Maximum Rush (Tangled Desires Book 4)
Page 27
I don’t know whether to be disgusted by the smell, or inhale the whole cup. My stomach churns. “You lost Jack?”
“He went home.” She flips through the pages of the menu. “Do you want some breakfast?”
“Went home? Last night, or this morning? Before or after you slept with him?”
“Before.” She leans across the table. “You’re so grumpy for a woman who got to spend the night with such a hunk.”
“I have a hangover.” Picking up my java, I sip at the hot, black liquid. “And I’m married. What’s not to hate about that?”
“You really do let things get to you too much. You’re the one who went through with it.” She signals the waiter.
“You made me,” I grumble. “This is your fault.”
“Did you sleep with him?” She arches a brow and adjusts one of the straps of her cream sundress. “If that’s the case you shouldn’t be this tense.”
“I’m not tense.” I sink back in the chair, but my spine refuses to bend, so I settle for crossing my arms across my chest while the waiter joins us and takes Liv’s order for croissants and orange juice.
Orange blossom. I can still smell it, like Nox’s scent imprinted in my skin while I was asleep. I inhale deeply. “We’re done now, right? Your crazy idea is all played out? I can file for an annulment?”
“You were the one who said I do.” She smirks.
“You threatened me.” I scowl at her. “What choice did I have?”
“Plenty. Just like you do now. You can leave, or you can stay here like I’m going to.” Glancing around she uncrosses and crosses her legs. “I quite like this town.”
“You quite like Jack.” I stick my tongue out at her. “Wasn’t one crappy relationship going south enough for you this month?”
“We’re not seeing each other, but…” She tips her head to the side, the famous ‘but you never know what I’m going to do next’ move.
“Liv, for crying out loud, haven’t I taught you anything?” The last thing I want is to see her hurting, but she already is. Her gaze goes brittle, wounded before she fixes her smile.
“You have. But now I want to teach you something. And I don’t want to use empty threats. I don’t like us being at odds.”
“Me either.” I grasp her hand. “You’re my best friend, you’re family.”
“So just this once go along with what I’m asking?”
Oh, she’s good. She knows how to play me. Always has. I snatch my hand back. “Olivia, I always do, but this—”
“Look, I know you’re only trying to help people, somewhat like a matchmaker would try to help single people. I know you have the best intentions. It’s just, you don’t understand what you’re playing with. You don’t see that sometimes what you do causes worse damage.” She stops looking at me, her attention somewhere over my left shoulder. “I was talking to Jack. You fucked up big time when it came to Lennox. I know you didn’t mean to, but you have no idea of how you hurt him, and he’s not a bad guy. I wonder how many times you’ve hurt people while thinking you’re helping.”
“I know I screwed up with that particular case. I should never have slept with him. I should have kept to the rules.” Shutting my eyes, I let the burn of shame flood me for a minute, but not long. He was to blame, too. His emotional wreckage wasn’t my fault; that was squarely on him. “But he’s a cheater, he was the one who broke up his relationship.”
Olivia groans with exasperation. “You didn’t have all the facts.”
“I had enough.” I stick out my jaw. There’s always three sides to the story, his, hers, and the truth. “I never work off a one-sided story. You know that. I check both sides.”
“Well you don’t do a good enough job. You have no idea how thoroughly you screwed up.”
“Then tell me. What did I miss? Because he had no issue with fucking someone that wasn’t the woman waiting for him at home.”
“No. You’re not going to get off that easily.” She pushes her dark bangs out of her face, her spine going rigid as she draws circles on the table with her finger. She’s deadly serious about what she’s about to say. “Here’s the deal, and trust me when I say this is no empty threat. You’re going to live three months in this pseudo-relationship, you’re going to learn a little about how human interaction works when it comes to emotional connections, or I’m going to tell him what you do, and that you worked with his ex-fiancée. Maybe while you’re at it, he’ll tell you what your meddling cost.”
“You’re not serious?” I gape, surging forward. “No, Livi. You can’t be serious. That’s ridiculous.”
The waiter approaches with Olivia’s order, and we sit in quiet while he sets down the plate of croissants and a pitcher of orange juice. She pours two tall glasses and sets one in front of me. “I didn’t mean it when I threatened to out you yesterday. You had to know that.”
I tear a chunk from the end of one flaky pastry. “I did. When I thought about it, I knew you wouldn’t.”
“So please understand that I don’t want to do it now, but I’m resolved to it. The same way you were determined to tell me about Lucas.”
“It isn’t the same thing.” I’ve never seen her so adamant about anything. “Can’t I just skinny dip in the Antarctic or something?”
“Don’t be such a sook. It’s three months. You don’t have to develop real feelings for him. I’m not asking you to fall in love with him.” She grimaces as she takes a sip of the fresh juice. “Just be the girl you’re so eager to protect for a change. Maybe you’ll find that it isn’t so black and white as you think it is.”
“This is bullshit.” I push away from the table, which shifts violently at the burst of movement. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“Three months,” she says, holding up the equivalent fingers, preoccupied with the glass in her hand. “It’s for your own good. Maybe by then, you’ll realize I am being your friend.”
“I hope so, because right now it doesn’t feel like it,” I snap. A stabbing pain shoots through my left temple as I grit my teeth and march away from her. Maybe I should just let her tell him. If I get far enough away, it’ll be all right.
My wrist aches. It does that when the weather changes, or I get stressed about work. I rub my thumb over the pale scar on the inside of my arm. What if I really screwed up this time? I thought I had the facts, that I knew what I was meddling in. It had seemed so cut and dry. I shouldn’t have slept with him, but that was on me, and wouldn’t have changed the outcome, would it? Did I truly get it as wrong as Olivia thinks? What if I did so much damage he wants to destroy me?
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End of Series Shit
Firstly, I want to say thank you for sticking with me on this journey through the Hadley family. It’s been quite a ride. I didn’t expect when I wrote Prick Tease that it would be so well received. I just wanted to write something fun.
The Hadleys to me were how I imagine my family will be in ten years’ time when my kids are all grown up. That probably sounds strange, or even a little gross. I don’t mean in the romance department, because quite frankly what will be will be, though I hope my spawn finds their happy ever afters in the real world of course.
But, it was the interaction between close siblings that really came from my own experience. The way we face off over dinners, and other events. The way my eldest son constantly tells his little sisters that they’ll never be allowed to date, or that one time when he was five when he turned to me and said, “Mum, I’m a man. I make women’s dreams come true.”
Inspiration came from my friends. The girls who’ve stuck with me through thick and thin, who constantly rib each other, and sometimes even call each other cunt monkey. I’ve had readers and other friends reach out and tell me they’ve had a
social gathering that was like being in a room full of Hadleys. To me this is what life is about, honesty, and affection, and humor, and booze.
I’m so glad that you’ve enjoyed them, and I hope a million hopes that you get those real-life Hadley moments that make life so much fun.
When it came to writing Rush, I never knew who he was going to be. I knew he was a magician, famous, sexy as fuck. I knew he would be fun to write, but it was Maxi who stole the spotlight. Sitting down to a brand new page I wanted to write a neurotic heroine. I wanted her to have the issues so many of us have; the anxiety, the uncomfortableness with our body no matter our size. I wanted her to be so real, and all with the ability to laugh at herself. And, I wanted her to be Australian, to bring in parts of the culture I live. I didn’t write her to belittle serious conditions, or make light of them, and I know that everyone copes differently, but I wanted to address issues so many people, including myself, deal with. So yeah, Maxi is probably crazy, but she’s real. Over the course of writing Maximum Rush, she and Rush became so real to me, and I am so proud of this book.
I mentioned music more than a time or two in the story. The Hilltop Hoods, and their song ‘Ghost – Restrung’, which was a major piece of inspiration for Rush and just a beautiful piece of musical art. Their song ‘Nosebleed Section’ when Rush is doing weights.
AC/DC of course, because ‘Thunderstruck’ is fully about orgasms (Probably not, but it sounds like it is).
Jet’s ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ because it was perfect for the man who kept telling everyone she wasn’t his girl.
And the only non-Aussie song, 21 Pilots’ ‘Ride’, because it summed their relationship up perfectly.
Anyway, that’s that really. I’ve enjoyed this series so much, and I’m sad to see it come to an end (although I’m not saying we’ll never catch up with them again, but nothing is planned at this point). It’s time to move on.
So I’ll leave the Hadleys to do their thing, but I’m not leaving Reverence behind. I’m working on a new series, a new family of brothers and friends. I can’t wait to introduce you to Nox, Dean, Finn, and Jack Casey in the Heart Breakers series. I can already tell you it’s going to be FUN!
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