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Page 63 of Invisible String (The Underground #1)

The palm of my hand vibrates with the thrust of his cheek. Andrew’s eyes widen, holding his red left side. I’m fuming with anger at Andrew for talking badly about Max, but I’m equally upset with Max for not telling me about it. I slam the door on my way out.

Max said he was going to be open with me.

Why wasn’t he? We talked about my dad. I asked if he overheard anything that night.

He said he did. He could’ve told me he spoke with him, that my dad gave him a check to leave me.

I can’t help but wonder if this is the reason he left—that he took the money.

The tires screech loudly as I twist the steering wheel, guiding the car onto the sharply curved ramp leading onto the highway.

I spot Johnny in the distance. Tears of fear and frustration trickle down my cheeks.

How could my dad betray me like this? It shouldn’t shock me, but the idea of him bribing Max to leave me—and Max actually accepting it—is unthinkable.

I shake my head firmly, refusing to believe that Max would ever accept money from my father. Never.

The hate my father has for Max is disgusting. He sees him as someone below him.

Finally, after twenty minutes in traffic, I park at Max’s building in a carport that reads: Employees Only . Too fucking bad because I’m parking here. Max can tow me if he wants.

I growl, stomping my foot childlike. The damn elevator won’t open. Oh, tits up, open already.

Beep. Beep. A herd of people comes out.

“This day has gone tits up,” I say to no one.

“The day isn’t over,” an older woman answers me.

I guess someone was listening to me.

I’m in such a shitty mood, yet I give the woman a smile that probably looks like Chuckie’s Bride.

We both hop into the elevator. She tucks into the corner while I’m on the other side.

The elevator dings, and she gets off. Yeah.

I’m sure I scared her. I take a deep breath and get off on the next floor.

Leo sits at his desk typing on the computer. His head jolts when he sees me. I give him the friendliest smile I can muster. The poor guy has had to deal with Max’s outbursts and mine. “Hi, Rainey, how are you doing?”

“Hi, Leo, I’m doing good. How’s work going?”

“It’s okay. I’m grateful I have a job. Max took me in when I was homeless and unemployed. He helped me out a lot.”

My rapid heartbeat comes to a standstill. I melt.

“That’s sweet of him.”

He shrugs. “He is. He just looks like a grizzly bear who woke up from hibernation.”

I snort. “That he does. I’ll be in Max’s office.”

He jumps out of his seat. “Hold on. So, how’s the bakery going?”

I hesitate. “Good.” I raise a brow at him.

“Max is lucky he gets to eat all your amazing food. Your breakfast croissants are so good. What’s the recipe?”

My fists go to my hips, and I tilt my head at him. “Are you keeping me from Max’s office?”

He rears back. “No, he’s just?—”

My blood is boiling. Is someone in his office? That skanky bitch. What’s her name? Roxy? My polka-dot Skechers stomp down the long hallway. Jealousy aches at the thought of him with someone else. What if he has her on his vast desk?

“Rainey.” Leo jogs after me.

I don’t knock. I shove the door open, and it slams against the wall. The woman next to his desk jumps up, and Max peers at me over a stack of papers.

“Hey, Rainey.” His gruff tone deflates my heart.

How long has he been in here with this woman? He was cold with me on the phone earlier today, and then all this with Andrew. There is no smile, like I’m the last person he wants to see—no hint of the warmth he has given me the last few weeks.

“Is that all?” she asks him, rearranging her breasts in front of him. Roxy sounds like a stripper’s name.

“Yeah,” he answers, not looking at her, but at me.

Did they have sex?

“I hope you enjoy the lunch I made for you. Leo said you have been eating my food for the last couple of weeks. We can’t let the star boxer go hungry. You need your protein.”

I clench my fists as I think about the past weeks. He’s been sleeping in my bed, and I’ve been cooking for him and even doing his laundry. Yet, he has another woman taking care of him as well?

“Out!” I shout.

Her wide, cat eyes practically roll out. She runs off without a second glance. I slam the door shut. I turn to him sitting with arms crossed, watching me with a curious eye, but no smile or smirk. He’s pissed about something. In all the years, I’ve never seen Max look at me the way he is now.

“We need to talk.” My feet traipse toward his desk. Whatever is in the plastic container, I toss it in the trash. He watches me as he’s about to take it out. I smack his hand. He wants the bitch’s food? “We need to talk,” I repeat.

“Yes, we fucking do,” he retorts. Max juts his chin. “Go ahead and talk.”

Mother fucker.

“Andrew called me to go to his office.”

He laughs, rubbing his stubbled chin.

“For what, a blowjob under his desk?” He grinds his teeth, and I glare at him.

“No, he said my dad paid you to leave four years ago. He wrote you out a check.”

His head snaps in my direction. He wasn’t expecting this.

“Is it true, Max?”

He shoves his hands in his slacks and walks to the top-to-bottom wall windows. “Yes, he wrote me out a check and told me to disappear from your life. He knocked on the door that night. We argued, and he left me with the check.”

The pain in my chest slices through me like shards of glass ripping through it. “Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracks.

“Because he was right. I wasn’t good enough for you then. I didn’t have anything. I would only hold you back.”

“You left me fucking broken on the damn floor, sobbing for you. And you took the money? That was more important than me?” My voice rises.

He turns from the window, his hands go into fists, and he tosses everything off his desk. Papers fly in every direction. A vein bulges in his temple.

Panic slices through me. I’m not afraid of Max, but how’s he looking at me? His jaw tightens, and his nostrils flare.

“Come slap me. Hit me because that’s what you just did with your words.

Those words hurt more than a slap to the face.

” He takes his wallet from his back pocket, retrieves a white folded, delicate paper close to shreds, and tosses it on his desk.

“Take it. That’s the check your asshole father gave me.

I don’t need his money. You know, I thought you were different than him.

But you’re just like him. I’ll never be good enough for you if you see me that way.

” He shakes his head. He won’t even look at me.

My emotions got the best of me. I accused him, clouded by jealousy.

“Leave.”

My chin trembles. I lost him. “Max, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to accuse you. You lied to me, and you said you were going to be open with me. Why didn’t you tell me when I asked you if you heard my conversation with my dad?”

“Did it matter, Rainey? It’s not like I took the money. I kept the check for this long in case you needed proof if I ever mentioned it to you. I left for an entirely different reason. He’s your dad. You two still don’t get along, so I left it.”

Gingerly, I reach for his hand, but he shakes it off, which hurts. It’s like a stab to the chest. “Not now. I can’t even look at you.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I missed you.”

God, I’m doing it again, breaking inside. This is why I couldn’t get close to him. I shouldn’t have let him into my heart. I’m so stupid.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“You lied to me,” he says, looking anywhere but at me. His voice comes out like it was dragged through shards of glass.

“What are you talking about?”

“You let him touch you. You said you hadn’t been with anyone. But of all people, you got naked for him and let him feel you up!” he bellows, slamming his fist on the desk.

Fucking Andrew.

“Max, I…it was the night I first saw you. I was so confused and hurt. Seeing you again after so long was painful. At that moment, I wanted to erase it. You. Andrew touched me. My mind wasn’t in the right place. I was in a vulnerable moment.”

He gazes at me disdainfully, and tears well up in my eyes.

“He called me. He said you undressed for him. You let him touch your breasts and between your legs. When I asked you about him, you said there was nothing between you two, but you undressed for him .” His anger is one I never want to see toward me.

The jealousy in his eyes cut through me.

“He just brushed me between my legs. Then I started crying.”

He frowns. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, I told him to leave. I didn’t want him, not like that. He knew it, but he would have gone all the way, knowing I didn’t really want him.”

“Why were you crying?”

“Because I never thought I’d see you again. And all those memories of us came to me.”

His eyes soften a small fraction in size, but the anger still seems to boil in him.

He averts his gaze back to the damn window.

I look at the worn-out check with faded writing in my hand.

The sum my dad gave him is pitiful, as if that’s all I’m worth.

What infuriates me is that I expressed my love for Max, and it didn’t matter to my dad.

Instead, he made Max feel like he wasn’t enough for me.

Even now that Max has a successful business and is a skilled boxer, it’s still insufficient for him.

“You don’t get to tell me shit about the mishap with Andrew.

Even though it was nothing, we weren’t together.

You asked how many men I’ve been with, but what about you?

How many women have you fucked? And to top it off, you’re locked up in here with that stupid snobby bitch, and she brings you food.

She fucking feeds you .” He doesn’t get to be mad when he just had her in here.

“Why come to my place? Why don’t you go to her place?

” I shake my head and swallow the lumps forming.

“Don’t come around anymore. Just…just let me go, Max.

Don’t come looking for me.” My voice comes out like it was dragged over glass.

I walk toward the door, and one miserable tear skates.

Large, muscular, veiny hands slam the door shut.

“Let me go, Max.” I grind my teeth, not looking at his handsome, irritating face.

“Never.” He hoists me onto his shoulder effortlessly, as if I weigh nothing, and then places me in his swivel chair.

His green eyes glare intensely at me, and his jaw clenches with unspoken anger.

“You’re mine. Not his, not anyone’s, but mine,” he says with his index finger curling under my chin, our eyes connect.

“My woman. You. Are. My. Woman. No one else but you. No other woman on this living planet could take the place of you.” He wipes the streak of tears.

“And I’m fucking yours. You want to know how many women I slept with? ” I nod. “Only you.”

I roll my eyes. I find it hard to believe this man, with his remarkable stamina, hadn’t been with a woman.

“Don’t look at me like I’m a damn liar. From the beginning at the cabin, I told you I’ve never had a woman in an intimate position. I’ve never kissed anyone until you, I’ve never had a woman missionary position until you. I’ve never gone down on a woman like it was a never-ending buffet until you.”

He cups my cheeks, squeezing them until my lips pucker.

“I’ve never made love to a woman until you.

In the last four years, I haven’t been with anyone.

” His beautiful eyes bore into my soul. Mask down.

“How could I when I’ve only ever thought of you?

” Another tear slides down. “You want to know why I can’t get you out of my head? ”

I nod in his hold.

“Because, tesoro, I’m so madly obsessed and unhinged in love with you, it drives me crazy. I’m in love with you, Rainey. I don’t want any other woman. My love for you has been in my heart since day one.”

My heart bursts with emotions I never thought I’d ever feel. Max loves me. This right here is what I needed to hear. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear it until now.

“You really love me?” My voice trembles.

“Yes, I really do love you. I’m crazy for you, baby.” His lips curve into a beautiful smile. At the same time, I’m still processing it.

“But those women at the Underground said you slept with them, and you were in here with her. And Leo acted like you were doing something. He was stalling me.”

He laughs. He lifts me off the seat and then sits me on his lap. “Leo can be dramatic. He probably figured that since Roxy was in my office, you would be upset. She was just giving me some paperwork I needed to look over. And I do not know who those women are. They were obviously making up shit.”

“She brings you food, Max. How would you like it if a man were all hot on my tail, doing things for me, buying things, sending flowers, giving me money? How would you feel?”

He frowns. “It would piss me off.”

“Exactly. I don’t appreciate her feeding you when she’s all flirting with you. It would be different if she weren’t into you and an elderly woman.”

Max caresses my cheeks so lovingly it hurts to look at him. My heart glows underneath my skin.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just don’t like to waste food. I didn’t eat it. It had nothing to do with her. What is it you want me to do? Fire her?”

“That would be nice. I wouldn’t have to look at her shoving her breasts in your face.”

“Done. I’ll fire her. Anything else you want?”

“Yes, for you not to be angry with me.”

He sighs. “I can never stay angry with you for long. It’s already forgotten.”

My gaze is on my fingers, playing with the hem of his shirt.

“Look at me.”

I do.

“What else did Andrew tell you? It seems he’s out for blood.”

Now that he mentioned it, Andrew did it on purpose. He put us against one another.

“Just that. I slapped him and left.”

His head falls back into a beautiful, heart-throbbing laugh once he regains himself. “That’s my girl,” he praises in his husky voice. “I would pay to see that.”

“Max, why do you both dislike one another?”

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