“Nice to finally meet you,” he says and shakes my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Max,” I have to practically yell.
“You want to help us get upstairs?” Ryan says.
Probably noticing the tension written all over my face, Max says to me, “Not good with crowds?”
I shake my head, and he puts his arm around me, tucking me tightly to him with Ryan still holding my hand on my opposite side as he pushes his way through everyone. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the closeness of being in Max’s hold, I cling myself tighter to Ryan. He looks down at me, and all I know to do is give him a slight shake of my head, and by the look in his eyes, I know he understands what I’m trying to tell him. When we get to the back stairs, Ryan tells Max, “Thanks, man.”
“No problem, boss. Let me know when you guys are ready to come down, okay?”
“Yeah.”
We walk up the stairs and when we get into his office, he asks, “You okay?”
I nod my head, when he assures me, “Max is a good guy. I’ve known him for years.”
“It’s just uncomfortable,” I say.
Walking us around his desk, he pulls me down on his lap when he sits in the chair.
“Is it always this busy?” I ask.
“On Fridays and Saturdays, yeah.” When his cell buzzes, he pulls it out of his pocket and says, “Mark and Jase just got here.” Setting it down on his desk, he tells me, “I love that you’re here,” and then kisses my shoulder.
When there is a knock on the door, Ryan says, “Come in.”
“Hey, guys,” Jase says as he walks in. When he demands a hug, I get up off of Ryan’s lap and walk over to him.
He folds his arms around me and leans in close to my ear, whispering, “I’m proud of you.”
I sigh and squeeze my arms a bit tighter around him. Pulling back, I ask, “Where’s Mark?”
“Downstairs. He said he’d find you before the band goes on.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Are you coming down to watch?”
“I . . . well, Ryan has some work to do, so I was just going to stay up here.”
Jase tilts his head and shakes it.
“What?”
“Candace, at least go down for a couple songs.”
“Did you see how many people are down there?”
“Yeah, sweetie. The same amount that are always here, and nothing has ever happened.”
Looking over at Ryan, he shrugs his shoulders in agreement, and says, “I’ll have Max stay with you.”
I flop down on one of the chairs in front of Ryan’s desk and think for a moment before saying, “I don’t want everyone touching me.”
“If Max is with us, trust me, you’ll have breathing room.”
“He’s right,” Ryan assures.
I take a moment before saying, “All right.”
Ryan smiles at me as he picks up the phone and pushes some buttons before saying, “Hey, Mel, send Max up to my office.”
I turn around when the door opens and Mark bounds in excitedly. “Hell, I thought it was a lie. I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Tone that shit down,” Ryan says to him as I stand up and give Mark a hug.
“I just wanted to see you before I go on. You coming down?”
“Yeah.”
“Awesome. Well, I gotta go. Love that you came.” He leans down, kisses my forehead, and then heads out at the same time as Max walks in.
“Hey, Max, Candace is going down with Jase. I don’t want you to leave her side, got it?”
“What about the door?”
“I’ll get Chase to take care of it.” Ryan gets up from his seat and walks over to me. “You want me to come down with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I haven’t talked to Jase all week, so . . .”
“Are you okay with Max?”
“Yeah. It’ll be fine.” Even though it makes me uncomfortable, I know Ryan is protective over me and wouldn’t leave me with anyone that’s less than completely trustworthy.
“Okay. Let me take care of a few things, and I’ll come down in a bit.”
Nodding my head at him, he leans down to kiss me. When we walk out into the hall, Ryan calls for Max to come back to his office.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back,” he tells me and then walks into Ryan’s office and shuts the door. It’s only a short minute when he walks back out and leads me back downstairs into the throngs of people. Holding me safely under his arm, he moves us across the busy room, and I see him nod his head at some people who are sitting at a table. They quickly grab their drinks and free up the seats for us.
“Shit, Max, why have you never helped me out like that before?” Jase jokes.
“Because you’re not the boss’ girlfriend,” he responds with a condescending kiss in the air.
I laugh at Max as he sits down next to me, and Jase leaves to go to the bar and grab some drinks.
“So how long have you worked here?” I ask.
“About three years. Ryan and I go to the same gym, so we were friends before he hired me.”