“Because I want to be there in person when I tell you. What I have to say isn’t something that I can just throw out there over the phone.”
“Um—okay. My last class is over at one tomorrow. Just give me a call when you get in.”
“I will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Now, I had almost twenty-four hours to sit and think about what Ashley could’ve found out about Max that was so detrimental she had to drive over five hours to tell me.
* * *
Last class ended and I rushed back to my dorm room. Ashley had texted me that she was about ten minutes away from the school. I had hoped that Max would just show up and explain all this miscommunication, but once again he’d vanished into thin air.
I heard a soft knock on my door, no tingling feeling, so that could mean only one person. Ashley.” I gave her a big hug and pulled her into my dorm room.
“Hey, Mara.” She hugged me back, but not with the same excitement as she always had.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” After all these years of knowing her, I could pick up on when something was bad.
“Have you seen Max this week?” She sat down on my bed and crisscrossed her legs.
“Not since this past weekend, why?” Let me guess I’m the weekend fling and he’s with Katie the rest of the week.
Ashely’s eyes darted from the floor to me then back to the floor again. “I just don’t know how to come out and tell you what I found out.”
“Just tell me, Ash. I can handle it. He’s with Katie right now, isn’t he?” I slumped down in the chair and patiently waited for her to acknowledge that I was right.
“No, that’s not it.”
A breath of fresh air came my way. I could handle just about anything else, but him being with Katie and lying to me was something I didn’t know if I could forgive. “Then what is it?”
Ashley rubbed her face, which she only did when she was frustrated. “I got worried when you said Max only showed up at certain times and never called.”
I nodded my head and waved my hand for her to continue.
“I didn’t want some guy using my best friend, so I talked to Elissa and Katie.”
“So, you spoke to his ex-girlfriend and her cousin about mine and Max’s relationship?” I wasn’t pissed about that, but did she think that they would give her any kind thoughts on the subject? “Did you think that they would support him and me being together. They probably fed you tons of lies about him.”
“No, not really. They helped to clear up the situation quite a bit.”
“Oh really, what did Katie have to say?” I spit her name out with as much venom as I could muster up.
“That it couldn’t have been Max that visited you. I mean it could’ve been, but not here, here.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Ash?”
“Max is still in a coma. He’s still at his mom’s house.”
I started laughing, like this insane, hysterical laugh that seemed to echo around my room. “Are you kidding me? That’s what they told you?”
“Mara, I'm serious. We can meet Katie over at his mom’s house, and you can see for yourself.”
“Oh, okay. We’ll do that.” I wanted to prove to them that they were the crazy ones and not me. “And if he’s supposedly still in a coma, then how the fuck was he able to visit me? Come on, Ashley, please explain that to me.” My tone was a bit too loud now.
She seemed to shudder visibly with each word I said. “I’m trying to figure that out.” She attempted to match my loudness but failed miserably. Ashley took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. “You know how I believe in all the stuff that you refuse to?”
“It’s not that I refused to, I just had other thoughts at that time.”
Ashley looked as though a light switch turned on in her head. “You had other thoughts. Did something happen that made you change your mind? I saw a difference in you after your accident, and when you came out of your coma. What happened, Mara?” She leaned forward a bit and placed her chin in her hands. She looked like a psychiatrist waiting for big revelation.
I hadn’t told anyone about the in-between, and that’s where I’d met Max. Maybe Ashley would be the one person who understood that this was how Max and I knew that we were supposed to be together. “When I wasn’t here, like when I was in a coma…”
Ashley nodded her head once.
“…Well, I was in a place that was like here, but then again, it wasn’t.”
“So sorta like a place in-between here…” She tapped her finger on the bed, “…And there.” Ashley’s finger now pointed up to the sky.
I got the gist of what she meant and nodded at her. “Yes, that’s where I met Max.”
“Wait—wait—wait.” Ashley stood up and began to pace around. “He was there with you?”
"Yes, it was unbelievable there. It was only him and I. We could do anything we wanted. I don’t know maybe that’s how I can always feel when he’s coming around. It’s a tingling feeling that I get.” I brushed my hair back and let out a large, deep breath. “I don’t know, Ash. It’s like we can’t even lie to each other, everything is so perfect when I’m with him. It’s like the other half of me was found.”
“Wow. All I can say is—wow.” She came over to where I was sitting and knelt down. “Do you believe in soul mates?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Okay, from what I’ve ever learned in all of this and you know my mom is big into this whole afterlife thing.”
I nodded my head the she was right. Her mom always used to talk to us about soulmates, tarot cards, psychic readings, the whole nine yards of trying to figure out where we came from, what our purpose here was, and where we went after death.
“Soul mates are the other halves of ourselves. Once we find them, we are supposed to be at peace with everything.”
That was exactly how I felt when I was with, Max. Like nothing else mattered except being with him.
“But Mara, he’s still in a coma. He had his accident several months before you had yours.”
I pushed her away and stood up. “Just to show you that he’s okay and not just some figure in my imagination, call Katie so we can go to his house.” I tossed my phone at her to use.
“I never said you were crazy, or he was part of your imagination.” She picked up her cell phone and scrolled through the numbers.
I wanted to run away and get far away from this moment. I heard her talking and guessed it was probably Katie. What the hell did I just agree to do? Why would I want to visit Max with everyone tagging along, especially Katie?
“Okay.” Ashley put her cell phone in her pocket and walked towards the door. “Katie and Elissa are going to meet us. Do you know where the gas station is before you get to the cliffs?”
“Yes. And why are they both going?”
“Elissa is here visiting. Ready?”
I closed my eyes and hoped that this trip would verify that the other two girls had no clue about Max. “Let’s go.” I motioned for her to go out ahead of me. I closed the door and made sure it was locked. ‘Max, if you can hear me please don’t let me down.’
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, we were at the gas station that Elissa had told Ashley to meet them. There were a couple of cars getting gas and others parked at the convenience store. I had no clue who would be driving or what kind of vehicle they owned.
“There they are.” Ashley pointed to a red Mustang convertible that just pulled into the service station.
Of course, Katie was the type to drive such a luxury car. No wonder Max never wanted to ride along with me. Why would he when he was used to fifty thousand dollar cars and not some rum-dumb Honda that I drove.
Ashley beeped her horn, and Katie’s car crept closer to ours.
They both got out, and Ashley did as well. I guess I had to, so I didn’t look like the bitch of the group. The three of them gave their hugs while I stood back and watched.
“Hi, Ma
ra.” Elissa and Katie acknowledged my existence.
“Hey.” I gave a small wave back but didn’t act as cordial as Ashley did.
“So, you think Max has been up and around?” Of course, Katie had to be the one to draw first blood with her accusations.
“He was with me all weekend. I love the small little scar that he has just right below his left buttock cheek. You know the one he got when he got nipped in the arse by his neighbor’s bloody dog.” I did my best Max English accent impersonation.
Katie stood there with her mouth open a look of shock written all over face.
I felt elated that I made that comment and got that type of reaction from her. Now, she knew I’d been with Max and knew intimate parts of his body that he'd kept hidden from others.
“Well.” Ashley patted me on the back since no one else had made another comment. “We better get going.”
“Yeah, just follow us.” Elissa nudged Katie, who glanced my way once more, then walked back to her car.
“How did you know that?” Ashley quizzed me as soon as I got into the car.
“We’ve had more sex over the past couple months than you’ve probably had your entire life. It’s just natural for us, like us being together is how it’s supposed to be.”
“I don’t know, Mara. There more and more you tell me things the more and more I think we need some professional in this stuff here with us.”
“When we get to Max’s mom’s house, and he answers the door, can we please let all of this supernatural or whatever you think it is talk come to an end?”
Ashley nodded her head that she would and continued to follow Katie’s car down the road that I knew led to Max’s.
* * *
The fields lined with white fencing came into sight. I motioned so Ashley would look at all the vast openness and the large farmhouse that was at the end of the driveway. “That’s where Max lives.”
She followed Katie off the main road and continued down the graveled drive until we got to the house.
There was one other car there, and it wasn’t the large truck that I had met in the driveway the last time I’d been here. A guy came out of the front door, and my breath caught when I caught sight of his long brown curls.
“Is that him?” Ashley nudged me when I met her at the front of her car.
As much as I wanted to say yes, I knew that it wasn’t. “No, that’s his brother Niall.”
Ashley questioned me with her eyes asking how I would know this.
“Katie, this is a surprise.” Niall’s eyes traveled around to all of us. His gaze stopped at me as he recognized me from somewhere but just couldn’t figure out where.
“Hey, Niall.” Katie gave him a quick hug. “How’s Max doing?”
Niall shrugged his shoulders. “He’s about the same.”
“So, he hasn’t been up and about. You know out, maybe going to the cliffs?” Katie’s smug questions were aimed directly at me. I knew she was referencing what Ashley had probably told them about Max and I being together.
“Uh—no. Why would you say that?” Niall looked utterly confused.
“Oh, Mara here…” She pointed over at me. “…She insists that she and Max have been together. That he came to a party, he went with her to the cliffs, and she and he have been intimate over the past couple months.”
Niall looked over, and I could see it in his eyes that he didn’t believe what Katie had just told him. “I’m sorry that can’t be true. Max hasn’t been up since the day at the cliffs when he fell.”
“No—no—no.” I shook my head back and forth as my body started to shake. “You’re all just saying that. You’re just mad because he wants me more than he ever wanted you.” My tears were rolling down my cheeks, and my hands were shaking to the degree that I couldn’t even point at Katie as I yelled at her.
“I don’t know how you know those little details about Max, but sorry Mara,” Katie spat my name out with hatred. “You’re fucking crazy to think that Max has been anywhere except for that damn bed; he’ll probably spend the rest of his life in.” She looked over at Niall whose expression showed of shock and disappointment in the way that Katie had just talked about Max. “Sorry Niall, but I don’t think he’s coming back. I’m out of here.” Katie walked back to her convertible with Elissa in tow. Her tires threw up gravel as she backed up and sped down the driveway.
“I’m sorry she acted like that.” Ashely apologized to Niall for Katie’s behavior. “We would’ve never come if I’d known you all weren’t on the best of terms.”
Niall just shook his head. “Katie has always been a bitch. I don’t know why Max was with her. He always told me that he didn’t love her, and she wasn’t the one.” He glanced over and studied me like he was trying to figure out if I was as crazy as Katie had deemed me to be. “You’re the one who confused me with Max at the cliffs that day.”
I nodded my head that he was right. My tears had slowed, but my voice still wouldn’t come for me to answer.
“Do you think Max has contacted you or that you’ve actually seen him?” Niall took a few steps closer to me.
I’m just glad he hasn’t called the cops yet, complaining that a psycho nutcase was on his property.
“Mara was also in a coma, as Max is.” Ashley decided to be the spokesperson for me right now. I guess she picked up on my stress level and knew from past events that me and my mouth and brain didn’t work so well together when I got overly frazzled. “They were in the same Boston hospital at the same time too.”
“Really.” Now, Niall seemed interested in this confusing fiasco that was occurring. “Is that how you met? Or is that the right word? Maybe is that how you and Max had your connection?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could see him standing in the tree line of Tori’s house as clearly as if it was happening right now. “He was there when I crashed my car. He was there when I ended up in the place called the in-between. He was there with me every day I wasn’t here. We went to the cliffs. He told me how he slipped and fell. He said about the small piece of jagged rock that he hit his head on as he tumbled down the hillside. He showed me this whole place,” I spread my arms out and spun my body around, “We were here all the time.” I felt like I was going to collapse when every moment that I’d ever spent with Max rushed back at me. “He told me he was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, England and that the family moved here when he was ten. He was supposed to go to Massachusetts College the semester after his accident. He was undecided about what he was going to study. He wanted to go back to England because everyone here was ‘bloody nincompoop.’” I think I nailed the imitation of how Max would’ve said it.
Niall chuckled at my impersonation. “Those words are what Max always used to say about our friends. Every time we went to the stone quarry, he would say that’s how they were acting when they jumped the high cliff.” He shook his head, looked at the ground, then back to me. “You know, as crazy as it all sounds, I believe you. I think somehow, someway, you and Max have communicated.”
“He never jumped that one before?” I never asked Max if that was his first big cliff jump. I just always assumed that he’d done it numerous times before.
Niall nodded his head. “He jumped the smaller ones a hundred times before, but he never wanted to do the big one. We would make fun of him when he would just sit back and watch when we jumped, until the one day when he had just a tad too bit much to drink and took our mate up on his dare.” Niall looked out across the open fields like Max used to do when we were here. In some ways, they were so eerily alike. “Katie was there that day. She kept poking fun at him telling him to ‘man-up’ and quit being such a pussy. She said she might have to be with one of his mates if he couldn’t do one small jump, which she did be with his mates after a couple of weeks of him being in a coma. Then he jumped, and we all watched as he—”
“Slipped right before the edge, tried to grab onto the top of the cliff but couldn’t get a grip, then tumbled o
ver hitting every ledge on the way down. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was his head hitting the jagged edge rock and the sound of the water splashing when he hit.” I subconsciously finished Niall’s story of what had happened. When I glanced up and met Ashley and Niall’s gaze, they both looked astonished. “He also got bit by your neighbor’s dog a while back,” I explained to him where the scar was just like I’d done with Katie.
Niall still looked amazed as he shook his head. “Would you like to see Max? You know, now?” He motioned toward the house.
Maybe this was all a test. Maybe Max was in there right now laughing at me going through this mental torture by his brother. Somehow, deep down inside of me, I knew that wasn’t true. “Yes, I would.”
Niall waved his hand for me to follow.
I looked over at Ashley, but she shook her head no and motioned for me to follow him. I swallowed the thick lump that stuck in my throat and trailed after Niall as he went inside the house.
The home was like a country castle. It was adorned to resemble a bed and breakfast and was quite welcoming. The walls were an off shade of white, and there were lots of country themed accents along the walls with pictures and knickknacks. It seemed whoever designed it was really into horses as most of the schemed items had artwork of such.
“Mum is big into horses. She has several stallions down at the corral that she likes to train.” Niall pointed down towards the back of the house which I assumed was the direction of the barn. Max never took me that far onto the property, we had mainly stayed near the driveway.
I felt the tingling begin as we walked up the steps. The closer we got to the closed doors the stronger it became. It was a big house with a hallway that lined five rooms on each side. I had stopped before Niall did and waited until he turned around.
“How did you know this was Max’s room?” Niall walked back to me and waited for me to answer.
I should’ve known that he would put me to some test like this. “I can always sense when Max is around and where he is. I knew he was right here,” I lightly tapped on the door. “It’s a tingling feeling that I get when I’m around him.”
Somewhere In-Between (Breathless #1) Page 13
