“So, what, you’re the manager here?”
“Owner,” said Max. “This and a couple other restaurants and clubs around the city. It pays a little better than the Navy. Also, as it turns out, I’m not too good with authority.”
“Impressive,” said April. “Well, I guess I better go, leave you to your duties. Thanks again for finding my wallet and sorry about getting your shirt wet.”
Max smiled. “Hey, no problem. Listen, I’m almost done why don’t you wait for me, I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Oh, I parked at the gas station about two blocks from here, I was just about to run out of juice when I realized I had lost my wallet.”
“Then I’ll drive you to your car.” Max made a quick estimate of the remaining three bottles on his stock list and said to the cleaner, “Hey Gary, lock up when you’re done, okay? And don’t forget to set the alarm.”
“Will do, boss,” said Gary who had been polite enough to move to the other side of the club, out of earshot when she and Max had started talking.
April followed Max out the back entrance of Club Veil to where his black Range Rover was parked in an empty lot. “Some machine,” said April. “It looks like the kind the CIA drive in the movies.”
Max smiled proudly. “I fell in love with the model while I was working on a support mission for homeland security in South Sudan. We’d be crammed into the back of these open air trucks baking under the African sun, rattling around on dirt roads while the security fellows were cruising around with aircon and smooth suspension. I made it a promise to myself that I would own one one day.”
“A marine turned nightclub owner,” said April. “That’s quite a transition.”
“The business needs a few good men, ma’am,” he said and tipped her a salute. “That’s just a joke. Actually I prefer the word restaurateur. The nightclub scene is something I’m just starting out with. There are a lot of scumbags running clubs around here and any business I can take away from them is business well taken care of.”
April studied his face as they climbed into the Rover. His jaw was set and in it she sensed no hint of kidding. He was a man of humor and kindness, but there was also something else. A deep sense of justice and integrity.
“So maybe you are kind of a superhero after all,” said April, smiling at him as she settled into the seat.
Max laughed. “I like that,” he said. “You can call me Nightclubman. No wait, even better…Barman.”
Max’s presence was both comforting and exciting. He seemed like a man with a lot of stories to tell. She felt a wave of regret at not being able to stay with him for the morning and listen to them. To take her mind off things.
“What do you do?” he asked.
“Nothing quite as exciting your job, I’m sure. I’m an accountant, believe it or not.”
“A number cruncher, huh? My parents wanted me to be an accountant. Sometimes I think I should have listened to them.”
When they arrived at the gas station, she leaned over and gave Max hug. His stubble tickled against her ear. “Listen, I really can’t tell you how grateful I am for helping me out last night and then listening to my sob story this morning.”
Max smiled warmly. “Really no problem at all.”
“See you around,” she said, getting out of the car.
“April, wait,” said Max. “Why don’t you take my number? If you have any more trouble with Brian you give me a call. You never know with guys like that.”
April thought about it for a second. It would be good to know she had someone to call just in case, although she already felt like he had done so much. Besides, it was doubtful Brian would ever show his face around her again. One the other hand, once this whole thing blew over, she wouldn’t mind meeting up with Max for dinner sometime.
“Okay, sure,” she said, “good idea.”
He found a spare business card in his glove compartment and handed it to her. “There you go,” he said. “Any time, you just call me, okay?”
“I will. Thanks.”
“You take care now.”
She gave him one last wave goodbye and watched him drive away as she finally filled up her tank.
6
April checked herself into a motel on the outskirts of town and only once she had set down her suitcase and flopped onto the bed did the realization come that it could well be the same Motel where Brian and his floozy had spent the weekend. The idea disgusted her, but she reasoned that the chances were pretty slim. There are plenty other motels around here, she told herself, although she couldn’t think of a single one.
She tried to push away the thought of Brian and another woman rolling around on the same bed she was lying on and then gave up on trying to do it herself. She called Marisa first and then Tracey to tell them what had happened. No point calling her mom just yet, it would only upset her and in her fragile state, April didn’t think she could deal with her mom and her feeling down.
She called for pizza a little while later when her stomach began growling and she remembered that she hadn’t even eaten yet.
Pizza for Sunday lunch? she asked herself.
Why the hell not? I’ve already had a shot of whiskey for breakfast, may as well break all the rules.
Afterwards, she put the phone on the side table next to her bed, tried to read, had little success in being able to concentrate, so instead turned on the TV that stood on a doily covered table in the corner of the room.
About fifteen minutes later, there was knock on the door. That was fast, she thought. But then a familiar clearing of the throat from the other side of the door caused her to freeze in her tracks. Through the blind of the window beside the door, she could make out the outline of a man’s shoulder. Instead of answering the door, she tiptoed quietly to the window and with two fingers, parted the blinds to look out.
It was Brian.
Oh no! she thought. His eyes were still focused on the door and she had just enough time to see that he was holding something in his hand. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it may have been a gun. His eyes flicked towards her just as she recoiled away from the window.
Did he see me?
“April!” he shouted. “I want to talk to you!”
Hide hide hide, her mind raced.
She dashed across the room and dived over the bed, crouching down on the other side of it where she could keep an eye on the large windows.
“Let me in!” shouted Brian from outside. “I know you’re in there. It’s the twenty first century, April. You can track just about anyone these days.”
He paced back and forth past the window before stopping in the middle to cup his hands to the glass and peer in. She ducked her head down behind the bed, her hand pressed tightly against her lips to hold back the scream threatening to tear from her throat.
The phone was at the other side of the bed on the side table. To reach it she would have to dive over the bed and risk being seen by him. On the other hand, if she didn’t, he might break in anyway and it was anyone’s guess what he would do then.
She poked her head over the top of the bed to see that he had moved away from the window and slid her body up over the bed, keeping as low as she possibly could. With one hand she reached out and grabbed it and recoiled back to her position on the other side of the bed.
“I can see you,” said Brian. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk,” She could see the silhouette of the thing clutched in his hand now. It was a gun, there was no doubt about it anymore.
April dialed 911.
“Hello,” she whispered. “I’m in a motel room. My ex-fiance is trying to break in.”
After giving the operator the her name and the address, she hung up. She thought of Max and how nice he had been to her. He had told her to call her in case of trouble and if this wasn’t trouble she didn’t know what was. What if she didn’t get a chance to thank him properly? What if Brian had finally lost it and the moment he got frustrated at not being able to get insi
de, he shot through the window at her?
She hurriedly dialed Max’s number and he picked up on the third ring. “Hello, Max Connor speaking.” She tried to keep her voice steady, but even so, she couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice.
“Max,” she said. “It’s April.”
“April? Are you okay?”
“I’m at the Greenferry Motel out on Old Lake Drive. He’s here. Brian. And I think he has a gun. I called 911, but just in case I wanted to…”
“Listen, stay low, get into the bathroom and lock the door. I’m just a few minutes away. Hold on.”
The phone went dead in her hand and she stared at it for a moment, her mind struggling to grasp the instructions he had given her.
The bathroom was on the other side of the room. If she got up, from her spot, she’d be out in the open. Even if she leopard crawled, there was a 5 feet of open floor between her and the bathroom that would make her an easy target.
Nope, she thought, I’m not taking any chances. Instead, she pressed her body flat against the floor and waited.
The beating against the door continued and she poked her head up intermittently to see if either Max or the police had arrived.
After what seemed like hours, but what must have been mere minutes, she saw a black Range Rover pull up in the street on the other side of the motel parking lot. April watched as a silhouette strode across the lot toward Brian. Brian was standing at the window peering in again, waving the gun around. As the silhouette drew nearer, she recognized Max’s confident gait. Without hesitation, Max slipped one arm up under one of Brian’s armpits and around his neck, locking him in place and securing the weapon. Max brought his other fist up into Brian’s kidneys. The gun dropped instantly from his hand and Max booted it away, out of reach as he wrestled Brian to the ground.
Sirens wailed in the distance and finally the flashing lights of two police vehicles appeared in the parking lot. The officers double timed out of the vehicles and over to the two men, entangled on the ground.
April bolted out of the room to find the two officers pulling Max from Brian. Both men were restrained and one of the officers spoke into his radio while the other turned to April.
“Do you know these men, ma’am?” he asked.
“Yes, he’s my ex-fiance and this is Max, a friend of mine.”
“I see. And you made the call?”
“Yes, officer. My fiancé had a gun. We’d just broken up this morning and I thought he was going to try something stupid. He’s been drinking too much lately and acting really strange, so I was really worried. I called Max just in case. Max was only stepping in to help.”
The officer released Max and walked over to where the gun lay on the ground. With his pen, he lifted the gun up by the trigger guard. “Ma’am, do you know what kind of gun this is?”
“No, officer, I’ve never seen it before. I didn’t even know he had a gun.”
“This is BB gun. Pretty harmless unless he shot someone in the eye. Has he harassed you before?”
“Not really. I mean he almost tipped me out of my chair last night, but…”
“We can get him for harassment and intimidation, should you choose to press charges, but I’ll be sure to give him a good talking to down at the station. Make sure he never pulls this sort of thing again. It might be wise to get a restraining order set as well.”
“Okay, do you mind if I talk to him quick?”
“Go ahead.”
April walked over to where Brian was being handcuffed. His eyes were wild and his face flushed. “What were you thinking, Brian? I can’t believe you.”
“I thought you were in there with some guy. I was just going to scare him.”
“Oh Brian, listen. It’s over. I never want to see you again, do you understand? I don’t belong to you. It’s over. You need to get some help and get over this. You have a kid to take care of now. Someone else’s kid. That’s the life you’ve chosen. Just go.”
The officer bundled Brian into the police car and after asking her and Max a few more questions, they drove off.
Max and April stood in the parking lot watching as they drove away. “I’m sorry to get you involved in all that,” said April.
“Better safe than sorry,” said Max.
“I still don’t get it,” said April. “How did he know where I was? Last night. Today. It doesn’t make any sense. He said something about it being the twenty-first century and being able to track just about anyone.”
“Maybe he tracked your phone. It’s pretty simple to do. Here,” he held out his hand and April handed it to him. Max quickly disabled the GPRS and handed it back to her. “That should take care of that. Do you have somewhere safe to go?”
April shrugged. “Not really.”
“Come on,” he said, “Get your things.”
***
Max lived alone on a ranch just a little further out of town. A massive estate looked out over miles of rolling hills, lush forest and a jagged line of mountains along the horizon.
“Why do you live all the way out here?” said April. “I mean, it’s beautiful and all, but doesn’t it get lonely?”
“When you spend all your time in busy restaurants and nightclubs, this place is like a lip balm for your soul. Nothing quite as refreshing as spending a summer evening under the stars, or waking up with fresh winter air in your lungs. Also it’s nice and tucked away. You’ll be safe here until things with Brian are sorted out.”
“But how can I repay you? I mean this is all too generous.”
“Think of it as a halfway house,” said Max. “Halfway between your old life and the new one of your choosing.”
7
April found herself living a sort of waking fantasy in the weeks that followed. Max would often take her for dinner at his restaurants around the city where they were treated like king and queen. When his eyes met hers from across the tables, she wondered if it was his intention to make her feel as loved and wanted as he did or if she was simply reading into his generosity something that wasn't there.
On one such evening, as they arrived home to the ranch, she had told goodnight and was just about to retire to her bedroom when he stopped her.
“April,” he said.
“Yes?”
“April, I—” He paused, chewing his lip, seeming to think over what was on his mind. “I just wanted to say, that I really enjoy spending time with you.”
She smiled at him. “I really enjoy spending time with you too, Max.” There had been a moment where he had seemed like he had something else to say, but then he turned away. “Goodnight,” he said.
***
In the bedroom Max had set aside for her, she lay in bed for a long while thinking things over. There was no doubt about it, her feelings for Max had blossomed beyond friendship, but she couldn’t put her finger on his feelings for her. She didn’t want to rush things, between them either and yet, how long could they keep living under the same roof without the tension between them becoming too much to bear? Or perhaps his silence on the matter was simply a sign that her feelings were simply not reciprocated and that she should do her best to be out of his hair as soon as possible.
She dreamed of lying next to him, of finally letting him know how she felt about the strong, handsome stranger she had come to know and—dare she say it—love. Not just love, like a best friend or a sibling, a deep aching love that made her feel as if she were drowning in his magnetic presence.
***
One evening, Max offered to have her friends Marisa and Tracey over for dinner at the house. “I’ll be out of your hair, of course,” said Max.
“Why don’t you stay? They’d love to meet you,” said April. “We can do it on a night you have off.”
“Well,” said Max, looking pleased. “That evening you were at the club, my business associates and I were in the process of hiring new managers. Men that we could trust. Technically, I’m off unless I’m absolutely needed.”
“That�
�s great!” said April, “Why don’t we do it tonight?”
She called up Marisa and Tracey and they were more than pleased to spend the evening with them. April and Max prepared the food together and by the time Marisa and Tracey arrived, the house smelled like a gourmet restaurant. Max, it turned out was not just the owner of restaurants, but an excellent chef as well.
“Wow,” said Marisa, “This place is amazing. So this is where you’ve been hiding out lately?”
“Just until I find my own apartment,” said April. Just thinking about leaving Max made her stomach clench up, but she tried not to betray her regret.
“Max,” said Tracey, “You’re a real hero for letting April stay with you. I heard about what happened with Brian. That was some crazy stuff.”
Max waved it off and changed the subject. “Can I get you ladies some wine?”
“The man speaks my language,” said Marisa.
As Max got up to fetch the wine from the kitchen, Marisa eyed April intensely.
“What?” said April.
“Well? Are you guys a thing or what?”
“No,” said April hurriedly. “Don’t be ridiculous! It’s complicated. There are a lot of things to consider here, not least of which that I’ve only just broken off my engagement with Brian. Besides, I’m not sure if Max is all that into me anyway. I mean, he hasn’t said anything.”
ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance Page 93
