers ready to call 911. Before she could even assess the damage, she was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital, where they took one look at her belly and started ordering tests.

“Thank God,” he mumbled, his shoulders relaxing.

“Max?” She looked at him and couldn’t control the smirk. She reached for the Mohawk and the few tresses he had left. “This is a very interesting haircut. You’re shooting
Frankenstein
next?”

He leaned his head on her chest, his soft chuckle reverberating through her. “I was at the barber’s when we spoke.” He stayed there for a long while, as if he was listening to her heartbeat. Then he lifted his face, his expression hard. “What about the asshole who almost ran you over?”

“Max,
I
may have run him over. I wasn’t paying too close attention.” She only remembered the screeching sound of the tires and a blur of black as the car sped away. By the time she’d gotten up, the car had been gone. “Actually, I was more worried about my mother in a panic on the other end of the phone.”

“You’ve gotten around to telling your mom you’re pregnant? Because I’m sorry to break it to you, but there’s no hazmat suit big enough to disguise your belly.”

“I did. I told her it was just a one-night stand.”

“How did she take it?”

“She was ecstatic. I think it’s the hippie in her.”

Max chuckled, shaking his head. At least his expression was now less severe.

By the time they made it home, it was late. Max ordered pizza, and they curled on the sofa for dinner. She wasn’t that hungry, but he insisted, feeding her. He’d asked for extra bacon, so all and all it wasn’t really a bother to eat it.

When the carbs started working and she was all sleepy and happy-go-lucky girl, no fight left in her, Max attacked. “You should have called me right away,” he reprimanded her.

She’d known that was coming. She was surprised he even made it that far before mentioning it. “There was no need.”

He tipped her face up, glaring at her. “The hell there wasn’t. What would you have done if I hadn’t called you?”

“Taken a cab home, probably.”

“Fucking unacceptable. You’re mine.”

A snort escaped her throat. “And? Do I have to check in with you for everything?”

His voice was hard. His demeanor too. “I don’t know what kind of assholes you’ve been dating, but when a car runs you over, fuck yeah, you need to check in with me.”

For a split second she thought about giving him hell, modern, independent female that she was, but she didn’t really want to. And the carb overload was kicking her ass. She snuggled closer and smiled against his chest. “Okay, Angus. So you know, I’m going to visit my mother for Thanksgiving. May I?” The second her boss had heard about the accident, he’d insisted on her taking a vacation.

“That’s not what I meant, Ace. And you damn well know it.”

Yeah, she did. Still.

“Annie?”

“Hmmm?”

“Who the fuck is Angus?”

* * * *

Redwaters, Ohio

Several days later

Max couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Xtreme Man is Larry’s shop?” Max asked, flabbergasted as they stood in front of the big building.

Annie didn’t seem to get the epiphany he was having because she just nodded. “You’ll love it. People come from all over the state to buy his outdoor and survival gear.”

Didn’t he know it. Max had heard about the place many times. Heck, there hadn’t been a single Arctic Man he’d taken part in where the racers hadn’t mentioned Xtreme Man.

“Where did your mom and Larry meet?”

“At a survival-preparedness expo. In a radiation-detection workshop.”

“Really?”

She grinned in that wiseass way of hers. “No. Mom got into the prepper scene after meeting Larry. Believe it or not, she had a flat tire, and Larry stopped to help. She tried shooing him away, but he insisted on helping. When she saw he had a rifle in the car, she got scared and pepper sprayed him. Now they run the shop together.”

As soon as they entered the shop, Annie’s mom darted to them, a big smile on her face. Max hadn’t seen her in several years, probably since he came home from the Marines, but Alice hadn’t changed much. Considering she was now a prepper, when before she’d been a hippie, that was saying a lot.

He hung back while Alice hugged and smooched her daughter. Then a big mountain man trapped Annie in a bear hug and lifted her off her feet. There were more kisses and hugs and some talking to her belly too. Annie reached for Max. He was already right behind her, but it felt fucking good that she sought him.

“Larry, this is Max Bowen, my boyfriend, stuntman, and extreme sports freak. Max, this is Larry Peterson, my stepdad, survivalist, and prepper.”

Larry offered him his hand. “I have the feeling you and I are going to get along.”

Yeah, Max had the same feeling too.

He would have loved to stay at the shop, but Alice gave them the keys to the guesthouse and shooed them out, ordering them to go unpack, rest, and meet them for dinner.

It turned out Larry and Alice lived in the outskirts of town, on a farm. By the time they had settled down and looked around, they had to leave.

“Is there anybody in Redwaters who doesn’t know you?” Max muttered to Annie. He brought her to him with an arm around her shoulder after saying good-bye to the most recent person who had stopped them.

“It’s a small town,” she answered with a shrug.

Well, small or not, everybody seemed to know her. It had taken them forever to walk a couple of streets to the diner where they were meeting Annie’s mother and Larry.

“And Larry is very well liked. His store is one of the reasons why Redwaters gets so much traffic.”

“No shit.” Xtreme Man was the best store for outdoor and survival gear he’d ever been in. Whatever you were into, the crazier the better, Larry had the props you needed for it. It was the Holy Grail for adrenaline junkies.

“They haven’t seen me for a while. And I’ve grown a huge stomach since then. Everyone is curious,” she continued. “Besides, half the women have been eyeing you. Several might have had mini-orgasms, because they staggered at the sight of you. And you don’t see me complaining, do you?”

“I beg your pardon, miss. I do not give mini-orgasms.”

Annie giggled. As they turned the corner, they saw her parents approaching from the other direction.

“Behave,” she admonished in a whisper. “No talk of orgasms in front of them. This is an open-carry, conservative state. And Redwaters? There are more guns here alone than the rest of Ohio combined.”

After greeting Alice and Larry, they entered a diner named Montero’s, which looked like something out of
Grease
: pink and white and extremely fifties. It was quite full, but there was a table reserved for them. Apparently Annie, Larry, and her mother were regulars there.

“So, Max, what did you think of Xtreme Man?” Larry asked after they made it to their seats, which took an eternity with all the stops they had to do along the way.

“Heaven on earth, sir. People always mention it at Arctic Man.”

At the words “Arctic Man,” Larry’s face beamed. “You look like the kind who enjoys extreme races.”

Larry and Alice were very easygoing. Nothing like the Vaughans. When the baby was born and the four grandparents ended up in the same room, it was going to be damn interesting.

Before desert, the lights went off and a waitress named Stella, who seemed to be the owner of the place, headed straight for Annie with a big cake in her hands. Two candles were lit on it: the number three and the number six. The diner was much emptier by then, but every one of the patrons joined Stella in singing “Happy Birthday” to Annie.

Max was totally taken aback.

“Today is your birthday?” he asked after she blew the candles, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. He must have failed, because she laughed.

“No, it isn’t. You can stop glowering at me. My birthday is January first. I was born two minutes after midnight, ruining the notorious Vaughan New Year’s Eve party. My grandmother never forgave my mom for it.” She rolled her eyes. “Because of course my mom did it on purpose. Anyhow, New Year’s Eve is one of those events I have to celebrate with my grandmother in Boston. I think that’s my penance for wrecking it with my untimely birth. So whenever I come to Redwaters around the end of the year, they throw me a party.”

Everyone had come ready for the impromptu birthday party, because out of nowhere, presents starting appearing. By the end of the night, Annie was the proud owner of an assortment of prepper and baby stuff that would have horrified the calmest person in the world.

Yes, MacGyver would have nothing on this baby girl.

“I got nothing for you,” he whispered as he took her out to dance.

She smirked. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll get my pound of flesh.”

* * * *

Annie loved being in Redwaters. Alden was great, but it was too damn close to Boston and the Vaughans. In Redwaters she was no one, just the daughter of Larry’s wife. During her visits, she ended up doing what she was doing now: hanging around Xtreme Man with her mom, helping out, and ringing up clients. Most times she had no clue what she was selling, but no one seemed to mind.

“Max Bowen,” her mom mumbled. “Who would have guessed?”

Yep. Who would have guessed? Certainly not Annie.

Annie and her mom were at the cash register, leaning on the counter, while Max, Larry, and José, one of the salespersons, were checking the new survivalist products that had arrived.

She watched Max talking to the other men. He’d lost his long hair. He still had the Mohawk, but it was much shorter. The tattoos at the sides of his scalp were long gone.

The bastard was as handsome as ever, if not more so. There wasn’t a look he couldn’t pull off without scorching every girl’s panties, she was sure.

“Larry and Max hit it off right away,” Annie said to her mother.

“They did,” she agreed, looking softly at her husband. “They both speak the same language. Look at them, kids in a candy store.”

It had taken a very long time for her mother to find new love and get over Annie’s dad, and Annie was ecstatic for her. Alice Griffin had never had a shortage of male attention, but she hadn’t been ready to compromise.

“He would make a great father,” her mom let drop out of the blue, her eyes on Max.

Yes, Annie knew. “I don’t want him feeling like I’m his responsibility. I’m not. The baby is not.”

“I don’t think he minds. When you told me about him, I was a bit wary, with Max always being an adrenaline junkie and a ladies’ man, but I’ve seen how he looks at you. I’m not worried anymore.”

It was funny, though, that adrenaline junkie Max hadn’t wanted her anywhere near Larry’s neighbor’s temperamental stallion. As soon as the horse had started getting nervous, he’d stepped in front of her and moved her away.

“Too dangerous, baby,”
he’d told her.

“What did your grandmother say about Max?” her mom asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Because she’s seen him, right? At your dad’s birthday?”

She nodded. “He was shooting a Viking movie. He had braids and a long beard then.”

Her mother laughed. “Oh God. And?”

“Polly called the next day.”

“Polly,” Alice repeated. “That brings up so many memories. She used to summon me too. Very often. It seemed like I screwed up every other day with all their unspoken rules of conduct.”

“Grandma is not too fond of Max. Then again, her great-granddaughter is being born out of wedlock. I’m not her favorite person in the world right now.”

“She’ll come around. And your dad?”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure he noticed it. Barbara must have clued him in already, but I haven’t heard from him. I don’t think he’s going to be that interested either way. You know how he is.”

“He has spent all his life looking away and ignoring stuff. We shouldn’t expect him to start facing anything anytime soon. Although, you never know. One doesn’t become a grandfather every day.”

“Maybe.”

“Rowena and Dee Dee still living there?”

Annie nodded again, and her mom laughed. “So you’re telling me Max has met the stepmothers from hell, the evil grandmother, and the loony mother,” she said, pointing at herself. “And he’s still here?”

“Who’s still here?” Max asked as he approached and placed his arm over Annie’s shoulders, kissing the top of her head.

Her mom grinned and waved it off. “Nobody. Now, young man, about a certain game my daughter has told me about. How do I log in? And how realistic it is?”

* * * *

The blast of a siren woke Max in the middle of the night.

“What the hell?”

Annie got on her feet too, muttering a curse. “Evac drill.”

“What?”

“Evacuation drill. Check the time,” she said, opening a drawer and rummaging through the clothes. “We have exactly fifteen minutes to get our bug-out bags to the car and make it to the meeting point, or they will leave us behind. Did you happen to bring camo pants? Never mind, I forgot I don’t fit in mine anymore. Black pants will have to do.”