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Chapter Seventeen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56He knew he was losing his shit and he didn’t give a flying fuck. Cool as ice Max was now a raving lunatic.
Her reaction wasn’t what he expected; she looked at him as if he was daft before shrugging. “You men are all like amped-up rabbits bouncing all over the place; I can’t talk to you while you’re like this. Where are we going?”
Max glared at her as options raced through his head. He trusted his profiling. If he gave Evans the benefit of the doubt, it could get them all killed.
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“I left out some details of the physical damage done to me that night and the challenges I’d face.” He’d thought long and hard about that; it was a miracle that she could function at all, yet here she was holding down a job and trying to live a healthy life. Brave. At least that’s what he’d thought until she snuck a phone call on a damn burner… “The clinic in Dubai took evidence photos, did a rape kit, started me on antivirals and gave me the morning-after pill.” Max’s stomach always churned with anger when he saw what men on this earth were capable of. He’d come across many atrocities on women during his SF days. Villages raped and pillaged, women mutilated and left to die. They’d rescued girls along the way, but the dead look in their eyes would haunt Max for the rest of his days. She forged on in a robotic voice. “A security officer stayed by my side the whole time. She held my hand and told me everything would be okay. Her name was Noleen; she was
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Max was halfway back to their unit when Abby’s earsplitting scream pierced the air. What. The. Fuck. Buzzing in his head blocked all else as he threw himself at her front gate, ripping out his gun and racing up the porch steps. If Muller had laid a fucking finger on her… The sliding door sat open.“Max! Dial it back! Dial it back, dude! She’s okay.” Slater’s voice in the earpiece cut through the panic.At the last second, Max concealed the weapon, barging into the room. Abby scooted back towards the opposite couch. The look of terror made him want to rip the laughing bastard’s face off. Had Muller touched her?Her eyes were glued to an object on the tiled floor. All Max saw was a napkin. Something large crawled out of it—a half-dead cricket. Abby looked at it like it was Satan. It half limped towards her, and she shrieked in fear. Muller guffawed even louder.Max scooped up the offending insect and
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A slight dimple graced her right cheek. Its appearance was a rare occurrence. Max itched to know what would lighten that load. He’d find out, technically gathering more intel—Max couldn’t protect Abby without knowing everything there was to know about her. Nothing personal. Keep telling yourself that, Andersen, just keep repeating that mantra. He allowed Abby to use a burner phone to text Kris. The game ranger was back in town and resting up for the rest of the day, so they agreed to meet up the following afternoon at a coffee shop. Slater could scope out the location beforehand. Handing the phone back, Abby said, “I need to weed the yard. Want to help?” “I don’t know much about plants. I might kill the things by looking at them, but if you trust me with your bug-infested babies, then why not.” Abby snorted. “Bug-infested. What kind of operation do you think I run here?” Her eyes sparkled with humor. “The organic kind. I see
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Lizzy’s squeals of delight squeaked through the monitors’ speakers. Max wandered towards the front room where Donnie watched Lizzy throw herself into Abby’s arms like they were long-lost sisters reuniting. “She’s an enthusiastic little thing, ain’t she?” Max concealed his weapon in the small of his back. “She grows on you.” Watching a douchebag all night had screwed with his mood. With little to no rest, his head pounded. It was going to be a long night. He grabbed a gummy worm on the way out.
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La Coraggio was packed, Max and Johnny sandwiched Abby on the bench. Max pulled a dollar bill out of his wallet and folded it into a sword shape as Lizzy chattered away on the other side of him. Abby had initially sensed his impatience with her bubbly friend when they’d first met, but Max now saw the girl beneath. Intelligent, kind and courageous. His mouth turned up as Lizzy made a silly joke, but Abby was thoroughly absorbed in his sexy hands folding with confident precision. His long fingers so capable. Capable enough to take away life or to protect it. Well-trained hands decorated with a few rough calluses and light scars. Feeling them run down her back or stroke her arm always resulted in goose bumps. Max stroked her calf with his foot; who knew that the game of footsy could be so damn sexy? The small paper dagger was waved in front of Lizzy, who snatched it up. He needed to smile more often. He had the sexiest smile, and combined with those piercing eyes, the r
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Max let the blowhard get to him. He paced the small unisex bathroom as the door swung open.“Is Slater watching the girls?” he asked Johnny.“Yep. He’s at table seven. What the fuck, bro? Muller is wasted, you know better than to engage.”“Not a word. Not a goddam word,” Max said.Johnny looked at him like he was a stranger and not a brother on his team. Max knew why—he was always as cool as a cucumber yet some snotty game ranger tipped his lid off. Usually he psychologically controlled every room, but sadly not today. He pulled apart the last fifteen minutes, trying to find the trigger point.He was comfortable with who he was, the origami was a quirk and he didn’t give a fuck about the ranger trying to poke fun. Max could easily kick his ass. Muller couldn’t dream up the shit that Max had seen and done. There was no need for a pissing contest. This was about Abby. Muller wanted her. It w
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Back at base with Abby locked in for the night, Max gazed at the monitoring station, recalling the girls’ conversation. It maddened him that there were fucking monsters out there who inflicted such lasting damage on women. At the same time, seeing his tough woman comforting her friend filled him with pride. Despite Abby’s last words to him, she felt like his woman. What an effing screwup the night had been. First dealing with Kris “the dick” Muller and then discovering that Johnny was also emotionally invested in an asset. His team was falling apart, and Max was the rebellious leader doing the damage along the way. The sooner they wrapped up the assignment, the better, then hopefully they could screw the brains out of their chosen women without having to deal with the guilt. Abby wandered out to sit on her patio in the dark, and there was too much physical space between them. He was always watching. Max was so tired of the watching. He wanted to be touching, always t
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